KODACHROME 1935-2009

Kodachrome

They give us those nice bright colors

They give us the greens of summers

Makes you think all the world's a sunny day, oh yeah

I got a Nikon camera

I love to take a photograph

So mama don't take my Kodachrome away

-Paul Simon, "Kodachrome" (1973)
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On the evening of December 3rd, 1991 I must have felt a bit like a younger Bruce Springsteen. I was driving my nearly restored Pearl White Chevrolet El Camino with mag wheels along Eastbound Interstate 20 heading to Dallas from Fort Worth, Texas when I heard an exasperated Larry King exclaim on radio, "If you haven't heard the news, Pan Am ceased all scheduled operations this morning. Hard to believe. Pan Am...out of business". I was stunned. How could an iconic symbol that was second only to Coca Cola in worldwide recognition be allowed to fail? Eighteen years later, I still don't have an answer. But here's what I do know: One by one, uniquely American companies and their products are disappearing into history forever. Am I the only one who is shocked? Maybe we have become so numb as a people, that nothing galls us anymore. Heres another example.

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Yesterday, Eastman Kodak Company announced that it will no longer produce Kodachrome, which has captured some of the world's most iconic images for 74 years. The company introduced the 35 millimeter color film in 1935. It had a following among professional and amateur photographers alike who claimed that the palate of colors and hues with such striking detail was never so beautifully replicated by any other film brand. Some of the best-known color photographs of Marilyn Monroe were made with Kodachrome film. Another piece of America is gone. Granted, Kodak executives stated that the brand accounted for less than 1 percent of total sales. In the current commodity-driven marketplace this is a logical argument. But like the exit of Oldsmobile and Pontiac automobiles certain questions remain.

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Yes, change is inevitable. But when we stop to ponder the death of a company or product so closely associated with American ingenuity, the question becomes: Why did we let that company or that product go to hell? And: What was it that we could have done to reinvent and redeploy that product offering so that it remained relevant and job creation remained intact on America soil?

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It is an undisputed fact that there is no American company today that manufactures a camera or the spare parts to have it repaired. We are living in a "throw-away society". I would even argue that this mentality applies to human relationships. Two Blog Posts ago, I stated that I wasn't a Sociologist. I don't have all of the answers to what ails this country. I don't know why we are cannibalizing our manufacturing base and exporting jobs overseas. I have heard a lot of rhetoric about how this will ultimately benefit us. But the reporter in me can find no attribution for such statements. My point, of course, goes far deeper than a company liquidating or a brand product we all grew up with disappearing. Our social culture is in a tremendous crisis, not just the economy.

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As a broadcast journalist by training, I applauded Lou Dobbs for having the guts to launch what ultimately became his Peabody Award-Winning two-year investigative television series called "Exporting America". Lou was relentless. On several occasions, I actually saw him finish a newscast on CNN's "Money Matters" and sincerely thought "He's right. But they're going to fire him". Yet, he was unflappable. Lou made some valid points that went well beyond petty partisan politics. He had a "direction with affection". He loves his country and he called it as he saw it. But at the end of the day: Has it changed anything? Your thoughts please...