Henry Ford on PBS
 

Tuesday night PBS will be showing their American Experience program that will be profiling Henry Ford. Should be interesting and worth watching!

Re: Henry Ford on PBS
 

Looking forward to it.

Re: Henry Ford on PBS
 

Three hours and counting.....

Re: Henry Ford on PBS
 

Thanks for the heads - up. It'll be on PBS channel 13 in New York from 9 to 11 P.M.
Rog

Re: Henry Ford on PBS
 

Starts in 55 minutes in the Twin Cities. I'm watching Wonder Woman and Superman now.

Re: Henry Ford on PBS
 

I think part of it was filmed in the twin cities-my 37 pickup was going to be in it but they decided it was too nice-they wanted something more beat up. May be a near perfect 38 in it that I turned them on to.

Re: Henry Ford on PBS
 

It is starting on MN TPT PBS

Re: Henry Ford on PBS
 

Watching it now. Best one i've seen so far.

Re: Henry Ford on PBS
 

Very good program. I just ordered the DVD off the PBS website to share with my club members.

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I agree, One of the best ford programs I've watched.

Re: Henry Ford on PBS
 

An excellent portrayal of this psychologically flawed genius.
For obvious reasons, I was most fascinated to view the part about the Model "A" and his actual role in the Model "A" story.

Re: Henry Ford on PBS
 

Thanks for the revues guys, I'll be dialing in approximately an hour from now.

Re: Henry Ford on PBS
 

I just finished watching it.Great program! 1/2 way thru,the TV acted up & I had to go out & clean the wet snow off the sat-dish so I could see the rest of the show!He was a great industrialist,but he had a lousy personality & treated many people terribly,especialy his son Edsel.

Re: Henry Ford on PBS
 

Watched it tonight! GREAT TV PROGRAM WITH ALOT OF ORIGINAL FOOTAGE!!
THANK YOU PBS!

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I tuned-in around 9:15... right around the first Ford-Winton race, c. 1901.

It is a bittersweet story.... self-made American tinkerer-turned inventor who wants to make the world a better place, and in the process begins to (unintentionally) destroy the world he loves ( 19th Century rural America )...

As a child, I was a voracious reader, and loved to read biographies of historical figures; my favorites were people like Ben Franklin, Abe Lincoln, Thomas Edison, Henry Ford, and so-on...

As an inventor/industrialist and social champion, Ford was in the ascendent between 1893 and 1916... and then he went into a sad, dark decline...

And no one suffered more than Edsel and Clara...

A long, sad end to such a great beginning...

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Re: Henry Ford on PBS
 

For the best book ever written on Henry Ford and Ford Motor Company, read, "My Forty Years with Ford" by Charles Sorensen. I have literally read the book five or six times. Everything you saw on PBS and more is in this book. Sorensen was the heart and soul of Ford Motors and he tells it likes it is. It is still in print and available from Amazon, etc. Let me know what you think of the book after you have read it - two or three times. :)

Re: Henry Ford on PBS
 

Tom - Thanks for the suggestion - I will find this book and read it!

I am sure "Cast-Iron Charlie" had a very unique perspective on Ford and old Henry...

It is a shame how the old man "froze-out" those who were "no longer needed" - Childe Harold Wills, William Knudsen, Sorenson, etc...

Old Henry was surely a man of paradoxes...


SC Frank

Re: Henry Ford on PBS
 

Did I miss anything said on EVANGELINE DAHLINGER, his personal secretary, whom I believe Henry built an adjoining mansion for her and her "Husband" his chauffer, and supposedly had secret passages to her bed room and a son who claims old Henry was his father?

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Didn't see / hear a peep about it. I tuned-in right around the famous race against Alexander Winton in 1901 (?), so I saw coverage of the time-period of the supposed Dahlinger dalliance...

Re: Henry Ford on PBS
 

Re: Henry Ford on PBS
 

My take on Ford was that he was a talented inventor but a terrible father who was extremely narcissistic with an excessive interest in himself and his physical appearance, displaying extreme selfishness, with a grandiose view of his own talents and a craving for admiration.

Re: Henry Ford on PBS
 

I just caught the last half hour or so of it. So I looked it up on the DirecTv guide. It is going to show at 1:00am and 4:00am MST Thursday. So I will "tape it" (DVR) and watch it later.

I found it interesting that he yearned for the simpler life, building Greenfield Village, even though his Model T and huge factories had helped hasten the evolution of this country from a rural one to an urban one.

Re: Henry Ford on PBS
 

ditto!!!

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http://www.shoppbs.org/product/index...uctId=17819176

FYI. PBS show Tuesday night on Ford.,
Link to online site where you can buy the DVD of the show. Only $19.99

Re: Henry Ford on PBS
 

I think it takes a bit of narcissism or "bullheadedness" to be a successful person. Like it or not. But you know what they say, "as you get older your personality becomes more profound, that's all well and good unless your an A-hole."

