Joseph Nathan Kane (January 23, 1899 – September 22, 2002) was an American non-fiction writer, historian, and journalist. He is best known for being a researcher who found the person that did an event first and what products, services, and inventions were first to come about. His book ''Famous First Facts'' with later publications is a reference book used by academic and public libraries. He hosted a weekly national radio program in the 1930s on facts that were first and was an authority for quiz programs like ''

The $64,000 Question ''The $64,000 Question'' was an American game show broadcast in primetime on CBS-TV from 1955 to 1958, which became embroiled in the 1950s quiz show scandals. Contestants answered general knowledge questions, earning money which doubled as the ...

'' and '' Break the Bank''. He wrote 52 books that had to do with trivia and first facts. He was a consultant to various radio and television stations as well as to the United States Congress, the

White House The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. It is located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., and has been the residence of every U.S. president since John Adams in 1800. ...

, and the

Department of the Interior The United States Department of the Interior (DOI) is one of the executive departments of the U.S. federal government headquartered at the Main Interior Building, located at 1849 C Street NW in Washington, D.C. It is responsible for the mana ...

. His last work was about Walter Hunt, who he believes is actually the true inventor of the modern

fountain pen A fountain pen is a writing instrument which uses a metal nib to apply a water-based ink to paper. It is distinguished from earlier dip pens by using an internal reservoir to hold ink, eliminating the need to repeatedly dip the pen in an inkw ...

, the common

sewing machine A sewing machine is a machine used to sew fabric and materials together with thread. Sewing machines were invented during the first Industrial Revolution to decrease the amount of manual sewing work performed in clothing companies. Since the inv ...

, and the American

safety pin The safety pin is a variation of the regular pin which includes a simple spring mechanism and a clasp. The clasp forms a closed loop to properly fasten the pin to whatever it is applied to and covers the end of the pin to protect the user from th ...

Early life

Kane was the oldest of three children to Jewish parents and born in

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

on January 23, 1899. His father was Albert Norman Kane, a merchant that dealt in fur imports. His mother was Hulda () Kane. He grew up on 117th Street in the far upper west side of New York City. He had a brother named Albert and a sister named Ann. Kane's maternal grandfather was a wholesaler of woolens and

passementerie Passementerie (, ) or passementarie is the art of making elaborate trimmings or edgings (in French, ) of applied braid, gold or silver cord, embroidery, colored silk, or beads for clothing or furnishings. Styles of passementerie include the tas ...

s while his paternal grandfather was a composer whose works were played by such bands as those of

John Philip Sousa John Philip Sousa ( ; November 6, 1854 – March 6, 1932) was an American composer and conductor of the late Romantic era known primarily for American military marches. He is known as "The March King" or the "American March King", to dist ...

and

Patrick Gilmore Patrick Sarsfield Gilmore (December 25, 1829 – September 24, 1892) was an Irish-born American composer and bandmaster who lived and worked in the United States after 1848. While serving in the Union Army during the U.S. Civil War, Gilmore ...

. He also displayed these musical talents and was attracted to musical instruments. As a young boy he learned to play musical instruments like the

banjo The banjo is a stringed instrument with a thin membrane stretched over a frame or cavity to form a resonator. The membrane is typically circular, and usually made of plastic, or occasionally animal skin. Early forms of the instrument were fashi ...

mandolin A mandolin ( it, mandolino ; literally "small mandola") is a stringed musical instrument in the lute family and is generally plucked with a pick. It most commonly has four courses of doubled strings tuned in unison, thus giving a total of 8 ...

, and

violin The violin, sometimes known as a ''fiddle'', is a wooden chordophone (string instrument) in the violin family. Most violins have a hollow wooden body. It is the smallest and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in the family in regular ...

. Other hobbies of his when a child were collecting stamps and

foreign currency A currency, "in circulation", from la, currens, -entis, literally meaning "running" or "traversing" is a standardization of money in any form, in use or circulation as a medium of exchange, for example banknotes and coins. A more general def ...

