Charles Bedaux

Charles Bedaux
Charles Eugène Bedaux

Bedaux with his film crew in Canada in 1934
Born 26 October 1886
Paris, France
Died 18 February 1944
Miami, Florida
Spouse Fern

Charles Eugène Bedaux (26 October 1886 – 18 February 1944) was one of the most colorful millionaires of the early twentieth century. Friends with British royalty and Nazis alike, he amassed a fortune expanding on the Taylorism style of scientific management and was a big game hunter and explorer.

Contents

Early years

Charles Bedaux was born in Paris, France.[1] In 1903, he dropped out of school and worked a series of menial jobs before befriending Henri Ledoux, a successful pimp from the infamous Pigalle district. Ledoux taught Bedaux lessons on proper dress, confidence and street-fighting, but when Ledoux was murdered in 1906, Bedaux moved to the United States where he became an United States citizen, married, and had a son, Charles Emile Bedaux (1909–1993).[2]

Scientific management

Bedaux was one of the leading contributors in the field of scientific management and introduced the concept of rating assessment and timing work which led to great improvements in employee productivity. He was strongly influenced by Fredrick Winslow Taylor and also an adherent of Frank Gilbreth's theories of time and motion studies and allowing rest periods to prevent employee fatigue.

By 1916, Charles Bedaux had established a management consulting firm in Cleveland. It would be one of the first of its kind and within a decade its success would allow for the creation of a string of firms across the United States, Europe, and eventually throughout Africa, Australia and the Orient.[3]

The Bedaux Canadian Sub-Arctic Expedition

The Bedaux Canadian Sub-Arctic Expedition was the grand title Bedaux gave to the expedition he formed to cross the wilderness of Northern British Columbia, Canada in 1934. Mostly, the expedition was a publicity stunt, but it was also formed to test out the new Citroën half-track cars that were being developed by Bedaux's friend André Citroën.[4] Key points in the trip were filmed by Academy Award winning cinematographer from Hollywood, Floyd Crosby, who would later be praised for his work on High Noon. Also along for the trip were several dozen Alberta cowboys and a large film crew. To map the route of the expedition, the Canadian government sent along two geographers, Frank Swannell and Ernest Lemarque. The expedition started off at Edmonton, Alberta on 6 July 1934 and their goal was to travel 1500 miles to Telegraph Creek, British Columbia. Much of the trip would have to be made through regions that were relatively uncharted and had no trails.[5] The party failed to reach their destination and the original movie was never made, but in 1995, Canadian director, George Ungar, produced a television biography of Bedaux incorporating Crosby's footage of the expedition, entitled "The Champagne Safari".[3] [6]

The Duke and Duchess of Windsor

Bedaux purchased the sixteenth-century Château de Candé, in France, and lived there with his American second wife, the former Fern Lombard (1892–1972), a daughter of lawyer James Lombard of Grand Rapids, Michigan.[7][8] On 3 June 1937, they hosted the wedding of Wallis Warfield and Prince Edward, Duke of Windsor.[3]

Later years

When Paris was occupied by the Germans during World War II, he became acquainted with leading Nazi and Vichy figures. After the fall of France in 1940, he was appointed as an economic advisor to the Reich and, according to Martin Allen, given responsibility for the liquidation of Jewish businesses in Occupied France.[9]

Bedaux was in North Africa supervising the construction of a German pipeline when he and his son were arrested by the Free French Forces in November 1942 during Operation Torch.[9] Bedaux was taken back to the United States on a charge of treason, and committed suicide in prison in Miami, Florida awaiting a grand jury investigation into his wartime activities.[2][9]

Bedaux's wife, Fern, and her sister, Eve Duez (Mme Louis S Duez), were interned briefly in Paris during the war but were soon released through their connections to the Nazi government in France, according to a memoir by Drue Leyton Tartière (née Dorothy Blackmon Tartière), an American former actress and broadcaster who worked with the Resistance.[10]