Henry started out treating employees very fair. If not better then fair with higher pay then other companies. Then it all seemed to get a little nasty.

Didn't fathers back then treat their sons a bit harder then they do today? The old John Wayne mentality?

A tidbit that I thought was interesting was about the family, after Henry died, sold the Brazilian rubber plantation for a song and dance.

Definitely packed with info.

Re: Henry Ford on PBS
 

Nothing on Evangeline. I am not sure how important that is given everything else he did. I enjoyed the show, too, but it is a sad story. Edsel was brilliant, too, and not as flawed as the old man. It is an old story, the entrepreneur/founder whose vision and drive starts the company, but isn't open to how the world changes.

I read the Sorensen book long, ago, as well as The Reckoning by David Halberstam. I didn't realize that Douglas Brinkley had written a book on Ford. I will need to check this book out. The Ford story is fascinating.

Re: Henry Ford on PBS
 

All i know is that after watching that show , i'm more proud to drive my car down the street for everyone to see. What id didn't like was , NO commercials , at my age i need a bathroom break at least every half hour.

Re: Henry Ford on PBS
 

LOL, I thought you wanted to see some 1928-31 commercials.:)

Re: Henry Ford on PBS
 

Duffer, Dog:cool: here, do a SEARCH on "CATCH CANS"
Buster T.:cool:

Re: Henry Ford on PBS
 

Very much enjoyed the program. I have just finished reading Wheels for the World by Mr. Brinkley. Much of the info included last night was also in the book. The only content problem I caught was the footage shown supposedly during the chaos at the factory during WWII. What should have been bombers was instead old footage of Model A's going down the line. Other than that, it was fairly balanced and worthwhile. Check out the book by Brinkley.

Re: Henry Ford on PBS
 

I have an increased admiration for Edsel, and will give him most of the credit for my Model A's from now on. I knew most of Henry's darker side already, but not to the extent of how much he had turned over operations to that thug, Bennett. It was a poor way for Henry to treat the shoulders he built his empire on.

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First of all let me start by saying that of all Great American's Henry Ford is my favorite and has been since I was very young. In fact I wanted to grow up and do something great just like he did. But I am 60 now and have not done anything that I am famous for yet !! I know of his stubborness and have heard that he was to some extent antisemitic. So I still have great admiration for him and realize he was not a perfect human being. Having said all that I must say that although I love the history and music that PBS has I sometimes think they are anticapitalistic. Sorry to throw politics into this thing but to me they were a little harsh on old Henry. Yes he did have his personal shortcomings but his contribution to America far far far outweigh that. Maybe it is just me but historians today tend to tarnish the truth of our past to fit our politically correct society. As for his stubborness without that we would have never seen the Model T and all that it brought to this country.

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The book "The Secret Life Of Henry Ford" by John Cote Dahlinger, published in 1978 gives much insight into this aspect of Henry's life. In my opinion John Dahlinger was the object of much doting by Henry. Draw your own conclusions.

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I too have an increased admiration for Edsel. Guess I did not realize that he essentially was the Ford that created the Model A. To bad the car, the "Edsel" did not make a better showing later on in years.

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I picked up the show about half way through. I hope they show it again.

Re: Henry Ford on PBS
 

RE: Old Henry's anti-Semitism

Some historians suggest that Ford's long-time personal secretary Ernst Liebold was largely responsible for Henry Ford's views on Jews... Liebold was a steadfast and unapologetic anti-Semite, and made no efforts towards and resisted all attempts to be chummy with other Ford employees.

Eventually, even Liebold was deposed, and spent his remaining years selling plumbing fixtures...

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Re: Henry Ford on PBS
 

did you notice the stamping of the engine?
the guy seemed to have the numbers in a clip on his belt
he did each number by itself
i couldnt see how he knew which number to stamp
he just reached in grabbed the next number and whacked it with the hammer

Re: Henry Ford on PBS
 

The quote below is compliments of wikipedia on Harry Bennetts dismissal from Ford by Henry Ford 2. I find it interesting Henry Sr lack of concern over Bennett's dismissal.

From Wikipedia:


"As his first act, Henry Ford II, then 28, handed Bennett his walking papers. Bennett got in a parting shot by telling Ford, "You're taking over a billion-dollar company that you haven't contributed a thing to." That afternoon, Bennett departed, ending his strange 30 year career with the Ford Motor Company.
The bizarre and ruthless Bennett era was finally over. Afterwards, Henry Ford II went to Henry Ford to inform him of his first executive decision: "I went to him (Henry Ford) with my guard up. I was sure he was going to blow my head off." Henry Ford, quite nonchalantly said "Well, now Harry is back on the streets where he started." "