Polaroid's Land Steps Down

One failure for the tinkering genius of instant film

Salesmen at Boston's Jordan Marsh department store just before Christmas 1948 proudly touted the new cameras with the slogan "Snap it, see it." As curious customers watched in fascination, Polaroid pictures almost miraculously developed right inside the camera in one minute. Photography's professionals dismissed it as a gimmick, but Edwin Land had just founded the instant-photo industry, now a $1.2 billion business. Last week Land, 70, one of the premier tinkerers of American history, announced his retirement as chief executive officer of Polaroid amid a whirlwind of controversy. Land's departure will be due in large part to his prized invention, Polavision instant home movies. Last fall the company took a $68 million write-down on its Polavision inventory, and there may be more to come.

Three years ago, when Land introduced Polavision to an amazed stockholders' meeting, Polaroid had been one of the great success stories of corporate America. Founder and boss for 43 years, Harvard Dropout Edwin Land is an inventive genius ranking not far behind Thomas Edison. He personally holds 524 U.S. patents. Starting with the development of Polaroid filters to stop the harsh reflection of automobile headlights, Land moved on to nonglare Polaroid sunglasses and World War II antiaircraft goggles.

The inspiration for instant photography came during a 1943 family vacation in New Mexico, when Daughter Jennifer asked how soon she could see the picture that father had just taken. After countless experiments over the next four years, Land devised the procedure that captured an image on special paper pressed against film and developing solution, which simultaneously produced a negative and positive print. The film and paper could be separated after 60 sec. to reveal the picture. During the 1950s and 1960s, the wizard of light turned out a steady stream of new cameras, faster developing films and color films. During its go-go Wall Street era, Polaroid became the epitome of a glamour stock. A $1,000 investment in the company in 1938 was worth more than $4 million at its peak in 1972.

That year Polaroid brought out the revolutionary SX-70, the coat-pocket-size folding fully automatic single-lens reflex camera; it popped out film that developed sharp color prints while one looked at them. After some initial start-up problems with the SX-70, the mass-market One-Step and Pronto models were smash successes. In 1978 the company was manufacturing 30,000 OneSteps a day. Even after Eastman Kodak finally entered the instant-photo field in 1976, Polaroid roared forward, always one inspirational idea ahead of the competition.

During those heady years, Polaroid's unique management style seemed part of its chemistry for success. The product, not the marketing, was the thing. Land, a shy and reclusive scientist more at ease in his lab than with salesmen, believed that his new inventions would create their own success. Polaroid considered market research a "waste of money." Company headquarters in Cambridge, Mass., was dominated by scientists and was often called the city's third university--after Harvard and M.I.T.

Such management style, however, was the company's undoing with Polavision. While the innovation was a technical marvel, there was little market for it. Home movies have never been as popular as still photography; while nearly all homes have a still camera, only about one-quarter have movie cameras. Polavision was also expensive and the picture quality often poor. The camera and a small viewer that looks like a TV screen cost $675, plus $9.95 for a 2-min. 40-sec. film cartridge. The product never took hold despite heavy promotion. Some officials within the company opposed Polavision, but Land, who applied for his first patent on the process in 1946, insisted on its development.

Polavision was not the company's only source of troubles. Amid declining film sales, earnings last year plunged by 70% to $36.1 million. Younger photographers often prefer the new, easy-to-use 35-mm cameras like the Pentax ME and the Canon AE1 over instant cameras. Polaroid has also found market resistance to the high initial cost of its film, now about 60-c- per picture.

Replacing Land as chief executive officer will be William J. McCune Jr., 64, a Polaroid colleague since 1939 and an engineer. The new management will probably stop promotion of Polavision for the general public, though the company may continue production of the movie film. McCune is also expected to move the firm into new technological ventures and to explore diversification. In recent months rumors have swirled on Wall Street that the company might be a target for a takeover bid. Stock analysts said that the retirement of Land was the prerequisite for Polaroid's evolution into a fully developed firm with modern management. Said a longtime associate: "Land is 70 and is very much aware of that. He wanted to devote more time to nonphotographic research such as his theories on the perception of color." The founding father will become Polaroid's consulting director for basic research. Still active and healthy. Land can fully satisfy his admitted addiction. As he once told a London cab driver: "I am addicted to at least one good experiment a day."

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so viewer discretion is required.