I've been listening to books on tape lately borrowed from my local library. My current one is "Cheaper By the Dozen" by Frank Gilbreth, Jr. and Ernestine Gilbreth Carey, 2 of the 12 children in this family. The book was published in 1948 and takes place in the 1920's.

It is a fantastic book. It is far better than any of the movies. (But I haven't seen the play so I can't comment on that.)

The main character is really the Dad. He's the star of his family, and of the book. He was a "motion study specialist" who was a consultant to factories and companies about how to be more efficient. He applied those skills to his running a household with 12 children. It is a hilarious book, full of good ideas by the way.

I ran across this gem today. After teaching a national typewriter company how to make the world's fastest typest through photographing the typest and eliminating wasted motion he decided that he could teach even children to "touch type". So he brought home a white typwriter.

We wanted to know why it was white, since all typewriters were black.
"Because," Dad said, "it photographs better. And besides for some reason people WANT to type on a white typewriter. Don't ask me why. It's psychology."