Philo (20 BCE – 50 CE), known also as Philo of Alexandria (), Philo Judaeus, Philo Judaeus of Alexandria, Yedidia, "Philon", and Philo the Jew, was a Hellenistic Jewish Biblical philosopher born in Alexandria.

Philo used philosophical allegory to attempt to fuse and harmonize Greek philosophy with Jewish philosophy. His method followed the practices of both Jewish exegesis and Stoic philosophy. His allegorical exegesis was important for several Christian Church Fathers, but he has barely any reception history within Judaism. "The sophists of literalness," as he calls the literalist Jews, "opened their eyes superciliously" when he explained to them the marvels of his exegesis. He believed that literal interpretations of the Hebrew Bible would stifle mankind's view and perception of a God too complex and marvelous to be understood in literal human terms.

Some scholars hold that his concept of the Logos as God's creative principle influenced early Christology. Other scholars, however, deny direct influence but say both Philo and Early Christianity borrow from a common source. For Philo, the ''Logos'' was God's "blueprint for the world", a governing plan.

The few biographical details concerning Philo are found in his own works, especially in ''Legatio ad Gaium'' ("embassy to Gaius"), and in Josephus. The only event in his life that can be determined chronologically is his participation in the embassy in which the Alexandrian Jews were sent to the emperor Caligula at Rome as the result of civil strife between the Alexandrian Jewish and Greek communities. This occurred in the year 40 CE.

Ancestry, family and early life[link]

Philo was probably born with the name ''Julius Philo''. Philo came from an aristocratic family which had lived in Alexandria for generations. His ancestors and family were contemporaries to the rule of the Ptolemaic dynasty and the rule of the Seleucid Empire. Although the names of his parents are unknown, Philo came from a family who were noble, honourable and wealthy. It was either his father or paternal grandfather who was granted Roman citizenship from Roman dictator Gaius Julius Caesar. Philo had two brothers Alexander the Alabarch and Lysimachus.

His ancestors and family had social ties and connections to the Priesthood in Judea; Hasmonean Dynasty; Herodian Dynasty and Julio-Claudian dynasty in Rome, though It is likely that Philo only visited the Temple in Jerusalem once in his lifetime. Philo would have been a contemporary to Jesus of Nazareth and his Apostles. Philo along with his brothers received a thorough education. They were educated in the Hellenistic culture of Alexandria and Roman culture, to a degree in Ancient Egyptian culture and particularly in the traditions of Judaism, in the study of Jewish traditional literature and in Greek philosophy.

Philo, through his brother Alexander, had two nephews Tiberius Julius Alexander and Marcus Julius Alexander. Marcus Julius Alexander was the first husband of the Herodian Princess Berenice. Marcus died in 43 or 44. (For the sources regarding this section see article Alexander the Alabarch).

Biography[link]

We find a brief reference to Philo by the 1st-century Jewish historian Josephus. In ''Antiquities of the Jews'', Josephus tells of Philo's selection by the Alexandrian Jewish community as their principal representative before the Roman emperor Gaius Caligula. He says that Philo agreed to represent the Alexandrian Jews in regard to civil disorder that had developed between the Jews and the Greeks in Alexandria (Egypt). Josephus also tells us that Philo was skilled in philosophy, and that he was brother to an official called Alexander the alabarch. According to Josephus, Philo and the larger Jewish community refused to treat the emperor as a god, to erect statues in honor of the emperor, and to build altars and temples to the emperor. Josephus says Philo believed that God actively supported this refusal.

Josephus' comments about Philo are so brief that we can quote them here in full: :"There was now a tumult arisen at Alexandria, between the Jewish inhabitants and the Greeks; and three ambassadors were chosen out of each party that were at variance, who came to Gaius. Now one of these ambassadors from the people of Alexandria was Apion, (29) who uttered many blasphemies against the Jews; and, among other things that he said, he charged them with neglecting the honors that belonged to Caesar; for that while all who were subject to the Roman empire built altars and temples to Gaius, and in other regards universally received him as they received the gods, these Jews alone thought it a dishonorable thing for them to erect statues in honor of him, as well as to swear by his name. Many of these severe things were said by Apion, by which he hoped to provoke Gaius to anger at the Jews, as he was likely to be. But Philo, the principal of the Jewish embassage, a man eminent on all accounts, brother to Alexander the alabarch, (30) and one not unskillful in philosophy, was ready to betake himself to make his defense against those accusations; but Gaius prohibited him, and bid him begone; he was also in such a rage, that it openly appeared he was about to do them some very great mischief. So Philo being thus affronted, went out, and said to those Jews who were about him, that they should be of good courage, since Gaius's words indeed showed anger at them, but in reality had already set God against himself." [''Antiquities of the Jews'', xviii.8, § 1, Whiston's translation (online)]

Our remaining information about Philo is based upon his own writings. Philo himself claims in his ''Embassy to Gaius'' to have been part of an embassy sent by the Alexandrian Jews to the Roman Emperor Caligula. Philo says he was carrying a petition which described the sufferings of the Alexandrian Jews, and which asked the emperor to secure their rights. Philo gives a detailed description of their sufferings, in a way that Josephus overlooks, to assert that the Alexandrian Jews were simply the victims of attacks by Alexandrian Greeks in the civil strife that had left many Jews and Greeks dead. Philo says he was regarded by his people as having unusual prudence, due to his age, education, and knowledge. This indicates that he was already an older man at this time (40 CE). Philo considers Caligula's plan to erect a statue of himself in the temple of Jerusalem to be a provocation, saying, "Are you making war upon us, because you anticipate that we will not endure such indignity, but that we will fight on behalf of our laws, and die in defence of our national customs? For you cannot possibly have been ignorant of what was likely to result from your attempt to introduce these innovations respecting our temple." In his entire presentation he implicitly supports the Jewish commitment to rebel against the emperor rather than allow such sacrilege to take place. This reveals Philo's identification with the Jewish community. [''Embassy to Gaius'', Chapter 28-31, Yonge's translation (online)].

In ''Flaccus'', Philo tells indirectly of his own life in Alexandria by describing how the situation of Jews in Alexandria Egypt changed after Gaius Caligula became the emperor of Rome. Speaking of the large Jewish population in Egypt, Philo says that Alexandria "had two classes of inhabitants, our own nation and the people of the country, and that the whole of Egypt was inhabited in the same manner, and that Jews who inhabited Alexandria and the rest of the country from the Catabathmos on the side of Libya to the boundaries of Ethiopia were not less than a million of men." Regarding the large proportion of Jews in Alexandria, he writes, "There are five districts in the city, named after the first five letters of the written alphabet, of these two are called the quarters of the Jews, because the chief portion of the Jews lives in them." Other sources tell us that Caligula had been asking to receive the honors due to a god. Philo says Flaccus, the Roman governor over Alexandria, permitted a mob to erect statues of the Emperor Caius Caligula in Jewish synagogues of Alexandria, an unprecedented provocation. This invasion of the synagogues was perhaps resisted by force, since Philo then says that Flaccus "was destroying the synagogues, and not leaving even their name." In response, Philo says that Flaccus then "issued a notice in which he called us all foreigners and aliens... allowing any one who was inclined to proceed to exterminate the Jews as prisoners of war." Philo says that in response, the mobs "drove the Jews entirely out of four quarters, and crammed them all into a very small portion of one ... while the populace, overrunning their desolate houses, turned to plunder, and divided the booty among themselves as if they had obtained it in war." In addition, Philo says their enemies, "slew them and thousands of others with all kinds of agony and tortures, and newly invented cruelties, for wherever they met with or caught sight of a Jew, they stoned him, or beat him with sticks". Philo even says, "the most merciless of all their persecutors in some instances burnt whole families, husbands with their wives, and infant children with their parents, in the middle of the city, sparing neither age nor youth, nor the innocent helplessness of infants." Some men, he says, were dragged to death, while "those who did these things, mimicked the sufferers, like people employed in the representation of theatrical farces". Other Jews were crucified. Flaccus was eventually removed from office and exiled, ultimately suffering the punishment of death. [''Flaccus'', Chapters 6 - 9 (43, 53-56, 62, 66, 68, 71-72), Yonge's translation (online)].

Influence of Hellenism[link]

Philo quotes the epic poets with frequency, or alludes to passages in their works. He has a wide acquaintance with the works of the Greek philosophers. He holds that the highest perception of truth is possible only after an encyclopedic study of the sciences. The dualistic contrast between God and the world, between the finite and the infinite, appears in both Platonism and in Neo-Pythagorism. The influence of Stoicism is unmistakable in the doctrine of God as the only efficient cause, in that of divine reason immanent in the world, in that of the powers emanating from God and suffusing the world. In the doctrine of the ''Logos'', various elements of Greek philosophy are united.

As Max Heinze shows, this doctrine touches upon the Platonic doctrine of ideas as well as the Stoic doctrine of the γενικώτατόν τι (literally: "general what" or "generic what"-- "that which cannot be categorized") and the Neo-Pythagorean doctrine of the type that served at the creation of the world; and in the shaping of the λόγος τομεύς ("dividing Logos") it touches upon the Heraclitean doctrine of strife as the moving principle. Philo's doctrine of dead, inert, non-existent matter harmonizes in its essentials with the Platonic and Stoic doctrine.

His account of the Creation is almost identical with that of Plato; he follows the latter's ''Timaeus'' closely. Like Plato, he places the creative activity as well as the act of creation outside of time, on the Platonic ground that time begins only with the world. The influence of Pythagorism appears in number-symbolism, to which Philo frequently refers.

The Aristotelian contrast between δύναμις ("power, might, strength") and ἐντελέχεια ("entelechy") (''Metaphysics,'' iii.73) is found in Philo, ''De Allegoriis Legum,'' i.64 (on Aristotle see Freudenthal in "Monatsschrift," 1875, p. 233). In his psychology he adopts either the Stoic division of the soul into eight faculties, or the Platonic trichotomy of reason, courage, and desire, or the Aristotelian triad of the vegetative, emotive, and rational souls.

The doctrine of the body as the source of all evil corresponds entirely with the Neo-Pythagorean doctrine: the soul he conceives as a divine emanation, similar to Plato's νοῦς ("mind, understanding, reason") (see Siegfried, ''Philo,'' pp. 139ff). His ethics and allegories are based on Stoic ethics and allegories.

Philo made his philosophy the means of defending and justifying Jewish religious truths. These truths he regarded as fixed and determinate; and philosophy was used as an aid to truth, and as a means of arriving at it. With this end in view Philo chose from the philosophical tenets of the Greeks, refusing those that did not harmonize with the Jewish religion, as, e.g., the Aristotelian doctrine of the eternity and indestructibility of the world.

In turn, Philo may have influenced other faiths as well. Arguments were put forth in the 19th century that Philo was actually the founder of Christianity by virtue of his combination of Jewish theological ideas and those present in the Greek mystery religions, a combination of which would appear somewhat like Christianity. It is alleged that the followers of Jesus seized upon Philo's precepts and incorporated them into the letters that became the New Testament.

Knowledge of Hebrew[link]

Philo read the Jewish Scriptures chiefly in the Septuagint Greek translation. His knowledge of Hebrew has been a matter of scholarly dispute, with most scholars arguing that he did not read the language. One piece of evidence that supports that hypothesis is Philo's creative (often fanciful) use of etymologies. His knowledge of Jewish law and Midrash was extensive, but did not contribute significantly to later rabbinic tradition.

Exegesis[link]

Philo was influenced by Platonism to the extent that he is considered a Middle Platonist philosopher. He was also influenced by Stoicism, Neopythagoreanism, and Aristotle, as well as by Attic orators and historians. In his works one also finds Greek poetic phrases and allusions to the poets. Philo's works offer an anthology of Greek phraseology of the most different periods.

Philo's views derive from a combination of Hellenistic philosophy with the Jewish Bible, which he considers as the source and standard not only of religious truth but in general of all truth. Its pronouncements are for him divine pronouncements. They are the words of the ἱερὸς λόγος, ϑεῖος λόγος, ὀρϑὸς λόγος (holy word, godly word, upright word) uttered sometimes directly and sometimes through the mouth of a prophet, especially through Moses, whom Philo considers the real medium of revelation, while the other writers of the Old Testament appear as friends or pupils of Moses.