Education

Kane attended elementary public school No. 10 on 117th Street in New York City where he was very interested in world geography. The school was conveniently located directly across the street from his home. He then attended

Townsend Harris High School Townsend Harris High School at Queens College (THHS) is a public magnet high school for the humanities in the borough of Queens in New York City. Students and alumni often refer to themselves as "Harrisites." Townsend Harris consistently ranks a ...

, an elite New York City public secondary school, and there would always ask his teachers for proof of their assertions. Kane then went to

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

at age 18 in 1917 and eventually received a certificate in electrical engineering in 1920 from their

School of Engineering Engineering education is the activity of teaching knowledge and principles to the professional practice of engineering. It includes an initial education (bachelor's and/or master's degree), and any advanced education and specializations that ...

, however did not get a degree. There he had taken courses in journalism, theater, German, French, and Spanish.

Mid life and career

Kane was a non-fiction writer and journalist, who wrote what ''

Chronicle of Higher Education ''The Chronicle of Higher Education'' is a newspaper and website that presents news, information, and jobs for college and university faculty and student affairs professionals (staff members and administrators). A subscription is required to rea ...

'' considers part of the generally used reference works in the history of book publishing. He was first an editor for the newspaper ''Academic Herald'' at Townsend Harris High School. There he interviewed many people including department-store mogul

John Wanamaker John Wanamaker (July 11, 1838December 12, 1922) was an American merchant and religious, civic and political figure, considered by some to be a proponent of advertising and a "pioneer in marketing". He was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, a ...

. Later he worked for the

Jewish Press ''The Jewish Press'' is an American weekly newspaper based in Brooklyn, New York, and geared toward the Modern Orthodox Jewish community. It describes itself as "America's Largest Independent Jewish Weekly". ''The Jewish Press'' has an online v ...

where he interviewed

H. G. Wells Herbert George Wells"Wells, H. G."
Revised 18 May 2015. ''

Lord Balfour Arthur James Balfour, 1st Earl of Balfour, (, ; 25 July 184819 March 1930), also known as Lord Balfour, was a British Conservative statesman who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1902 to 1905. As foreign secretary in the L ...

and Vicente Blasco-Ibanez. At that position he also interviewed other prominent people in the fields of politics, music, arts, theater, and science. His intentions for these interviews were to shed light on facts generally unknown. Kane was anticipating military service for World War I and earned a certificate in electrical engineering from the Columbia School of Engineering to qualify as a radio and telegraph operator. He enlisted in the army as a radio operator expecting to use his engineering skills however never saw active service, having contracted the flu of the

1918 influenza pandemic The 1918–1920 influenza pandemic, commonly known by the misnomer Spanish flu or as the Great Influenza epidemic, was an exceptionally deadly global influenza pandemic caused by the H1N1 influenza A virus. The earliest documented case was ...

, which nearly killed him. After World War I, Kane then began working as a clerk for

confectioner Confectionery is the art of making confections, which are food items that are rich in sugar and carbohydrates. Exact definitions are difficult. In general, however, confectionery is divided into two broad and somewhat overlapping categories ...

D. Auerbach & Sons of New York City. They took advantage of his knowledge of world geography, currency, and languages and used those skills in the business. Kane was soon promoted to confectionery manager as their export department manager and worked there for a year. He then became employed at Universal Export Corporation as their export manager for two years. Kane then began writing monthly articles on export matters and founded Kane Feature News Syndicate about 1920 while still working for D. Auerbach. He syndicated hundreds of articles to more than twenty publications for about twenty years. Among his clients were the ''

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

'', ''American Hebrew'', ''Underwear and Hosiery Review'', ''Advertising Age'', ''Cracker Baker'', ''American Magazine'', ''Printers' Ink'', ''Nation's Business'', ''National Costumer'', ''American Hatter'', ''Fur Age'', and '' Playthings''. He additionally sold his articles to ''Exporters' Digest'' and ''International Trade Review'', where he was editor for several years. He was a

State Department The United States Department of State (DOS), or State Department, is an United States federal executive departments, executive department of the Federal government of the United States, U.S. federal government responsible for the country's fore ...

