November 23, 2022 • 12 mins
Correction fluid goes by many names, but the OG was Liquid Paper. And it has a pretty cool origin story.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:04):
Hey, welcome to the Short Stuff. I'm Josh, there's Chuck,
Jerry's here, Dave's here too, don't worry about that. And
this is short stuff, that's right. This is our our
women who changed History, episode one of them. Yeah for sure. Um,
we're talking about a woman named Betty Claire McMurray, better
known as Betty Knewsome Graham, better known as the woman
(00:27):
who invented um liquid paper, which also has a bunch
of different UM copiers like white out, which has become
a proprietary eponym. But really liquid paper was first, which
is why we're talking about Betty today. That's right. And
there's some really cool parts of the story. Uh. Betty
was born in Dallas and it's cool so far. She
(00:49):
went to school in San Antonio and then at seventeen
left school married her sweetheart, uh one Warren Nes Smith.
And this is something I knew since I was a kid,
is that Mike Nest Smith of the Monkeys, is that
was the heir to the liquid paper fortune because his
mom invented it. Yeah, so I knew that he was
(01:10):
an air to a fortune. I had no idea which
one that's really anes Yeah, I don't know why I
knew it back then. It was just one of those
weird little facts that always stuck with me. That Mike
from the Monkeys, his mom invented liquid paper, and she
did so largely. Well, let's get to the story. She
divorced not too long after she got married, just about
five years she got divorced in and so it was
(01:32):
a single mom with a kid, little little Mike, to
support before he started making that Monkey's dough. And eventually
she got a job as a typist at Texas Bank
and Trust. And there was a weird thing that happened
with the ribbons that we talked about in the Typewriter
episode that was just out. They went from fabric to carbon,
and the keyboards got a little more sensitive, and they
(01:54):
realized that mistakes were easier to make in typing, and
that that carbon ribbon would smudge. He used to sort
of erase it with the fabric ribbons, but now you
couldn't anymore. And she was like, I gotta fix this
because I'm tired of retype in my stuff. Yeah, I
mean imagine that. Imagine being a typist at at an
office and and like, you make one typo and you
(02:14):
have to retype the entire sheet. That was the thing.
That was the thing, Yeah, at the very end. In
particularly so what she created, um, this liquid paper, which
originally she called mistake Out, was like a genuine godsend
um for herself. At first she she went home and
she had been trained as a painter. Did you say
(02:35):
that that her mama kind of taught her how to paint. No,
but that kind of guided her life in a lot
of ways, as we'll see for sure. So she kind
of took that knowledge and um used what's known as
a tempera paint you know, the kind that they let
preschoolers paint with. That's the same thing as liquid paper.
And then she took a watercolor brush, put it in
a little jar and brought it to work. And in
(02:55):
very short order, some of her colleagues, who were also
typists and secretaries, said, give me some of that. Yeah,
I making mistakes like crazy, She said, stop making mistakes.
Then no, she said here uh And she had actually
even branded she started writing mistake out on the label
early on. I think probably, I think probably at first
(03:16):
just as sort of like a fun thing to do,
and then realize like, hey, people are actually using this stuff. Uh.
She started to refine the process in her kitchen. This
is kind of like like an American dream story, like
working on a product out of your house that eventually
becomes like a multimillion dollar business. Uh. And that's what happened.
She had a paint company employee that apparently helped her out,
(03:38):
and a chemistry teacher at a local high school that
helped her out. Who would play him the chemistry teacher? Yeah,
I'm assuming it's to him. I don't know what you got, ed, Harris. Now,
he's too salty, too salty. No, that one um multi
talented character actor. I can't remember his name. I think
it's James, but he was like the guy in the game.
(03:59):
Uh he's been Yeah yeah, the guy that's signed up
Michael Douglas in the for the game. Yeah yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah,
totally Kim, he would be great as that guy. I
like that. All Right, He's gassed as far as I'm concerned. Okay,
So she puts all this together, and um, she's she's
basically spending her nights and weekends working on um, just
(04:23):
getting as many of his bottles together as possible, but
also not making a lot of money. She hired Mike
and his friends to fill bottles at like a dollar
an hour a piece. I think, UM. And it wasn't
until that she either quit her job at the bank
or was fired from the bank for accidentally signing a
business document with her business's name and address. UM. Apparently
(04:46):
didn't use mistake out on that UM. And when she
was released from work, one way or another, she was
set free, and all of a sudden, mistake out became
like a big thing. So I say, now, Chuck, we
we take a break and then come back and talk
about how she built the business even further. Let's do
it all right. So she has left the job in
(05:23):
fifty eight, starts taking some meetings with some big corporations
that are ordering bottles, like hundreds of bottles of liquid
paper and this is g e IBM some big corporations.
