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Gillette Company History Geek Out

maurice curran WAS born in palmer, mass.: his parents, (lawrence and mary curran)
were both born in ireland and came over during the famine-
mary died when maurice was three, and lawrence and maurice went BACK to ireland,
where maurice went to school at christian brothers academy -
then maurice returned to the US (i dont know whether lawrence curran did or not)

this is when curran met joyce, basically as children from ireland in a new american industrial city

(SOURCE: HISTORY OF ESSEX COUNTY, VOLUMES 1&2)
 
maurice curran WAS born in palmer, mass.: his parents, (lawrence and mary curran)
were both born in ireland and came over during the famine-
mary died when maurice was three, and lawrence and maurice went BACK to ireland,
where maurice went to school at christian brothers academy -
then maurice returned to the US (i dont know whether lawrence curran did or not)

this is when curran met joyce, basically as children from ireland in a new american industrial city

(SOURCE: HISTORY OF ESSEX COUNTY, VOLUMES 1&2)
I always thought Curran was Spanish or Italian .
 
Back when we were talking about the Brandeis confirmation hearings, this passage from Edward McClennan's testimony piqued my interest (emphasis mine):
There were 65,000 shares of stock in this company. Mr. Gillette held perhaps 16,000 shares, and Mr. Holloway something like 10,000 shares; and then there were other scattering stockholders. Mr. Joyce and Mr. Curran, who were, for all purposes, as has been said, one person—they were partners; they were brothers, they lived together, and they had a common purse, and everything of one belonged to the other. So Joyce means Curran & Joyce, really, as I use the term. Joyce held upward of 24,000 shares of the stock. Upwards of 8,000 shares of the stock were solely held by a group of gentlemen in Baltimore, who were represented by one individual board of directors not made a party to these suits.

I had already read in McKibben that JJJ had been a brewer, which was how he'd come to meet KCG while he was selling for Crown Cork and Seal. But what I turned up that I hadn't seen mentioned before was that the company he was a part of was the Curran & Joyce Bottling Company of Lawrence, MA, partnered with none other than Maurice J. Curran.

View attachment 461615

They started that company in 1877 when they bought the existing bottling business of William Heald. I then went and did a little more digging into public records and came up with this, even more interesting nugget from the 1900 Federal Census:

View attachment 461621

From that we can see that both Curran's and Joyce's families were living at 250 North Main Street in Andover, MA, with a staff of at least 5 people. Then, I pulled up the 1910 Federal Census record and found this:

View attachment 461644

Who do we see there on line #78 as now also living with the Curran and Joyce families? None other than Frank Fahey.

View attachment 461650

Strangely, it lists him as being the brother-in-law of Joyce, who was entered as the head of the household, when really he's JJJ's son-in-law, having married Genevieve Joyce, JJJ's daughter (not sister). Interestingly it also lists Maurice (incorrectly as "Morris" -- this particular census taker was more than a bit lackadaisical it would seem) as JJJ's brother-in-law, and Curran's wife, Abigail, as his sister-in-law. So I went digging even further and found that Joyce and Curran had married two sisters.

To be continued...
It seems that all that obscure personal info may have had a purpose. They did posses valuable property and cash. It seems that it was some kind of misleading that was meant to be on purpose. Too many lost and misleading bread crumbs.
 
Not sure if anyone has posted this information or not. It comes from a publication of the 1918 annual meeting of Gillette salesmen. And outlines the plans for the coming year.

Gillette Plans for 1918Mr. Frank J. Fahey​
Vice-President and Treasurer Gillette Safety Razor Company
GENTLEMEN, it is certainly a great pleasure this morning to see you all with us again after a matter of twelve months since our last salesmen's convention. While our last convention was interesting, it was to our minds a little bit brief, in more ways than one. It was brief in the first place because perhaps we did not extend the scope of the convention as far as we should have. Some of our salesmen for various reasons did not come to the convention. We plan this year, however, to make our convention more interesting, more intense, more human, and more valuable, both to our salesmen and to the Gillette Company, not only as regards the speakers here today—all of which will be found very interesting and instructive—but during the next few days to follow, when we want to have a personal, close interchange of ideas with our men off the road. We are rather unfortunate at the home office in a way, because, not seeing our men more than once a

year—with the exception of one or two particular men—sometimes we lose the perspective of the men out selling goods to our trade. We want during these conventions in the future to obtain more of that perspective, and we want to get closer to our salesmen and through them gather ideas as to the other man's point of view, because, after all, the man who goes through life with his own point of view in front of him and who loses sight of what the other man thinks on a subject is certainly working at a big disadvantage.
You will remember at our convention last year we spoke something of our hopes for the year. We told you something about what Mr. Thompson's manufacturing plans were and how they involved the manufacture of about 800,000 razors and 7,000,000 dozen blades. Perhaps you will recall at that time we pointed out to Mr. Thompson that he was extravagant in his anticipations of the big business he was facing. It is interest

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5,100 or 5,200 razors a day and 370,000 blades a day. I am speaking of the Boston factory alone now. During the last three or four months of the year we were compelled to keep up this manufacture of about 5,100 to 5,300 razors a day and 370,000 blades per day; and, believe me, gentlemen, it was necessary to put on all steam in order to do it. Considerable night work was involved, considerable work on Sundays, and considerable higher speed on the part of everybody in the factory. But we got through it, and I think the management owes a little expression of thanks not only to the people in the factory who helped to bring out the large volume during 1917, but also to the boys on the road who went out and put it over in the way you kept us working nights and Sundays in the factory. I take this opportunity of thanking you one and all on behalf of the company.
OUR PLANS FOR 1918
So much for 1917. What we are more interested in, perhaps, now, is what our plans are for 1918 as to volume, conditions, and so forth. We are starting 1918 under perhaps the most trying conditions that the company has ever faced, and we have gotten quite accustomed in the past to facing these various trying conditions. Due to the war, however, the condition of the raw material market —some of which you have heard about, and other things about which you will hear in the next few days— is really one that is causing us considerable worry. We have a fair stock of goods on hand in the raw. We have a fair stock in the course of manu
facture. But with the Government priorities, and with the embargoes, and the various other vicissitudes that we are being confronted with, we are just a little bit anxious about 1918. However, unless something happens to our plans, we propose in 1918 to manufacture 1,400,000 razors ; and we propose to manufacture 8,000,000 dozen blades during the calendar year. I don't know that I need go much further on that subject. It is going to be up to you boys to go out and sell them. We will stand behind you. Thompson always says that he has his manufacture up to the highest point, but he can always screw it up a couple more notches. We have had a big year during 1917. We have sold more razors and more blades, and we have made more money for our stockholders, than in any year in the history of the company; but a year from now when you assemble here we want to make 1917 look like 30 cents as compared with what we will do in the year 1918.. and we are going to depend upon you boys to do it. Each one of you who has been working at 100 per cent efficiency in 1917 will have to go out and work 130 per cent efficiency in 1918, or 140 per cent, or 150 per cent; and the more you increase your efficiency the more you can depend on us in the factory to go along with you. When we assemble here in a year from now we want not only to be able to say that we have sold the amount that we want to sell, but that we are able to manufacture them and are ready to start in satisfactorily on another year.
So much for that. You will hear a great deal in this convention during the next few days from Mr. Pelham, Mr. Rebuck, Mr. Thompson, Mr. Nickerson, Mr. Dyer, and the various people in our organization, about some new advertising and some new sales plans, and some new inventions on the part of Mr. Nickerson, and some new manufacturing ideas of Mr. Thompson's. I will not take up much of your time with that. But we want to take up one thing more, and then we will pass on.

As you gentlemen know, during the year 1917 there was a change in the management of our company. I think perhaps you gentlemen, being out on the road, lost the perspective somewhat as to just what that change meant. Some of you boys who have been with the company a good many years knew Mr. Joyce, our former vice-president, and those of you who knew him will doubtless respect his memory as we do. Mr. Joyce's death brought about changes in the management and the ownership of our business, and also brought about new plans for co-ordination of the men in the employ of the company. While the people in our factory have responded very well to that problem—and by co-ordination I mean joint ownership in the company's business on the part of the employees—I think some of the men on the road, being so far away, and it being impossible to convey that thing to them, have lost the meat of that idea. I have looked over the subscriptions to stock, and, gentlemen, I am not a salesman, as Mr. Aldred and Mr. Pelham, but I just want to call your attention to this stock problem in an intimate way, because it is something that I think

you are letting get by you, and I think those of you who do let it get by are going to feel very, very sorry in the course of three or five years.

This information comes from the following source;
https://books.google.com/books?id=E...ved=0CDcQ6AEwAjgU#v=onepage&q=gillette&f=true
 
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The above information comes from the Official Gillette minutes of the Annual sales convention and has quite a lot of company history in it. Maybe its already known, I just thought I would share just in case.
 
I think this is OK as it is a BIN listing but it looks like another special bit of Gillette history is on sale here.

