What do typing mistakes and music videos have in common? The connecting thread is Bette Nesmith Graham, the inventor of Liquid Paper.  

In the late 1940’s Bette was a single mother with a young son who worked as a secretary at Texas Bank and Trust in Dallas. Electric typewriters were the latest innovation in office technology, and while their added speed was a godsend to secretaries, the carbon-film ribbons used in their function made correcting mistakes impossible. Using an eraser on the ink would only cause it to smear. Because the documents she worked on had to be perfect, whenever she made an error she would have to throw the paper out and start over.  Growing increasingly frustrated at her inability to correct her typing mistakes, Bette found the answer one day while watching painters paint a holiday scene on the bank windows.  

She noticed that the artists didn’t erase their mistakes but painted over them, so she decided to create a formula to paint over her typing mistakes. She started working on her formula in her kitchen at home, mixing white paint with water and various chemicals until she got the correct consistency. She filled a small bottle with her paint and water recipe and brought it to work.  Her ‘miracle mixture’ did the trick, and her days of having to re-type error filled documents were over.  

The other secretaries began to get curious about why Bette never had to re-type anything anymore, and she eventually shared her secret with them. They all loved her product and borrowed it so often that in 1956 she decided to try and make some money from it. She employed the use of her young son Michael and his friends to ramp up her home production, named it Mistake Out and began selling it at work.  

The success of her product began spreading by word-of-mouth among secretaries, and soon Bette’s business was becoming so popular she was interviewed in a secretarial magazine. 

When her interview was published, her invention became a national phenomenon among office workers.

 In 1956 she changed the name of her product to Liquid Paper and launched her own company. At its height her company employed 200 workers and produced 25 million bottles of Liquid Paper per year.  

Twenty-three years after her initial inspiration, Bette sold Liquid Paper to the Gillette Corporation for $47.5 million dollars.  

And that little boy of hers who helped her with the production of Liquid Paper back in her kitchen? He was Michael Nesmith, who became a member of the pop rock group The Monkees. 

Bette bequeathed $25 million of her fortune to her son, who invested it in Pacific Arts Studio, and he became a pioneer in the music video industry.  So, the next time you’re correcting a paper error or dancing along to your favorite music video, thank a woman, thank Bette Nesmith Graham.