Notes

  1. ^ Britannica. "Charles Bedaux". http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-9001763/Bedaux,%20Charles%20Eugene. Retrieved 2007-07-10. 
  2. ^ a b NY Times (1985-06-02). "Dropout Millionaire". The New York Times. http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9D04E7D81739F931A35755C0A963948260. Retrieved 2007-07-10. 
  3. ^ a b c Bedaux. "Charles Bedaux". http://www.bedaux.com/com/bedaux/charlesbedaux.php. Retrieved 2007-07-10. 
  4. ^ Saskatoon Sun. "Rumours surround legendary Bedaux trek". Archived from the original on 2007-09-28. http://web.archive.org/web/20070928072236/http://www.wdm.ca/wdmbedau.html. Retrieved 2007-07-10. 
  5. ^ Bob Dyke. "Bedaux Expedition". http://www.fsj.nlc.bc.ca/nlc/sroe/bob_dyke.htm. Retrieved 2007-07-10. [dead link]
  6. ^ Mostra. "Champagne Safari". http://www2.uol.com.br/mostra/21/english/films/safari-i.htm. Retrieved 2007-07-10. 
  7. ^ http://ww2.glenbow.org/search/archivesPhotosResults.aspx?AC=GET_RECORD&XC=/search/archivesPhotosResults.aspx&BU=&TN=IMAGEBAN&SN=AUTO15706&SE=580&RN=0&MR=10&TR=0&TX=1000&ES=0&CS=0&XP=&RF=WebResults&EF=&DF=WebResultsDetails&RL=0&EL=0&DL=0&NP=255&ID=&MF=WPEngMsg.ini&MQ=&TI=0&DT=&ST=0&IR=17085&NR=0&NB=0&SV=0&BG=&FG=&QS=&OEX=ISO-8859-1&OEH=ISO-8859-1
  8. ^ http://www.polyvore.com/nicolas_becker_oil_on_canvas/thing?id=3003323
  9. ^ a b c Allen, Martin (2000). Hidden Agenda: How the Duke of Windsor Betrayed the Allies. London: Macmillan. ISBN 0333901819. 
  10. ^ "My attention was drawn to a woman who was sitting on the edge of a cot with an ermine wrap around her feet. She was passing around a five-pound box of chocolates to her friends. I learned that she was Mrs. Charles Bedaux, at whose chateau the Duke of Windsor married Mrs. Simpson. Mrs. Bedaux said in a very loud voice that she did not expect to be with us long, and that she was waiting for Otto Abetz, Nazi fifth columnist in France before the war and the new Nazi Ambassador to France, to come and get her and her sister released. Next morning a group of French collaborationists, obviously personages high in treachery, arrived with an important German in uniform. They were very respectful to Mrs. Bedaux, helped her pack her things, and out she swept, while the rest of us were enraged at this exhibition of the power of social and political influence." From The House Near Paris: An American Woman's Story of Traffic in Patriots by Drue Tartière and M R Werner, Simon & Schuster, 1946, page 105.

Further reading

  • Christy, Jim (1984). The Price of Power : A Biography of Charles Eugene Bedaux. Doubleday. ISBN 0385189095. 
  • Berton, Pierre (2002). My Country: The Remarkable Past. Anchor Canada. ISBN 978-0-385-65928-4. 

Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Нужно решить контрольную?

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Charles Bedaux — Bedaux mit seiner Filmcrew in Kanada, 1934 Charles Eugène Bedaux (* 26. Oktober 1886 in Paris; † 18. Februar 1944 in Miami) war einer der schillerndsten Millionäre des frühen zwanzigsten Jahrhunderts. Er entwickelte erfolgreich das auf Frederick… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Charles Bedaux — Charles Eugène Bedaux (10 octobre 1886 Charenton le Pont 18 février 1944 Miami) est un des précurseurs de l organisation scientifique du travail. Sommaire 1 Jeunesse 2 L apogée 3 L avant guerre …   Wikipédia en Français

  • bedaux — ● bedaux nom masculin (du nom de son inventeur, Charles Bedaux [vers 1887 1944]) Unité de mesure de la quantité de travail qu un travailleur manuel peut fournir en une minute pendant 8 heures par jour. ● bedaux (homonymes) nom masculin (du nom de …   Encyclopédie Universelle

  • Bedaux-System —   [bə do , französisch], erstmals 1916 in den USA von dem amerikanischen Unternehmensberater Charles E. Bedaux (* 1887, ✝ 1944) angewendetes Arbeitsbewertungs , Zeitstudien und Prämienlohnsystem. In Deutschland verbreitete es sich Ende der 1920er …   Universal-Lexikon

  • Bedaux Expedition — [ Peace River Country (August 1934)] The Bedaux Expedition also named the Bedaux Canadian Subarctic Expedition was an attempt by eccentric French millionaire, Charles Eugène Bedaux to cross the British Columbia wilderness, while making a movie,… …   Wikipedia

  • bedaux system — bə̇ˈdō noun also bedaux plan Usage: usually capitalized B Etymology: after Charles E. Bedaux died 1944 French efficiency engineer in United States : point system * * * /beuh doh / a system of payment for work on the basis of the number of points… …   Useful english dictionary

  • Bedaux, Charles Eugene — ▪ American efficiency engineer born Oct. 26, 1887, Charonton, near Paris, France died Feb. 18, 1944, Miami, Fla., U.S.       French born American efficiency engineer who developed the Bedaux plan for measuring and compensating industrial labour.… …   Universalium

  • Bedaux system — /beuh doh / a system of payment for work on the basis of the number of points of work done in a given amount of time, each point representing one minute of work on a given job at a normal rate of speed. Also called Bedaux plan, point system.… …   Universalium

  • Bedaux system — noun see point system * * * /beuh doh / a system of payment for work on the basis of the number of points of work done in a given amount of time, each point representing one minute of work on a given job at a normal rate of speed. Also called… …   Useful english dictionary

  • Efficiency Movement — Part of the Politics series on Progressivism Schools American Progressivism Modern liberalism Progressive education Ideas Anti racism Civil liberties …   Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”