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[The Story Teller]

August 9
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The Leo Burnett Agency
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“I go at what I am about as if there was nothing else in the world for the time being.”
—Charles Kingsley
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For the past 50 years, the Leo Burnett advertising agency has created some of the best known and most remembered ad campaigns the world has ever seen, among them the Jolly Green Giant, Sunkist’s Charlie the Tuna, The Pillsbury Dough Boy, The Maytag repairman, and countless others. The agency’s personality mimics the personality of its founder, Leo Burnett, who demanded more than just creativity in ads. The ads had to sell the product, and to ensure that they would, Leo spent time getting to know his clients and spent hours concentrating on providing just the right “feel” for the product. He encouraged his representatives to become members of the client’s family—to think like the client, to understand intimately the client’s products, and to become consumed with desire to make the client successful.

Leo practiced what he taught. One of the corporate legends that illustrates just how deeply Leo would concentrate on a project involves his encounter with a custodian’s closet. One day, with yellow pad in hand, Leo left his office and headed for the men’s room. Being engrossed in thought, he opened a janitor’s closet by mistake, went in, and locked the door behind him. After a period of time, people began to ask, “Where’s Leo?” Finally, he carved a hole in the door with his penknife and got someone’s attention. At the agency’s Christmas breakfast that year, Leo was presented with the door as a gift. Although Leo Burnett died in 1971, his vision continues to drive the company.

Consider This: Creativity just for creativity’s sake is not as important as creativity that can solve a specific problem.

Submitted by Richard

 

[The Story Teller]

August 10
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Coca-Cola
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“Sometimes when I consider what tremendous consequences come from little things, I am tempted to think there are no little things.”
—Bruce Barton
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At the turn of the century, Five Points was the meeting place in Atlanta, Georgia. Anything new in town was talked about there, especially at Joe Jacobs’s Drug Store. Therefore, Joe’s pharmacy was a natural place for Dr. John Pemberton to test his new beverage formula. Willis Venable had a leased soda fountain in the store, and Pemberton asked him to mix one ounce of his syrup with five ounces of water and ice. Venable drank the concoction, smacked his lips, and suggested a second round. But as he began putting water in the glass, he accidentally pulled the lever for soda water. When he tasted the second mixture, his eyes lit up at the pleasing flavor and effervescence.

Pemberton explained that his concoction consisted of extracts from the coca plant and cola nuts, and that he was going to call it Coca-Cola. On May 8, 1886, Coca-Cola went on sale in Joe Jacobs’s Drug Store. The first advertisement appearing in the local newspaper three weeks later described Coca-Cola as “Refreshing! Exhilarating! Invigorating!” Coca-Cola was not the first soft drink in the marketplace, but it offered a new and pleasing taste. Pemberton had a great product, but he did not possess the resources to make the beverage a success. He lost money on Coca-Cola its first two years, and just before he died, Pemberton sold his interest in the product for $1,750 to Asa Candler. It was Candler who took Coca-Cola from obscurity to success.

Consider This: Even the best idea may take years and the right businessperson to crack the marketplace and become an industry leader.

Submitted by Richard

 

[The Story Teller]

August 11
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Corporate Lore
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“I desire no future that will break the ties of the past.”
—George Eliot
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In his book Business as Unusual, Hugh De Pree describes the struggle that Herman Miller, Inc. faced in expanding from a small family business in the 1940s into a major corporation today. The office furniture manufacturer is a corporation based on Christian religious values and traditions. When the company’s rapid growth began to place a strain on those original values, Peter Drucker was asked to suggest methods to keep the enterprise on track. What he recommended was that new employees be educated about the founders and their early struggles and also about how the company’s philosophy came into being.