-accredited correspondent and covered key events, among them being the 1921 Conference on the Limitation of Armament in Washington, D.C. Kane gave credit to inventors and other individuals who deserved recognition and/or credit for certain accomplishments, such as Walter Hunt. Kane figured out Hunt was the real inventor of the first stitch-lock

(contrary to the popular belief that the inventors were

Elias Howe Elias Howe Jr. (; July 9, 1819October 3, 1867) was an American inventor best known for his creation of the modern lockstitch sewing machine. Early life Elias Howe Jr. was born on July 9, 1819, to Dr. Elias Howe Sr. and Polly (Bemis) Howe in S ...

and

Isaac Singer Isaac Merritt Singer (October 27, 1811 – July 23, 1875) was an American inventor, actor, and businessman. He made important improvements in the design of the sewing machine and was the founder of what became one of the first American multi-n ...

). Hunt also invented American's first

. Kane discovered that Hunt was the true inventor of the stitch sewing machine, the safety pin, the fountain flow pen, and the heat-radiating stove. In his bank safety deposit box Kane kept America's first

, Hunt's actual 1849 patent model for American's first

, and a shoe heel with the capability that it could be turned around for less damage in one area when walked upon. Kane received a handsome amount of money from

Simon & Schuster Simon & Schuster () is an American publishing company and a subsidiary of Paramount Global. It was founded in New York City on January 2, 1924 by Richard L. Simon and M. Lincoln Schuster. As of 2016, Simon & Schuster was the third largest publ ...

in 1921 to write a book on the history of inventions. He was to write on things like the Wright brothers and their first aeroplane,

Thomas Edison Thomas Alva Edison (February 11, 1847October 18, 1931) was an American inventor and businessman. He developed many devices in fields such as electric power generation, mass communication, sound recording, and motion pictures. These inventio ...

and his electric light bulb invention,

Alexander Graham Bell Alexander Graham Bell (, born Alexander Bell; March 3, 1847 – August 2, 1922) was a Scottish-born inventor, scientist and engineer who is credited with patenting the first practical telephone. He also co-founded the American Telephone and Te ...

and the telephone, and

Samuel F. B. Morse Samuel Finley Breese Morse (April 27, 1791 – April 2, 1872) was an American inventor and painter. After having established his reputation as a portrait painter, in his middle age Morse contributed to the invention of a single-wire telegraph ...

's invention of the telegraph. Starting in 1922 and lasting until 1932, Kane spent about eleven months out of every year traveling around the United States as a freelance, self-syndicated journalist going to all the states and most of the major cities. He traveled in his own car, by railroad, by bus, and sometimes by airplane. Being an aviation enthusiast, he became acquainted with many stunt pilots and even wrote the column "The Back Seat Driver" for ''Aeronautical Industry and Air Transportation.'' Kane sought out who invented what item or product in the United States. He did much research on this project only to realize that often a lot of people appeared responsible for the same invention.

''Famous First Facts'' book

In 1930, Kane decided to write a reference book on the achievers of "firsts" whom history had forgotten. He limited his scope of establishing "firsts" to the United States where he could find proof of the claims in recorded documents. In his travels throughout the states, Kane gathered information from historical societies, used-book stores, museums and libraries. He researched through recorded public documents in state and county records. Kane sought information from sales records, newspaper files, and filed patents. Additionally, he obtained information from government departments and private organizations. After Kane collected all this information, he decided to publish his material in a large reference book that could be used by libraries and others. Kane first tried to publish his lengthy detailed manuscript but was rejected by eleven publishers. On his twelfth approach he contacted Halsey W. Wilson, the founder and president of the publishing company H. W. Wilson Company. Wilson was also hesitant. He was not sure there would be a market for this type of information. Kane then decided to mail or hand-deliver copies of portions of his manuscript to reference librarians across the United States. H. W. Wilson Company then received numerous letters requesting the book. As a result, they decided to publish Kane's book ''Famous First Facts" in 1933''. Kane then published a supplement called ''More First Facts'' in 1935. It featured an index showing the various firsts occurring on each day of the year. The second edition of ''Famous First Facts'' was published fifteen years later. It included with its new entries material from both the original volume and the supplement. The book has been republished a further five times. Kane continued his work, writing ''Facts about the Presidents'' in 1959 and ''Facts about the States'' in 1989 about the

