Contrary to urban legend, Charles Manson did not audition. This cookie is set by Google and is used to distinguish users. Despite increasing health issues, Bette Graham managed to wrest back control of the company and in 1979, Liquid Paper was sold to Gillette for $47.5 million and Bette's royalty rights were restored. She left her fortune to her son, who took over her foundations that empower striving women. You have subscribed to: Remember that you can always manage your preferences or unsubscribe through the link at the foot of each newsletter. It is used for tracking and personalization purposes, such as remembering a user's preferences and activity on the site. During that time, I often became discouraged, she told the magazine Texas Woman in 1979. As her son Michael later recalled, financial pressures would cause his mother to frequently burst into tears of panic.. [2], Her only son, musician Michael Nesmith (best known as a member of The Monkees), inherited half of his mother's estate of over $50 million. clearInterval(hp_interval); In the mid of 1979, Bette Graham decided to sell her company to Gillette Corporation for $50 million. With no background in chemical engineering, but guided by her side hustle of painting and graphic design, Bette Graham created the first correctional paint to fix document typos. Then, just a few months later, Bette Nesmith Graham suffered a stroke and died at 59 years old. This cookie is set by Twitter. var el = wrappingDiv.getElementsByClassName(className)[0]; Over the next twenty five years, Bette and others grew the small start-up through traditional sales to distributors and promotion within the office product industry. Starting on a basis of tempera paint she mixed with a common kitchen blender, she called the fluid "Mistake Out" and started to provide her co-workers with . Array.prototype.forEach.call(wrappingDivs,wrappingDiv => { Please try again! The introduction of liquid paper came to cover up the blunders that we usually make when writing or re-writing a book or paper. Bette was strongly against growing fast on other peoples money, as she said in that same 1977 speech. Nesmith was raised in Dallas by his mother, Bette Nesmith Graham, who invented the first correction fluid in 1956 while working as a typist. All of this growth happened without any outside investment. In 1956, Bette Nesmith Graham (mother of future The Monkees guitarist Michael Nesmith) invented the first correction fluid in her kitchen. var form = $(this); } By clicking Accept All Cookies, you agree to the storing of cookies on your device to enhance site navigation, analyze site usage, and assist in our marketing efforts. I did not believe in outside short term borrowing to grow. In 1962, Graham married a frozen-food salesman, Robert Graham, who took an increasingly active role in the company, including a seat on the board. Since 1851, obituaries in The New York Times have been dominated by white men. In Wyoming, Alterras Jackson Hole has sold out of day passes. Out of these cookies, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. Used by Recording filters to identify new user sessions. Pick: Do you consider these musicians one-hit wonders? When you buy through the links on our site we may earn a commission. var hp_ts = 0; return decodeURIComponent(cookiePair[1]); LPC scaled internationally and eventually opened offices and manufacturing plants in Canada, England, Belgium and Australia. Nesmith went off to World War II and while he was away, she had their only son, Michael Nesmith (later of The Monkees fame). She also managed to study for her General Education when not busy with her new position. Bette Nesmith Graham was born to Jesse McMurray and Christine Duval in Dallas, Texas, on March 23, 1924. 58. This cookie is set by Hotjar. However, as an article from a July 1967 issue of Teen Life magazine told it, "When Davy applied for an immigration visa to America, he had to sign a form stating that he knew that after six months here, he would be eligible for the draft." Please note: prices are correct and items are available at the time the article was published. What we suggest is selected independently by the Kidadl team. Paper and founder of the Liquid Paper Corporation. Bette Nesmith Graham dropped out to marry Warren Audrey Nesmith, her childhood sweetheart and a soldier when it comes to family life. In 1994, Jeff Bezos discovered a shocking stat: Internet usage grew 2,300% per year. The secretary that invented this product was, by many accounts, a bad typist but an extraordinary entrepreneur. The now-famous woman inventor sold her first batch of "Mistake Out" in 1956, and soon she was working full-time to produce and bottle it from her North Dallas home. Click here for more Fun Facts! Please try again"; She also liked spending some time with her son. e.preventDefault(); el.setAttribute("value", newVal); That