When an enterprise is small and young, its employees know its history because they were a part of it. They know the founder and often relate to him on a first-name basis. As the operation grows, however, the impact of the company’s beliefs and mission may be lost on the average employee. Those companies which are able to maintain their corporate lore often do so in the manner of such strong “evangelists” as Alfred Sloan, Henry Ford, Thomas Watson, John Deere, Walt Disney, Trammel Crow, and Bill and Dave Packard. While the leaders of a large organization cannot know every employee, it is important that the leaders’ stories and experiences—in the form of corporate lore—be told frequently to workers to remind them of the company’s beliefs and goals.

Consider This: Give people some tangible story, perhaps a parable, on which to hang their corporate beliefs. One truly inspirational story that describes the company’s goals is worth a thousand company rules.

Submitted by Richard

 

[The Story Teller]

August 12
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Lane Cedar Chests
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“Even the woodpecker owes his success to the fact that he uses his head and keeps pecking away until he finishes the job he starts.”
—Coleman Cox
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In 1912 Edward Hudson’s father told him to start making cedar chests in an old box plant that he had just purchased. The twenty-one-year-old youngster didn’t even know what a cedar chest was, but he followed his father’s instructions. Edward got help from his former high school woodworking teacher and ordered $50,000 worth of equipment. John Lane, Edward’s father, went through the ceiling, but the terms for the machinery were good and the plant went into production. Sales of the chests were sluggish, so Edward started going on sales calls himself. After being turned down by several furniture stores, he came up with the idea of a fanciful cedar chest display. Then the stores bought Edward’s idea and his furniture.

Lane used other promotional schemes for the chests. Finding that many women cherished the European tradition of the trousseau or marriage chest, Lane promoted a line of “hope chests.” Dealers gave away millions of smaller Lane Love Chests to graduating high school girls. At one time, two-thirds of all girls graduating from high school received a miniature Lane Love Chest, which was promoted as “the gift that starts the home.” After World War II, Lane added other furniture items to its product line and continues to be a successful marketer of fine furniture.

Consider This: A product may not be profitable because it is not being sold correctly. Go into the marketplace and see how the product can most benefit people, then sell it with that information in mind.

Submitted by Richard

 

[The Story Teller]

August 13
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Madeleine L’Engle
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“Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.”
—The Bible
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Born in 1918, the only child of strict parents, Madeleine L’Engle spent much of her childhood in the privacy of her room, where she often escaped into the world of books. Because of her father’s health, the family moved to Switzerland when Madeleine was twelve. There she attended an impersonal boarding school, where she was known only as “Ninety-seven.” At first, Madeleine had a negative view of herself, but after discovering the Bible, she began to relate to the “underdogs” that God seemed to use. In her isolation, Madeleine had begun to write, finishing her first story when she was five. She continued using that medium for expression and escape. Through her writing, she was able to have friends and work out problems that others had to solve in the flesh. As an adult, with more insight into the real world, Madeleine continued to experiment with writing and in 1959 sent a manuscript to a publishing house.



“This was a book I was sure of,” she remembers. It was about a twelve-year-old girl who had problems in school. She saw herself as ugly, dull, and clumsy, but soon discovered spiritual powers in the universe that were on her side. The book was rather unusual and was rejected by forty-two publishers. But the forty-third accepted the manuscript, and A Wrinkle in Time went on to win the prestigious Newberry Medal, a top award for children’s literature.



Consider This: Every person has a talent to share with the rest of the world. Even those people who have a difficult childhood can grow up to be the best in their field.



Submitted by Richard

 

[The Story Teller]

August 14
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Discovery Toys
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“Things don’t turn up in this world until somebody turns them up.”
—James Garfield
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The home sales plan has been used with great success by Tupperware, Amway, Mary Kay Cosmetics, and a host of other businesses. Sometimes it may seem that there are no new ideas that could benefit from the marketing concept. However, Lane Nemeth found just the product. After working as a director of a day care center for three years, she became a housewife when her husband was transferred to another city. A friend asked her to go shopping with the idea of buying an educational toy for a one-year-old child. After checking store after store, they could not find even one toy that fit the bill. That night, Lane sat down on her living room floor and began developing a plan.



