Jack's short encounter with Lee De Forest

Lee De Forest

Jack wrote in at a letter to nccc@contesting.com on Dec. 30, 2006  "I had a summer job as 'Office Boy' in a patent attorney's (Albert G. Morris) in Pasadena in 1934.  It was my first real job and I was paid $1 a day to run errands.  One day Lee De Forest came over from Hollywood to review his lawsuits with Mr. Morris and to file for some new patents.  I was sent over to the Pasadena City Hall to get some copies made of the size "C" drawings.  In those days before copying machines the only way one could get copies made was to wait a long time in an ammoniated atmosphere while blueprint copies were made of the drawings. Then I ran back to the office on the 10th floor of this building and delivered the original back to De Forest.  De Forest was spending a large part of his income on lawsuits against RCA and Hazeltine over his patents and also had legal problems with his 3 ex-wives.  At that time he was also wasting his talents on medical inventions including ultra-violet diathermy machines that only resulted in a good tan but no income.  He struck me as another frustrated inventor up against the best lawyers in the country that were hired by Sarnoff at RCA.  Later in life I also lost out to Sarnoff and his big money when he put his son in as an RCA distributor in the Central Valley when the TV boom took place.  But in 1934 I was making some money.  Some former executives were selling apples on the street just in order to eat.  The Great Depression was really tough and I am afraid that a good many of you have never been through such an experience.  It can happen again!  After buying a hamburger and a milkshake for 25 cents and paying 20 cents for a round trip to my home I still had 55 cents profit every day with no taxes to pay in those days and could spend the money on radio parts, including triode tubes."