Freeman Reel to Reel Tape Recorders

Eugene Freeman founded the company which was based in Los Angeles, Ca.  Probably in the San Fernando Valley where we lived.  He lived in a mid century modern hillside home in Studio City, California, overlooking the San Fernando Valley.  He worked for Roberts, and Citroen before going out on his own.  The company folded when hundreds of returns occured due to overly tight tolerances on the drive motor’s plain bearings.  The mysterious defect would only happen to some units, under certain use and environmental conditions.  The motor would sieze, or slow down.  He tried to make good on the units but there were too many.  From there, he founded Columbia Management Science Corp., helping corporations streamline operations by working smarter.  In later years, he returned to building subdivisions and had his own real estate sales agency.  Definitely a self-starter entrepreneur of the old school.

This photograph was originally from Sun roundup records dated July 28, 1963 and the photograph was taken by Bill peters from the Denver Post.

Pictured are Charles Satter the Freeman distributor, Jim Gray sales rep and Eugene J Freeman of Freeman Electronics Corp. admiring the all new all transistor Freeman 200 tape recorder.