What she devised was Discovery Toys, educational toys that are sold through the home party concept. The toys are unique and appeal to the baby-boom generation of parents who want something more for their children than just the latest monster hero. Using well-known sales and marketing techniques like those employed by Mary Kay and Amway, Lane Nemeth was able to sell $280,000 worth of toys through her garage business in 1977. By 1985, her sales had grown to $40 million. Starting out had not been easy, but the combination of a good idea and a growing market of children from the baby-boom generation made the time right for Discovery Toys to succeed.



Consider This: Old methods of marketing are waiting for a new product line. Who will be the next person to recognize the need and fill it?



Submitted by Richard

 

[The Story Teller]

August 15
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Mail-order Copycats
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“Learn from the mistakes of others. You can’t live long enough to make them all yourself.”
—Martin Vanbee
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In his book Getting Into the Mail-order Business, Julian L. Simon reveals some insights that might be valuable in other businesses as well. Simon explains that, after he got a fine college education, he worked for major advertising agencies in New York and eventually went on to become an advertising consultant. Thinking that he would make it big in mail order, he started his own business and promptly found out how easily he could fail. After recovering from the shock, a humbled Simon decided to find out where he had gone wrong. He took the direct approach and visited successful mail-order dealers, asking them for their secrets. Ignoring much of his textbook learning, Simon listened to the voices of experience and studied their techniques until he found the reason for their success.



The answer was almost too simple to be true. As unlikely as it sounded, Simon found that the best way to achieve success was to be a copycat. He discovered that the mail-order business didn’t require creativity, it just required that he sell items that were already making a profit. That is the approach Simon recommends for all beginners. It is true that larger companies in almost any line of business often experiment with new items in catalogs. Larger companies can afford to take such risks, but most newcomers need to get a profitable line established before trying anything innovative. The beginner can avoid many start-up risks by duplicating a currently successful plan.



Consider This: Being innovative is risky. It is often wiser to establish a foundation of solid products and to experiment with innovation on a small scale rather than risking the whole business on a lark.



Submitted by Richard

 

[The Story Teller]

August 16
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Mistakes
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“An error gracefully acknowledged is a victory won.”
—Caroline Gascoigne
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Tom Watson Sr. was the guiding hand in the success of IBM for forty years. He knew the risks associated with business and the value of learning from mistakes. One year a young executive was given responsibility for a project that cost over $10 million. As it turned out, the idea failed, and when the young man was called in, he offered his resignation. “You can’t be serious,” said Watson. “We’ve just spent $10 million educating you!” When Thomas Edison was trying to invent the electric light, he made thousands of “mistakes” before he had any success. The discovery of rubber vulcanization was made by accident. Gail Borden made countless business blunders before achieving success with condensed milk. Levi Strauss made the mistake of selling his entire supply of dry goods, leaving him with only canvas to make pants from. Milton Hershey failed more than once in the candy-making business before finding success with the Hershey bar.



Almost every enterprise has experienced its share of mistakes. Mistakes are a tool of learning. Although repeating mistakes is foolish, a legitimate try that turns sour should be accepted as part of the process of moving forward to a better idea. Those who adhere to the old adage “If you are not making mistakes, you are not making progress” are frequently the persons who make the biggest advancements in business. We have a natural tendency to avoid trial and error, and often find risk-taking to be unsettling. Yet, it is those who take calculated risks who reap the benefits. As Edward J. Phelps so aptly stated, “The man who makes no mistakes does not usually make anything.”



Consider This: Are you so afraid of making mistakes that you are shielding yourself from success?



Submitted by Richard

 

[The Story Teller]

August 17
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Kelly Services
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“It is no use saying we are doing our best. You have got to succeed in doing what is necessary.”
—Winston Churchill
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Many successful businesses have been spawned by persons who saw a new trend in an old industry and had the flexibility to change directions. Russell Kelly served as a fiscal management analyst in the Army’s Quartermaster Corps during World War II. His job was to break through red tape and get food delivered wherever it was needed and on time. One person described Kelly as the General Patton of food delivery. When the war was over, Kelly formed a business to offer services to other companies that were in a boom period but often lacked the expertise to get paperwork done. Initially, Kelly offered to perform the work at his office, but his clients wanted the work done in their own offices.