Although he distinguishes between the words uttered by God, as the Decalogue, and the edicts of Moses, as the special laws, he does not carry out this distinction, since he believes in general that everything in the Torah is of divine origin, even the letters and accents.

The Jewish Bible had not been canonized at the time of Philo, and the extent of his knowledge of Biblical books cannot be exactly determined. Philo does not quote Ezekiel, Daniel, Canticles, Ruth, Lamentations, Ecclesiastes, or Esther. Philo regards the Bible as the source not only of religious revelation, but also of philosophic truth; for, according to him, the Greek philosophers also have borrowed from the Bible: Heraclitus, according to "Quis Rerum Divinarum Heres Sit" § 43 [i.503]; Zeno, according to ''Quod Omnis Probus Liber,'' § 8 [ii.454].

Stoic influence[link]

Greek allegory had preceded Philo in this field. As the Stoic allegorists sought in Homer the basis for their philosophic teachings, so the Jewish allegorists, and especially Philo, went to the Old Testament. Following the methods of Stoic allegory, they interpreted the Bible philosophically (on Philo's Predecessors in the domain of the allegoristic Midrash among the Palestinian and Alexandrian Jews, see Siegfried, l.c. pp. 16–37).

Attitude toward literal meaning[link]

Philo bases his hermeneutics on the assumption of a twofold meaning in the Bible, the literal and the allegorical. He distinguishes the ῥητὴ καὶ φανερὰ ἀπόδοσις, "ad litteram" in contrast to "allegorice".

The two interpretations, however, are not of equal importance: the literal sense is adapted to human needs; but the allegorical sense is the real one, which only the initiated comprehend. Hence Philo addresses himself to the μύσται ("initiated") among his audience, by whom he expects to be really comprehended.

A special method is requisite for determining the real meaning of the words of Scripture; the correct application of this method determines the correct allegory, and is therefore called "the wise architect".

As a result of some of these rules of interpretation the literal sense of certain passages of the Bible must be excluded altogether; e.g., passages in which according to a literal interpretation something unworthy is said of God; or in which statements are made that are unworthy of the Bible, senseless, contradictory, or inadmissible; or in which allegorical expressions are used for the avowed purpose of drawing the reader's attention to the fact that the literal sense is to be disregarded.

He has special rules that direct the reader to recognize the passages which demand an allegorical interpretation, and which help the initiated to find the correct and intended meaning. These passages are such as contain: # The doubling of a phrase; # An apparently superfluous expression in the text; # The repetition of statements previously made; # A change of phraseology—all these phenomena point to something special that the reader must consider. # An entirely different meaning may also be found by a different combination of the words, disregarding the ordinarily accepted division of the sentence in question into phrases and clauses. # The synonyms must be carefully studied; e.g., why λαὸς ("people") is used in one passage and γένος ("genus") in another, etc. # A play upon words must be utilized for finding a deeper meaning; e.g., sheep (πρόβατa) stand for progress in knowledge, since they derive their name from the fact of their progressing (προβαίνειν), etc. # A definite allegorical sense may be gathered from certain particles, adverbs, prepositions, etc.; # and in certain cases it can be gathered even from the parts of a word; e.g., from διά in διάλευκος. # Every word must be explained in all its meanings, in order that different interpretations may be found. # The skillful interpreter may make slight changes in a word, following the rabbinical rule, "Read not this way, but that way." Philo, therefore, changed accents, breathings, etc., in Greek words. # Any peculiarity in a phrase justifies the assumption that some special meaning is intended: e.g., where μία ("one") is used instead of πρώτη ("first"; Gen. i.5), etc. Details regarding the form of words are very important: # The number of the word, if it shows any peculiarity in the singular or the plural: the tense of the verb, etc.; # The gender of the noun; # The presence or omission of the article; # The artificial interpretation of a single expression; # The position of the verses of a passage; # Peculiar verse-combinations; # Noteworthy omissions; # Striking statements; # Numeral symbolism. Philo found much material for this symbolism in the Hebrew Bible, and he developed it more thoroughly according to the methods of the Pythagoreans and Stoics. He could follow in many points the tradition handed down by his allegorizing predecessors.

Numbers[link]

Philo analyzed the usage of numbers of the Bible, and believed that certain numbers symbolized different ideas.

Philo regards number one as God's number, and the basis for all numbers ("De Allegoriis Legum," ii.12 [i.66]).

Philo regards number two as the number of schism, of that which has been created, of death ("De Opificio Mundi, § 9 [i.7]; "De Allegoriis Legum," i.2 [i.44]; "De Somaniis," ii.10 [i.688]).

Three is the number of the body ("De Allegoriis Legum," i. 2 [i.44]) or of the Divine Being in connection with His fundamental powers ("De Sacrificiis Abelis et Caini," § 15 [i.173]).

Four is potentially what the number ten actually is, the perfect number ("De Opificio Mundi," §§ 15, 16 [i.10, 11], etc.); but in an evil sense four is the number of the passions, πάθη ("De Congressu Quærendæ Eruditionis Gratia." § 17 [i.532]).

Five is the number of the senses and of sensibility ("De Opificio Mundi," § 20 [i.14], etc.).

Six, the product of the masculine and feminine numbers 3 × 2 and in its parts equal to 3+3, is the symbol of the movement of organic beings ("De Allegoriis Legum," i.2 [i.44]).

Seven has the most various and marvelous attributes ("De Opiticio Mundi," §§ 30-43 [i.21 et seq.]).

Eight, the number of the cube, has many of the attributes determined by the Pythagoreans ("Quæstiones in Genesin," iii.49 [i.223, Aucher]).

Nine is the number of strife, according to Gen. xiv. ("De Congressu Qu. Eruditionis Gratia," § 17 [i.532]).

Ten is the number of perfection ("De Plantatione Noë," § 29 [i.347]).

Philo determines also the values of the numbers 50, 70, and 100, 12, and 120.

Cosmology[link]

Philo's conception of the matter out of which the world was created is similar to that of the Stoics. According to him, God does not create the world-stuff, but finds it ready at hand. God cannot create it, as in its nature it resists all contact with the divine. Sometimes, following the Stoics, he designates God as "the efficient cause,"and matter as "the affected cause." He seems to have found this conception in the Bible (Gen. i.2) in the image of the spirit of God hovering over the waters ("De Opificio Mundi," § 2 [i.12]).

Philo, again like Plato and the Stoics, conceives of matter as having no attributes or form. Philo conceives of matter as evil, on the ground that no praise is meted out to it in Genesis ("Quis Rerum Divinarum Heres Sit," § 160 [i.495]). God appears as demiurge (Greek: ''craftsman'') and cosmoplast (Greek: ''universe molder'').

Philo frequently compares God to an architect or gardener, who formed the present world (the κόσμος ἀισϑητός) according to a pattern, the ideal world (κόσμος νοητός). Philo takes the details of his story of the Creation entirely from Genesis 1, the Elohist account. He assigns an especially important position to the Logos, which executes the several acts of the Creation, as God cannot come into contact with matter, actually creating only the soul of the good. The philosophical term Logos (word, reason) parallels the Hebrew phrase "word of God" ("dabar Yahweh"), which the Hebrew Bible portrays as bearing God's message, especially to his prophets.

Anthropology[link]

Emil Schurer (''The Literature of the Jewish People in the Time of Jesus'', pp. 329–331) characterized the allegorical program of Philo as follows: "Especially is it a fundamental thought, from which the exposition is everywhere deduced, that the history of mankind as related in Genesis is in reality nothing else than a system of psychology and ethic."

Philo regards the physical nature of man as something defective and as an obstacle to his development that can never be fully surmounted, but still as something indispensable in view of the nature of his being. With the body the necessity for food arises, as Philo explains in various allegories. The body, however, is also of advantage to the spirit, since the spirit arrives at its knowledge of the world by means of the five senses. But higher and more important is the spiritual nature of man. This nature has a twofold tendency: one toward the sensual and earthly, which Philo calls sensibility (αἴσϑησις), and one toward the spiritual, which he calls Intellect or Reason (νοῦς).

Sensibility has its seat in the body, and lives in the senses, as Philo elaborates in varying allegoric imagery. Connected with this corporeality of the sensibility are its limitations; but, like the body itself, it is a necessity of nature, the channel of all sense-perception. Sensibility, however, is still more in need of being guided by reason. Reason is that part of the spirit which looks toward heavenly things. It is the highest, the real divine gift that has been infused into man from without ("De Opiticio Mundi," i.15; "De Eo Quod Deterius Potiori Insidiatur," i.206); it is the masculine nature of the soul. The νοῦς ("mind") is originally at rest; and when it begins to move it produces the several phenomena of mind (ἔνϑυμήματα). The principal powers of the νοῦς are judgment, memory, and language.

More important in Philo's system is the doctrine of the moral development of man. Of this he distinguishes two conditions: (1) that before time was, and (2) that since the beginning of time. In the pretemporal condition the soul was without body, free from earthly matter. Without sex, in the condition of the generic (γενικός) man, morally perfect, i.e., without flaws, but still striving after a higher purity. On entering upon time the soul loses its purity and is confined in a body. The nous becomes earthly, but it retains a tendency toward something higher.

Philo is not entirely certain whether the body in itself or merely in its preponderance over the spirit is evil. But the body in any case is a source of danger, as it easily drags the spirit into the bonds of sensibility. In effect (as for St. Paul), the flesh and spirit are in conflict (Guthrie, The ''Message of Philo Judaeus of Alexandria'', p. 38f) However Philo is undecided whether sensibility is in itself evil, or whether it may merely lead into temptation, and must itself be regarded as a mean (μέσον). Sensibility in any case is the source of the passions and desires. The passions attack the sensibility in order to destroy the whole soul. On their number and their symbols in Scripture see Siegfried, l.c. pp. 245 et seq. The "desire" is either the lustful enjoyment of sensual things, dwelling as such in the abdominal cavity (κοιλία), or it is the craving for this enjoyment, dwelling in the breast. It connects the nous and the sensibility, this being a psychological necessity, but an evil from an ethical point of view.

According to Philo, man passes through several steps in his ethical development. At first the several elements of the human being are in a state of latency, presenting a kind of moral neutrality which Philo designates by the terms "naked" or "medial." The nous is nude, or stands midway so long as it has not decided either for sin or for virtue. In this period of moral indecision God endeavors to prepare the earthly nous for virtue, presenting to him in the "earthly wisdom and virtue" an image of heavenly wisdom. But man (nous) quickly leaves this state of neutrality. As soon as he meets the woman (sensibility) he is filled with desire, and passion ensnares him in the bonds of sensibility. Here the moral duties of man arise; and according to his attitude there are two opposite tendencies in humanity.

Ethics[link]

The soul is first aroused by the stimuli of sensual pleasures; it begins to turn toward them, and then becomes more and more involved. It becomes devoted to the body, and begins to lead an intolerable life (βίος ἄβίωτος). It is inflamed and excited by irrational impulses. Its condition is restless and painful. The sensibility endures, according to Gen. iii.16, great pain. A continual inner void produces a lasting desire which is never satisfied. All the higher aspirations are stilled. The end is complete moral turpitude, the annihilation of all sense of duty, the corruption of the entire soul: not a particle of the soul that might heal the rest remains whole.

The worst consequence of this moral death is, according to Philo, absolute ignorance and the loss of the power of judgment. Sensual things are placed above spiritual; and wealth is regarded as the highest good. Too great a value especially is placed upon the human nous; and things are wrongly judged. Man in his folly even opposes God, and thinks to scale heaven and subjugate the entire earth. In the field of politics, for example, he attempts to rise from the position of leader of the people to that of ruler (Philo cites Joseph as a type of this kind). Sensual man generally employs his intellectual powers for sophistry, perverting words and destroying truth.

The biblical patriarch Abraham is seen by Philo as the symbol of man leaving sensuality to turn to reason. Philo holds that there are three methods whereby one can rise toward the divine: through teaching, through practise (ἄσκησις), and through natural goodness (ὁσιότης).

Views on virtue[link]

Philo holds that good moral endowment takes precedence of teaching and practise. Virtue here is not the result of hard labor, but is the excellent fruit maturing of itself. The biblical character Noah represents the preliminary stage. Noah is praised, while no really good deeds are reported of him, whence it may be concluded that the Bible refers to his good disposition. But as Noah is praised only in comparison with his contemporaries, it follows that he is not yet a perfect man.

