Joseph Nathan Kane

Kane was the oldest of three children to Jewish parents and born in Manhattan on January 23, 1899.[1] His father was Albert Norman Kane, a merchant that dealt in fur imports.[1] His mother was Hulda (née Ascheim) Kane.[1] He grew up on 117th Street in the far upper west side of New York City.[1] He had a brother named Albert and a sister named Ann.[1] Kane's maternal grandfather" was a wholesaler of woolens and passementeries while his paternal grandfather was a composer whose works were played by such bands as those of John Philip Sousa and Patrick Gilmore.[1] He also displayed these musical talents and was attracted to musical instruments.[2] As a young boy he learned to play musical instruments like the banjo, mandolin, and violin.[1][3][4] Other hobbies of his when a child were collecting stamps and foreign currency.[5]

Townsend Harris original building

Kane attended elementary public school No. 10 on 117th Street in New York City where he was very interested in world geography.[5] The school was conveniently located directly across the street from his home.[5] He then attended Townsend Harris High School, an elite New York City public secondary school, and there would always ask his teachers for proof of their assertions.[5] Kane then went to Columbia University at age 18 in 1917 and eventually received a certificate in electrical engineering in 1920 from their School of Engineering, however did not get a degree.[5] There he had taken courses in journalism, theater, German, French, and Spanish.[5]

Kane was a non-fiction writer and journalist, who wrote what Chronicle of Higher Education considers part of the generally used reference works in the history of book publishing.[1][3][6] He was first an editor for the newspaper Academic Herald at Townsend Harris High School. There he interviewed many important people including John Wanamaker (department-store mogul). Later he worked for the Jewish Press where he interviewed H. G. Wells, Lord Balfour and Vicente Blasco-Ibanez. At that position he also interviewed other prominent people in the fields of politics, music, arts, theater, and science. His intention for the consultations with these distinguished people was to shed light on facts generally unknown.[5]

Kane was anticipating military service for World War I and earned a certificate in electrical engineering from Columbia School of Engineering to qualify as a radio and Morse-code 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, which nearly killed him.[1][3] After World War I, Kane then began working as a clerk for 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.[3][5] He then became employed at Universal Export Corporation as their export manager for two years.[1][5]

Kane then began writing monthly articles on export matters and founded Kane Feature News Syndicate about 1920 while still working for D. Auerbach.[3][5] He syndicated hundreds of articles to more than twenty publications for about 20 years. Among his clients were the New York Times, 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.[3] He additionally sold his articles to Exporters' Digest and International Trade Review where he was editor for several years. He was a State Department-accredited correspondent and covered key events, among them being the 1921 Conference on the Limitation of Armament in Washington, D.C.[1][5]

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 sewing machine (belief went to Elias Howe and Isaac Singer). Hunt also invented American's first safety pin.[3][5] 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.[2] In his bank safety deposit box Kane kept America's first fountain pen, Hunt's actual 1849 patent model for American's first safety pin, and a shoe heel with the capability that it could be turned around for less damage in one area when walked upon.[5][7]

Kane received a handsome amount from Simon & Schuster 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 and his electric light bulb invention, Alexander Graham Bell and the telephone, and Samuel F. B. Morse's invention of the telegraph.[5] 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. He went 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.[5]

Kane decided in 1930 to write a reference book on the achievers of "firsts" whom history had forgotten.[3] He limited his scope of establishing "firsts" to the United States where he could find proof of the claims in recorded documents.[5][3] In his travels throughout the states Kane gathered information from historical societies, used-book stores, museums and libraries.[5] He researched through recorded public documents in state and county records.[5] Kane sought information from sales records, newspaper files, and filed patents.[5] Additionally he obtained information from government departments and private organizations.[5] 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.[3] On his twelfth approach he contacted Halsey W. Wilson, the founder and president of the publishing company H. W. Wilson Company.[3][5]

Wilson was also hesitant. He was not sure there would be a market for this type of information. Kane then decided to mail or deliver in person a copy of portions of his manuscript to reference librarians across the United States. H. W. Wilson Company then received numerous letters requesting the book. Based on this they then published Kane's book Famous First Facts" in 1933.[5][8] Kane then published a supplement called More First Facts in 1935.[5] It featured an index showing the various firsts occurring on each day of the year.[5] 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.[5]

In 1959, Kane decided to direct his attention on the White House and wrote Facts about the Presidents.[1] In this reference book Kane provided biographical information about the United States presidents.[1] He followed this up in 1989 with Facts about the States.[1] The book provides information on each state's geography, demographics, economics, politics, culture, climate, history, higher education, and money matters. It includes all the states, the territory of Puerto Rico, and the District of Columbia.[1]

Radio and television

Kane's broadcasts were received on radios like this

Kane's Famous First Facts books were so well received by the public that they led him into a second career. He got involved with all kinds of quiz shows. He hosted a weekly national radio program called Famous First Facts from 1938 to 1939 on the Mutual Broadcasting System that was broadcast on New York radio station WOR.[1][3] 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.[5] 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, who headed the first Continental Congress; and son of Charles E. Duryea, the builder of the first practical American gasoline automobile.[5]

Kane supplied many of the questions for radio and television programs of the 1950s and 1960s like The $64,000 Question" and Double or Nothing.[1][3] He supplied all the questions for the popular television program Break the Bank.[9] The contestants for the program were at first drawn from the local studio audience.[5] They competed for sums up to $10,000 ($101,155 in 2021). From October 1956 to January 1957, the program was later reintroduced and renamed Break the $250,000 Bank. This time it featured outside "experts" instead of studio audience contestants.[5]

Kane passed on some of his philosophy to an interviewer for Current Biography who was gathering information for his article. 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 how did they know that for sure? He pointed out that then it was usually the end of the lesson at hand.[5][3] 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.[5]

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 that then he would read something contrary like Twelfth Night. He explained that in many cases that the professors were wrong when quoting facts and because he had read most of the pertinent books at the Columbia University Library before he entered the Columbia classrooms where the lessons were being taught.[5]

Kane once told a newspaper reporter for Associated Press that he was dumb enough not to believe everything told to him until he could see the actual proof why that was so.[3] In interviewing for an article for Liberty (December 1938) he told the interviewer that it seemed that nobody knew exactly who did it first. The credit always went to the innovator or discoverer with the best sounding publicity. 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.[5]

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.[5]

A reporter for The Times 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 a investigator that discovered the truth. He thought of himself as a campaigner against myth and historical inaccuracies.[1] Kane was a consultant to various television station news departments and to the United States Congress, the White House, and the Department of the Interior.[5]

Kane spent his last years in West Palm Beach, Florida, near his sister, Ann Madier.[1] He suffered a broken hip at age 97, however he continued his work gathering facts.[1] His last project was Necessity's Child: Story of Walter Hunt. Kane figured Walter Hunt was really the true inventor of the modern fountain pen, the common sewing machine, and the American safety pin.[1]

Kane told Myrna Olive, a reporter for the Los Angeles Times, on his 100th birthday celebration in 1999 that he attributed his long life to the fact that he did nothing wrong.[1] When he was 103 years of age he passed away of causes associated with old age in West Palm Beach on September 22, 2002.[1][2][10]

Kane wrote a total of 52 books,[2] that included -

• 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).