included giving shelter and counseling for battered women and college scholarships for mature women. Don't worry, the other two had good excuses. She was previously married to Robert Graham and Warren Audrey Nesmith. Graham later brought it to market and was soon leading an international business, based in Dallas, that produced 25 million bottles of Liquid Paper a year at its peak, with factories in Toronto and Brussels. We have to not relent., Overlooked No More: Bette Nesmith Graham, Who Invented Liquid Paper, https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/11/obituaries/bette-nesmith-graham-overlooked.html. Bette Nesmith Graham. $('input.hp_ts').val(hp_ts); These cookies are used for advertising, site analytics, and other operational purposes. function getCookieValue(a) { This cookie is set by Linkedin. A few years ago, Kimi Coy and her mother, Carolyn Benyshek, booked a mother-daughter trip to Singapore. At Kidadl we pride ourselves on offering families original ideas to make the most of time spent together at home or out and about, wherever you are in the world. National Administrative Professionals Day. By 1951, she had worked her way up to the position of executive secretary for W.W. Overton, the Chairman of the Board of the Texas Bank and Trust. Bette Nesmith Graham was born on 23 March 1924 in Corpus Christi, Texas, USA. 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Born in 1924 in Dallas, Texas, Bette Graham dropped out of high school at the age of seventeen and went to secretarial school. One day at work, she accidentally signed off a letter The Mistake Out Company instead of Texas Bank and Trust, and was fired. Used to remember a user's language setting to ensure LinkedIn.com displays in the language selected by the user in their settings.
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On weekends, she traveled around Texas pitching Mistake Out to wholesalers. She left her fortune to her son, who took over her foundations and continued to dole out money to striving women. The secretary-turned-business-savant managed to stave off her ex and maintain a 49% stake in her company. form.find('.email-form-wrap').after('
Too fast! } Today is National Administrative Professionals Day, commemorating the important work of executive assistants and office professionals, the tireless people who make sure the organizational trains run on time. That secretary was Elizabeth Clair McMurray Nesmith Graham, the, With no background in chemical engineering, but guided by her side hustle of painting and graphic design, Bette Graham created the first correctional paint to fix document typos. In 1975, she moved Liquid Paper into a 35k-square-foot automated facility in Dallas that pumped out 25m bottles/year. The Hustle uses the information you provide to contact you about our relevant content and services. This article contains incorrect information, This article doesnt have the information Im looking for, Other Interesting Bette Nesmith Graham Facts And Trivia. Well send you tons of inspiration to help you find a hidden gem in your local area or plan a big day out. }); This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. A racially integrated staff that recognized affirmative action policies. This included positions in management and sales, not just operations. Her son performed with Davy Jones. This madcap movie was a colossal flop at the time, pocketing a mere $16,000 at the box office. error.innerHTML = error_message; The synthesizer can be heard on their 1967 albumPisces, Aquarius, Capricorn & Jones Ltd. Bette Nesmith Graham whipped up the first batch of "Liquid Paper" in her kitchen in 1951, originally calling the stuffMistake Out. Bette married Warren Nesmith, her longtime sweetheart, in 1942, just before when he left to serve in the Second World War. Liquid Paper Corporations' Statement of Policy. She built the company with no cash, and just supported us with her secretary job for years. They had accommodation for differently-abled people, including employees who used wheelchairs and a program for blind employees. I often wonder what Bette would make of todays corporations, particularly in this time of a global pandemic. Following this success and massive growth in wealth, Graham would go on to establish two foundations, the Gihon Foundation, which gave grants and financial support to promote women in the arts, and the Bette Clair McMurray Foundation, which did the same for women in business. The bitterness remained, and Robert Graham maneuvered to have the company bar her from making any corporate decisions. Rather than remove their mistakes entirely, the painters simply covered any imperfections with an additional layer. The _omappvs cookie, used in conjunction with the _omappvp cookies, is used to determine if the visitor has visited the website before, or if it is a new visitor.