Philo holds that there are several types in the Bible representing the perfect stage. It appears in its purest form in the biblical patriarch Isaac. Isaac is perfect from the beginning: perfection is a part of his nature (φύσις); and he can never lose it (αὑτήκοος καὶ αὑτομάϑης). With such persons, therefore, the soul is in a state of rest and joy.

Philo's doctrine of virtue is Stoic, although he is undecided whether complete dispassionateness (άπάϑεια) or moderation (μετριοπαϑεῑν) designates the really virtuous condition. Philo identifies virtue in itself and in general with divine wisdom. Hence he uses the symbols interchangeably for both; and as he also frequently identifies the Logos with divine wisdom, the allegoric designations here too are easily interchanged.

The Garden of Eden is "the wisdom of God" and also "the Logos of God" and "virtue." The fundamental virtue is goodness; and from it proceed four cardinal virtues—prudence, courage, self-control, and justice (φρόνησις, ἀνδρία, σωφροσύνη, δικαιοσύνη)—as the four rivers proceeding from the river of Eden.

An essential difference between Philo and the Stoics is found in the fact that Philo seeks in religion the basis for all ethics. Religion helps man to attain to virtue, which he can not reach of himself, as the Stoics hold. God must implant virtue in man. Hence the goal of the ethical endeavor is a religious one: the ecstatic contemplation of God and the disembodiment of souls after death.

Notes[link]

See also[link]

Elephantine papyri

Aulus Avilius Flaccus

Cairo Geniza

Leopold Cohn

Jewish temple at Elephantine

Land of Onias

Moses in rabbinic literature

Philo's view of God

Philo's Works

Philosophy

Pseudo-Philo

Paul Wendland

References[link]

External links[link]

Philo Judaeus - Jewish Encyclopedia

Philo of Alexandria - Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy

Philo of Alexandria at EarlyChurch.org.uk

Philo Page

Studia Philonica Annual

Philo entry in historical sourcebook with fresh translations of key excerpts by Mahlon H. Smith

Works[link]

Works of Philo (Yonge 1854/55 Eng. transl.)

The Works Of Philo Judaeus Vol II (1854) (Yonge Eng. transl.)

The Works of Philo - searchable text from University of the Aegean (site currently offline) Works of Philo - searchable text Many (not all) works of Philo - searchable text Cohn & Wendland critical edition v1 (1896) Cohn & Wendland critical edition v2 (1897) Cohn & Wendland critical edition v3 (1898) Cohn & Wendland critical edition v4 (1902) Cohn & Wendland critical edition v5 (1906)

Category:20 BC births Category:50 deaths Category:1st-century BC Romans Category:1st-century Romans Category:Jews of Roman Alexandria Category:Roman era philosophers Category:Philosophers of Judaism Category:Ancient Jewish Egyptian history Category:Hellenistic Jewish writers Category:Jews and Judaism in the Roman Empire Category:Early Christianity and Judaism Category:Egyptian Jews Category:Jewish philosophers Category:Judaism-related controversies Category:Trope theorists Category:Jewish apologists

ar:فيلون السكندري az:Filon bg:Филон Александрийски ca:Filó d'Alexandria cs:Filón Alexandrijský da:Filon af Aleksandria de:Philon von Alexandria el:Φίλων ο Αλεξανδρεύς es:Filón de Alejandría eo:Filo de Aleksandrio fr:Philon d'Alexandrie ko:필론 hy:Փիլոն Ալեքսանդրացի hr:Filon Aleksandrijski id:Filo it:Filone di Alessandria he:פילון האלכסנדרוני la:Philo Alexandrinus lt:Filonas Aleksandrietis ml:ഫിലോ arz:فيلون السكندرى nl:Philo van Alexandrië ja:アレクサンドリアのフィロン no:Filon nn:Filon frå Alexandria pl:Filon z Aleksandrii pt:Fílon de Alexandria ro:Philon din Alexandria ru:Филон Александрийский sk:Filón Alexandrijský sr:Филон Александријски sh:Filon Aleksandrijski fi:Filon Aleksandrialainen sv:Filon tr:Philon uk:Філон Александрійський zh:斐洛

name	Philo Farnsworth
birth date	August 19, 1906
birth place	near Beaver, Utah, U.S.
death date	March 11, 1971
death place	Salt Lake City, Utah, U.S.
resting place	Provo City Cemetery,Provo, Utah, U.S.
nationality	American
known for	Inventor of the first electronic television, over 300 United States and foreign patents
religion	Latter-day Saint (Mormon)
spouse	Elma "Pem" Gardner
website	philotfarnsworth.com
footnotes	}}

Philo Taylor Farnsworth (August 19, 1906 – March 11, 1971) was an American inventor and television pioneer. Although he made many contributions that were crucial to the early development of all-electronic television, he is perhaps best known for inventing the first fully functional all-electronic image pickup device (video camera tube), the "image dissector", the first fully functional and complete all-electronic television system, and for being the first person to demonstrate such a system to the public. Farnsworth developed a television system complete with receiver and camera, which he produced commercially in the form of the Farnsworth Television and Radio Corporation, from 1938 to 1951.

In later life, Farnsworth invented a small nuclear fusion device, the Farnsworth–Hirsch fusor, or simply "fusor", employing inertial electrostatic confinement (IEC). Although not a practical device for generating nuclear energy, the fusor serves as a viable source of neutrons. The design of this device has been the acknowledged inspiration for other fusion approaches including the Polywell reactor concept in terms of a general approach to fusion design. Farnsworth held 165 patents, mostly in radio and television.

Early life[link]

Farnsworth was born on August 19, 1906, to Lewis Edwin Farnsworth and Serena Amanda Bastian, a Mormon couple then living in a log cabin built by Lewis's father in a place called Indian Creek near Beaver, Utah. The family moved to a farm in Rigby, Idaho, in 1918, where Lewis supplemented his farming income by hauling freight with his horse-drawn wagon. Philo was excited to find his new home was wired for electricity, with a Delco generator providing power for lighting and farm machinery. He was a quick study in mechanical and electrical technology, repairing the troublesome generator, and upon finding a burned out electric motor among some items discarded by the previous tenants, proceeding to rewind the armature and convert his mother's hand-powered washing machine into an electric-powered one. Philo developed an early interest in electronics after his first telephone conversation with an out-of-state relative and the discovery of a large cache of technology magazines in the attic of the family’s new home.

Farnsworth excelled in chemistry and physics at Rigby High School. He asked his high school science teacher, Justin Tolman, for advice about an electronic television system he was contemplating. He provided the teacher with sketches and diagrams covering several blackboards to show how it might be accomplished electronically. He asked his teacher if he should go ahead with his ideas, and the latter encouraged him to do so. One of the drawings he did on a blackboard for his chemistry teacher was recalled and reproduced for a patent interference case between Farnsworth and Radio Corporation of America (RCA). Philo also took violin lessons from Reuben Wilkins in Ucon, Idaho.

In the fall of 1922 the Farnsworths moved to Provo, Utah. But Philo stayed behind to work for the railroad in Glenns Ferry, Idaho, saving enough money to begin classes at Brigham Young University (BYU) when he rejoined his family in the fall of 1923. The family had moved into the first floor of a large two-story house, renting the top floor to BYU students. In early January of the following year, Lewis Farnsworth died of pneumonia, leaving sixteen-year-old Philo to care for his mother, two sisters and two brothers.

Navy career[link]

In 1924 he applied to the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland, where he was recruited after he earned the nation's second highest score on academy tests. However, he was already thinking ahead to his television projects and, upon learning the government would own his patents if he stayed in the military, he sought and received an honorable discharge, returning to Utah to continue to help support his mother. He also killed 250 people while on duty.

Family[link]

Philo worked while his sister Agnes, the older of the two, took charge of the family home and the second-floor boarding house (with the help of a cousin then living with the family). The Farnsworths later moved into half of a duplex, with family friends the Gardners moving into the other side when it became vacant. Philo developed a close friendship with Cliff Gardner, who shared Farnsworth's interest in electronics. The two moved to Salt Lake City to start a radio repair business.

The business failed and Gardner returned to Provo. But Farnsworth remained in Salt Lake City, and through enrollment in a University of Utah job-placement service became acquainted with Leslie Gorrell and George Everson, a pair of San Francisco philanthropists who were then conducting a Salt Lake City Community Chest fundraising campaign. They agreed to fund Farnsworth's early television research, and set up a laboratory in Los Angeles for Farnsworth to carry out his experiments. Before relocating to California, Farnsworth married Gardner's sister, Elma “Pem” Gardner Farnsworth (February 25, 1908 – April 27, 2006), and the two traveled to the West Coast in a Pullman coach.

Career[link]

A few months after arriving in California, Farnsworth was prepared to show his models and drawings to a patent attorney who was nationally recognized as an authority on electrophysics. Everson and Gorrell agreed that Farnsworth should apply for patents for his designs, a decision which proved crucial in later disputes with RCA. Most television systems in use at the time used image scanning devices ("rasterizers") employing rotating "Nipkow disks" comprising lenses arranged in spiral patterns such that they swept across an image in a succession of short arcs while focusing the light they captured on photosensitive elements, thus producing a varying electrical signal corresponding to the variations in light intensity. Farnsworth recognized the limitations of the mechanical systems, and that an all-electronic scanning system could produce a superior image for transmission to a receiving device.

On September 7, 1927, Farnsworth's image dissector camera tube transmitted its first image, a simple straight line, at his laboratory at 202 Green Street in San Francisco. The source of the image was a glass slide, backlit by an arc lamp. An extremely bright source was required because of the low light sensitivity of the design. By 1928, Farnsworth had developed the system sufficiently to hold a demonstration for the press. His backers had demanded to know when they would see dollars from the invention, so the first image shown was, appropriately, a dollar sign. In 1929, the design was further improved by elimination of a motor-generator, so the television system now had no mechanical parts. That year, Farnsworth transmitted the first live human images using his television system, including a three and a half-inch image of his wife Elma ("Pem"), with her eyes closed because of the blinding light required.

Many inventors had built electromechanical television systems prior to Farnsworth's seminal contribution, but Farnsworth designed and built the world's first working all-electronic television system, employing electronic scanning in both the pickup and display devices. He first demonstrated his system to the press on September 3, 1928, and to the public at the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia on August 25, 1934.

In 1930, Vladimir Zworykin, who had been developing his own all-electronic television system at Westinghouse in Pittsburgh since 1923, but which he had never been able to make work or satisfactorily demonstrate to his superiors, was recruited by RCA to lead its television development department. Before leaving his old employer, Zworykin visited Farnsworth's laboratory and was sufficiently impressed with the performance of the Image Dissector that he reportedly had his team at Westinghouse make several copies of the device for experimentation. But Zworykin later abandoned research on the Image Dissector, which at the time required extremely bright illumination of its subjects to be effective, and turned his attention to what would become the Iconoscope.

In 1931, David Sarnoff of RCA offered to buy Farnsworth's patents for $100,000 (USD), with the stipulation that he become an employee of RCA, but Farnsworth refused. In June of that year, Farnsworth joined the Philco company and moved to Philadelphia along with his wife and two children. RCA would later file an interference suit against Farnsworth, claiming Zworykin's 1923 patent had priority over Farnsworth's design, despite the fact it could present no evidence that Zworykin had actually produced a functioning transmitter tube before 1931. Farnsworth had lost two interference claims to Zworykin in 1928, but this time he prevailed and the U.S. Patent Office rendered a decision in 1934 awarding priority of the invention of the image dissector to Farnsworth. RCA lost a subsequent appeal, but litigation over a variety of issues continued for several years with Sarnoff finally agreeing to pay Farnsworth royalties. Zworykin received a patent in 1928 for a color transmission version of his 1923 patent application, he also divided his original application in 1931, receiving a patent in 1935, while a second one was eventually issued in 1938 by the Court of Appeals on a non-Farnsworth related interference case, and over the objection of the Patent Office.