Kelly began supplying skilled workers on an as-needed basis to get companies past a temporary manpower crisis. As demand for the service increased, Kelly realized that he was witnessing the wave of the future. Soon, all of the carefully selected talent he had recruited was busily employed. Then Kelly discovered there were vast numbers of women who wanted part-time or temporary work—particularly mothers with children in school and older women with secretarial experience. The term “Kelly Girl” soon became a household word. As times changed, Kelly Services expanded its temporary-help force to include marketing, labor, and technical services. From the very start, Russell Kelly offered an unconditional guarantee to his customers, and that commitment to satisfaction and quality put Kelly Services on top of the temporary-employment business for over fifty years.

Consider This: Recognize what the market really needs and wants—give it to them, and you will develop a strong base of loyal customers.

Submitted by Richard

 

[The Story Teller]

August 18
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Twinkies
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“Trust your hunches. They’re usually based on facts filed away just below the conscious level.”
—Dr. Joyce Brothers
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Although they are seldom referred to as being as American as motherhood and apple pie, Twinkies are certainly recognized as an American tradition. Twinkies were invented by Jimmy Dewar during the Great Depression. (Isn’t it amazing how many useful things were invented during that brief period of poor economic times?) As plant manager for Continental Bakeries, Jimmy, like almost everyone else during that era, was trying to think of ideas to keep his business profitable. One thing he noticed was that the shortcake pans used during the strawberry season remained idle the rest of the year. While considering how those pans could be used to make a low-priced snack, Jimmy also came up with an idea to inject the snack with a filling.



While thinking about the new snack, he went on a business trip to St. Louis, where he saw a billboard advertising Twinkle Toe Shoes. That is when Jimmy thought of the name “Twinkies.” It had a neat “snack” sound, which meant that there would be two of the snacks in a package, just the right size to sell for a nickel. The snacks became popular and later received national publicity on The Howdy Doody Show, where Clarabell the Clown passed them out to the audience as Buffalo Bob Smith sang the Twinkies song. How big a part of the American culture has the Twinkie become? Archie Bunker took one for lunch on the classic sitcom All in the Family, people have made Twinkie wedding cakes, and even former first lady Rosalyn Carter was caught eating one in a candid photograph.



Consider This: The best advertising available for any product is when it becomes a part of the culture.



Submitted by Richard

 

[The Story Teller]

August 19
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Sherwin-Williams
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“The world hates change, yet it is the only thing that has brought progress.”
—Charles Kettering
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At times, you must stick to your convictions. This can be particularly difficult when your convictions run counter to long-standing tradition. Paint has been around for thousands of years, having been used by the Egyptians prior to 1000 B.C. By the nineteenth century, paint was sold as a base color, with pigments available for custom mixing. However, the average nineteenth-century American rarely used paint. Most houses were left unpainted, but if a home was painted, the owner usually had to rely on a painter to mix the desired color or be content with white. It was almost impossible to purchase two batches of paint that matched exactly.



In 1870 a paint company named Sherwin, Dunham, and Griswold had to make a decision. One of the partners, Henry Sherwin, had come up with an idea to develop ready-mixed paints, but the other owners were against it. They were sure that people wanted to mix their colors at home—to get the tint just right. Sherwin disagreed, and as a result, the company was dissolved and Sherwin found another partner, Edward Williams. Their new firm, Sherwin-Williams, embarked on a lengthy research project to perfect a way to premix paint in a consistent and convenient manner. The company’s ready-mixed paint was introduced in 1880 and signaled a revolution in do-it-yourself painting. Soon, few American houses were left unpainted, proving that Henry Sherwin was right after all—homeowners didn’t like the hassle of mixing their own paint.



Consider This: Some people cannot see advancement. Some will not consider change. Those who can see advancement and are willing to seek change can lead the way to the future.