I remember talking to her accountant, and he looked at me and said, You know, this company should never have existed. https://www.thoughtco.com/liquid-paper-bette-nesmith-graham-1992092 (accessed March 4, 2023). She acquired shorthand and typing after her divorce and got work in a bank to support herself and her child. He changed his name to avoid confusion with the Monkees star, and picked Bowie based on frontiersman Jim Bowie and his eponymous knife. The _ga cookie, installed by Google Analytics, calculates visitor, session and campaign data and also keeps track of site usage for the site's analytics report. } var onloadCallback = function() { Born in Saint Joseph's Hospital in downtown Houston, Texas, Nesmith was a self-described "failure . A clip from a commercial for Liquid Paper (YouTube). That technological shift (and the ensuing increase in typographical errors) became a source of inspiration for a new product in the 1950s. Its non-linear structure and surrealism would profoundly influence MTV videos. Who is Bette Nesmith Graham: Bette Nesmith Graham is a famous Entrepreneur. The quick-thinking Graham mimicked their technique by using a white, water-based tempera paint to cover her typing errors. If this cookie does not exist when HubSpot manages cookies, it is considered a new session. Bette would go on to perfect her product and build a fortune around it, eventually creating foundations that did help empower working women. I find its such a marvelous period when youve been patient and stood your ground and one day you see that growth has been going on around you all the time, she said. For a time, LPC also had not one CEO but a council of three executives who comprised the Office of the President. She established two foundations, the Gihon Foundation, which gave grants and financial support to promote women in the arts, and the Bette Clair McMurray Foundation, which did the same for women in business. Containers that took up to We use cookies to make the Hustle website a better place. Which seems odd, seeing how he was a native of England. Bette steadfastly maintained a 49% stake in the company, even as the company grew.
It contains an opaque GUID to represent the current visitor. if (el != null) { The Texas-born Graham married Warren Nesmith at 19 and worked as a secretary during the day while studying for her GED diploma at night. By 1976, her little business had grown into the Liquid Paper Corporation, producing 25 million bottles each year and spending $1 million per year on advertising. Archival materials are from the University of North Texas Special Collection, with special thanks to Morgan Davis Gieringer and her staff. This is one the few tricks that she came to employ when she was working as a secretary. She applied that high standard to building an inclusive organization and taking care of and supporting employees, too. hp_ts = 0; } And she did it all during a time when women were discouraged from pursuing business ventures. They wouldnt let me come on the premises or let anyone there have anything to do with me, Bette Graham said. Stephen Stills and Paul Williams were among those who did not make the cut, as were Danny Hutton (of Three Dog Night) and Harry Nilsson. Bette Nesmith Graham used it to fix her typos covertly.Her creation of liquid paper in 1951 created history. Born Bette Clair McMurray in Dallas in March 1924, she grew up in San Antonio. Weve got you covered: Have an idea of someone we should cover? Analytical cookies are used to understand how visitors interact with the website. They would divorce in 1946, and Bette went to work. At the time of her death, Bette Graham was planning a building to house the foundations and the art collection including works by Georgia O'Keeffe, Mary Cassatt, Helen Frankenthaler, and many other lesser-known artists. Bette Nesmith Graham is no longer in the world, and hence her annual income can not be ascertained. She turned her whiteout, Liquid Paper, into an. Our organizational chart a circle reflects our belief that each employee can develop his full usefulness in an atmosphere that encourages open communication and support of individual talent, Bette said. Just 6 months later, at the age of 56, she suffered a stroke and died. ThoughtCo, Sep. 1, 2021, thoughtco.com/liquid-paper-bette-nesmith-graham-1992092. [3] A portion financed the Gihon Foundation which established the Council on Ideas, a think tank with a retreat center located north of Santa Fe, New Mexico active from 1990 to 2000 and devoted to exploring world problems. function setHiddenFieldValue(wrappingDiv, searchParams, className, utmName, cookieName, defaultValue) { Mistake Out became Liquid Paper. But as her operation took off, the people closest to her tried to take advantage of her success. var prev_email = getCookieValue('funnel_email'); Graham was sacked in 1960 after unintentionally