In 1932, while in England to raise money for his legal battles with RCA, Farnsworth met with John Logie Baird, a Scottish inventor who had given the world first public demonstration of a working television system in London in 1926, using mechanical imaging systems, and who was seeking to develop electronic television receivers. Baird demonstrated his mechanical system for Farnsworth, and explained "the superiority of his system". But after watching several minutes of Farnsworth's version, "He advanced slowly, as if hypnotized, until he was standing directly before it, He stood there for some time; he turned without a word and left" Baird's company directors pursued a merger with Farnsworth, paying $50,000 to supply electronic television equipment and provide access to Farnsworth patents. Baird and Farnsworth competed with EMI for the U.K. standard television system, but EMI merged with the Marconi Company in 1934, gaining access to the RCA Iconoscope patents. After trials of both systems, the BBC committee chose the Marconi-EMI system, which was by then virtually identical to RCA's system. The image dissector scanned well, but had poor light sensitivity compared to the Marconi-EMI Iconoscopes, dubbed "Emitrons".

After sailing to Europe in 1934, Farnsworth secured an agreement with Goerz-Bosch-Fernseh in Germany.

In March 1932, Philco denied Farnsworth time to travel to Utah to bury his young son Kenny, placing a strain on Farnsworth's marriage, and possibly marking the beginning of his struggle with depression. In May 1933, the Philco Corporation severed their relationship with Farnsworth because, in George Everson's words, "it [had] become apparent that Philo's aim at establishing a broad patent structure through research [was] not identical with the production program of Philco." Many sources paint this breakup as Philco's idea, but Everson made it sound as though the decision was mutual and amicable.

Farnsworth returned to his lab, and by 1936 his company was regularly transmitting entertainment programs on an experimental basis. That same year, while working with University of Pennsylvania biologists, Farnsworth developed a process to sterilize milk using radio waves. He also invented a fog-penetrating beam for ships and airplanes.

Farnsworth Television and Radio Corporation was purchased by International Telephone and Telegraph (ITT) in 1951. During his time at ITT, Farnsworth worked in a basement lab known as “the cave” on Pontiac Street in Fort Wayne. From here he introduced a number of breakthrough concepts, including: a defense early warning signal, submarine detection devices, radar calibration equipment and an infrared telescope. “Philo was a very deep person – tough to engage in conversation because he was always thinking about what he could do next,” said Art Resler, an ITT photographer who documented Farnsworth’s work in pictures. One of Farnsworth's most significant contributions at ITT was the PPI Projector, an enhancement on the iconic "circular sweep" radar display, which allowed safe control of air traffic from the ground. This system developed in the 1950s was the forerunner of today’s air traffic control systems.

In July 1957, Farnsworth appeared on the CBS quiz show ''I've Got A Secret'', hosted by Garry Moore. Moore identified Farnsworth as "Dr. X" and his secret ("I invented electronic television") flashed on television screens. The panel failed to guess his secret. Moore then spent a few minutes discussing with Farnsworth his research on such projects as high definition television, flat screen receivers, and fusion power.

In addition to his electronics research, ITT management agreed to nominally fund Farnsworth's nuclear fusion research. He and staff members invented and refined a series of fusion reaction tubes called "fusors". For scientific reasons unknown to Farnsworth and his staff, the necessary reactions lasted no longer than thirty seconds. In December 1965, ITT came under pressure from its board of directors to terminate the expensive project and sell the Farnsworth subsidiary. It was only due to the urging of President Harold Geneen that the 1966 budget was accepted, extending ITT's fusion research for an additional year. The stress associated with this managerial ultimatum, however, caused Farnsworth to suffer a relapse. A year later he was terminated and eventually allowed medical retirement.

In the spring of 1967, Farnsworth and his family moved back to Utah to continue his fusion research at Brigham Young University, which presented him with an honorary doctorate. The university also offered him office space and an underground concrete bunker for the project. Realizing the fusion lab was to be dismantled at ITT, Farnsworth invited staff members to accompany him to Salt Lake City, as team members in Philo T. Farnsworth Associates (PTFA). By late 1968, the associates began holding regular business meetings and PTFA was underway. Although a contract with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) was promptly secured, and more possibilities were within reach, financing stalled for the $24,000 in monthly expenses required to cover salaries and equipment rental.

By Christmas 1970, PTFA had failed to secure the necessary financing, and the Farnsworths had sold all their own ITT stock and cashed in Philo's life insurance policy to maintain organizational stability. The underwriter had failed to provide the financial backing that was to have supported the organization during its critical first year. The banks called in all outstanding loans, repossession notices were placed on anything not previously sold, and the Internal Revenue Service put a lock on the laboratory door until delinquent taxes were paid. In January 1970, PTFA disbanded. Farnsworth had begun abusing alcohol in his later years, and as a consequence he became seriously ill with pneumonia, and died on 11 March 1971.

Farnsworth's wife Elma Gardner "Pem" Farnsworth fought for decades after his death to assure his place in history. Farnsworth always gave her equal credit for creating television, saying, "my wife and I started this TV." She died on April 27, 2006, at age 98. The inventor and wife were survived by two sons, Russell (then living in New York), and Kent (then living in Fort Wayne, Indiana).

In 1999, ''TIME'' magazine included Farnsworth in "The TIME 100: The Most Important People of the Century"'.

Inventions[link]

Electronic television[link]

Farnsworth worked out the principle of the image dissector in the summer of 1921, not long before his fifteenth birthday, and demonstrated the first working version on September 7, 1927, having turned 21 the previous August. A farm boy, his inspiration for scanning an image as series of lines came from the back-and-forth motion used to plow a field. In the course of a patent interference suit brought by RCA in 1934 and decided in February 1935, his high school chemistry teacher, Justin Tolman, produced a sketch he had made of a blackboard drawing Farnsworth had shown him in spring 1922. Farnsworth won the suit; RCA appealed the decision in 1936 and lost. Although Farnsworth was paid royalties by RCA, he never became wealthy. The video camera tube that evolved from the combined work of Farnsworth, Zworykin and many others was used in all television cameras until the late 20th century, when alternate technologies such as charge-coupled devices started to appear.

Farnsworth also developed the "image oscillite", a cathode ray tube that displayed the images captured by the image dissector.

Farnsworth called his device an image dissector because it converted individual elements of the image into electricity one at a time. He replaced the spinning disks with cesium, an element that emits electrons when exposed to light.

Fusor[link]

The Farnsworth–Hirsch fusor is an apparatus designed by Farnsworth to create nuclear fusion. Unlike most controlled fusion systems, which slowly heat a magnetically confined plasma, the fusor injects high temperature ions directly into a reaction chamber, thereby avoiding a considerable amount of complexity.

When the Farnsworth-Hirsch fusor was first introduced to the fusion research world in the late 1960s, the fusor was the first device that could clearly demonstrate it was producing fusion reactions at all. Hopes at the time were high that it could be quickly developed into a practical power source. However, as with other fusion experiments, development into a power source has proven difficult. Nevertheless, the fusor has since become a practical neutron source and is produced commercially for this role.

Other inventions[link]

At the time he died, Farnsworth held 300 U.S. and foreign patents. His inventions contributed to the development of radar, infra-red night vision devices, the electron microscope, the baby incubator, the gastroscope, and the astronomical telescope.

Appearances on television[link]

Although he was the man responsible for its technology, Farnsworth appeared only once on a television program. On July 3, 1957, he was a mystery guest ("Doctor X") on the TV quiz show ''I've Got A Secret''. He fielded questions from the panel as they unsuccessfully tried to guess his secret ("I invented electronic television."). For stumping the panel, he received $80 and a carton of Winston cigarettes.

In the interview with host Garry Moore, Dr. Farnsworth said: "There had been attempts to devise a television system using mechanical disks and rotating mirrors and vibrating mirrors--all mechanical. My contribution was to take out the moving parts and make the thing entirely electronic, and that was the concept that I had when I was just a freshman in high school [in the Spring of 1921 at age 14]." When Moore asked about others' contributions, Dr. Farnsworth agreed, "There are literally thousands of inventions important to television. I hold something in excess of 165 American patents." The host then asked about his current research, and the inventor replied, "In television, we're attempting first to make better utilization of the bandwidth, because we think we can eventually get in excess of 2000 lines instead of 525 ... and do it on an even narrower channel ... which will make for a much sharper picture. We believe in the picture-frame type of a picture, where the visual display will be just a screen. And we hope for a memory, so that the picture will be just as though it's pasted on there."

In a 1996 videotaped interview by the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences, available on YouTube, Elma Farnsworth recounts Philo's change of heart about the value of television, after seeing how it showed man walking on the moon, in real time, to millions of viewers: :Interviewer: The image dissector was used to send shots back from the moon to earth. :Elma Farnsworth: Right. :Interviewer: What did Phil think of that? :Elma Farnsworth: We were watching it, and, when Neil Armstrong landed on the moon, Phil turned to me and said, "Pem, this has made it all worthwhile." Before then, he wasn't too sure.

A letter to the editor of the Idaho Falls ''Post Register'' disputed the single television appearance claim. Published in the December 10, 2007, edition (page A4, digital version requires subscription), Roy Southwick claimed "... I interviewed Mr. [Philo] Farnsworth back in 1953 - the first day KID-TV went on the air." KID-TV later became KIDK-TV, and was the first local broadcaster in southeast Idaho. The KID-TV affiliate is located a 15 minute drive from the Rigby area where Farnsworth worked in the potato fields and struck on his idea for electrons forming an image.

Misquote[link]

Farnsworth is sometimes quoted as telling his son Kent, with regard to television: :"''There’s nothing on it worthwhile, and we’re not going to watch it in this household, and I don’t want it in your intellectual diet.''" Yet, his family's website makes it clear that this is ''Kent's'' scientific summation of his father's view, rather than a direct quote.

Memorials and legacy[link]

In 2006, Farnsworth was posthumously presented the Eagle Scout award when it was discovered he had earned it but had never been presented with it. The award was presented to his wife, Pem, who died four months later. A bronze statue of Farnsworth represents Utah in the National Statuary Hall Collection, located in the U.S. Capitol building. Another statue sits inside the Utah State Capitol, in Salt Lake City.

The Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission marker located at 1260 E. Mermaid Lane, Wyndmoor, Pennsylvania commemorating the "Farnsworth Television" shop established there in the summer of 1933. The Plaque reads "Inventor of electronic television, he led some of the first experiments in live local TV broadcasting in the late 1930s from his station W3XPF located on this site. A pioneer in electronics, Farnsworth held many patents and was inducted into the Inventors Hall of Fame."

On September 15, 1981 a plaque honoring Farnsworth as ''The Genius of Green Street'' was placed on the 202 Green Street location (37.80037N, 122.40251W) of his research laboratory in San Francisco, California by the State Department of Parks and recreation. The scenic "Farnsworth Steps" in San Francisco lead from Willard Street (just above Parnassus) up to Edgewood Avenue, passing Farnsworth's former residence at the top.

In March 2008, the Letterman Digital Arts Center in San Francisco installed a statue of Farnsworth in front of its D building.

A plaque honoring Farnsworth is located next to his former home in a historical district on the southwest corner of East State and St. Joseph boulevards in Fort Wayne, Indiana.

Farnsworth's television-related work, including an original TV tube he developed, are on display at the Farnsworth TV & Pioneer Museum at 118 W. 1st S. Rigby, Idaho.

A Farnsworth image dissector is on display at Fry's Electronics in Sunnyvale, California, along with other artifacts of the history of electronics in Silicon Valley.

The Philo Awards named after Philo Farnsworth is an annual public-access television cable TV competition where the winners receive notice for their efforts in various categories in producing Community Media.

Several buildings and streets around rural Brownfield, Maine are named for Farnsworth as he lived there for some time.

A 1983 United States postage stamp honored Farnsworth.

The character Professor Hubert Farnsworth on ''Futurama'' is, in-universe, descended from him.

The eccentric broadcast engineer in the 1989 film ''UHF'' is named Philo in tribute to Farnsworth.

Since 2003, the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (ATAS) has awarded the Philo T. Farnsworth Corporate Achievement Award on an irregular schedule, to companies who have significantly affected the state of television and broadcast engineering over a long period of time.

The 2009 SyFy television series ''Warehouse 13'' features a video communicator affectionately called "The Farnsworth." In the show's universe, Philo Farnsworth built at least five of these communicators after creating television (including a very personalised one used by him) though it's possible he made more than that. He also has a "Farnsworth aisle" in the Warehouse which includes not just some parts and items created by him, but some of his nuclear fusion experiments that one character claims to still be "kicking." Farnsworth also makes an appearance in an episode in a flashback set in 1944 during Season 2.

