Happy Birthday Ben Franklin - the World's Longest Reigning Cool White Guy

Whose the coolest guy in the world? The Beatles have been cool since the 1960's. That would make Paul McCartney and Ringo, the coolest living, white guys. Then there are cool dead guys like Jack Kerouac, and James Dean. They've been cool since the 1950's. But the coolest dead guy is Ben Franklin. He's been cool since the 60's - the 1760's.

Here in Philadelphia we live in the constant shadow of our most famous resident, Benjamin Franklin. We even pay a guy, to go around the city and impersonate him. When the last guy passed away, we hired a new guy. That gentleman married the woman who impersonates Betsy Ross, at our annual 4^th of July celebration, last year. It was life imitating art, for the imitators.

Ben Franklin founded most of our esteemed institutions around here, the Free Library, the Philadelphia Fire Department, University of Pennsylvania, Pennsylvania Hospital, etc. But, that's not why I originally became fascinated by him.

It was because he was cool. Back in the late 1960's, Franklin's portrait was emblazoned on the logo of Electric Factory Concerts. Franklin's long hair and wire rim spectacles made him fit right into the hippie youth culture of the 60's. The Electric Factory was the club I first saw the young Rod Stewart with The Small Faces. Rod pranced around the stage like a red headed peacock, twirling the microphone stand like a baton, wearing a bright orange suit, and his trademarked shag haircut. As an awkward adolescent, the electric factory initiated me into the world of sex, drugs, rock and roll, and Carlos Santana.

What contributed to the Ben Franklin coolness factor was the insinuation by my young high school, history teacher, that Franklin fathered a bunch of illegitimate children. "Yes kiddies, Franklin was doing a lot more than diplomacy with those sexy, over dressed French women during the Revolutionary War," he insinuated. Paid and laid. How cool was that, to a pimply faced adolescent, with exploding hormones? It turns out there is no proof that he fathered any illegitimate children when in France. Letters reveal that Ben Franklin was probably no more than an amazingly successful flirt who exchanged letters and friendship with some prominent young, attractive women, of his time.

Even the location of his home and print shop in the Old City area of Philly is cool. Ben Franklin's print shop, which is now a museum, is located at 314 Market St. It's a few blocks away from the traffic and congestion of Independence Hall and the Liberty Bell. When I was a kid, the neighborhood used to be the wholesale district, but made way to trendy outdoor cafes, art galleries, and condos. I used to buy my cowboy boots, real cheap, on North 2^nd St., from an eccentric old man who had a wholesale store littered with cardboard boxes and debris. It was housed in a building with beautiful marble steps, which was later declared an historical landmark. The neighborhood was full of little off beat stores like Third St. Jazz, where a sales clerk turned me on to Caribbean, Calypso music, before Reggae was popularized by Bob Marley.

Ben Franklin was the original working class hero. Arriving by boat, in Philadelphia penniless, he worked his way up from printer to famous politician and scientist.

It is doubtful that we would have won the American Revolution without Ben Franklin. Franklin's diplomacy in France enabled the French to send their fleet to Yorktown, to help corner the British. This lead to the British surrender at Yorktown. When Congress sent John Adams to France to help Franklin garner support for the revolution, the French hated him and had him recalled. The puritanically leaning Adams couldn't abide by the lavish habits of the French aristocracy, and their fun loving ways.

Franklin partied his way into French society, working behind the scenes to gain the critical financial and military support for the American Revolution. The French loved Dr. Franklin. The elderly revolutionary, scientist, and diplomat walked around with a fur skin cap posing as the rugged frontiersman from America, playing up to his French idol status.

Calling Ben Franklin cool, and appropriating his image for rock concerts is a bit trite. Forgive me, but it's just left over nostalgia from when I was a naïve teenager suffering from excessive imagination. But people have been over simplifying Franklin, and applying all kinds of contradictory things from his life for 200 years.

Ben Franklin was a complicated man who constantly reinvented himself. There was the simple moralist of Poor Richard's Almanac who spun common sense wisdom like, "a penny saved is a penny earned," and, "fish and guests stink after three days." "With the publication of Ben Franklin's autobiography in the 19^th century, Franklin came to represent everything that is good and bad about America", says Professor and Franklin biographer, Gordon Wood.

In the 19^th century Franklin was portrayed as the self made printer who rose from humble origins. He was the original Horatio Alger, the hero that embodied small town American values.

The writer D H Lawrence viciously attacked Ben Franklin for representing the crass materialism, and get ahead at any price, mentality of American society. It appears that Lawrence didn't know much about Franklin and merely attacked what Franklin came to represent.

When Franklin created Poor Richard's Almanac he was most likely doing what we writers call, writing for the market. In reality, Franklin, was much more than the humble printer. He owned a lot of property, and was involved in land speculation. He was also a shop- keeper and a money lender. Franklin's rise was aided by the help of wealthy patrons. That's just the way things worked in 18^th century America.

Franklin was much more than a crass materialist. In fact, Franklin retired at the ripe old age of 42 from active business to become an 18^th century gentleman. "To engage in the philosophical studies and amusements," he said. He gave up a fortune when he declined to patent his famous lightning rod, because he wanted the public to benefit from it. Franklin viewed politics as a call to service. Franklin held complex views of religion.

He disdained organized religion yet believed in God and Christianity. He helped found the American Philosophical Society. In 1784 Franklin served as the president of the 1^st American Abolition Society, working to free the Negro slaves.

Franklin spent most of his life and ardent royalist. He spent many years in England sucking up to the Royal power brokers. He turned against the Crown only after the Stamp Act created turmoil in the colonies.

Franklin became a revolutionary at age 70 when most people are set in their ways and closed to new ideas. He was the oldest American Revolutionary and had the most to loose. He was already a world famous scientist.

Most people know about Franklin's electrical experiments. They have probably heard that he invented bifocal glasses, and the Franklin stove. On one of his diplomatic voyages to France, he also discovered the Gulf Stream, by measuring ocean temperatures.

Franklin was also a musician who invented an improved Glass Harmonica. This is truly a far out sounding instrument whose sound resembles a synthesizer. They have one at Franklin Court in Philly, the restored print shop, residence and museum.

When Franklin died in 1790 here, very little notice was taken on the national level. Congress failed to declare a day of mourning. Ironically, the French National Assembly declared 3 days of mourning in France, where he was idolized. This was before the publishing of Franklin's autobiography would make him an American icon. Back in Philly he was celebrated like a hero. 20,000 people came to his funeral, here. His greatness was never in doubt, in Philadelphia.

So if you come to Philly to sight- see, stop off at Franklin Court at 314 Market St. Unlike the more famous Franklin Institute, it's free. You can hear Franklin's freaky, glass harmonica. And while you're here, check out some of the bars, restaurants, and shops, where the locals hang out, in the Old City neighborhood.