She applies for that patent, changes the name to liquid
Paper Company, and then starts doing that business things, starts
to reinvesting the profits, goes from the kitchen to the
(05:45):
backyard to a four room house. Uh, and then eventually
gets remarried in sixty two to a guy named Robert
Graham who kind of got super involved in the business. UH.
As we'll see for better for worse. Yeah. So in
nineteen sixty eight, she's got nineteen employees, corporate headquarters, automated operations.
(06:06):
In that year, she sold one million bottles of liquid paper,
which is pretty great. Um. By nineteen seventy five, she's
moved into a thirty five thousand square foot headquarters in
Dallas and the equipment that she's running can produce five
hundred bottles a minute. And there's something else that you
should know about Betty Graham. She uh ran the company
(06:30):
as a genuinely good person. There was a library in
the plant. There was a child care center in the plant.
This is the mid seventies, by the way. Um, they
didn't even come up with that idea until the eighties
via the movie nine five, and she was already doing it.
She also was a patron of women and the arts
(06:52):
and women who were also artists. Yeah. She set up
a couple of foundations. One, in fact, a lot of
the information and from this came from the I think
it's pronounced gihan g i h o n Foundation. She
found a way back in nineteen seventy six, which combined
her love of art with her supportive women in feminism.
(07:13):
She collected paintings and art works by women, and then
also the Betty Claire McMurray Foundation, which since nineteen seventy
eight has been supporting women in need right like, if
you need shelter and counseling because you're being physically abused,
or um, if you're a non traditional student and you
need a scholarship. Um. Like, she definitely put her money
(07:35):
where her mouth is and she considered herself a feminist
for sure. UM. And so one of the other great
things about her her husband Robert Graham. They divorced in
nineteen seventy five, I believe, and um, she ended up
stepping down as chairperson from Liquid Paper. Um. She built
(07:55):
this really great company selling million bottles at a time, UM,
spending a million dollars in advertising, and she's like, this
thing is going it's fine. I'm gonna go focus on
my foundations. And Robert Graham was left along the board
and he did what can only be described as a
hostile takeover. Yeah, it was not a pretty site. She
(08:16):
came out on the losing end at first. UM. She
was basically kicked kicked out, wasn't allowed back on the
premises of the company. Uh. They changed her formula actually,
so she couldn't even get royalties anymore, which is one
of the biggest like scumbag moves of all time. Uh.
And then still managed to sort of fight her way
(08:37):
back in. She had some health problems, but finally managed
to get control of the company again and in nineteen nine,
uh with controlling interest, sold Liquid Paper to Gillette for
almost forty eight million bucks. Pretty great. Yeah. She had
the very famous quote when she finally regained control of
(08:57):
her company, Robert, get out of my office. That's that's
what that's that's what's going to happen in the Robert Goolay. Okay,
he does a great jerk. Have you ever seen Naked
Gun two and a half? Yeah, of it is? He
is he with us? I don't know. But didn't they
do Peter Cushing and he's not still with us? Oh?
(09:19):
I don't know. Well, you could get Will Ferrell to
do Gooley because that's that's one of the funniest bits
of all time. Okay. Cool. Uh. And here's the thing
with Liquid Paper is that uh. And these are kind
of wonky stats and I'm not gonna go over all
of them because it's um. Some of them are from
likeeen but generally what they have found is h that
(09:41):
while office UM like paper itself, UM, office printers, things
like that, and office supplies have kind of trickled down
over the years, liquid paper somehow his either stayed strong
or even gained like a percentage point or two uh
from me to year uh, which is pretty amazing. And
(10:02):
they don't Liquid paper itself doesn't release their stats, but
I think they go by like generically like uh whatever,
correction products that's what they call them. But UM, I
know that during the pandemic, home printing and stuff like
that picked up, So I think I think the correction
products industry picked up because people all of a sudden, like, hey,
(10:23):
I'm at home now, and liquid paper you it wasn't
just for typing, you know, like I used it all
the time to like write over things, invent, let it dry,
and brush it thin. They actually think that it is
artists that's keeping the correction products UM market afloat and
making an increase. And then also gen Z and their
fondness for retro things that you do by hand, like
(10:46):
writing letters is also UM. Some of the patrons of
liquid paper and its competitors. Now, yeah, I think uh.
At one point Emily, my wife switched over to the
little uh, a little entraption that fed out a tape.
She was big on that. But that was kind of
a liquid paper purist. Okay, were you like brand Um loyal,
(11:12):
like too liquid paper? Yeah? I get that white out
out of my face. Okay. And hey, just to shout
out Mike Nesmuth real quick. I now everyone knows him
from the Monkeys, but Mike Nesmuth and I discovered this
sort of after his passing, released some really really great
solo records. Uh, and and looking back, was one of
(11:33):
the founders of country rock kind of before there was
country rock. That was a seventy four album called and
the Hits Just Keep on Coming that is now viewed
as like this genius country rock masterpiece that nobody would
touch back then, including record execs. Yeah. I remember, like
learning um that he was really just kind of unhappy
(11:54):
and stifled in the Monkeys. Like if there was a
sour puss among the four, it was definitely Mike, And
you can just tell by looking at him. But that
was why, like he was way more talented than he
was allowed to be. Yeah, But he he came around
and embraced the monkeys later in life, which was also great. Also,
big ups to the Atlantic and David Graham for the
article and thought Co and Mary Bellis and then the
(12:16):
Gihan Foundation. This is where most of the stuff came from.
Very nice, Chuck, and um big hats off to you
for choosing as well. Short stuff is that
Hey, welcome to the Short Stuff. I'm Josh, there's Chuck,
Jerry's here, Dave's here too, don't worry about that. And
this is short stuff, that's right. This is our our
women who changed History, episode one of them. Yeah for sure. Um,
we're talking about a woman named Betty Claire McMurray, better
known as Betty Knewsome Graham, better known as the woman
(00:27):
who invented um liquid paper, which also has a bunch
of different UM copiers like white out, which has become
a proprietary eponym. But really liquid paper was first, which
is why we're talking about Betty today. That's right. And
there's some really cool parts of the story. Uh. Betty
was born in Dallas and it's cool so far. She
(00:49):
went to school in San Antonio and then at seventeen
left school married her sweetheart, uh one Warren Nes Smith.
And this is something I knew since I was a kid,
is that Mike Nest Smith of the Monkeys, is that
was the heir to the liquid paper fortune because his
mom invented it. Yeah, so I knew that he was
(01:10):
an air to a fortune. I had no idea which
one that's really anes Yeah, I don't know why I
knew it back then. It was just one of those
weird little facts that always stuck with me. That Mike
from the Monkeys, his mom invented liquid paper, and she
did so largely. Well, let's get to the story. She
divorced not too long after she got married, just about
five years she got divorced in and so it was
(01:32):
a single mom with a kid, little little Mike, to
support before he started making that Monkey's dough. And eventually
she got a job as a typist at Texas Bank
and Trust. And there was a weird thing that happened
with the ribbons that we talked about in the Typewriter
episode that was just out. They went from fabric to carbon,
and the keyboards got a little more sensitive, and they
(01:54):
realized that mistakes were easier to make in typing, and
that that carbon ribbon would smudge. He used to sort
of erase it with the fabric ribbons, but now you
couldn't anymore. And she was like, I gotta fix this
because I'm tired of retype in my stuff. Yeah, I
mean imagine that. Imagine being a typist at at an
office and and like, you make one typo and you
(02:14):
have to retype the entire sheet. That was the thing.
That was the thing, Yeah, at the very end. In
particularly so what she created, um, this liquid paper, which
originally she called mistake Out, was like a genuine godsend
um for herself. At first she she went home and
she had been trained as a painter. Did you say
(02:35):
that that her mama kind of taught her how to paint. No,
but that kind of guided her life in a lot
of ways, as we'll see for sure. So she kind
of took that knowledge and um used what's known as
a tempera paint you know, the kind that they let
preschoolers paint with. That's the same thing as liquid paper.