Submitted by Richard

 

[The Story Teller]

August 20
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Vicks VapoRub
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“The doors we open and close each day decide the lives we live.”
—Flora Whittemore
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Sometimes success comes from putting two and two together. It sounds simple enough. The problem is determining which two and two to combine. For years, treating the common cold has been a problem. It has long been known that some measure of relief could be gained from opening the nasal passages with various aromatic medications and vaporizations. From ancient times, poultices, plasters, herbal vapors, and the like have been touted as effective cold remedies. But most of those “cures” had unpleasant side effects. They smelled horrible and frequently irritated the skin, and using vapors in conjunction with steam often resulted in facial burns. By the turn of the twentieth century, druggists throughout the country were searching for an effective ointment with none of the drawbacks.



Sometime in the 1890s, Lunsford Richardson, a druggist in Selma, North Carolina, put together a salve for his “croupy” baby. He used menthol, a little known drug from Japan, in an ointment base. When the salve was applied to the chest or nose, the heat of the body would vaporize the menthol and permit the medicated vapors to be inhaled for hours. The ointment became one of several items sold under the name Vicks Family Remedies, and the product was eventually named Vicks VapoRub. The idea for the Vicks name came from a magazine advertisement for Vick’s Seeds. Since Richardson’s brother-in-law was named Vick, and because “Vicks” was short and easy to remember, Richardson selected it as the name for his product.



Consider This: The ingredients for success may already be out there simply waiting for someone to put them together.



Submitted by Richard

 

[The Story Teller]

August 21
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Rosie O’Donnell
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“Time and time again people told me to quit.... I didn’t listen to them.”
—Rosie O’Donnell
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Rosie O’Donnell is likable. Once you see her on television or in a movie, you feel as if you could be best friends. She’s a wisecracking, funny, effervescent, down-to-earth comedian with a New York accent. She’s also very focused on her career. The middle of five children, Rosie learned comedy from her mother, a gifted amateur comedienne. Rosie was only ten when her mother died of cancer. At about the same time, Rosie decided she would become a movie star—and her entry would be through comedy. Watching TV “almost twenty-four hours a day,” she studied acting, delivery, and comedy. As a teenager, Rosie excelled at mimicking popular comedians, and she eventually began performing her own material.



At age seventeen, after gaining experience at local comedy clubs, Rosie began a five-year stint playing comedy clubs in forty-nine states. As she gradually honed her material, Rosie hoped someone would see her act and “discover” her. Although she was well received by audiences, other actors told her to quit. They called her too heavy, too tough, and “too New York,” but her dream kept her going. With money she won as a five-time Star Search champion, Rosie moved to Los Angeles. Her dream of being discovered came true when Brandon Tartikoff, then head of NBC’s entertainment division, saw Rosie perform at Igby’s comedy club and cast her in the sitcom Gimme a Break. Rosie’s childhood dream has come true. She has appeared in a number of movies, starred in a Broadway revival of Grease, and established herself as an award-winning TV and film actress and comedian.



Consider This: Focus on your dream. Study and practice to make yourself the best you can be. Don’t believe the nay-sayers. Keep taking steps toward your goal.



Submitted by Richard

 

[The Story Teller]

August 22
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Reader’s Digest
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“Don’t dodge difficulties; meet them, greet them, beat them. All great men have been through the wringer.”
—Milne
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Good ideas may meet with success initially, then hit a roadblock when everything looks good. In fact, many ideas are laid to rest at that point. DeWitt Wallace’s dream would have been buried long ago if not for his determination to overcome obstacles. Wallace had an idea for a small publication that would be both entertaining and informative. At the time, there were many good magazines on the market, but a reader would have to spend a small fortune to buy them all. Wallace put together a dummy magazine that used condensations of previously published articles. He named his prototype Reader’s Digest. Unable to secure backers for the venture, Wallace and his fiancée rented an office and set up their own small publishing concern.



