[lit-ideas] Re: epiphany track lighting
- From: Robert.Paul@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx (Robert Paul)
- To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: 17 Jul 2004 11:40:38 PDT
>Robert is quick to point out the importance of "epiphany lights" in cartoon
balloons. Before S. F. B. Morse and James Watt invented the light bulb, some
cartoons depicted "epiphany lights" as candles or simple gas lamps. Before the
19th century, it was not uncommon to discover chandeliers or roaring fireplaces
snugly fitting into cartoon balloons as epiphany lights.<
I'm not so sure about this. For one thing, before Joyce popularized epiphanies,
they were called 'Eureka! Lights,' after the Kliegl brothers, of Upstate New
York, who were not only inventors but classicists and amateur astrologists. For
another, James Watt invented the Veg-O-Matic, not the light bulb. He failed to
patent it, however, thinking it 'would never catch on in Brazil,' and the device
was later marketed by Samuel J. Popeil, inventor of the refectory and the
folding bullet.
Robert Paul
Department of Antiquities
Mutton College
Sheepskin NE
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