And then she took a watercolor brush, put it in
a little jar and brought it to work. And in
(02:55):
very short order, some of her colleagues, who were also
typists and secretaries, said, give me some of that. Yeah,
I making mistakes like crazy, She said, stop making mistakes.
Then no, she said here uh And she had actually
even branded she started writing mistake out on the label
early on. I think probably, I think probably at first
(03:16):
just as sort of like a fun thing to do,
and then realize like, hey, people are actually using this stuff. Uh.
She started to refine the process in her kitchen. This
is kind of like like an American dream story, like
working on a product out of your house that eventually
becomes like a multimillion dollar business. Uh. And that's what happened.
She had a paint company employee that apparently helped her out,
(03:38):
and a chemistry teacher at a local high school that
helped her out. Who would play him the chemistry teacher? Yeah,
I'm assuming it's to him. I don't know what you got, ed, Harris. Now,
he's too salty, too salty. No, that one um multi
talented character actor. I can't remember his name. I think
it's James, but he was like the guy in the game.
(03:59):
Uh he's been Yeah yeah, the guy that's signed up
Michael Douglas in the for the game. Yeah yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah,
totally Kim, he would be great as that guy. I
like that. All Right, He's gassed as far as I'm concerned. Okay,
So she puts all this together, and um, she's she's
basically spending her nights and weekends working on um, just
(04:23):
getting as many of his bottles together as possible, but
also not making a lot of money. She hired Mike
and his friends to fill bottles at like a dollar
an hour a piece. I think, UM. And it wasn't
until that she either quit her job at the bank
or was fired from the bank for accidentally signing a
business document with her business's name and address. UM. Apparently
(04:46):
didn't use mistake out on that UM. And when she
was released from work, one way or another, she was
set free, and all of a sudden, mistake out became
like a big thing. So I say, now, Chuck, we
we take a break and then come back and talk
about how she built the business even further. Let's do
it all right. So she has left the job in
(05:23):
fifty eight, starts taking some meetings with some big corporations
that are ordering bottles, like hundreds of bottles of liquid
paper and this is g e IBM some big corporations.
She applies for that patent, changes the name to liquid
Paper Company, and then starts doing that business things, starts
to reinvesting the profits, goes from the kitchen to the
(05:45):
backyard to a four room house. Uh, and then eventually
gets remarried in sixty two to a guy named Robert
Graham who kind of got super involved in the business. UH.
As we'll see for better for worse. Yeah. So in
nineteen sixty eight, she's got nineteen employees, corporate headquarters, automated operations.
(06:06):
In that year, she sold one million bottles of liquid paper,
which is pretty great. Um. By nineteen seventy five, she's
moved into a thirty five thousand square foot headquarters in
Dallas and the equipment that she's running can produce five
hundred bottles a minute. And there's something else that you
should know about Betty Graham. She uh ran the company
(06:30):
as a genuinely good person. There was a library in
the plant. There was a child care center in the plant.
This is the mid seventies, by the way. Um, they
didn't even come up with that idea until the eighties
via the movie nine five, and she was already doing it.
She also was a patron of women and the arts
(06:52):
and women who were also artists. Yeah. She set up
a couple of foundations. One, in fact, a lot of
the information and from this came from the I think
it's pronounced gihan g i h o n Foundation. She
found a way back in nineteen seventy six, which combined
her love of art with her supportive women in feminism.
(07:13):
She collected paintings and art works by women, and then
also the Betty Claire McMurray Foundation, which since nineteen seventy
eight has been supporting women in need right like, if
you need shelter and counseling because you're being physically abused,
or um, if you're a non traditional student and you
need a scholarship. Um. Like, she definitely put her money
(07:35):
where her mouth is and she considered herself a feminist
for sure. UM. And so one of the other great
things about her her husband Robert Graham. They divorced in
nineteen seventy five, I believe, and um, she ended up
stepping down as chairperson from Liquid Paper. Um. She built
(07:55):
this really great company selling million bottles at a time, UM,
spending a million dollars in advertising, and she's like, this
thing is going it's fine. I'm gonna go focus on
my foundations. And Robert Graham was left along the board
and he did what can only be described as a
hostile takeover. Yeah, it was not a pretty site. She
(08:16):
came out on the losing end at first. UM. She
was basically kicked kicked out, wasn't allowed back on the
premises of the company. Uh. They changed her formula actually,
so she couldn't even get royalties anymore, which is one
of the biggest like scumbag moves of all time. Uh.