signing a bank letter with the name of her private company. This cookie is set by LiveIntent. As an Amazon Associate, Kidadl earns from qualifying purchases. Bette Claire McMurray was born on March 23, 1924 in Dallas, Texas, the daughter of Christine Duval and Jesse McMurray. After living with her husband for some time, she opted to look for a part-time job. Her mother owned a knitting store and taught her to paint from a young age; her father, a manager at an auto parts company, imparted the values of consistency and hard work. Grahams invention of correction fluid gave her a glimpse of a potential way out of her troubles, and she tried to form a business, calling it the Mistake Out Company, but could not afford the $400 patent fee. She later married Robert Graham, but they filed for divorce in 1975 and separated in 1979.Bette Nesmith Graham filled a bottle with water-based paint tinted to match the paper she was using and headed to the workplace with her watercolor brush. 2023, Hustle Con Media, Inc., All Rights Reserved. setHiddenFieldValueFromUtm(wrappingDiv, sp, 'funnel-s2', 's2', ''); Some of the data that are collected include the number of visitors, their source, and the pages they visit anonymously. LPC also developed an expanded set of employee benefits that were highly uncommon for the time. As the product spread in popularity, Graham relocated the operation from her garage to a trailer to an office building. Bridges. Born Bette Clair McMurray in Dallas in March 1924, she grew up in San Antonio. className, setHiddenFieldValueFromUtm(wrappingDiv, sp, 'funnel-a', 'a', ''); Bette Clair McMurray was born in Dallas on March 23, 1924. This cookie is set by Microsoft Clarity. Graham sought a better way to correct typing errors, and she remembered that artists painted over their mistakes on canvas, so why couldn't typists simply paint over their mistakes? Graham poses for a photo later in life (University of North Texas archives). var sp = new URLSearchParams(window.location.search); Comment: The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that in 2018, secretaries and administrative professionals account for some. This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. UET stores this data in a first-party cookie. It is, in fact, native to North America and related to pineapples. I think anyone who is making progress faces fear, she later said in an interview. } AKA Bette Clair McMurray. Little did she know her frustration would lead to her becoming one of the most famous women inventors of the 20th century. Whenever HubSpot changes the session cookie, this cookie is also set to determine if the visitor has restarted their browser. On 23rd, March 1924 Bette Nesmith Graham was first seen in the world in Dallas, Texas. It was a profession that used to be a reliable path to the middle class, as noted by Heather Long in the Washington Post last year. Linkedin sets this cookie. She was a bad typist to boot. So, in 1979, the inventor of Liquid Paper sold the company to Gillette for $47.5 million, plus a deal for royalties. This cookie is set by LinkedIn. Facing ailing health in 1979, she sold Liquid Paper to Gillette for $47.5m ($173m today), plus royalties on every bottle sold for the next 2 decades. By 1957, Graham was selling 100 bottles per month to her colleagues. She died on 12 May 1980 in Fort Worth, Texas, USA. Pinterest. "She was a. She was a typist, and artist, a secretary, a mother, and inventor of liquid paper. By 1968, the LPC had become a multimillion-dollar organization, breaking ground on a huge business and manufacturing facility in Dallas, Texas. var captchaEl = document.createElement('div'); She had the lion's share of a multi-million dollar industry and Bette, now a wealthy woman, established two charitable foundations, the Gihon Foundation in 1976, to collect paintings and other artworks by women, and the Bette Clair McMurray Foundation to support women in need, in 1978. window.addEventListener('DOMContentLoaded', (event) => { Kidadl is independent and to make our service free to you the reader we are supported by advertising. Do Not Sell My Information - CA Residents. She left school at 17 to become a secretary and married her high school sweetheart, Warren Nesmith, two years later. As chronicled by Forbes contributor Tanya Tarr, Graham left behind much more than a fortune. That rankled her to no end, Nesmith said to me over the phone. Over the next few years, she sought help from a number of industry professionals, including a polymer chemist named Bill Mallow, and further refined her product for a mass market. Here are a handful of fun facts to celebrate half a century of the Monkees. Can you recognize these stars on the cover of TV Guide in 1970? hp_ts += 1; In the mid-70s, well before Zappos adopted a. , Bette was innovating with organizational structure. [4] Additionally, a portion of