"Tomorrow's Engineers Read the Comics," General Electric Review, September 1953
Article about the success of the General Electric comic book program, written by one of the managers of the program.
Van Avery, Dwight
General Electric Company
1953-09
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"Hot Off the Press," GE Monogram, October 1954
Article about the success of the General Electric comic book program and other educational booklets.
Transcript:
Hot Off the Press
For 37,000 science teachers and the same
number of social studies teachers, two new
G·E booklets, "The Story of the Turbine"
and "General Electric's Answer to Four
Why's" have been prepared by Public
Relations.
From the requests currently pouring in
for additional copies, it is predicted that
over 350,000 " Turbine" and over 400,000
"Why's" will be distributed before December
15 to high school students. The four
"Why's" are:
Why stick to your studies?
Why work?
Why study English?
Why read?
Another booklet on "Why Study Math?,"
"Why Look Into Engineering?" and "Why
Study Science?" will be off the presses in
November. The booklets are available from
Dept. M., Bldg. 2, Room 117, Schenectady.
G.E.'s famed series of comic books
(Adventures Inside the Atom, et al) is best·
selling in Europe now, too. Reprints (trans-
lated where necessary), are appearing in
magazines or newspapers in Denmark,
France, New Zealand, Finland, Brazil, Italy,
and Norway. G.E. donated reproductions
to UNESCO for distribution in Europe.
General Electric Company
General Electric Company
1954-10
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"Education is no joke," GE Monogram, June 1956
Article about the success of the General Electric comic book program and its manager, Dwight Van Avery.
Transcript:
"Education is no joke." This is
the title of a two-page feature in the June
10 magazine section of the New York Sunday
News (circulation 3.7 million). It is
about Dwight Van Avery of Schenectady, the
unassuming idea man behind General
Electric's educational materials program
(Monogram, June 1953, p. 16). "Van's"
pioneering efforts in the field of instructional
comic books have become an important
factor in the teaching of high school
science, both here and abroad. Nearly 50
million comic books have been distributed
in response to requests. (Approximately 75
per cent of the students now completing
their high school education in the United
States have, at one time or another, during
their junior or senior high school careers,
read some of these.) The article featuring
ex-schoolteacher Van Avery is one of
a series in which the News brings to its readers
what it believes to be inspiring stories
of achievement. One result of the comic
book program not mentioned in the Sunday
supplement, but of interest to Mono·
gram readers, was some dramatic statistics
compiled recently by an impartial student
opinion survey, that asked high school
boys which American company they considered
the leader in scientific research.
Some 43 per cent chose General Electric,
while the nearest competitor drew only 14
per cent of the votes.
General Electric Company
General Electric Company
1956-06
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Pages 26-27
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"Confidence Starts in Classrooms," GE Monogram, June 1953
Article about the popularity of the GE comic books in class rooms, listing the popularity of the early comic books.
General Electric Company
General Electric Company
1953-06
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"Frank Panny Hates His Job," GE Monogram, July 1970
Biographical article about Frank Panny, an GE Educational Relations employee who worked on the comic book project.
Transcript:
You put a microphone in front of a performer
or a politician and he becomes
almost incandescent. But not Frank
Panny. Frank has over ten years of
broadcasting experience logged in his
resume, yet when he is summoned to
the mike at Corporate Headquarters,
there's a wince on his face. He hates the
job. Anybody would. for his news is generally
bad . It goes something like this:
"Your attention please . Once again,
General Electric has received an anonymous
call. ... " His voice is calm, unhurried ;
the delivery is professional as
befits a pro. T he re may be a bomb in the
building. T hose who wish to. may leave.
T he building will be searched quickly
but thoroughly and will be declared secure
in about an hour. Panny repeats the
message. then bongs the chimes which
always signal the beginning and end of
any announcements made over the building's
internal PA system. And would you
believe the notes sounded are "G " " E"
"C'? When not spreading his glum
bomb messages, Frank Panny is a buyer
in Corporate Headquarter 's Production
and Distribution organization.
