I've recently picked up a few materials which gave me a new perspective on Charles Edison. It seems that in 1915-1916 he entered into a partnership with Guido Bruno. He was a colorful individual styled the "Barnum of Greenwich Village" who operated "Bruno's Garret" where for a small sum tourists could see Genuine Greenwich Village Artists painting, sculpting, reading poetry, and in general being colorful. (Needless to say most Greenwich Village artists detested doing this.)? Anyhow, Charles Edison is listed as the publisher of "Bruno's Weekly" a little pamphlet of literature and essays which (not surprisingly) has an occasional plug for Diamond Discs.? The back covers of the issues I have advertise "Charles Edison's Little Thimble Theater" at 10 Fifth Avenue. Performances listed are a play about Stephen Foster, a "Disc Concert on the square" and most interestingly "Passion, Poison and Petrification!" by G. Bernard Shaw, and "Miss Julia" by August Strindberg. ? In addition a little Googling shows that Charles Edison contributed verse to the magazine under the name "Tom Sleeper".? Here is an example:
"BIOGRAPHY A black crow flapped his wings in a dead tree. At that moment I was born. A camel awoke, stretched and wandered away over the desert; just then my mate came into being. We met quite accidentally at Darjeeling, married, raised five chindren, built a house and kept a cat. Later we died and were buried in the same grave. This completes our history . . . Not that it does anybody any good." ?? It would seem that Thomas Edison put a stop to this activity when he put Charles to work in the phonograph plant. Eric Stott
