The Age of Plastic
In the spring of 2016, a remarkable piece of history was brought to our attention by the daughter of a chemist who worked for Leo Baekeland beginning in 1910; and thereafter with the General Bakelite Company and the Bakelite Corporation.
The chemist’s daughter, Nancy Byck Welch located Hugh Karraker, great grandson of Leo Baekeland and Executive Producer of “All Things Bakelite” through a Bakelite jewelry designer and Costume Jewelry Collectors International.
In June 2016, two journalists from NPR interviewed author, Carl Kaufmann, Baekeland’s step son-in-law, who appears in the film, “All Things Bakelite” and Roberta Roll, one of Baekeland’s great grand daughters. On August 19, 2016, the interview was broadcast as part of the NPR podcast series, “Planet Money”.
Segment #4 of the podcast is called “How Oil Got Into Everything”. You will hear how oil not only runs our cars, but it is in our toothpaste and in many unexpected products we use every day. It also became an essential component of plastic, starting with Bakelite thanks to Leo Baekeland.
Because of increasing plastic pollution issues, the podcast tells how today’s chemists are coming up with unusual alternatives to oil in plastics with mixed results.
August 19, 2016
Episode four of five. View on NPR and see other episodes.
The All Things Bakelite film crew would like to acknowledge Flanders House, Flanders Investment & Trade, and everyone that helped make our private screening a success. Thank you to everyone for attending!
The Baekeland Family members were thrilled to see their great patriarch honored in such a bold and beautiful way. Plastics industry people were impressed and continue to show support, artists and educators talked about the powerful impact the film will have on people around the globe. The energy in the room was truly exhilarating, and coincidentally, it happened to be Hugh Karraker’s birthday!
We look forward to continuing our mission. Please contact us at [email protected], if you have any questions or would like to know more about our endeavor.
#FlandersintheUS, #Flanders, #Flemish, #BakeliteTheFilm, #LHBaekeland, #Bakelite, #BakeliteMuseum, #LHBaekelandProject
Prospector Theater, Ridgefield, Connecticut 3/19/16
“Beautiful, Scientific, Bold, Honest & Funny” ~ Luc Strybol, Flemish Economic Representative, Flanders Investment & Trade
“A Fun, Informative and Compelling Documentary” ~ Wendy Shay, The Smithsonian
“Oh Zeus ! What A Great Doc. On All levels” ~ Prof. Andy Horton
“Both Fun and Informative” ~ Maris Cuneo
“Informative, Fun and Polished” ~ Steve Paganuzzi
“Truly An Interesting Film On Many Lev ~ First Guy On Sneak Peak Video
“A Magnificent Film About A Creation That Changed The Course of History” ~ Dan Cruson, Historian
“A Little Bit of Everything. Humor, History Culture” ~ Andrew Wagner
“It Talked About Chemistry In A Way That Anyone Can Understand” ~ Al Messina
That question, asked of Times Square visitors, opens a new documentary that provides the answer: it was the first synthetic compound, which led to plastics. Invented in 1907, the heat-resistant, nonflammable, moldable and strong material played a vital role in the distribution of electricity and development of the automotive and radio industries, among others. Today plastic is ubiquitous, or as one person observes in All Things Bakelite, “Without plastics, you’d have an alternate universe.”
And while the names of the men who invented electricity, the telephone, the automotive assembly line and rubber tires are well known, few outside the chemistry field can name the father of the plastics industry, Leo Hendrik Baekeland (1863–1944). But Hugh Karraker of Redding, executive producer of All Things Bakelite and Baekeland’s great-grandson, hopes that the film about the innovator helps change that, noting, “Just as plastic touches everyone’s lives, All Things Bakelite will have relevance to many people in many differing disciplines.”