Graham's estate financed the Betty Clair McMurray Foundation, which focuses on supporting projects such as the exhibit Texas Women, A Celebration of History, career guidance for unwed mothers, shelter and counseling for battered women, and college scholarships for mature women. Used to store consent of guests regarding the use of cookies for non-essential purposes. In the mid-70s, well before Zappos adopted a holocracy model, Bette was innovating with organizational structure. For a variety of reasons - technology changes, increased access to education or better professional opportunities - the profession is on the decline. We dont spam. The Today in missed opportunities, Snapchat announced a GPT-powered personalized avatar named My AI (and not SnapChatGPT). Sad news: Michael Nesmith of The Monkees, who went on to have a successful career in music and film died today at 78 of natural causes. This cookie is set by Twitter to identify and track the website visitor. She called her vision the Statement of Policy. This cookie is set by CHEQ AI Technologies. You have to face fears and doubts constantly. After living with her husband for some time, she opted to look for a part-time job. This does not influence our choices. Her correction fluid would be a godsend for typists. setHiddenFieldValueFromUtm(wrappingDiv, sp, 'funnel-s4', 's4', ''); An artist never corrects by erasing but always paints over the error, she later recalled. I wonder if we will have the courage to fully implement the type of ethical business practices she made real, some 40 years ago. LPC also boasted full implementation of affirmative action polices in the late 1970s with a racially integrated staff. Bette Nesmith Graham will celebrate 99th birthday on Thursday, 23rd of March 2023. When the other secretaries realized how well the invention worked, they flooded Graham with requests for their own supplies. She donated millions to charity after selling her business. Years earlier, in 1962, shed married a frozen-food salesman named Robert Graham and had given him partial control of Liquid Papers business affairs. ) { Her mother operated a knitting store, and his father worked as a manager in an automotive supply firm. Graham with her son Michael in 1957 (via newspaper archives). Without a doubt, his technique worked beyond her belief. Soon, business was booming. }); Her son, Michael who, as chance would have it, went on to achieve fame as a member of the 60s pop group, The Monkees continued to champion his late mothers legacy, appearing in commercials for her products well into the 90s. Before Fame } else { Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics: Includes Elizabeth Lucas Pinckney (indigo plant dye), Martha Coston (signal flares), Fannie Farmer (standardized recipes), Madam C. J. Walker (hair-care products), S. Josephine Baker (child hygiene), Barbara McClintock (genetics), Bette Nesmith Graham (Liquid Paper), Grace Hopper (computer-programming language), Ruth Handler (the Barbie doll), and . She came to name her final product as Liquid Paper in 1958.It was there that her trademark flourished and in 1975 she served as a distributor of her own company.
captchaVersion.class = 'g-recaptcha hidden-input'; Our lab is working on a faster drying solution, Graham wrote to one customer (the lab being her kitchen and her blender). Her first employees were her teenage son and his friends. She didnt know it then, but she was on the brink of something magical. setHiddenFieldValueFromUtm(wrappingDiv, sp, 'funnel-oc', 'oc', ''); But she was loved because of her creative and tremendous work. setHiddenFieldValueFromUtm(wrappingDiv, sp, 'funnel-f', 'f', ''); Kidadl provides inspiration to entertain and educate your children. var subForm = wrappingDiv.getElementsByClassName('email-submission')[0]; Kidadl cannot accept liability for the execution of these ideas, and parental supervision is advised at all times, as safety is paramount. She poured herself into the business and her effort soon took a toll. This is a pattern type cookie set by Google Analytics, where the pattern element on the name contains the unique identity number of the account or website it relates to. Bette Nesmith Graham was born March 23rd, 1924 ("Bette Nesmith Graham: Liquid Paper Inventor," n.d.). American typist and inventor of Liquid Paper (19241980), "From The Folks Who Gave You Liquid Paper", "Graham, Bette Clair McMurray (19241980)", "Overlooked No More: Bette Nesmith Graham, Who Invented Liquid Paper", Bette Nesmith Graham, Liquid Paper Inventor, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Bette_Nesmith_Graham&oldid=1129392668, Short description is different from Wikidata, Pages using infobox person with multiple spouses, Pages using infobox person with multiple parents, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, This page was last edited on 25 December 2022, at 03:03.