Xentury turn off the lights3/24/2023 But in 1894 President Cleveland put electric lights on the White House tree, and by 1914, a 16-foot string cost just $1.75. A string of 16 vaguely flame-shaped bulbs sitting in brass sockets the size of shot glasses sold for a pricey $12 (about $350 in today’s money) in 1900. Johnson’s lights were indeed ahead of their time-electricity was not yet routinely available-and they weren’t cheap. Johnson turned his stunt into a tradition he also pioneered the practice of doing more each year: An 1884 New York Times article counted 120 bulbs on his dazzling tree. “It was brilliantly lighted with.eighty lights in all encased in these dainty glass eggs, and about equally divided between white, red and blue.One can hardly imagine anything prettier.” The lights drew a crowd as passers-by stopped to peer at the glowing marvel. Croffut, a veteran writer for the Detroit Post and Tribune. “At the rear of the beautiful parlors, was a large Christmas tree presenting a most picturesque and uncanny aspect,” wrote W.A. Setting up a tree by the street-side window of his parlor, Johnson hand-wired 80 red, white and blue light bulbs and strung them together around it, and placed the trunk on a revolving pedestal, all powered by a generator. Over at the Edison shop, Johnson saw an opportunity. In the States, President Franklin Pierce put one up at the White House in 1856, and by the 1870s fresh-cut trees were being sold at Washington Square Park, and pretty ornaments at Macy’s.īut what really made a tree a Christmas tree were the candles, and while flickering flames were festive, they were also a fire hazard. Meanwhile, in 1841, Queen Victoria’s husband, Albert, had introduced Britain to the Teutonic tannenbaum-the Christmas tree-and the idea spread. Thomas Nast’s drawings of jolly Santa Claus debuted in 1862. Nicholas” was published in 1823, and “A Christmas Carol” in 1843. We tend to think of Christmas-season traditions as ancient, but most of them are rather recent, born in the 19th century. Still, Johnson, Edison and others invested $35,000 to form the Edison Lamp Company to sell the bulbs.īefore long, Johnson had a bright idea. When Edison patented the light bulb in 1880, its exact value was hard to gauge widespread electrification was still decades away. In 1877, after Edison invented the phonograph, Johnson took the machine on tour, charging crowds to drum up excitement. So impressed was Johnson that when Edison left to start a new company, he followed, quickly making himself useful turning Edison’s brainstorms into cash. This article is a selection from the December issue of Smithsonian magazine Buy (If you’re not feeling particularly in the mood for love today, though, we’ve got you covered there too.Subscribe to Smithsonian magazine now for just $12 Here are our staff’s picks for the 50 greatest love songs of the 21st century - mostly keeping to the more aww-worthy end of the spectrum to keep the energy right for this Valentine’s Day. The form and content may have evolved since the days of The Ronettes and The Beach Boys - hell, since the days of Boyz II Men and Celine Dion - but it remains an essential and inextricable part of the pop experience, and likely will for as long as popular music exists. They all have multiple unforgettable love songs to their credit, earning the artists some of their biggest and most-beloved hits. Still, look at the biggest names in music of the 21st century: Drake, Taylor Swift, Beyoncé, Adele, Justin Bieber, Rihanna, Ed Sheeran. Where once the love song essentially marked a sort of default mode for pop music, today top 40 encompasses more subjects than ever: Identity, sexuality, personal struggles, not talking about Bruno, and countless others. They don’t write ’em like they used to? Well, maybe not as often as they used to - look at the top of the Billboard charts in the 20th century and chances are you won’t find nearly as high a percentage of love songs as you might have decades earlier.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply.AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |