MovieChat Forums > Electrocuting an Elephant (1903) Discussion > It wasn't Edison's idea to kill Topsy......

It wasn't Edison's idea to kill Topsy....

posted 19 years ago by stokepogue2001
24 replies | jump to latest

It was the idea of Fred Thompson and Elmer "Skip" Dundy (the founders and builders of Coney Island's Luna Park) to kill the unfortunate animal after she killed a man who fed her a lighted cigarette. Edison simply took advantage to film this rare event for exhibition/financial purposes.

I'm sure Edison was excited that this event took place only because he could be there to film it. But it isn't fair to obscurely suggest that Edison was perhaps "wringing his sadistic hands" while Topsy was dying a horrible death, however "low" a man Edison was.

The fact that this event is on film for educating future generations is maybe something to be thankful for...

[–] 19 years ago

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[–] zanshin_kyo 18 years ago

"by - purevegetarianman-1
No but he was part of it.
Which still makes Edison slime.

Nike is made in sweatshops.
Boycott Nike.
Just do it"

Yeah! Boycott electricity, lights, batteries and movies.
All inventions of Edison.

[–] gregtr-1 18 years ago

It is well known that most of Edison's "inventions" were not in fact invented by himself but by the small army of inventors he had hired to build up his patent portfolio.

Ever thought about why Hollywood ended up where it is today?

[–] chromedevil 16 years ago

yeah they stole his invention

"Get off my plane!!!"
- President Harrison Ford Air Force One

[–] Lothar_gr 15 years ago

Yeah! Boycott electricity, lights, batteries and movies.
All inventions of Edison.

You need to open a book from time to time you know. All these are Edison's "inventions" ( how someone would call the discovery of electricity a invention is beyond me ) right? Joseph Swan invented the light bulb a year before Thomas Edison in UK, Alessandro Volta invented the battery, Louis Le Prince invented the motion picture in 1888 ( the first ever film in human history "Roundhay garden scene" is here in IMDB ). As for electricity, the ancient Greek Thales of Miletus was the first to document the existence of static electricity. In modern years it is Benjamin Franklin who is regarded as the discoverer of electricity.

[–] Connie_n_Raymond_Marble 18 years ago

From the IMDb trivia section:

Thomas Edison, meanwhile, had been publicly killing dogs and cats with AC power to show that his DC power was more effective and less dangerous. Edison performed the execution of Topsy and captured it on film.

I had no idea Thomas Edison was such a vile person.

For Connie n Raymond Marble, it was the beginning of the end!

[–] eightie 18 years ago

Well, he may have been in that regard. But I’ll give him that – the elephant was condemned to die anyway, and the other alternatives would have been far more gruesome: see the case of Mary the elephant, who was not lucky enough to have Edison around: http://www.blueridgecountry.com/elephant/elephant.html
http://www.rootsweb.com/~tnunicoi/mary.htm

[–] maiira 18 years ago

I had no idea Thomas Edison was such a vile person.

I'm not really sure that it was entirely Edison that was vile, though. I think part of it might have come from the mentality of the time period itself. It was popularly believed that animals had no souls, and since they had no souls, they couldn't feel pain. Even if the animal was screaming and crying, it was only because it was doing what it THOUGHT it ought to do in that situation, and not actually feeling the pain.

Of course, people nowadays say that that's complete bullsh*t, but, well...you gotta love archaic medical science.

Ahh, kamisama! watashi no atama ni ono ga arimasu!

[–] regul8r28 18 years ago

people really give a sht about an elephant that died 103 years ago? the peta types in this country are dumb. i hate them all.

[–] maiira 18 years ago

I am going to presume that you are not talking about me, seeing as I am not among these "peta types" of whom you so eloquently speak.

And by the way, feeling compassion about an electrocuted animal =/= stupidity (the slash means "does not equal" in case you haven't inferred that already), regardless of the time period in which it was electrocuted. That is all.

Ahh, kamisama! watashi no atama ni ono ga arimasu!

[–] thecalhouns 18 years ago

look people I love animals but who really cares if Edison killed some animals to prove a point? I mean sheesh the guy invented so damn much I think we should forgive him for a few animals that died before any of us were born

[–] 18 years ago

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[–] meleny_um 18 years ago

yeah...and if hitler had discovered a cure for cancer during the holocaust that would be super cool too. i'm sure everyone would forgive him for the concentration camps.

[–] TornadoShanks 17 years ago

Uh-huh, do you realize that millions of dogs and cats are put to death every year in the US alone? I suppose anyone involved with that is equal to Hitler as well.

100 years ago there was no such thing as "animal rights", people were more worried about their own rights. Comparing Edison to Hitler is so far-fetched it's a joke.

[–] John_Olson 17 years ago

"Uh-huh, do you realize that millions of dogs and cats are put to death every year in the US alone?"

Yes.

"I suppose anyone involved with that is equal to Hitler as well."

Yes.

"100 years ago there was no such thing as "animal rights", people were more worried about their own rights."

No.

"Comparing Edison to Hitler is so far-fetched it's a joke."

No.

[–] soulyou 17 years ago

yes, but Hitler did not discover a cure for cancer, did he?
Also, Edison only recorded the electrocution of an elephant while Hitler was responsible for the deaths of thousands of human beings.
It’s more than a little absurd to compare the two.

[–] minority207 17 years ago

edison did not invent the movies. Louis Le Prince did. Edison just stole everybodys movies and made a fortune

[–] meleny_um 12 years ago

@TornadoShanks
Making a comparison does not mean I'm equating Edison to Hitler. I'm merely making an exaggerated comparison to make a point. Yes...the comparison is far-fetched, which was my intention. Hyperbole isn't the best way to make an argument, but it can get a point across.
If there were no written laws for human rights, would humans not have any rights? Just because animal rights were not written down somewhere or popular at the time doesn't mean they didn't exist.

@soulyou
Yes...I realize Hitler did not discover a cure for cancer. That hypothetical situation was the point of my comparison. I believe it was Einstein who said "The world is a dangerous place, not because of those who do evil, but because of those who look on and do nothing."
If you were witnessing something you'd consider to be wrong, would you sit around and record it? Or would the right thing to do be to attempt to stop it or alert some form of authority? One could argue that willingly doing nothing while a crime is occurring is tantamount to committing the crime...or at least condoning it.

I understand those were different times, however, you can't say that nobody in the world at that time cared for or valued the lives of animals. Just because you are not taught something, doesn't mean you can't learn it...in this case, the capacity to care for an animal's life.

An atrocity is an atrocity no matter the time or place.

[–] brideofbasil 16 years ago

The sad thing about it was, the elephant got violent because somebody had
hurt it. In so many cases where a circus animal goes berzerk, it's because
it had been abused for quite some time and finally got pushed over the edge.
Remember, animals act on instinct, not on reason. Both Topsy and Mary were
treated cruelly by humans, to the point where they just lost it. Not that
I don't feel badly for the human victims; but how sad that these
animals were executed like common criminals when kinder treatment might
have prevented such tragedies in the first place.

[–] 16 years ago

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[–] maiira 16 years ago

Source for this?

Also, I'm not trying to justify anything. I'm saying that it wasn't JUST Edison doing things like this. He was a product of his time period, and while we shouldn't ignore this, we also shouldn't condemn him for it.

Ahh, kamisama! watashi no atama ni ono ga arimasu!

[–] BritishZombie 15 years ago

If you do want to argue comapring Hitler and Edison is absurd alos take into consideration Hitler incented motorways, put into place animal rights and enviromental policies, gave jobs to the unemployed and took a country out of recession.

[–] maiira 15 years ago

Wait, what?

...Oh, you were replying to someone else's post.

Carry on, then.

Ahh, kamisama! watashi no atama ni ono ga arimasu!

[–] 15 years ago

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