Freeman Harrison Owens was born in Pine Bluff, Arkansas on July 20,
1890 as the only child of Christabel Harrison and Charles H. Owens. He
attended Pine Bluff High School in Pine Bluff, but quit in his senior
year to work at a local movie theatre as a projectionist. He
constructed his own 35mm movie camera at the age of 16, which took him
two years to build. He was one of the first to film the "news" which
was shown back in the movie theatres. Owens was one the first cameraman
to capture on film the "Chicago Stock Yards Fire" in 1910 and the
"Charleston, South Carolina Hurricane and Flood" in 1911. Owens had
11,812 inventions and 200 patents to his credit. He patented the method
of adding synchronized sound to motion pictures, the A.C. Nielsen
Rating System, plastic lens for Kodak and many others.