What was an immediate cause of Isaac Singer's becoming an actor?
Read the excerpt from "The Invention of the Sewing
Machine" by Grace Rogers Cooper.
Isaac Singer, whose name is known around the world as
a manufacturer of sewing machines, was the eighth child
of poor German immigrants. Isaac was born on October
27, 1811, in Pittstown, New York, but most of his early
life was spent in Oswego. He worked as a mechanic
and cabinetmaker, but acquired an interest in the theater.
Under the name of Isaac Merritt, he went to Rochester
and became an actor. In 1839, during an absence from
the theater, he completed his first invention, a
mechanical excavator, which he sold for $2000. With the
money Singer organized a theatrical troupe of his own,
which he called "The Merritt Players." When the group
failed in Fredericksburg, Ohio, Singer was stranded for
lack of funds,
acquiring an interest in the theater
selling his first invention for $2000
being the eighth child of poor German immigrants
organizing a theatrical group called "The Merritt
Players"