On their wedding day, the couple sent out mimeographed circulars seeking subscriptions. When they returned from their honeymoon two weeks later, they had received 1,500 charter subscriptions. The first issue of Reader’s Digest was dated February 1922. Everything went well for a while as other magazines readily gave them permission to reprint articles. But as subscriptions increased, the other magazines began to see Reader’s Digest as competition, and sources for articles dried up. In 1933 Wallace began commissioning articles to be written for other magazines, securing the rights to reprint them later. He was widely criticized, but the concept kept his publication alive. The practice was discontinued in the 1950s, but by then, Reader’s Digest had become a continuing success.



Consider This: Even when your dream does not become a reality the first few times you reach for it, keep trying. Persistence is often your most powerful ally.



Submitted by Richard

 

[The Story Teller]

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August 23
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Life Savers
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“All progress, all achievement is the story of imagination.”
—A. B. Zu Tavern
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McDonald’s Restaurants may never have become so prolific without Ray Kroc. Elmer Doolin bought the recipe for Fritos corn chips from a man needing money to return to his home in Mexico. Although Christopher Sholes invented the modern typewriter, it was promoter James Desmore who made it sell. The Life Saver has a similar story. In 1912, Cleveland candy salesman Clarence Crane was looking for a summer substitute for his melting chocolate candies. He decided to produce a mint. To make his mints stand out among the competition, he designed them to be round and with a hole in the middle. He found a local pill maker who could produce the mints in quantity and wrapped them in a cardboard tube. Their shape made the name “Life Saver” a natural.



An advertising salesman named Edward Noble picked up a package of the mints at a New York candy store. He was so impressed with the candy, the shape, and the name that he immediately went to Cleveland to try to sell advertising for the product. Crane wasn’t interested, since the mints were just a summer sideline. However, Crane suggested that if Noble liked the product so much, perhaps he should buy the rights to make the mints. A deal was struck, and Noble managed to raise the capital with a partner named Roy Arlen. A major problem with the candy was its inability to stay fresh in the cardboard tube. That was solved by enclosing the mints in a tinfoil wrapper. Placed next to cash registers as impulse buys, the mints sold quickly and soon became a national success.



Consider This: You may not be an inventor, and that’s okay. It is more often the inspired promotion of a good product that really makes the difference.



Submitted by Richard

 

[The Story Teller]

August 24
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Bedtime Stories
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“Train up a child in the way he should go. Even when he is old he will not depart from it.”
—Proverbs 22:6
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An important ritual that is performed in thousands of American homes each night is responsible for how many of us think and dream. That ritual is the bedtime story. After crawling under the covers, children listen to stories told to them, usually by a mother or father. Then, with the story fresh in their minds, they slip off into dreamland. Most of those popular bedtime stories are actually morality fables, which originally were developed to teach youngsters right from wrong or to inspire them to lead upright and productive lives. They served as a technique that enabled parents to pass along values to their children. The most ancient of these were taken from the Bible or were stories based on Aesop’s fables. One particularly popular bedtime story is “The Little Red Hen.”



In “The Little Red Hen,” a wise hen decides that she wants to make some bread. However, before she can bake it, she must grow the grain. When she asks the other barnyard animals for help, each has something else to do. She asks for help in weeding the garden, harvesting, milling the grain, and baking the bread, but no one will help. Finally, after the hen has done all of the work herself, she asks “Who will help me eat my bread?” and all of the animals volunteer. She tells them that because they were too lazy to help her with any of the other tasks, she will not let them eat the bread. Through stories like these, American children for hundreds of years have been taught the importance of hard work and self-reliance.



Consider This: People are not born with good character and integrity. They must be taught those attributes by example and through stories.



