Thomas Edison in Popular Culture - Biographical Works

Biographical Works

• Young Tom Edison was a 1940 biographical film starring Mickey Rooney as Edison.
• Edison, the Man was a 1940 biographical film starring Spencer Tracy as Edison.
• "The Electric Sunshine Man" is a musical for young voices about the life, times, and inventions of Thomas Edison; generally performed by youth choral groups in schools.
• The Schoolhouse Rock song "Mother Necessity" featured Thomas Edison first as a child intending to be an inventor when he grows up "to make a lamp to help my mommy see..Wowee!/What an excellent application of electricity!" and then as a smart, rich man.
• Edison occasionally appeared in caricature form on Histeria! His first major appearance was in a sketch in which he comes up with the light bulb while his nephew (played by Loud Kiddington) and his friends fool around in his office. The show also featured a song about Edison's partnership with Henry Ford.
• "Edison's Medicine" was a song by the band Tesla from the album Psychotic Supper Tesla which features the War of Currents between Edison's DC and Tesla's AC.
• "The Wizard of Menlo Park" is a song by Chumbawamba on their album Un.
• The song "Edison" by the Bee Gees from their 1969 album Odessa is a reference about Thomas Edison.
• Czech poet Vítězslav Nezval wrote a lengthy epic poem titled Edison (1930), in which Edison is celebrated and apostrophed there as symbol of courage in search of meaning of life in modern civilisation. This work is considered to be one of the best poems of modern Czech literature.