He earned hi s elocutionary side duties
because of his radio experience. Albany,
N.Y., residents may remember him as a
newscaster-sports announcer on WOKO.
" I left radio to join G E in Schenectady
in 1956," he says, " because the 50's were
kind of lean years for people in radio
broadcasting." His first assignment was
in Educational Relations, assisting in the
production of one of the most successful
educational programs in modern industry
- the much talked a bout Why Study
series of comic books. In 1959 he was
transferred to New York Cit y, which he
ruefully admits has changed some since
his boyhood on Manhattan's east side.
" Like bombs. Twenty years ago the re
was just one mad bomber in New York .
Today, you sometimes wonder if he
didn't have a large fa mil y." Not all of
Frank 's announcements a re bad. He had
a happy one in February. That was
the day he announced the strike had
ended
General Electric Company
General Electric Company
1970-07
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Pages 18-19
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"Milestones," GE Monogram, February 1961
Article about success of GE comic book distribution.
Transcript:
Since they were originated in 1944, more than
125 million educational comic books
have been distributed by the Company's
Educational Relations & Support Service.
General Electric Company
General Electric Company
1961-02
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"Ubiquitous Atom," GE Monogram, August 1958
Article about the international success of the GE comic books.
Transcript:
Ubiquitous Atom: General Electric's
educational "comic book" Adventures Inside
the Atom, recently translated into
Urdu and Arabic, has made its debut in
Pakistan and the Middle East, through the
auspices of the U.S. Information Agency.
The popular pamphlet-some 8.7 million
copies distributed in the U.S.-is available
in six other lands, scheduled for Turkey,
Indonesia, and Portugal. The Company
has granted free reproduction rights
for overseas publication, through such
agencies as USIA and the United Nations
Educational, Scientific & Cultural Organization
(UNESCO). In the photo below,
Atom makes a hit- in three languages with
U.N. guides in New York: (from
left) Iraq's Ramzi Nemo with Arabic version,
India's Mrs. Ratna Jhangiani with
Urdu translation, and Afghanistan's
Abdul Monsour with English copy.
General Electric Company
General Electric Company
1958-08
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"GE- Tops with Teenagers," GE Monogram, May 1952
Article about how the comic books helped make GE the most recognized brand among teenagers.
General Electric Company
General Electric Company
1952-05
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"Adventures Ahead answers your questions about engineering," Adventures Ahead September-October 1952
Article about the Adventure into the Future comic and planning a future career in engineering.
General Electric Company
General Electric Company
1952
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References Adventures into the future comic book.
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"Announcing Another Cartoon Narrative," Adventures Ahead November-December 1952
Article announces the new Land of Plenty comic book.
Transcript of article:
announcing
Another
New Cartoon
Narrative
WITH the presses barely stilled
after printing one new cartoon
narrative for General Electric, another
one is ready to go.
This new one is "Land of Plenty, a
Story of Freedom and Power," prepared
by Pictorial Media, Inc. of New
York to tell the story of the growth
of electric power and all it has meant
to the growth and increasing greatness
of this land of ours.
To obtain single copies or copies
sufficient for a class, write: Distribution
Section 6-221 , Public Relations
Services Division, General Electric Company,
Schenectady, 5, New York. To
expedite receipt of your copies ask for
it by name, adding APG-17-11 .
"Land of Plenty" introduces several
new characters to those readers of
General Electric's cartoon narratives
already know. These new characters
are refugees from behind the "iron
curtain, " who come to America to
live and learn. Besides tracing some of
the early history of this country, the
new book shows how inventions and
developments ·helped with the pioneering
until today, for example, America
is producing to defend her hard-won
freedoms and to give us all a better
life. Helping every American production
man is electric power equal to the
power of 150 men.
The other new cartoon narrative,
"Adventure Into the Future," mentioned
in our September-October issue,
is still available. Copies may be obtained
by writing to the same address
listed above.
General Electric Company
General Electric Company
1952
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References Land of plenty comic book.
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