Generations of American families captured the great milestones of their lives using Kodak cameras. But today you can buy a share of Eastman Kodak's stock for less than we once paid for a roll of Kodachrome film. Anthony Mason tells us that this great American institution is fighting for survival.

Always use the dependable Kodak film, the film in the familiar yellow box.

That yellow box with the red logo was one of the 20th century's titanic brands.

It's the new Brownie Starmatic camera.

But the company that gave us the Kodak moment and once controlled 90% of film sales in the U.S. is now on the brink of bankruptcy.

This week the stock price of the one-time blue-chip company fell below 50 cents a share and if it doesn't climb back above $1 soon, the New York Stock Exchange says it will have to kick Kodak out of the market.

That would be a mighty fall for the camera maker founded by George Eastman in 1880. Elizabeth Brayer is Eastman's biographer.

If they go on bankrupt and we read it in the paper, that would be a sad day. But I don't see it being a tremendous change because it's really happened already.

With film sales evaporating in the digital age, Kodachrome was discontinued two years ago. And Kodak has failed to develop another business as profitable. The company that once employed 145,000 workers now has fewer than 19,000.

If you prick me I would bleed Kodak yellow.

Ed Guards retired five years ago with a pension but he's worried bankruptcy could affect his medical benefits.

"I have a feeling that's gonna go. That's what we're fearful of."

Kodak has already cut off his life and dental insurance and medical coverage for his wife.

Which means that for all intents and purposes I worked 34 years for nothing.

Add its headquarters in Rochester New York, the company's been selling off real estate. And Ed Guards worries that the bankruptcy could see Kodak finally fading away.

It'll be a very dull ache for an awful lot of people for an awful lot of years.

Anthony Mason CBS News, New York.

We know, we got to wondering in the news from today about the name Kodak. Well it turns out it's a made-up word invented by the company founder George Eastman. He said he always liked the letter K because it's strong and incisive, so he put a K at the beginning and a K at the end and experimented with combinations in the middle until he came up with Kodak.