And then still managed to sort of fight her way
(08:37):
back in. She had some health problems, but finally managed
to get control of the company again and in nineteen nine,
uh with controlling interest, sold Liquid Paper to Gillette for
almost forty eight million bucks. Pretty great. Yeah. She had
the very famous quote when she finally regained control of
(08:57):
her company, Robert, get out of my office. That's that's
what that's that's what's going to happen in the Robert Goolay. Okay,
he does a great jerk. Have you ever seen Naked
Gun two and a half? Yeah, of it is? He
is he with us? I don't know. But didn't they
do Peter Cushing and he's not still with us? Oh?
(09:19):
I don't know. Well, you could get Will Ferrell to
do Gooley because that's that's one of the funniest bits
of all time. Okay. Cool. Uh. And here's the thing
with Liquid Paper is that uh. And these are kind
of wonky stats and I'm not gonna go over all
of them because it's um. Some of them are from
likeeen but generally what they have found is h that
(09:41):
while office UM like paper itself, UM, office printers, things
like that, and office supplies have kind of trickled down
over the years, liquid paper somehow his either stayed strong
or even gained like a percentage point or two uh
from me to year uh, which is pretty amazing. And
(10:02):
they don't Liquid paper itself doesn't release their stats, but
I think they go by like generically like uh whatever,
correction products that's what they call them. But UM, I
know that during the pandemic, home printing and stuff like
that picked up, So I think I think the correction
products industry picked up because people all of a sudden, like, hey,
(10:23):
I'm at home now, and liquid paper you it wasn't
just for typing, you know, like I used it all
the time to like write over things, invent, let it dry,
and brush it thin. They actually think that it is
artists that's keeping the correction products UM market afloat and
making an increase. And then also gen Z and their
fondness for retro things that you do by hand, like
(10:46):
writing letters is also UM. Some of the patrons of
liquid paper and its competitors. Now, yeah, I think uh.
At one point Emily, my wife switched over to the
little uh, a little entraption that fed out a tape.
She was big on that. But that was kind of
a liquid paper purist. Okay, were you like brand Um loyal,
(11:12):
like too liquid paper? Yeah? I get that white out
out of my face. Okay. And hey, just to shout
out Mike Nesmuth real quick. I now everyone knows him
from the Monkeys, but Mike Nesmuth and I discovered this
sort of after his passing, released some really really great
solo records. Uh, and and looking back, was one of
(11:33):
the founders of country rock kind of before there was
country rock. That was a seventy four album called and
the Hits Just Keep on Coming that is now viewed
as like this genius country rock masterpiece that nobody would
touch back then, including record execs. Yeah. I remember, like
learning um that he was really just kind of unhappy
(11:54):
and stifled in the Monkeys. Like if there was a
sour puss among the four, it was definitely Mike, And
you can just tell by looking at him. But that
was why, like he was way more talented than he
was allowed to be. Yeah, But he he came around
and embraced the monkeys later in life, which was also great. Also,
big ups to the Atlantic and David Graham for the
article and thought Co and Mary Bellis and then the
(12:16):
Gihan Foundation. This is where most of the stuff came from.
Very nice, Chuck, and um big hats off to you
for choosing as well. Short stuff is that
Stuff You Should Know News
Hosts And Creators
Chuck Bryant
Josh Clark
Show Links
AboutOrder Our BookStoreSYSK ArmyRSSPopular Podcasts
Are You A Charlotte?
In 1997, actress Kristin Davis’ life was forever changed when she took on the role of Charlotte York in Sex and the City. As we watched Carrie, Samantha, Miranda and Charlotte navigate relationships in NYC, the show helped push once unacceptable conversation topics out of the shadows and altered the narrative around women and sex. We all saw ourselves in them as they searched for fulfillment in life, sex and friendships. Now, Kristin Davis wants to connect with you, the fans, and share untold stories and all the behind the scenes. Together, with Kristin and special guests, what will begin with Sex and the City will evolve into talks about themes that are still so relevant today. "Are you a Charlotte?" is much more than just rewatching this beloved show, it brings the past and the present together as we talk with heart, humor and of course some optimism.
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com