The 1925 Gillette "Three Reasons" Shaving Booklet - very nice!
 
While researching something else, I came across this mention of Ward Holloway and John Joyce, which I thought, if not seen previously, would add some spice to this thread. The article is from the University of Massachusetts, Center for Lowell History, Lowell Library.

"In order to further its business status during this era, the
Harvard Brewery became profoundly involved in Lowell's
governmental scene. While this involvement helped the company
to smoothly navigate the increasing regulations imposed on large
businesses it also established itself as a major target for political
criticism. Alderman George H. Brown won the mayoralty
election of 1908 on a platform mainly based on breaking up "the
brewery's complete control of the politics of Lowell." Allegations
that Harvard dominated the licensing of liquor dealers in Spindle
City came to a head when Holloway, Joyce and other managers
were arrested with members of the license commission on charges
of conspiracy. Despite the submission of much incriminating
evidence, the death of a key witness led to charges being dropped
against the brewery officials."

Cheers,
Kevin
 
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I just came across this 2008 auction listing....

The photos are an exceptionally interesting read -- letters from Gillette expressing
his opinions about Joyce, plans of his to regain the company, and much more....
These are but two of the photos.

This is the link: 114: Archive of Gillette Razor Founder King Gillette

I would really like to know who was lucky enough to acquire these.

Cheers,
Kevin
 
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Looks like marketing was bending the truth a bit 100 years ago too. According to this ad, "You can't doubt that you shall be able to shave yourself with the Gillette. It's not something you have to learn - you just do it!" Lol, not quite that easy... you DO have to learn it. :001_rolle

Bump? I'll bite.

I recently got a Gillette Old Type. To modern eyes, it looks worrisome with its pointy teeth, slender head, and what's with the miniscule handle? And we've all got bitten by the cheap Gillette closed bar razors we started with as a kid -- if we're old enough. To the younger crowd raised on cartridge razors, any DE razor looks threatening.

But I was absolutely blown away by how easy and intuitive the Old Type is to use -- with a slight caveat: I used the RazoRock Old Type head prior to this, which was even easier.

To use an Old Type for the first time is to gain insight into the experience of any man using one for the first time a century ago. With one difference: that man would have already shaved or been shaven by a barber with a straight razor countless times. They may also have tried some of the other safety razors that were sprouting up that looked far more complicated and imposing. The Gillette razor, like the ad says, is little, which apparently was a good thing back then, and simplicity itself.

Seeing and experiencing a shave with a straight razor would have taught them the basics: the light touch, the angle of the blade, the lather and prep. Now, mastering shaving with a straight razor requires a steep learning curve. No one can pick one up cold and get a decent shave, not a modern man. But try an Old Type, and you can get a passable shave the first time. It is easier than a lot of closed comb razors. And Gillette provided some brief instructions on the angle of the razor, and to shave with the razor at a slant relative to the stroke. Plus, some tips on lather and face prep. Done. Just do it.

Like today, a little experimentation with angle and pressure, and you're in business. The Old Type allows a wide range of angles, and does an acceptable job with most of them. The only catch is that if you use too much pressure, it will show. But, without the bad shaving habits we have today, they would have learned fast.

It's 1910 or 1920 and you get one of these little razors and some blades -- or it was a gift. You shave, and say to yourself: Why am I struggling with a straight razor and all the stropping and honing? Why am I traveling to a barber, sitting around waiting, when I can shave in five minutes? The 5 or 10 cent blade might have cost the equivalent of $2 in today's money, but if you got 10 shaves, that's still only 20 cents in today's money -- 1 cent in yesteryear's, far less than any barber charges.

With the Old Type you could sleep later than if you had to go to the barber. And you could shave far more safely with a hangover than with a straight razor. Of course, a straight razor still had its advantages, if you had mastered one. They say FDR kept shaving himself with a straight razor as an adult, even after contracting polio. But all you needed to master an old type was to treat it with some of the respect due a straight razor, and you would be fine.

It would be interesting to start a kid on an Old Type, instead of a cartridge razor. He would learn good shaving habits, and understand how a razor works. But the blade exposure is probably a bit much for a teen, especially, as Jean Shepard recounted, one with zits. The RazoRock Old Type is milder and relatively foolproof, and I think a newbie kid could master it.

I look at my Old Type single ring razor, and think: This is how F. Scott Fitzgerald shaved back in the day, even after one of his many wild parties on Gateway Drive in West Egg. It was one little piece of the Modern World people were witnessing being born.
 
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