Electric Show : Actor Drew Wilson plays the part of Thomas Edison as he presents his science programs to school audiences.

Thomas Alva Edison will be in Ventura County this week to talk about electric cars.

“The use of fossil fuels is a problem; it befouls the air,” he’ll be saying. Edison was the first man to invent and patent dozens of modern electric appliances, including the electric car. I speak of him as though he is alive because at several locations around the county this week, he will be--in the form of a one-man show put on by actor Drew Wilson.

Elementary students at Meadows School in Thousand Oaks, Somis School, and Oxnard’s Emilie Ritchen and Sierra Linda schools will be greeted at the door during assemblies by a lively 60ish gentleman.

“They’ve been told that an old white-haired man with some stories to tell is giving the assembly program that day. I mix with the audience because I don’t like the distancing that results from just appearing on a stage,” said Wilson, who was a teacher before becoming an actor.

Almost a dead ringer for the real Edison, Wilson has been giving science-oriented presentations in Ventura County for more than six years, sponsored by the Southern California utility that bears the venerable inventor’s name.

Until recently, Wilson’s talks were mostly on the topic of perseverance and the virtues of conserving electricity. But the current version of his 45-minute show has a strong environmental theme.

“I have a little pitch--with an inflatable globe--realistically showing what Earth looked like from the viewpoint of the Apollo II astronauts,” he said. “The kids learn that, if the planet were really the size of this beach ball, the layer of oxygen we breathe would be half as thick as a piece of paper.”

While pointing out the value of something like a non-polluting electric car as a help to the environment, he does not slight the practical problems involved in creating such things.

During the show, billed as “Mr. Edison’s Invention Factory,” he passes out a little printed form so that students can participate in an invention project. They are asked to design a car that doesn’t pollute; teachers then send Wilson the drawings. He, in turn, sends back individualized certificates acknowledging the participation of each young inventor.

The real-life Edison never did solve all the problems involved in making an electric vehicle, even though he had an extraordinary ally at the time.

“Clara (Mrs. Henry) Ford liked Edison’s early electric horseless carriages,” said Wilson, who also claimed that what she actually said was: “They’re better than my husband’s stinking cars.”

Autos back then did belch large clouds of smoke. But even the combined efforts of America’s greatest inventor and Ford’s plucky spouse couldn’t give America a popular electric car. Adequate battery capacity allowing a comfortable driving range was the weak link. Finally, 100 years later in the 1990s, the Big Three auto makers and utilities like Edison have begun a cooperative push to solve the problem.

But Wilson wants to challenge the children’s imaginations by offering them more than a single problem on which to work.

“My purpose is to show how Edison always tried to cut down on the energy it took to do something. I’m a bug on that,” he said.

Occasionally, he gets some ideas he didn’t count on. “The kids are hip. I got drawings of homework machines before I came up with the idea of suggesting they might do something like a car.”

Although he avoids using the phrase “genius is 1% inspiration and 90% perspiration,” he does make the same point in an anecdotal way by recounting, in the voice of Edison, the number of attempts it took to create a workable light bulb.

“A failure isn’t a failure if it teaches you something,” he said. Edison, it seems, was fearless in this respect. He even tried to make a water-powered phonograph.

Educators praise Wilson for bringing his message. “His sharp wit challenged the students to pursue ideas and never give up,” E. G. Peterson, principal of Simi Valley’s Garden Grove School, wrote in a letter thanking Edison for providing the show free.

I called Peterson to ask if such shows come often during assembly time. Not as often as schools would like, was the reply. A recent illustrated lecture, also devoted to the environment, cost $600.

FYI

For information on booking “Mr. Edison’s Invention Factory,” call Ron Baker at the Oxnard office of Southern California Edison, (800) 338-8502. There is no charge for the show, but there is a waiting list. Edison also has 32-page workbooks, titled “Environmental Experiments . . . From Edison,” available to schools at no cost.