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Every weekday, Newsday presents another
IT HAPPENED ON LONG ISLAND!


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1950s: Marvin Middlemark
Invents TV Rabbit Ears

Most of the inventions Marvin Middlemark patented between 1956 and 1968 were less than successful – like his water-powered potato peeler. But one idea really caught on. In the 1950s, the Old Westbury resident invented the "rabbit ears" television antenna and began manufacturing them. After only a decade, Middlemark sold his firm for $5 million. At the time of his death in 1989, the inventor’s mansion was home to an eccentric collection that included stained glass windows of Marilyn Monroe and Albert Einstein, nine miniature horses, and 1,000 pairs of one-size-fits-all woolen gloves.

–Cynthia Blair

 

 
 

 

Copyright © 2009, Newsday Inc.

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