Submitted by Richard

 

[The Story Teller]

August 25
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The Zipper
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“Everyone excels in something in which another fails.”
—Publius Syrus
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Many inventions can be traced back to ancient Greece, Egypt, or Arabia. The toothbrush, cosmetics, the razor, and many other useful items were simply improved upon as technology advanced. The zipper is different, however. When Whitcomb Judson obtained a patent for his “clasp-locker” device in 1893, there was nothing to compare it to. Judson made boots and had invented a crude (by today’s standard) zipper to take the place of the buttons and shoelaces on high-top boots. Judson and his partner, Lewis Walker, attempted to promote the clasp at the 1893 World’s Fair, but no one was interested. The only substantial order they received was from the post office, but the bags equipped with the fastener jammed so often that they were soon discarded.



In 1913 an engineer named Gideon Sunback improved upon the original design and produced a fastener much like those in use today. First employed by the military, the device found its way to civilian clothing by the 1920s, but because of a rusting problem, the fastener had to be unstitched each time the garment was washed and then resewn. Zipper Boots, popular galoshes using the fastener, were introduced by Goodyear in 1923, and soon the fastener itself became known as a zipper. Steady improvements in the design and materials used to manufacture zippers made them a common part of clothing by the 1930s.



Consider This: Any good idea can be improved on. Just because an idea fails the first time it is applied is no reason to give up. If you don’t improve upon an idea, someone else probably will.



Submitted by Richard

 

[The Story Teller]

August 26
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The Microwave Oven
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“To maintain maximum attention, it’s hard to beat a good, big mistake.”
—David D. Hewitt
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Since World War II, the pace of American life has increased so dramatically that it appears we are trying to create an instant society. Consumers demand instant service. Many stores offer instant credit. There are instant potatoes, instant stock market quotes, and point-of-sale displays for instant buying decisions. A major component of our fast-paced society is the microwave oven, which essentially has provided man with the first new way to cook food since fire. Although it was bound to be discovered eventually, the microwave oven was invented “by accident” by Dr. Percy Spencer.



The apparatus that led to the development of the microwave oven was the magnetron, a device originally used in radars that was invented in England by Sir John Randall and Dr. H. A. Boot. Spencer, an engineer at Raytheon Company, was testing a magnetron after the war when he noticed that a candy bar in his pocket had melted. To find out what had taken place, Spencer exposed other foods to the magnetron’s presence. Popcorn popped and an egg exploded, half-cooked from the inside out. Building on that research, Raytheon developed a commercial microwave oven, but because of the bulkiness of vacuum-tube technology, it was expensive and few were sold. Tappan introduced a much smaller home model in 1952, and the stage was set for a revolution in the way Americans cooked.



Consider This: Many new ideas are developed “by accident,” but it is those persons who possess the curiosity to follow up on unusual occurrences who often make the real discovery.



Submitted by Richard

 

[The Story Teller]

August 27
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Thinking Good Health
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“The joyfulness of a man prolongeth his days.”
—The Apocrypha
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Bacteria and viruses are not the only causes of disease in the human body. Many studies indicate that our own mind is frequently the real culprit behind many illnesses. In his book The Healing of Persons, Dr. Paul Tournier discusses how our physical health is often related to the way we think. It is well known that mental attitude and stress can have an impact on how our body reacts to the onset of infection and disease. A poor state of mind can lower our natural defenses against many kinds of illness. Laughter, on the other hand, can free people from pain and lift off the blanket of stress. Since stress is recognized as a contributing factor to illness in our fast-paced society, relief from its grip can help prevent or lessen the effects of countless maladies.



Although an increasing number of people seem to be seeking a pharmaceutical solution to stress, pills are not the answer. We must directly attack the specific problems that manifest themselves as physical disease, such as overwork and mental anguish. A return to good health requires a new perspective on life, one that changes our attitude and addresses the root causes of our problems. Dr. Tournier’s approach is to attack the diseases of bitterness, hatred, gloom, and depression. If we can turn our mind to happiness, love, hope, and laughter, we often will be rewarded with good physical health.



Consider This: Medicine is no substitute for a healthy attitude toward life. When is the last time you had a belly laugh? Really enjoyed an activity? Took a real vacation? Your life may depend on it.