US presidents The president of the United States is the head of state and head of government of the United States, indirectly elected to a four-year term via the Electoral College. The officeholder leads the executive branch of the federal government and ...

and US states and territories, respectively.

Radio and television

Kane's ''Famous First Facts'' books were so well received by the public that they led him into a second career. He hosted a weekly national radio program called ''Famous First Facts'' from 1938 to 1939 on the

Mutual Broadcasting System The Mutual Broadcasting System (commonly referred to simply as Mutual; sometimes referred to as MBS, Mutual Radio or the Mutual Radio Network) was an American commercial radio network in operation from 1934 to 1999. In the Old-time radio, golden ...

that was broadcast on New York radio station WOR. Each of his half-hour radio programs opened with a dramatized first fact followed by an interview with the subject of the first or one of their descendants. Guests who claimed a place in Kane’s "hall of famous firsts" represented a wide range of activity and included the holder of the first safety pin patent, the victim of the first auto accident, the first X-ray photographer in the United States, and the first woman taxicab driver. Others were a nine-year-old descendant of

John Hanson John Hanson ( – November 15, 1783) was an American Founding Father, merchant, and politician from Maryland during the Revolutionary Era. In 1779, Hanson was elected as a delegate to the Continental Congress after serving in a variety o ...

, who headed the first

Continental Congress The Continental Congress was a series of legislative bodies, with some executive function, for thirteen of Britain's colonies in North America, and the newly declared United States just before, during, and after the American Revolutionary War. ...

; and son of Charles E. Duryea, the builder of the first practical American gasoline automobile. Kane also got involved with various quiz shows. He supplied many of the questions for radio and television programs of the 1950s and 1960s like ''

'' and ''

Double or Nothing Double or nothing (UK often double or quits) is a gamble to decide whether a loss or debt should be doubled. The result of a "double or nothing" bet is either the subject doubled to twice the amount as the original ''or'' the doubling of a debt. It ...

''. He supplied all the questions for the popular television program '' Break the Bank''.

Interviews and reports

Kane once passed on some of his philosophy to an interviewer for ''

Current Biography ''Current Biography'' is an American monthly magazine published by the H. W. Wilson Company of New York City, a publisher of reference books, that appears every month except December. ''Current Biography'' contains profiles of people in the news a ...

'' who was questioning him. He told the interviewer that at elementary school he would often ask a teacher when they had made a factual statement that it was just fine, but did they have sources for that? Kane pointed out to the interviewer that when he worked for the Jewish Press he interviewed famous people because he was trying to shed light on facts not very well known. Kane told another reporter that while getting his higher education the professors would assign certain books for the students to read. He would read something else and explained that he did not like to play follow-the-leader in education. If everyone was forced to read something like ''

The Merchant of Venice ''The Merchant of Venice'' is a play by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written between 1596 and 1598. A merchant in Venice named Antonio defaults on a large loan provided by a Jewish moneylender, Shylock. Although classified as ...

'' that then he would read something contrary like ''

Twelfth Night ''Twelfth Night'', or ''What You Will'' is a romantic comedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written around 1601–1602 as a Twelfth Night's entertainment for the close of the Christmas season. The play centres on the twins Vio ...