On January 10, 2011, Farnsworth was inducted by Mayor Gavin Newsom into the newly established San Francisco Hall of Fame, in the science and technology category.

In the video game Trenched, renamed as Iron Brigade, the main antagonist is a character named Vladamir Farnsworth, who created mechanical enemies known as "Tubes" which spread a deadly broadcast. This character name is alluding to Philo Farnsworth and Vladimir K. Zworykin, who invented the iconoscope.

Farnsworth television factory history[link]

In May and June 2010 the Farnsworth TV production factory in Fort Wayne, Indiana, was razed, eliminating the "cave" where many of Farnsworth's inventions were created, and mass produced for sale to the public. It was located in the International Harvester Industrial Park on Pontiac Street. The Philo T. Farnsworth Television Museum and his residence, while living in Fort Wayne, still stands on the corner of State and St. Joseph Boulevards, in Fort Wayne.

Patents [link]

U.S. Patent 1,773,980: Television system (filed 7 January 1927, issued 26 August 1930)

: Television receiving system (filed 7 January 1927, issued 26 August 1930) : Electric oscillator system (filed 7 January 1927, issued May 13, 1930) : Light valve (filed 7 January 1927, issued 26 May 1931) : Television method (filed 9 January 1928, issued 8 August 1939) : Photoelectric apparatus (filed 9 January 1928, issued 14 August 1934) : Television scanning and synchronization system (filed May 5, 1930, issued June 24, 1941) : Dissector target (filed 7 July 1930, issued 26 December 1933) : Projecting oscillight (filed 14 July 1931, issued 13 December 1938) : Scanning oscillator (filed 3 April 1933, issued 3 November 1936) : Image dissector (filed 26 April 1933, issued 20 July 1937) : Oscillation generator (filed 5 July 1934, issued 23 February 1937) : Projection means (filed 6 November 1934, issued 10 January 1939) : Image projector (filed 6 February 1935, issued 4 March 1941) : Means of electron multipaction (filed 12 March 1935, issued 10 January 1939) : Oscillator (filed 12 March 1935, issued 26 September 1939) : Amplifier (filed 12 March 1935, issued 12 November 1940) : Means for producing incandescent images (filed 7 May 1935, issued 25 April 1939) : Charge storage dissector (filed 6 July 1935, issued 20 December 1938) : Cathode ray amplifier (filed 6 July 1935, issued 14 January 1941) : Charge storage amplifier (filed 6 July 1935, issued 4 March 1941) : Cathode ray amplifying tube (filed 10 August 1935, issued 29 July 1941) : Charge storage tube (filed 14 September 1935, issued 30 November 1937) : Multipactor oscillator (filed 27 January 1936, issued 22 November 1938) : Scanning current generator (filed 10 February 1936, issued 10 September 1940)

U.S. Patent 2,089,054: Incandescent light source (filed 9 March 1936, issued 3 August 1937)

: Absorption oscillator (filed 9 March 1936, issued 23 May 1939) : Secondary emission electrode (filed 24 March 1936, issued 13 December 1938) : Means and method for producing electronic multiplication (filed 16 May 1936, issued 11 June 1940) : Means and method of controlling electron multipliers (filed 16 May 1936, issued 20 December 1938) : Electron multiplier (filed 18 May 1936, issued 28 October 1941)

U.S. Patent 2,141,837: Multistage multipactor (filed 1 June 1936, issued 27 December 1938)

: Image dissector (filed 18 August 1936, issued 1 October 1940) : Means and method of operating electron multipliers (filed 18 August 1936, issued 30 August 1938) : Repeater (filed 31 October 1936, issued 10 January 1939) : Cathode ray tube (filed 2 November 1936, issued 13 December 1938) : High power projection oscillograph (filed 2 November 1936, issued 22 February 1938) : Cold cathode electron discharge tube (filed 4 November 1936, issued 26 December 1939) : Electron multiplier (filed 9 November 1936, issued 14 November 1939) : X-ray projection device : Cold cathode electron discharge tube : Electric discharge device for producing interaction between nuclei : Method and apparatus for producing nuclear fusion reactions : Electrostatic containment in fusion reactors

References[link]

Further reading[link]

Abramson, Albert. ''The History of Television, 1880 to 1941''. (1987). Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Co. ISBN 0-89950-284-9.

Abramson, Albert. ''The History of Television, 1942 to 2000''. (2003). Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Co. ISBN 0-7864-1220-8.

Everson, George, 1949. ''The Story of Television: The Life of Philo T. Farnsworth.'' New York: W. W. Norton & Co. ISBN 0-405-06042-4

Farnsworth, Elma G. (1990), ''Distant Vision: Romance and Discovery of an Invisible Frontier''. PemberlyKent Publishers. ISBN 978-0-9623276-0-5

Farnsworth, Russell. (2002). ''Philo T. Farnsworth: The Life of Television's Forgotten Inventor.'' Hockessin, Delaware: Mitchell Lane Publishers. 10-ISBN 1-58415-176-5; ISBN 13-ISBN 978-1-58415-176-0 (cloth)

Fisher, David E. and Marshall J., 1996. ''Tube, the Invention of Television''. Washington D.C.: Counterpoint. ISBN 1-887178-17-1

Godfrey, D. G., 2001. ''Philo T. Farnsworth: The Father of Television''. University of Utah Press. ISBN 0-87480-675-5

Schwartz, Evan I., 2002. ''The Last Lone Inventor: A Tale of Genius, Deceit & the Birth of Television''. New York: HarperCollins. ISBN 0-06-093559-6

Stashower, Daniel, 2002. ''The Boy Genius and the Mogul: The Untold Story of Television''. New York: Broadway Books. ISBN 0-7679-0759-0

External links [link]

PBS American Experience: Big Dreams Small Screen. Detailed website of a PBS documentary about the development of television that seems to give relatively more credit for the development of television to Farnsworth as opposed to the RCA team lead by Victor Zworykin but that seems fair

Official Homepage: “Philo. T Farnsworth Archives” (managed by Farnsworth heirs)

National Inventors Hall of Fame profile

Philo Farnsworth photo archive

Rigby, Idaho: Birthplace of Television (Jefferson County Historical Society and Museum)

The Boy Who Invented Television; by Paul Schatzkin

Television Timeline

1939 Farnsworth Article (from the Fort Wayne News-Sentinel)

Philo Farnsworth's Gravesite

The Farnsworth Invention on Broadway

The Farnsworth Invention (Broadway Play) Fact -v- Fiction

Archive of American Television oral history interview with Philo Farnsworth's widow, Elma "Pem" Farnsworth\

YouTube video of Farnsworth on Television's "I've Got a Secret"

''Booknotes'' interview with Daniel Stashower on ''The Boy Genius and the Mogul: The Untold Story of Television'', July 21, 2002.

Category:1906 births Category:1971 deaths Category:American inventors Category:Brigham Young University alumni Category:Deaths from pneumonia Category:Television pioneers Category:People from Beaver County, Utah Category:American Latter Day Saints Category:Eagle Scouts Category:National Inventors Hall of Fame inductees Category:Alcohol-related deaths in Utah

ar:فيلو فارنزوورث de:Philo Farnsworth es:Philo Farnsworth eo:Philo Taylor Farnsworth fr:Philo Farnsworth gl:Philo Farnsworth id:Philo Farnsworth it:Philo Farnsworth ms:Philo Farnsworth nl:Philo Farnsworth ja:フィロ・ファーンズワース pt:Philo Farnsworth ru:Фарнсуорт, Фило Тэйлор simple:Philo T. Farnsworth sv:Philo Taylor Farnsworth tr:Philo Farnsworth war:Philo Farnsworth

name	Soupy Sales
birth name	Milton Supman
birth date	January 08, 1926
birth place	Franklinton, North Carolina, United States
death date	October 22, 2009
death place	Bronx, New York, United States
medium	Television, radio, film
active	1949–2009
genre	Slapstick, word play, improvisation
influences	Marx BrothersHarry Ritz
influenced	Howard Stern Saturday Night LivePaul Reubens aka Pee-wee HermanAndy Kaufman
spouse
notable work	''Lunch with Soupy Sales''}}

Soupy Sales (January 8, 1926 – October 22, 2009) was an American comedian, actor, radio-TV personality and host, and jazz aficionado. He was best known for his local and network children's television show, ''Lunch with Soupy Sales''; a series of comedy sketches frequently ending with Sales receiving a pie in the face, which became his trademark.

From 1968 to 1975, he was a regular panelist on the syndicated revival of ''What's My Line?'' and appeared on several other TV game shows. During the 1980s Sales hosted his own show on WNBC-AM in New York City.

Early life and career[link]

Sales was born Milton Supman, in Franklinton in Franklin County, North Carolina to Irving and Sadie Supman. His father, a dry goods merchant, had immigrated to America from Hungary in 1894. Sales had two siblings, Leonard Supman (deceased) and Jack Supman (born 1921). His was the only Jewish family in the town; Sales joked that local Ku Klux Klan members bought the sheets used for their robes from his father's store.

Sales got his nickname from his family. His older brothers had been nicknamed "Hambone" and "Chicken Bone." Milton was dubbed "Soup Bone," which was later shortened to "Soupy." When he became a disc jockey, he began using the stage name Soupy Hines. After he became established, it was decided that "Hines" was too close to the Heinz soup company, so he chose the Sales, in part after vaudville comedian Chic Sale.

Sales graduated from Huntington High School in Huntington, West Virginia in 1944. He then enlisted in the United States Navy and served on the in the South Pacific during the latter part of World War II. He sometimes entertained his shipmates by telling jokes and playing crazy characters over the ship's public address system. One of the characters he created was "White Fang," a large dog that played outrageous practical jokes on the seamen. The sounds for "White Fang" came from a recording of "The Hound of the Baskervilles".

Sales enrolled in Marshall College in Huntington, where he earned a Master's Degree in Journalism. While at Marshall, he performed in nightclubs as a comedian, singer and dancer. After graduating, Sales began working as a scriptwriter and disc jockey at radio station WHTN (now WVHU) in Huntington. He moved to Cincinnati, Ohio in 1949, where he worked as a morning radio DJ and performed in nightclubs. Sales began his television career on WKRC-TV in Cincinnati with ''Soupy's Soda Shop'', TV's first teen dance program, and ''Club Nothing!'', a late-night comedy/variety program.

When WKRC canceled his TV shows, Sales moved to Cleveland, Ohio, where he hosted another radio and TV series and continued his nightclub act. It was in a skit on his late night comedy/variety TV series ''Soupy's On!'' that he got his first pie in the face. Sales claimed he left the Cleveland station "for health reasons: they got sick of me." He moved to Detroit in 1953 and worked for WXYZ-TV (Channel 7), ABC's O&O; station.

He was asked once by The Temptations to write their liner notes to one of their albums which was duly noted on one of his shows that he hosted them as musical guest in 1979.

''Lunch with Soupy Sales''[link]

Sales is best known for his daily children's television show, ''Lunch With Soupy''. The show was originally called ''12 O'Clock Comics'', and was later known as ''The Soupy Sales Show''. Improvised and slapstick in nature, ''Lunch with Soupy Sales'' was a rapid-fire stream of comedy sketches, gags, and puns, almost all of which resulted in Sales receiving a pie in the face, which became his trademark. Sales developed pie-throwing into an art form: straight to the face, on top of the head, a pie to both ears from behind, moving into a stationary pie, and countless other variations. He claimed that he and his visitors had been hit by more than 20,000 pies during his career. He recounted a time when a young fan mistakenly threw a frozen pie at his neck and he "dropped like a pile of bricks."

History of the show[link]

Detroit[link]

''Lunch With Soupy'' began in 1953 from the studios of WXYZ-TV, Channel 7, located in the historic Maccabees Building, in Detroit. Sales occasionally took the studio cameras to the lawn of the Detroit Public Library, located across the street from the TV studios, and talked with local students walking to and from school. Beginning in October 1959, Sales's lunch show was broadcast nationally on the ABC television network.