Submitted by Richard

 

[The Story Teller]

August 28
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Uncle Sam
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“The memory of the just is blessed; but the name of the wicked shall rot.”
—Proverbs
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There really was an Uncle Sam, and the person who was the model for that venerable character was a real American hero. Born in 1766, Samuel Wilson was a youthful patriot who served as a drummer boy during the American Revolution. After the war, Sam opened a meat-packing company in Troy, New York. He was a fair businessman and was known throughout the community as “Uncle Sam.” When soldiers were stationed nearby during the War of 1812, Sam supplied them with meat. The crates that were to be sent to the army were stamped on the side with the initials “U.S.” (This was before those initials were in common usage.) When asked what the initials stood for, one of Sam’s employees said they were the initials of his boss, “Uncle Sam.”



The designation gained popularity among the troops, and American soldiers soon began to refer to themselves as “Uncle Sam’s men.” A cartoon version of Uncle Sam first appeared in 1820 and depicted the character wearing a black top hat and tailcoat. Red pants were introduced during Andrew Jackson’s presidency, and a beard was added during Abraham Lincoln’s term in office. During the Civil War, artist Thomas Nast made Uncle Sam tall and thin, modeling the character after Lincoln. The modern version of Uncle Sam was created by artist James Montgomery Flagg for a World War I poster that bears the now-familiar caption “I Want You for the U.S. Army.”



Consider This: Uncle Sam was a real American who represented the American spirit of patriotism and fair play.



Biography of Uncle Sam

Historians aren't completely certain how the character "Uncle Sam" was created, or who (if anyone) he was named after. The prevailing theory is that Uncle Sam was named after Samuel Wilson.

Wilson was born in Arlington, Mass., on September 13, 1766. His childhood home was in Mason, New Hampshire. In 1789, he and his brother Ebenezer walked to Troy, New York.

During the War of 1812, Wilson was in the business of slaughtering and packing meat. He provided large shipments of meat to the US Army, in barrels that were stamped with the initials "U.S." Supposedly, someone who saw the "U.S." stamp suggested -- perhaps as a joke -- that the initials stood for "Uncle Sam" Wilson. The suggestion that the meat shipments came from "Uncle Sam" led to the idea that Uncle Sam symbolized the federal government.

Samuel Wilson died in 1854. His grave is in the Oakwood Cemetery in Troy.

Uncle Sam's traditional appearance, with a white goatee and star-spangled suit, is an invention of artists and political cartoonists; Samuel Wilson did not look like the modern image of Uncle Sam. For example, Wilson was clean-shaven, while Uncle Sam is usually portrayed with a goatee.

Thomas Nast, a prominent 19th-century political cartoonist, produced many of the earliest cartoons of Uncle Sam. However, historians and collectors take note: Many of Nast's cartoons may appear to depict Uncle Sam, while in fact they depict Yankee Doodle or "Brother Jonathan." It is easy to mistake a Brother Jonathan cartoon for one of Uncle Sam, since both figures wear star-spangled suits of red, white and blue. As a rule, Brother Jonathan was drawn with a feather in his cap, while Uncle Sam was not; and Uncle Sam is nearly always drawn with a beard, while Brother Jonathan was clean-shaven.

Some have suggested that Dan Rice, a 19th-century clown, inspired Thomas Nast's Uncle Sam cartoons. Rice's clown costume consisted of a hat and star-spangled suit, much like the costume worn by Uncle Sam. However, Rice was born in 1823, and did not begin clowning until 1844; and Uncle Sam cartoons appeared as early as 1838. Therefore, it seems unlikely that Rice was, in fact, the inspiration for Nast's cartoons.

The single most famous portrait of Uncle Sam is the "I WANT YOU" Army recruiting poster from World War I. The poster was painted by James Montgomery Flagg in 1916-1917.

Many early examples of Uncle Sam cartoons can be found in The Foremost Guide to Uncle Sam Collectibles, by Gerald E. Czulewicz (Collector Books, 1995).

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Submitted by Richard