''. He explained that in many cases that the professors were wrong when quoting facts, as he had read most of the pertinent books at the

Columbia University Libraries Columbia University Libraries is the library system of Columbia University and one of the largest academic library systems in North America. With 15.0 million volumes and over 160,000 journals and serials, as well as extensive electronic resources ...

before he entered the class. Kane once told a newspaper reporter for the

Associated Press The Associated Press (AP) is an American non-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association. It produces news reports that are distributed to its members, U.S. newspa ...

that he was dumb enough not to believe everything told to him until he could see the actual proof why that was so. In interviewing for an article for ''Liberty'' he told the interviewer that it seemed that nobody knew exactly who did the event first. Kane concluded that the credit many times went to the innovator or discoverer with the best sounding publicity. He felt that the common person that did the actual work was too engrossed in his project at hand to broadcast his accomplishments and they simply slipped through the cracks and many times others wrongfully got the credit. Kane pointed out in publishing his books that he was not attempting to overhaul public conceptions, but merely to present impartial facts and therefore replace romantic history with commonplace everyday truth. Whenever rival claims have been put forth the one best substantiated has been given credence. He claimed that only those firsts for which there were definite records were included in his writings. He figured that it was possible that further research into the article would produce unpublished records that would shed more light on the first event claimed. A reporter for

The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper ''The Sunday Times'' (fou ...

once wrote an article on dozens of trivia lists, factual lists and know-it-alls based on Kane's research. He said Kane regarded himself as an investigator that discovered the truth and thought of himself as a campaigner against myth and historical inaccuracies. Kane was a consultant to various television station news departments and to the

United States Congress The United States Congress is the legislature of the federal government of the United States. It is bicameral, composed of a lower body, the House of Representatives, and an upper body, the Senate. It meets in the U.S. Capitol in Washing ...

, the White House, and the

Late life and death

Kane spent his last years in

West Palm Beach, Florida West Palm Beach is a city in and the county seat of Palm Beach County, Florida, United States. It is located immediately to the west of the adjacent Palm Beach, which is situated on a barrier island across the Lake Worth Lagoon. The populati ...

, near his sister, Ann Madier. He suffered a broken hip at age 97; however, he continued his work gathering facts. His last project was ''Necessity's Child: Story of Walter Hunt''. Kane figured Walter Hunt was really the true inventor of the modern

, the common

, and the American

. On Kane's 100th birthday in 1999, he told a ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the Un ...

'' reporter that he attributed his long life to the fact that he did nothing wrong. On September 22, 2002, Kane died in West Palm Beach at the age of 103 due to natural causes.

Works

Kane wrote a total of 52 books, some of which are these below. * ''Famous First Facts'' (1933) H. W. Wilson (New York, NY), Fifth revised edition (1997). * ''More First Facts'' (1935) H. W. Wilson (New York, NY). * ''What Dog Is That?'' (1942) Greenberg (New York, NY). * ''Centennial History of King Solomon Lodge, Number 279, Free and Accepted Masons, 1852-1952, King Solomon Lodge, Number 279 F & A.M.'' (1952) (New York, NY). * ''The Perma Quiz Book,'' (1956) Permabooks (New York, NY). * ''The Second Perma Quiz Book,'' (1958) Permabooks (New York, NY). * ''American Counties: Record of Names of 3,067 counties'' (1960) Scarecrow Press (New York, NY). * ''Nicknames of Cities and States of the United States, Scarecrow Press'' (1965) (w/ Gerard L. Alexander) New York, NY. * ''Nicknames and Sobriquets of United States Cities, States, and Counties'' (1979). * ''American Counties: Origins of County Names, Including 1980 Census Figures, Historical Data, and Published Sources'' (1983). * ''Necessity's Child: Story of Walter Hunt'' (1997). * ''Presidential Fact Book,'' (1998) Random House (New York, NY). * ''Facts about the Presidents: A Compilation of Biographical and Historical Data,'' (1959), H. W. Wilson Company (New York, NY), Seventh revised edition (2001).

References

Bibliography

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Kane, Joseph Nathan American centenarians Men centenarians 1899 births 2002 deaths Jewish American journalists 20th-century American non-fiction writers 20th-century American Jews 21st-century American Jews