Young Tom Edison
Young Tom Edison is a 1940 biographical film about the early life of inventor Thomas Edison directed by Norman Taurog and starring Mickey Rooney. The film was the first of a complementary pair of Edison biopics that Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer released in 1940. Edison, the Man, starring Spencer Tracy, followed two months later, completing the two-part story of Edison's life. The film had a special preview on February 10, 1940 in Port Huron, Michigan, the place where Thomas Edison spent his childhood. Plot The film follows the imaginative, curious—and clumsy—boy Tom as he continually gets into mischief and causes accidents with his inventions and experiments. The townspeople regard him as a troublemaker and figure of fun. The schoolmistress expels him for daydreaming, distracting the other students and asking ridiculous questions. She suggests that his father take him to a doctor because he is “addled”. Tom's family loves him, although his father is frustrated and sometimes angered by Tom's thoughtless and costly misadventures. His mother sees the potential in Tom's unusual way of thinking. Tom's younger sister, Tannie, is his partner in adventures—they communicate by Morse Code. Tom starts a business peddling food and snacks on board trains, and Tannie helps him. Meanwhile, still banned from school, Tom reads everything he can about science. When the Civil War starts, Tom sets up a printing press in the baggage car, giving passengers the latest news. Eager to help the Army, Tom takes a bottle of nitroglycerin on board a train, causing a panic. An accidental fire in the baggage car ends Tom's business for good, and when the conductor boxes his ears, his hearing is damaged. His father forbids him to keep chemicals in the house because he cannot be trusted. His attempts to get a job are met with ridicule. Tom, now 16, runs away to Detroit. The audience has seen Tom's mother wincing in pain, now she collapses in agony. Tannie finds Tom at the station and sends him home while she goes to fetch their older brother in a nearby town . The doctor cannot operate by lamplight. Waiting 10 hours until daylight may take too long. In a stroke of inspiration, Tom breaks into the general store and takes a huge mirror. At home, he arrays multiple lamps in front of the mirror, which magnifies the light, focusing it on the dining room table. The astonished doctor operates on Tom's mother. When Tom returns the mirror, the store owner strikes Tom, smashing the mirror. Tom's father pulls up and refuses to hear Tom's side. He finds Nancy recovering at home. As Tom walks home, the news comes that the railroad bridge is out and the telegraph wires are down. Tom proves he can send Morse Code using the whistle on the engine in the station. Tannie is in the oncoming train. She hears her call letters and the danger message, but the conductor ignores her until she says the bridge is out. The train stops just in time. Tom and