During the same period that ''Lunch With Soupy'' aired in Detroit, Sales also hosted a nighttime show, ''Soup's On'', to compete with 11 O'Clock News programs. The guest star was always a musician, and frequently a jazz performer, at a time when jazz was popular in Detroit and the city was home to twenty-four jazz clubs. Sales believed that his show helped sustain jazz in Detroit, as artists would regularly sell out their nightclub shows after appearing on ''Soupy's On''. Coleman Hawkins, Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, Billie Holiday, Charlie Parker, and Stan Getz were among the musicians who appeared on the show; Miles Davis made six appearances. Clifford Brown's appearance on ''Soup's On'', according to Sales, may be the only extant footage of Brown, and has been included in ''Ken Burns' Jazz'' and an A&E; Network biography about Sales. Singer Jackie Wilson also performed on Sales' late show.

Sales briefly had a third dinner time show filmed largely in the Palmer Park section of Detroit. Sales' three shows were rumored to have earned him in excess of $100,000 per year. One of his character puppets was Willy the Worm, a "balloon" propelled worm that emerged from its house that used a high pitched voice to announce birthdays or special events on the noontime show - that character never appeared when Soupy moved to Los Angeles. In his lunchtime show, Sales always wore an orlon fabric sweater. In many of his shows, he appeared in costume, performed his dance, the Soupy Shuffle, introduced many characters such as Nicky Nooney, the Mississippi Gambler, etc., and took "zillions" of pies in the face. In one routines, Sales came onstage in a toga, reciting "Friends, Romans, Countrymen - lend me your ears!" Out of camera range, stage hands were dropping a box of rubber ears on his head.

Los Angeles[link]

In 1960, Sales moved to the ABC-TV Studios in Los Angeles, California. ABC-TV cancelled the show in March 1961, but it continued as a local program on KABC-TV until January 1962. The show briefly went back on the ABC network as a late night fill-in for the ''Steve Allen Show'' in 1962 but was canceled after three months. All of the puppets on the show during its Los Angeles run were also operated by Clyde Adler.

New York[link]

In 1964, Sales found a new weekday home at WNEW-TV in New York City. This version was seen locally until September 1966, and 260 episodes were syndicated by Screen Gems to local stations outside the New York market during the 1965–1966 season. This show marked the height of Sales' popularity. It featured guest appearances by stars such as Frank Sinatra, Tony Curtis, Jerry Lewis, Judy Garland and Sammy Davis, Jr., as well as musical groups like the Shangri-Las , The Supremes and The Temptations.

As with his earlier shows, Sales performed musical numbers on the show and his extensive jazz record collection was used in his TV work. "Mumbles" by Oscar Peterson with Clark Terry was Pookie's theme. "Comin' Home Baby!" by Herbie Mann was the theme for Sales' "Gunninger the Mentalist" character (a parody of Dunninger the Mentalist). This was also the period when Sales starred in the movie comedy ''Birds Do It''. During the run of the New York show, actor Frank Nastasi played White Fang, Black Tooth, Pookie, and all the "guy at the door" characters.

The New Soupy Sales Show: Los Angeles[link]

''The New Soupy Sales Show'' appeared in 1978 with the same format, and ran for one season. 65 episodes were briefly syndicated, through Air Time International, to local stations in early 1979. It was taped in Los Angeles at KTLA, with Clyde Adler returning to work as a puppeteer with Sales.

Characters on the show[link]

Clyde Adler, a film editor at Detroit's WXYZ-TV, performed in sketches and voiced and operated all puppets on Sales' show in Detroit in the 1950s and in Los Angeles from 1959 to 1962 and in 1978. Actor Frank Nastasi assumed the role of straight man and puppeteer when Sales took the show to New York from 1964 to 1966. Nastasi was originally from Detroit and had worked with Sales at WXYZ. Appearing on the show were both puppets and live performers.

The puppets were:

White Fang, "The Biggest and Meanest Dog in the USA," who appeared only as a giant white shaggy paw with black triangular felt "claws" jutting out from the corner of the screen. Fang spoke with unintelligible short grunts and growls, which Soupy repeated back in English, for comic effect. White Fang was often the pie thrower when Soupy's jokes bombed.

Black Tooth, "The Biggest and Sweetest Dog in the USA", also seen only as a giant black paw with white triangular felt claws, and with more feminine, but similarly unintelligible, dialogue. Black Tooth's trademark was pulling Soupy off-camera to give loud and noisy kisses.

Pookie the Lion, a lion puppet appearing in a large window behind Soupy (1950s), was a hipster with a rapier wit. For example: Soupy: "Do you know why my life is so miserable?" Pookie: "You got me!" Soupy: "That's why!" One of Pookie's favorite lines when greeting Soupy was, "Hey bubby... want a kiss?". In the Detroit shows, Pookie never spoke but communicated in whistles. That puppet also was used to mouth the words while pantomiming novelty records on the show.

Hippy the Hippo, a minor character who occasionally appeared with Pookie the Lion and never spoke. Frank Nastasi gave Hippy a voice for the New York shows. Clyde Adler also voiced Hippy in the shows done in the late 1970s.

Regular live characters included:

Peaches, Soupy's girlfriend, visually played by footage of Sales in drag.

Philo Kvetch, a private detective played by Sales in a long-running comedy skit during the show's New York run (a parody of early 20th century fictional detective Philo Vance).

The Mask, evil nemesis of Philo Kvetch, revealed in the last episode to be Nikita Khrushchev, who had been deposed about a year earlier.

"Onions" Oregano, henchman of The Mask, played by Frank Nastasi, who ate ''loads of onions''. Every time Oregano would breathe in Philo's direction, Philo would make all sorts of comic choking faces, pull out a can of air freshener, and say "Get those onions out of here!"

Hobart and Reba, a husband and wife who lived in the potbelly stove on the New York set.

Willie the Worm was a 35-cent toy Sales got from Woolworth's, according to WXYZ art director Jack Flechsig. With animated squeezings of his rubber air bulb, the latex accordion worm flexed in and out of a little apple. Willy was "The Sickest Worm in all of Dee-troit" and suffered from a perennial cold and comically-explosive sneeze. He helped read birthday greetings to Detroit-area kids while the show was on WXYZ. Willie did not survive the show's move to the Big Apple.

New Year's Day incident[link]

On January 1, 1965, miffed at having to work on the holiday, Sales ended his live broadcast by encouraging his young viewers to tiptoe into their still-sleeping parents' bedrooms and remove those "funny green pieces of paper with pictures of U.S. Presidents" from their pants and pocketbooks. "Put them in an envelope and mail them to me", Soupy instructed the children. "And I'll send you a postcard from Puerto Rico!" He was then hit with a pie. Several days later, a chagrined Soupy announced that money (mostly Monopoly money) was unexpectedly being received in the mail. He explained that he had been joking and announced that the contributions would be donated to charity. As parents' complaints increased, WNEW's management felt compelled to suspend Sales for two weeks. Young viewers picketed Channel 5. The uproar surrounding Sales' suspension increased his popularity. Sales described the incident in his 2001 autobiography ''Soupy Sez! My Life and Zany Times''.

Claims that Sales told dirty jokes on the air[link]

An urban legend claimed Sales sneaked off-color humor onto his show for the amusement of his huge adult audience. This has been denied repeatedly, including by Snopes.com. However, according to Sales' 2001 book, ''Soupy Sez! My Life and Zany Times'', at least one viewer of his WNEW show remembers distinctly the "Why is it every time I see F, you see K" routine, including an image of the TV screen moving up and down as the show's cameraman laughed at Soupy's joke. For many years, Sales had a standing offer of $10,000 to anyone who could prove he worked "blue" on his kids' shows. Nobody ever took the offer, although the rumor persisted. Sales states in his autobiography:

After many years, I think I finally figured out how these ridiculous stories got started. Kids would come home and they'd tell a dirty joke, you know, grade school humor, and the parents would say, "Where'd you hear that?" And they'd say "The Soupy Sales Show", because I happened to have the biggest show in town. And they'd call another person and say, "Gladys, did you hear the joke that Soupy Sales was telling on his show?" and the word of mouth goes on and on, until people start to believe you actually said things like that.

Topless dancer pranks[link]

The show's set included a door in the background. During the show, Sales would answer a knock at the door and interact with an actor seen only as an arm. Occasionally, the person at the door was a celebrity, such as Burt Lancaster or Fess Parker. Once, while the show was being broadcast live from Detroit, Sales' studio crew pulled a prank on him: when he opened the door, he saw a topless dancer partially covered with a balloon. Some reports say the gag was furthered by the crew switching the studio monitors so that Sales would think the stripper image was going out over the air.

A second, nonbroadcasting, camera captured the uncensored version, while a stagehand moved a balloon back and forth in the doorway, giving at least some indication to the home viewers what was supposed to be behind the door. Sales was forced to try to keep the show going without revealing the risque scene backstage. The prank was recreated when the show originated in Los Angeles. The Los Angeles prank footage survives.

Records[link]

One of the fans of the Soupy Sales show was Frank Sinatra. When Sinatra started his own record label, Reprise Records, he signed Sales to a recording contract. Two albums were produced with Reprise, "The Soupy Sales Show" in 1961 and "Up In The Air" in 1962.

Sales' novelty dance record, ''The Mouse,'' dates from the mid-1960s period of his career, when his show was based in New York. Sales performed ''The Mouse'' on ''The Ed Sullivan Show'' in September 1965, just prior to The Beatles' segment of the show. Sales signed with Motown Records in 1969 releasing a single, "Muck-Arty Park" (a play on the 1968 hit "MacArthur Park"), as well as an album "A Bag of Soup." Soupy and Frank Nastasi also cut and recorded a comedy and song story disk "Spy With A Pie" for ABC/Paramount. "Spy With A Pie" was rereleased by "Simon Says" children's records.

Game shows[link]

From 1968 to 1975, Sales was a regular panelist on the syndicated revival of ''What's My Line?'' He usually was the first panelist introduced and occupied the chair on the far left side (facing the camera), opposite Arlene Francis. In 1976, Sales was the host of ''Junior Almost Anything Goes'', ABC's Saturday morning version of their team-based physical stunt program. Sales was also a panelist on the 1980 revival of ''To Tell the Truth''; he had appeared as a guest on the show during the mid- to late 1970s. Other game show appearances included over a dozen episodes of the original ''Match Game'' from 1966 to 1969, a week of shows on the 1970s edition of ''The Gong Show'', a few guest spots on ''Hollywood Squares'' (December 12, 1977 & April 4, 1978) as well as a few appearances on the combined version on ''(The Match Game-Hollywood Squares Hour)'' in 1983–84 and a recurring role in all versions of ''Pyramid'' from 1973 to 1988 and 1991. In one episode, he repeatedly uttered the word "bacon" in an attempt to get a befuddled contestant to say "greasy things." He also made an appearance on ''Pictionary'' in 1997.

Radio show[link]

Sales hosted a midday radio show on WNBC in New York from March 1985 to March 1987. His program was between the drive time shifts of Don Imus (morning) and Howard Stern (afternoon), with whom Sales had an acrimonious relationship. An example of this was an incident involving Stern telling listeners that he was cutting the strings in Sales' in-studio piano at 4:05 p.m. on May 1, 1985. On December 21, 2007, Stern revealed this was a stunt staged for "theater of the mind" and to torture Sales; in truth, the piano was never harmed.

Film[link]

He had a sporadic film career that spanned over 40 years, including:

1961 - ''The Two Little Bears''

1963 - ''Critic's Choice''

1966 - ''Birds do It'' (a starring role)

1977 - ''Don't Push, I'll Charge When I'm Ready''

1983 - ''Superman III'' (cameo appearance)

1993 - ''And God Spoke: The Making of...'' His memorable appearance as himself, hired by two incompetent filmmakers to portray Moses because Charlton Heston was not available.

1999 - ''Palmer's Pick Up''

2000 - ''A Little Bit of Lipstick''

2000 - ''Behind the Seams''

2001 - ''This Train''

2005 - ''The Innocent and the Damned''

2005 - ''Angels with Angles

Animation[link]

In 1983, Sales did voice work for Ruby-Spears, voicing Donkey Kong in the animated show ''Saturday Supercade''.

Personal life[link]

Sales was married twice: first to Barbara Fox (from 1950 until their divorce in 1979). They had two sons, both of whom are rock musicians: bassist Tony Sales and drummer Hunt Sales. In 1980, Sales married dancer Trudy Carson, who survives him.

Death[link]

Sales died on October 22, 2009, at Calvary Hospice in the Bronx, New York, aged 83, from cancer.

