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Six

THE JEWISH NEWS

Friday, May 31, 1946

•

Auto Industry, Born

In Vienna, Celebrates

Golden Jubilee Here

have played an important role in the making of the
J EWS
automobile.

Not only was the first automobile perfected by •a Jew—
Siegfried Marcus—in 1864, but Jews have been among the cre-
ators of the industry in Michigan. Among them were:

Aw.

THEY ROLLED AGAIN IN MOTOR CITY CAVALCADE

N

ATIONAL

AND LOCAL

interest in the Automotive Industry Gold-
en Jubilee celebration in Detroit, May 29
through June 9, continued to mount as
motion picture audiences across the coun-
try viewed newsreel pictures filmed at
rustic and picturesque Franklin Village,
some 35 miles from the heart of the
Motor City.

Early vintaged. "horseless carriages",
harking back to the days when the busi-
ness of manufacturing automo biles
called for true pioneer courage and per-
severance—and the budding "industry"
consisted of a mere cluster of alley shops
—were tenderly moved out of their places
of safe-keeping for this Photographic
Preview of a few of the old-time models
which are participating in the two week-
long Golden Jubilee celebration.

There was the intrepid "Old Pacific"
—the first gasoline automobile to be
driven across the country. A 1902 one-
cylinder Packard, it made the trip from
San Francisco to New York that
same year in 52 days at speeds
and over roads that are a far-
cry from today's fast-traveling,
high-powered motor cars and
smooth concrete super high-
ways.

From the article in the Issue of The Jewish News of
April 12 on "Th e Jew Gave the Automobile to the
World."

SIEGFRIED MARCUS, a Vienese me-
chanic, is the mechanical genius who intro-
duced the great invention which revolution-
ized science and industry in the world.

Born in Mecklenburg, Germany, in 1831,
he worked as a mechanic for Siemens and
Haiske in Berlin, until he moved to Vienna
in 1852. His inventions - included a mechan-
ism for the discharge of deep-sea mines by
electricity, the
t h e rmos flask,
telegraph relays
and scores of
other articles.

His first ben-
zine-driven c a r
was patented in
1864. His sec-
ond car was
completed in
1875, when he
drove it on Vien-
na's streets.

SIEGFRIED MARCUS

Idzal on Committee

Which Picked Queen
For Golden Jubilee

David I. Idzal, president of Fox
Theaters, Corp., was chairman of the
Jubilee Queen selection committee for
the Detroit Automotive Golden Jubilee. -

The Hon. Prentiss M. Brown, chair-
man of the board of Detroit Edison Co.,
is president and general chairman of
the celebration.

George. W. Stark, of the Detroit News,
is vice-chairman of the celebration.

The Detroit RoUnd Table of Catholics,
Jews and Protestants is one of the spon-
soring organizations.

The Mendelssohn Family was
among the co-sounders of the
Fisher Body Corporation.
Meyer L. Prentis has risen to
the treasurership of General Mo-
tors • Corporation.
The late Bernard .Ginsburg
helped establish a truck manufac-
turing plant about 40 years ago.
Alex Taun is one of the most
prominent engineers in the auto
industry.
Samuel N. Heyman is one of
The engineers in the Fisher Body
Corporation.
And there were many others
too numerous to mention.

ALBERT KAHN

•

His auto - pat-
ents were reg-
istered in Ger-
many and the
town council of
Mecklenburg
honored the in-
ventor by affix-
ing a tablet to
the house in
which he was
born.

His first auto
was in the pos-
session of the
Vienna A u t o-
mobile Club, but
There was also the famed
there is no way
1901 "curved dash" Olds; the
of knowing
first Chevrolet ever built; Fords
what has hap-
of 1902 and '03; the 1902 Ram-
pened to it
bler, forerunner of the Nash,
since the advent
of Nazism, the
and the 1907 Oakland.
. . . HIS BENZINE DRIVEN AUTO
Nazi's having
The filming of these historic
;one out of the way, to ignore any mention of
the Jew Siegfried Marcus' great gifts. Records
vehicles turned the minds of onlookers to
state that his 1875 automobile was preserved
the Automotive Industry • banquet and
in the Vienna Industrial- Museum.
dramatic ' tribute, - this Friday in De-
Three copies of the 1875 Marcuscar model
troit's Masonic Temple, at which the in-
were built—one. in Marcus' shop and the other
dustry's pioneers will be honored.
two in Blansko, Czechoslovakia, in the iron
foundaries of Prince Salm. The latter care-
Among those pioneers invited to at-
fully followed Marcus' sketches.

tend were Henry Ford, Charles B. King,
Barney Oldfield, Ransom E. Olds, Charles
W. Nash, J. Frank Duryea, and many
others of that gradually diminishing
band who sensed the coming of the
Automotive Era and whose foresight and
plain hard work-helped bring it to reality,

Albert Kahn, whose genius was
responsible for the most impor-
tant architectural triumphs in the
building of automobile factories.

In a sense, Marcus was shortsighted in
his outlook for the future. When he was asked
to go to Blansko to perfect his invention, he
refused, being totally satisfied that he had
solved the teachnical problems of the auto-
mobile.
The Austrian Automobile Club bought the
Blansko-made automobile and gave . it a place
of honor in the Vienna Technological Museum:

A re-enactment of early motoring, staged in the neighborhood
of Franklin Village. Michigan. by members of the cast of the Civic
Light Opera Association of Detroit. Inc. Leading the parade is the
first Ford Model T. Next is a 1902 Ford. The third vehicle is the
famous Packard "Old Pacific" which was the first gasoline auto
to be driven from coast to coast across the United States. The last
vehicle is an early Packard.

Former Detroiter Wrote
Story for Auto Pageants

A former Detroiter—Karl Hoffenberg—wrote the story for "Song
of Our City" which will be featured at the Automotive Golden
Jubilee pageants at the Olympia this Friday night and Sunday,
June 2.

Hdffenberg now resides in Hollywood where he directs a radio
production company.

He settled in California upon his discharge from the army. He
was in active service as a lieutenant for four years, was in charge of
the U. S. army radio network in London and -later headed the
American Forces' Network in Munich.

He has two sisters in Detroit—Mrs. I. Buchman and Mrs. Louis
Barden.

Jubilee Program

. Detroiters are urged to attend. as many.
of. the Automotive Golden Jubilee events as
possible.

- The important events of the week include
the following:

FRIDAY, MAY 31: 2:30 p. in. first per-
formance of musical extravaganza "Song of
Our City" at Olympia; 8:30 p. m., musical
tribute to automotive pioneers, starring James
Melton and Carlotta Franzel, at Masonic
Temple.

SATURDAY, JUNE 1: 2:30 p. m., Motor
City Cavalcade parade in the downtown dis-
trict; 8 p. m., Golden Jubilee Jamboree, down-
town street festival on Washington Blvd.; 8:15
p. m., Star-Spangled Golden Jubilee Revue at
Olympia.

MONDAY, JUNE 2: 8:30 p. m., second per-
formance of "Song of Our City" at Olympia.

MONDAY, JUNE 3: 10:30 a. in., Antique
Automotive Exposition at Convention Hall.

SUNDAY, JUNE

9:

2:30 p. m., Golden

Jubilee Community-wide Rally
Stadium.

at

Briggs

Members of the Civic Light Opera Association of Detroit, Inc.,
participating in the Automotive Golden Jubilee press preview pose
in front of the general store in Franklin Village, Mich. The vehicles

are (left) an Oldsmobile of 1901 and (right) a Cadillac of 1902„

