Charles Bedaux
Encyclopedia
Charles Eugène Bedaux 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.
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).
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
.
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
.
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.
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".
, 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. On 3 June 1937, they hosted the wedding of Wallis Warfield
and Prince Edward, Duke of Windsor
.
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.
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
. 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.
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.
Scientific management
Scientific management, also called Taylorism, was a theory of management that analyzed and synthesized workflows. Its main objective was improving economic efficiency, especially labor productivity. It was one of the earliest attempts to apply science to the engineering of processes and to management...
and was a big game hunter and explorer.
Early years
Charles Bedaux was born in Paris, France. In 1903, he dropped out of school and worked a series of menial jobs before befriending Henri Ledoux, a successful pimpPimp
A pimp is an agent for prostitutes who collects part of their earnings. The pimp may receive this money in return for advertising services, physical protection, or for providing a location where she may engage clients...
from the infamous Pigalle
Quartier Pigalle
Pigalle is an area in Paris around the Place Pigalle, on the border between the 9th and the 18th arrondissements. It is named after the sculptor Jean-Baptiste 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).
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
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
, and eventually throughout Africa
Africa
Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...
, Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
and the Orient
Orient
The Orient means "the East." It is a traditional designation for anything that belongs to the Eastern world or the Far East, in relation to Europe. In English it is a metonym that means various parts of Asia.- Derivation :...
.
The Bedaux Canadian Sub-Arctic Expedition
The Bedaux Canadian Sub-Arctic ExpeditionBedaux Expedition
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, testing Citroën half-tracks and generating publicity for himself...
was the grand title Bedaux gave to the expedition he formed to cross the wilderness of Northern British Columbia
British Columbia
British Columbia is the westernmost of Canada's provinces and is known for its natural beauty, as reflected in its Latin motto, Splendor sine occasu . Its name was chosen by Queen Victoria in 1858...
, Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
in 1934. Mostly, the expedition was a publicity stunt
Publicity stunt
A publicity stunt is a planned event designed to attract the public's attention to the event's organizers or their cause. Publicity stunts can be professionally organized or set up by amateurs...
, but it was also formed to test out the new Citroën
Citroën
Citroën is a major French automobile manufacturer, part of the PSA Peugeot Citroën group.Founded in 1919 by French industrialist André-Gustave Citroën , Citroën was the first mass-production car company outside the USA and pioneered the modern concept of creating a sales and services network that...
half-track
Half-track
A half-track is a civilian or military vehicle with regular wheels on the front for steering, and caterpillar tracks on the back to propel the vehicle and carry most of the load. The purpose of this combination is to produce a vehicle with the cross-country capabilities of a tank and the handling...
cars that were being developed by Bedaux's friend André Citroën
André Citroën
André-Gustave Citroën was a French industrialist. He is remembered chiefly for the make of car named after him, but also for his application of double helical gears.- Life and career :...
.
Key points in the trip were filmed by Academy Award winning cinematographer from Hollywood, Floyd Crosby
Floyd Crosby
Floyd Delafield Crosby, A.S.C. was an American cinematographer.Crosby was born and raised in West Philadelphia, the son of Julia Floyd and Frederick Van Schoonhoven Crosby...
, who would later be praised for his work on High Noon
High Noon
High Noon is a 1952 American Western film directed by Fred Zinnemann and starring Gary Cooper and Grace Kelly. The film tells in real time the story of a town marshal forced to face a gang of killers by himself...
. Also along for the trip were several dozen Alberta
Alberta
Alberta is a province of Canada. It had an estimated population of 3.7 million in 2010 making it the most populous of Canada's three prairie provinces...
cowboys and a large film crew. To map the route of the expedition, the Canadian government sent along two geographers, Frank Swannell
Frank Swannell
Frank Cyril Swannell was one of British Columbia's most famous surveyors.He came to British Columbia during the era of the Klondike Gold Rush and became a surveyor's assistant. Then, from 1908, he was a professional surveyor and surveyed many regions of British Columbia...
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
Telegraph Creek, British Columbia
Telegraph Creek is a small community located off Highway 37 in Northern British Columbia at the confluence of the Stikine River and Telegraph Creek. The only permanent settlement on the Stikine River, it is home to approximately 350 members of the Tahltan First Nation, as well as another 50...
. Much of the trip would have to be made through regions that were relatively uncharted and had no trails.
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".
The Duke and Duchess of Windsor
Bedaux purchased the sixteenth-century Château de CandéChâteau de Candé
The Château de Candé is a castle located in the commune of Monts, Indre-et-Loire, 10 km to the south of Tours on the border of the département of Indre in France....
, 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. On 3 June 1937, they hosted the wedding of Wallis Warfield
Wallis, The Duchess of Windsor
Wallis, Duchess of Windsor, previously Wallis Simpson, was an American socialite whose third husband, Prince Edward, Duke of Windsor, formerly King Edward VIII of the United Kingdom and the Dominions, abdicated his throne to marry her.Wallis's father died shortly after her birth, and she and her...
and Prince Edward, Duke of Windsor
Edward VIII of the United Kingdom
Edward VIII was King of the United Kingdom and the Dominions of the British Commonwealth, and Emperor of India, from 20 January to 11 December 1936.Before his accession to the throne, Edward was Prince of Wales and Duke of Cornwall and Rothesay...
.
Later years
When Paris was occupied by the GermansGermans
The Germans are a Germanic ethnic group native to Central Europe. The English term Germans has referred to the German-speaking population of the Holy Roman Empire since the Late Middle Ages....
during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, he became acquainted with leading Nazi and Vichy
Vichy
Vichy is a commune in the department of Allier in Auvergne in central France. It belongs to the historic province of Bourbonnais.It is known as a spa and resort town and was the de facto capital of Vichy France during the World War II Nazi German occupation from 1940 to 1944.The town's inhabitants...
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.
Bedaux was in North Africa
North Africa
North Africa or Northern Africa is the northernmost region of the African continent, linked by the Sahara to Sub-Saharan Africa. Geopolitically, the United Nations definition of Northern Africa includes eight countries or territories; Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Morocco, South Sudan, Sudan, Tunisia, and...
supervising the construction of a German
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
pipeline
Pipeline transport
Pipeline transport is the transportation of goods through a pipe. Most commonly, liquids and gases are sent, but pneumatic tubes that transport solid capsules using compressed air are also used....
when he and his son were arrested by the Free French Forces
Free French Forces
The Free French Forces were French partisans in World War II who decided to continue fighting against the forces of the Axis powers after the surrender of France and subsequent German occupation and, in the case of Vichy France, collaboration with the Germans.-Definition:In many sources, Free...
in November 1942 during Operation Torch
Operation Torch
Operation Torch was the British-American invasion of French North Africa in World War II during the North African Campaign, started on 8 November 1942....
. Bedaux was taken back to the United States on a charge of treason
Treason
In law, treason is the crime that covers some of the more extreme acts against one's sovereign or nation. Historically, treason also covered the murder of specific social superiors, such as the murder of a husband by his wife. Treason against the king was known as high treason and treason against a...
, and committed suicide in prison in Miami
Miami, Florida
Miami is a city located on the Atlantic coast in southeastern Florida and the county seat of Miami-Dade County, the most populous county in Florida and the eighth-most populous county in the United States with a population of 2,500,625...
, Florida
Florida
Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...
awaiting a grand jury
Grand jury
A grand jury is a type of jury that determines whether a criminal indictment will issue. Currently, only the United States retains grand juries, although some other common law jurisdictions formerly employed them, and most other jurisdictions employ some other type of preliminary hearing...
investigation into his wartime activities.
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.
Further reading
- Charles GlassCharles GlassCharles Glass is an American author, journalist, and broadcaster specializing in the Middle East. He writes regularly for The Spectator, was ABC News chief Middle East correspondent from 1983–93, and has worked as a correspondent for Newsweek and The Observer...
, Americans in Paris: Life and Death Under Nazi Occupation, Harper Collins, U.K. ISBN: 978-0-00-722853-9. - Charles Higham (biographer)Charles Higham (biographer)Charles Higham is an author, editor and poet. Higham is a recipient of the Prix des Créateurs of the Académie Française and the Poetry Society of London Prize.-Biography:...
Trading With the Enemy ISBN 044019055X