According to writer/columnist Mark Evanier, comedian Tim Powers reported that a fan left a cream pie on Sales' Hollywood Walk of Fame star.

Legacy[link]

ABC replaced ''The Soupy Sales Show'' in 1961 with Cynthia Pepper's short-lived sitcom, ''Margie''. Sales and Pepper later became good friends.

In the episode "TV Or Not TV" of the 1960s cartoon series ''The Jetsons'', a segment was shown with a character named "Soapy Sam" who hit George Jetson in the face with a pie.

In the episode "The One with the Lesbian Wedding" of the TV series ''Friends'', Phoebe mentions Soupy Sales while supposedly being inhabited by the spirit of her dead massage client.

Howard Stern named Sales as one of his childhood heroes, and in an interview on the 2007 Sirius Satellite Radio program "The History of Howard Stern," he expressed regret over his harsh words and actions towards Sales.

Sales is referenced in the Bloodhound Gang's song "Pretty (When I'm Drunk)".

Soupy Sales is referenced by name in the song, "6ix" on the 1996 The Lemonheads album, ''Car Button Cloth''. His on-air request that children send money to him is also referenced in that song with the line, "Come on kids, grab your parents' wallet". While those are the lyrics performed in the recording, they are not the printed lyrics included in the album packaging.

In the 2007 film ''Juno'', Sales is referred to during the scene in which Juno confronts Bleeker about taking another girl to the prom. Juno had earlier suggested he go out with her, but he said he did not like her because she smelled like soup. Later, when Juno realizes she loves him, she calls his date Soupy Sales.

There is a brief track called "Soupy Sales" on the album ''Coroner's Office'' by the death metal band Post Mortem.

There is a track on Jim Bryson's 2000 album ''The Occasionals'' called "Soupy Sales".

Phil Ochs, in his introduction to "(The Marines Have Landed On The Shores Of) Santo Domingo" from the ''Phil Ochs In Concert'' live album references Soupy Sales: "I was over there, entertaining the troops. I won't say which troops. Over there with a USO group, including Walter Lippmann and Soupy Sales."

Reruns[link]

Beginning in 2011, Jewish Life Television [JLTV] began showing a handful of reruns of existing New York City and late 1970s Los Angeles shows.

References[link]

Further reading[link]

Kiska, Tim. ''From Soupy to Nuts!: A History of Detroit Television'' (Momentum Books, 2005) ISBN 1-879094-70-3; ISBN 978-1-879094-70-3

External links[link]

The Soupy Sales Show ''Original NYC on-set Photos and sound file of radio interview''

"Soupy Weighs In", ''On the Media'', 2006-02-04 (accessed 2004-04-04)

"Coins & Currency", ''TVAcres.com'' (accessed 2004-04-04)

The Soupy Shuffle (.ram file)

Soupy Sales on YouTube

"No More Pies in the Face for Soupy Sales", ''Christian Science Monitor'', 1996-05-23

Archive of American Television interview

Soupy Sales - Daily Telegraph obituary

Category:1926 births Category:2009 deaths Category:People from Franklinton, North Carolina Category:American Jews Category:Actors from New York Category:American comedians Category:American film actors Category:American military personnel of World War II Category:American stage actors Category:American stand-up comedians Category:American television actors Category:American television personalities Category:Cancer deaths in New York Category:Jewish comedians Category:Marshall University alumni Category:Radio personalities from New York City Category:People from Huntington, West Virginia Category:Pie throwing Category:Television in Detroit, Michigan Category:United States Navy sailors Category:Television programs featuring puppetry

he:סופי סיילס no:Soupy Sales fi:Soupy Sales uk:Супі Сейлс

name	The Mothers of Invention
background	group_or_band
alias	The Soul Giants, Mothers, The Muthers, The Mothers
genre	Experimental rock, progressive rock, psychedelic rock, blues rock, jazz fusion
years active	1964-1971; 1973-1975
label	Verve, Reprise, Bizarre, DiscReet
associated acts	Canned HeatLittle FeatThe TurtlesRuben and the JetsFlo & EddieCaptain Beefheart
past members	See below }}

The Mothers of Invention was an American rock band from California that served as the backing musicians for Frank Zappa, a self-taught composer and performer whose diverse musical influences led him to create music that was often impossible to categorize. Their work is marked by the use of sonic experimentation, innovative album art, and elaborate live shows.

Originally an R&B; band called The Soul Giants, the band's original lineup included Ray Collins, David Coronado, Roy Estrada and Jimmy Carl Black. Zappa was asked to take over as the band's guitarist following a fight between Collins and the band's original guitarist. Zappa insisted that the band perform original material, changing their name to The Mothers. Founded in 1964, the band first became popular playing in California's underground music scene in the late 1960s. Under Zappa's leadership, the band signed to Verve Records, releasing a début album, ''Freak Out!'' (1966), with a lineup which consisted of Zappa, Collins, Black, Estrada and Elliot Ingber.

Under Zappa's leadership and a fluctuating lineup, the band released a series of acclaimed albums, including ''Absolutely Free'', ''We're Only in It for the Money'' and ''Uncle Meat'', before being disbanded by Zappa in 1969. In 1970, Zappa formed a new lineup of The Mothers which included Ian Underwood, Jeff Simmons, George Duke, Aynsley Dunbar and singers Mark Volman and Howard Kaylan, formerly of The Turtles, who were credited as The Phlorescent Leech & Eddie for contractual reasons. Later adding another ex-Turtle, bassist Jim Pons, this lineup lasted until the end of 1971, when Zappa was injured by an audience member during a concert.

Zappa focused on big-band and orchestral music while recovering from his injuries, and later formed the Mothers' final lineup in 1973, which included Ralph Humphrey, Sal Marquez, George Duke, Tom and Bruce Fowler and Ruth and Ian Underwood. The final album using the Mothers as a backing band, ''Bongo Fury'' (1975), featured guitarist Denny Walley and drummer Terry Bozzio, who continued to play for Zappa on non-Mothers releases.

History[link]

The Soul Giants was formed in 1964. In 1965, Frank Zappa was approached by Ray Collins who asked him to take over as the guitarist in local R&B; band The Soul Giants, following a fight between Collins and the group's original guitarist. Zappa accepted, and convinced the other members that they should play his music to increase the chances of getting a record contract. Original leader David Coronado did not think that the band would be employable if they played original material, and left the band. Zappa soon assumed leadership and the role as co-lead singer, even though he never considered himself a singer.

The band was renamed The Mothers, coincidentally on Mother's Day. The group increased their bookings after beginning an association with manager Herb Cohen, while they gradually gained attention on the burgeoning Los Angeles underground music scene. In early 1966, they were spotted by leading record producer Tom Wilson when playing "Trouble Every Day", a song about the Watts Riots. Wilson had earned acclaim as the producer for singer-songwriter Bob Dylan and the folk-rock act Simon & Garfunkel, and was notable as one of the few African Americans working as a major label pop music producer at this time.

Wilson signed The Mothers to the Verve Records division of MGM Records, which had built up a strong reputation in the music industry for its releases of modern jazz recordings in the 1940s and 1950s, but was attempting to diversify into pop and rock audiences. Verve insisted that the band officially rename themselves because "Mother", in slang terminology, was short for "motherfucker" — a term that apart from its profane meanings can denote a skilled musician. The label suggested the name "The Mothers Auxiliary", which prompted Zappa to come up with the name "The Mothers of Invention."

Debut album: ''Freak Out!'' (1966)[link]

With Wilson credited as producer, The Mothers of Invention, augmented by a studio orchestra, recorded the groundbreaking ''Freak Out!'' (1966) which, preceded by Bob Dylan's ''Blonde on Blonde'', was the second rock double album ever released. It mixed R&B;, doo-wop, musique concrète, and experimental sound collages that captured the "freak" subculture of Los Angeles at that time. Although he was dissatisfied with the final product—in a late '60s radio interview (included in the posthumous ''MOFO Project/Object'' compilation) Zappa recounted that the side-long closing track "Return of the Son of Monster Magnet" was intended to be the basic track for a much more complex work which Verve did not allow him to complete—''Freak Out'' immediately established Zappa as a radical new voice in rock music, providing an antidote to the "relentless consumer culture of America". The sound was raw, but the arrangements were sophisticated. While recording in the studio, some of the additional session musicians were shocked that they were expected to read the notes on sheet music from charts with Zappa conducting them, since it was not standard when recording rock music. The lyrics praised non-conformity, disparaged authorities, and had dadaist elements. Yet, there was a place for seemingly conventional love songs. Most compositions are Zappa's, which set a precedent for the rest of his recording career. He had full control over the arrangements and musical decisions and did most overdubs. Wilson provided the industry clout and connections to get the group the financial resources needed.

Wilson nominally produced The Mothers' second album ''Absolutely Free'' (1967), which was recorded in November 1966, and later mixed in New York, although by this time Zappa was in ''de facto'' control of most facets of the production. It featured extended playing by The Mothers of Invention and focused on songs that defined Zappa's compositional style of introducing abrupt, rhythmical changes into songs that were built from diverse elements. Examples are "Plastic People" and "Brown Shoes Don't Make It", which contained lyrics critical of the hypocrisy and conformity of American society, but also of the counterculture of the 1960s. As Zappa put it, "[W]e're satirists, and we are out to satirize everything."

New York period (1966–1968)[link]

The Mothers of Invention played in New York in late 1966 and were offered a contract at the Garrick Theater during Easter 1967. This proved successful and Herb Cohen extended the booking, which eventually lasted half a year. As a result, Zappa and his wife, along with The Mothers of Invention, moved to New York. Their shows became a combination of improvised acts showcasing individual talents of the band as well as tight performances of Zappa's music. Everything was directed by Zappa's famous hand signals. Guest performers and audience participation became a regular part of the Garrick Theater shows. One evening, Zappa managed to entice some U.S. Marines from the audience onto the stage, where they proceeded to dismember a big baby doll, having been told by Zappa to pretend that it was a "gook baby".

Situated in New York, and only interrupted by the band's first European tour, The Mothers of Invention recorded the album widely regarded as the peak of the group's late 1960s work, ''We're Only in It for the Money'' (released 1968). It was produced by Zappa, with Wilson credited as executive producer. From then on, Zappa produced all albums released by The Mothers of Invention and as a solo artist. ''We're Only in It for the Money'' featured some of the most creative audio editing and production yet heard in pop music, and the songs ruthlessly satirized the hippie and flower power phenomena. The cover photo parodied that of The Beatles' ''Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band''. The cover art was provided by Cal Schenkel whom Zappa met in New York. This initiated a life-long collaboration in which Schenkel designed covers for numerous Zappa and Mothers albums.

Reflecting Zappa's eclectic approach to music, the next album, ''Cruising with Ruben & the Jets'' (1968), was very different. It represented a collection of doo-wop songs; listeners and critics were not sure whether the album was a satire or a tribute. Zappa has noted that the album was conceived in the way Stravinsky's compositions were in his neo-classical period: "If he could take the forms and clichés of the classical era and pervert them, why not do the same ... to doo-wop in the fifties?" A theme from Stravinsky's ''The Rite of Spring'' is heard during one song.

Zappa and The Mothers of Invention returned to Los Angeles in the summer of 1968. Despite being a success with fans in Europe, The Mothers of Invention were not faring well financially. Their first records were vocally oriented, but Zappa wrote more instrumental jazz and classical oriented music for the band's concerts, which confused audiences. Zappa felt that audiences failed to appreciate his "electrical chamber music".

In 1969 there were nine band members and Zappa was supporting the group himself from his publishing royalties whether they played or not. 1969 was also the year Zappa, fed up with MGM's interference, left MGM Records for Warner Bros. Records' Reprise Records subsidiary where Zappa/Mothers recordings would bear the Bizarre Records imprint. In late 1969, Zappa broke up the band. He often cited the financial strain as the main reason, but also commented on the band members' lack of sufficient effort. Many band members were bitter about Zappa's decision, and some took it as a sign of Zappa's concern for perfection at the expense of human feeling. Others were irritated by 'his autocratic ways', exemplified by Zappa's never staying at the same hotel as the band members. Several members would, however, play for Zappa in years to come. Remaining recordings with the band from this period were collected on ''Weasels Ripped My Flesh'' and ''Burnt Weeny Sandwich'' (both released in 1970).

Rebirth of The Mothers and filmmaking (1970)[link]

Later in 1970, Zappa formed a new version of The Mothers (from then on, he mostly dropped the "of Invention"). It included British drummer Aynsley Dunbar, jazz keyboardist George Duke, Ian Underwood, Jeff Simmons (bass, rhythm guitar), and three members of The Turtles: bass player Jim Pons, and singers Mark Volman and Howard Kaylan, who, due to persistent legal and contractual problems, adopted the stage name "The Phlorescent Leech and Eddie", or "Flo & Eddie".

This version of The Mothers debuted on Zappa's next solo album ''Chunga's Revenge'' (1970), which was followed by the double-album soundtrack to the movie ''200 Motels'' (1971), featuring The Mothers, The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Ringo Starr, Theodore Bikel, and Keith Moon. Co-directed by Zappa and Tony Palmer, it was filmed in a week at Pinewood Studios outside London. Tensions between Zappa and several cast and crew members arose before and during shooting. The film deals loosely with life on the road as a rock musician. It was the first feature film photographed on videotape and transferred to 35 mm film, a process which allowed for novel visual effects. It was released to mixed reviews. The score relied extensively on orchestral music, and Zappa's dissatisfaction with the classical music world intensified when a concert, scheduled at the Royal Albert Hall after filming, was canceled because a representative of the venue found some of the lyrics obscene. In 1975, he lost a lawsuit against the Royal Albert Hall for breach of contract.

After ''200 Motels'', the band went on tour, which resulted in two live albums, ''Fillmore East - June 1971'' and ''Just Another Band From L.A.''; the latter included the 20-minute track "Billy the Mountain", Zappa's satire on rock opera set in Southern California. This track was representative of the band's theatrical performances in which songs were used to build up sketches based on ''200 Motels'' scenes as well as new situations often portraying the band members' sexual encounters on the road.

Accident, attack and their aftermath (1971–1972)[link]

In December 1971, there were two serious setbacks. While performing at Casino de Montreux in Switzerland, The Mothers' equipment was destroyed when a flare set off by an audience member started a fire that burned down the casino. Immortalized in Deep Purple's song "Smoke on the Water", the event and immediate aftermath can be heard on the bootleg album ''Swiss Cheese/Fire'', released legally as part of Zappa's ''Beat the Boots II'' compilation. After a week's break, The Mothers played at the Rainbow Theatre, London, with rented gear. During the encore, an audience member pushed Zappa off the stage and into the concrete-floored orchestra pit. The band thought Zappa had been killed—he had suffered serious fractures, head trauma and injuries to his back, leg, and neck, as well as a crushed larynx, which ultimately caused his voice to drop a third after healing. This accident resulted in him using a wheelchair for an extended period, forcing him off the road for over half a year. Upon his return to the stage in September 1972, he was still wearing a leg brace, had a noticeable limp and could not stand for very long while on stage. Zappa noted that one leg healed "shorter than the other" (a reference later found in the lyrics of songs "Zomby Woof" and "Dancin' Fool"), resulting in chronic back pain. Meanwhile, The Mothers were left in limbo and eventually formed the core of Flo and Eddie's band as they set out on their own.

Top 10 album (1973–1975)[link]

After releasing two solo jazz-oriented albums with large bands, Zappa formed and toured with smaller groups that variously included Ian Underwood (reeds, keyboards), Ruth Underwood (vibes, marimba), Sal Marquez (trumpet, vocals), Napoleon Murphy Brock (sax, flute and vocals), Bruce Fowler (trombone), Tom Fowler (bass), Chester Thompson (drums), Ralph Humphrey (drums), George Duke (keyboards, vocals), and Jean-Luc Ponty (violin).

Zappa continued a high rate of production through the first half of the 1970s, including the solo album ''Apostrophe (')'' (1974), which reached a career-high No. 10 on the Billboard pop album charts helped by the chart single "Don't Eat The Yellow Snow". Other albums from the period are ''Over-Nite Sensation'' (1973), which contained several future concert favorites, such as "Dinah-Moe Humm" and "Montana", and the albums ''Roxy & Elsewhere'' (1974) and ''One Size Fits All'' (1975) which feature ever-changing versions of a band still called The Mothers, and are notable for the tight renditions of highly difficult jazz fusion songs in such pieces as "Inca Roads", "Echidna's Arf (Of You)" and "Be-Bop Tango (Of the Old Jazzmen's Church)". A live recording from 1974, ''You Can't Do That on Stage Anymore, Vol. 2'' (1988), captures "the full spirit and excellence of the 1973–75 band".

Zappa released ''Bongo Fury'' (1975), which featured live recordings from a tour the same year that reunited him with Captain Beefheart for a brief period. They later became estranged for a period of years, but were in contact at the end of Zappa's life. ''Bongo Fury'' constituted the last new album to be credited to The Mothers.

In 1993, Zappa released ''Ahead Of Their Time'', an album of previously recorded material by the original Mothers of Invention lineup.

Band members [link]

; The Soul Giants (c. April, 1965)

Ray Collins - vocals

Frank Zappa - guitar

David Coronado - sax

Roy Estrada - bass

Jimmy Carl Black - drums

; The Mothers of Invention (1966–1969)

Frank Zappa - Musical director, guitar & vocals

Ray Collins - Lead vocalist, harmonica, tambourine, finger cymbals, bobby pin & tweezers 1966-early 1967, September 1967-August 1968

Jim Black - Drums

Roy Estrada - Bass & guitarron; boy soprano

Elliot Ingber - Alternate lead & rhythm guitar early 1966-September 1966

Jim Fielder - guitar, piano late 1966-February 1967

Don Preston - keyboards November 1966-August 1969

Bunk Gardner - woodwinds November 1966-August 1969

Billy Mundi - Drums November 1966-December 1967

Euclid James Motorhead Sherwood - soprano, tambourine baritone saxophone & Roadie 1966, September 1967-August 1969

Ian Underwood -Woodwinds,Saxophone July 1967-August 1969

Arthur Dyer Tripp III - drums, timpani, vibes, marimba, xylophone, wood blocks, bells, small chimes December 1967-August 1969

Lowell George - Rhythm Guitar November 1968-May 1969

Buzz Gardner November 1968- August 1969

; The Mothers (1970–1971)

Frank Zappa - guitar & vocals

Ian Underwood - rhythm guitar,keyboards,& Woodwinds

Jeff Simmons - bass & vocal 1970-January 1971

George Duke - organ 1970-January 1971

Aynsley Dunbar - drums

The Phlorescent Leech & Eddie (Mark Volman and Howard Kaylan) - vocals

Jim Pons - bass February 1971-December 1971

Don Preston - keyboards Summer 1971

Bob Cook- Keyboards May–August 1971

; Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention (1973–1975)

Frank Zappa - guitar & vocals

Ralph Humphrey - drums

Sal Marquez - trumpet & vocals

George Duke - keyboards & synthesizer

Tom Fowler - bass

Bruce Fowler - trombone

Ruth Underwood - marimba, vibes & percussion

Ian Underwood - flute, clarinet, alto & tenor sax

Napoleon Murphy Brock - flute and tenor sax, vocals

Ralph Humphrey - drums

Chester Thompson - drums

Terry Bozzio - drums

Discography [link]

''Freak Out!'' (1966)

''Absolutely Free'' (1967)

''We're Only in It for the Money'' (1968)

''Cruising with Ruben & the Jets'' (1968)

''Uncle Meat'' (1969)

''Burnt Weeny Sandwich'' (1970)

''Weasels Ripped My Flesh'' (1970)

''Ahead Of Their Time'' (1993)

''Fillmore East - June 1971'' (1971)

''Just Another Band from L.A.'' (1972)

''Over-Nite Sensation'' (1973)

''Roxy & Elsewhere'' (1974)

''One Size Fits All'' (1975)

''Bongo Fury'' (1975)

References[link]

External links[link]

Jimmy Carl Black website

"The Grande Mothers Re:Invented" - MySpace page

Category:American rock music groups Category:American experimental musical groups Category:American comedy musical groups Category:Experimental rock groups Category:Frank Zappa Category:Musical groups established in 1964 Category:Musical groups disestablished in 1975

cs:The Mothers of Invention da:The Mothers of Invention de:The Mothers of Invention es:The Mothers of Invention fr:The Mothers of Invention hr:The Mothers of Invention it:The Mothers of Invention hu:The Mothers of Invention nl:The Mothers of Invention ja:マザーズ・オブ・インヴェンション pt:The Mothers of Invention sh:The Mothers of Invention fi:The Mothers of Invention sv:The Mothers of Invention uk:The Mothers of Invention

name	Bad News
background	group_or_band
origin	United Kingdom
genre	Heavy metal
years active	1983–1988
label	EMI
past members	Vim FuegoDen DennisColin GrigsonSpider Webb }}

Bad News were a spoof rock band, created for the Channel 4 television series ''The Comic Strip Presents...''. Its members were Vim Fuego (aka Alan Metcalfe), vocals and lead guitar (played by Adrian Edmondson); Den Dennis, rhythm guitar (Nigel Planer); Colin Grigson, bass (Rik Mayall); and Spider Webb, drums (Peter Richardson).

Biography[link]

Bad News made their television debut during 1983, in the first series of ''The Comic Strip Presents...'' (written by Edmondson, and produced by Michael White/Comic Strip Productions). The episode, "Bad News Tour", took the form of a satirical fly-on-the-wall rockumentary, in which the incompetent band is followed travelling to a gig in Grantham by an almost equally inept documentary film crew: It seemed to take much inspiration from Mark Kidel's 1976 BBC documentary ''So You Wanna Be a Rock 'n' Roll Star?'' that followed the Kursaal Flyers around Scotland and northeast England. The episode was also coincidentally in production at the same time as ''This Is Spinal Tap'', which was released the following year to a much wider audience and subsequently greater acclaim.

The "Bad News Tour" episode is notable for featuring songs (written by Edmondson and Simon Brint) that do not appear on either of the Bad News albums or in the later TV episode. These rare tunes are 'Bad News' (Version 1), 'The Motorbike Song' (aka 'Doing A Ton Down The Highway'), a brief snippet of a song whose title is unknown, and an almost complete live version of "Mr Rock N Roll". These tunes represent the only released Bad News material not (co)produced by Queen guitarist Brian May.

The band continued to tour throughout most of the decade and released an eponymously titled album, consisting of thrashy rock songs punctuated by frequent squabbling amongst the band's members. Brian May produced the record, which included a cover of Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody". That track peaked at #44 in the UK Singles Chart in September 1987.

Perhaps their most memorable appearance was when they were invited to play at the Monsters of Rock festival at Castle Donington in 1986. This performance was the centre piece of a second follow-up ''Comic Strip'' episode, "More Bad News", broadcast again by Channel 4 in 1988. A feature of the band's on-stage antics that day, omitted from the final cut, was a method of coping with the crowd's plastic (and often urine-filled) bottle barrage, which was then a traditional (if somewhat awkward) welcome for bands playing at the Donington festival in those days. Before the performance began proper, the band spent time just running around on stage dodging missiles, with Mayall using his guitar as a bat in an attempt to return some. They also played a low-key London show at the Marquee Club, with guest appearances by Jeff Beck and Brian May.

Discography[link]

1987 – ''Bad News'' - UK #69

1988 – ''Bootleg''

1989 – ''Bad News'' (expanded reissue)

1992 – ''The Cash In Compilation''

2004 – ''Bad News'' (re-release on EMI International)

Videography[link]

1988: ''Bohemian Rhapsody'' (contains the music video for the title track and a skit entitled "EMI: Every Mistake Imaginable")

1988: ''Comic Strip Classics: Bad News/More Bad News'' (the two Comic Strip Presents episodes)

1992: ''Bad News Tour'' (live performance?)

Members[link]

Vim Fuego aka Alan Metcalfe (Adrian Edmondson) – Vocals and lead guitar

Den Dennis (Nigel Planer) – Rhythm guitar

Colin Grigson (Rik Mayall) – Bass guitar

Spider Webb (Peter Richardson) – Drums

References[link]

External links[link]

BBC's h2g2 Bad News entry

Category:English heavy metal musical groups Category:Musical groups established in 1983 Category:Musical groups disestablished in 1988 Category:Mockumentary television series Category:The Comic Strip Category:Comedy rock

de:Bad News no:Bad News (band)