OK, why was i not invited to this party.... Macdaddy and MBlakele always forget my invitation. @ Porter, getting my coffee so stay tuned for the inquiry.
Gillette Company History Geek Out
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OK, why was i not invited to this party.... Macdaddy and MBlakele always forget my invitation. @ Porter, getting my coffee so stay tuned for the inquiry.
Alex, you have been in on this longer than I have.
True. and you guys are more informed and smarter than me. But that doesn't stop me from learning or having fun.
It has to be a broken razor that was fixed.
I think Mike was generalizing about the spying and not the actual times of event, since the merger happen later. But Gillette did seem to do spying on Geisman, and most likely he did the same.
Thanks for reminding me about the spying bit. I was thinking of this summary posted by Alex:
While I agree with Alex that these ideas seem viable, Adams would be more credible if he cited sources. Anyway it seems I missed my goal, which was to avoid the controversial bits of Probak and summarize the technical aspects. Maybe next time....
While I agree with Alex that these ideas seem viable, Adams would be more credible if he cited sources. Anyway it seems I missed my goal, which was to avoid the controversial bits of Probak and summarize the technical aspects. Maybe next time....
I concur, but in retrospect we can only go by what resources are readily on hand. If a person publishes a book on the history of Gillette then we can assume that it is viable and reliable to some extent. Even if it has controversial or non credible information. We were not around in that time so we need to rely on who ever publishes any pertinent info on Gillette. And if that entails relating controversial bits of the Probak era then it is viable since the bits were published and that is all we have to go with. We can never find out who spied on who, but if we correlate any bits of information controversial or not it can lead somewhere and then we can do deductive reasoning and research to get the facts straight.
I just recently looked at the Krumholtz book and he too stated that the when Gillette purchased controlling interest in Roth-Buchner it didnt include Newark NJ Otto Roth company. In 1927 Gillette purchased Otto Roth a subsidiary of Roth-Buchner which did not go with the original deal. It seems that it is another inaccuracy if i am not mistaken. Page 73 Krumholtz book.
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- #149
Just migrating a sub-topic over here from the thread that spawned it originally so we can continue the discussion without threadjacking. Below are the several posts that lead us off on the tangent, and then my reply at the bottom.
I don't mean to sound like I'm bashing Krumholz here, but in the paragraph just before that he also says that the Regent Tech was an open-comb razor, I presume because he'd only ever seen the one example he photographed later in the book, which was a Sheraton in a Regent Tech's case.
The 1940 Christmas ads for the Milord and Milady Techs appeared at least in Esquire (which I believe is where Achim's above came from judging from the page number) and in Good Housekeeping, which are the two that Google Books has digitized but there may well be others. I doubt very much that Gillette would have been running ads in national publications for products that were only in a limited test market.
I've also already given you reference above that says the Ranger Tech was released well in advance of the Christmas season in 1941. Additionally, Google News has newspaper ads for the Ranger Tech from the Boston Globe and the Chicago Tribune that go back at least to June of 1941. Those are all pay-per-view, but this one from August of 1941 in the Milwaukee Journal is available for viewing.
As for the post-WWII production, Gillette certainly did use the wartime break as an opportunity to revisit their pricing, but it doesn't look like the low end was their issue. Before the war it looks like they were selling the Milord Tech for $1.50 and the Ranger Tech for 98¢. After the war the Milord bumped up to $2.50 and later $2.75, and the Super Speed, once it was released, was advertized as a "regular $1.50 value" priced at $1, all the way up until 1950 when they changed it to a "$1.75 value" still for $1. So, I doubt very much that the Ranger Tech's price point was causing them that much pain originally, given that it's pretty much where they ended up with the Super Speed anyway.
The thing is, while we know that America's entry into WWII was clearly a disruption to their production, we're not exactly sure what the production figures for the Ranger's initial runs looked like at all. But before we get to the Ranger, let me step back to the Milord (and Milady) Tech for a quick second.
1940 wasn't a test marketing year for the Milord and Milady Techs, that was a full national release. They were in the Christmas season advertising for 1940, like this one that Achim's got posted:
It was very common for Gillette to release new models mid-year followed up with a promotional push at the end of the year for the Christmas shopping season. The Ranger Tech, in fact, was announced in May of 1941, and they would likely have been into steady production even before that in order to accommodate orders from retailers upon the announcement. (The fact that it was really just a plating change on the Milord Tech had to help there.)
Below is a clipping from Hardware Age that talks about Gillette sponsoring the Kentucky Derby on May 3, 1941, and using that broadcast to announce their new "Ranger Model" Tech razor:
All that aside, what we're really talking about is how likely you are to run into one today, and based on the fact that I see somewhere on the order of 5-10 a month I just can't justify calling them "rare."
I would definitely agree with you that the Milord and Milady Techs seem to be much less common than the Ranger. The only thing I can figure is that they must've ultimately sold more of the Ranger even though it wasn't in production as long.
I don't mean to sound like I'm bashing Krumholz here, but in the paragraph just before that he also says that the Regent Tech was an open-comb razor, I presume because he'd only ever seen the one example he photographed later in the book, which was a Sheraton in a Regent Tech's case.
The 1940 Christmas ads for the Milord and Milady Techs appeared at least in Esquire (which I believe is where Achim's above came from judging from the page number) and in Good Housekeeping, which are the two that Google Books has digitized but there may well be others. I doubt very much that Gillette would have been running ads in national publications for products that were only in a limited test market.
I've also already given you reference above that says the Ranger Tech was released well in advance of the Christmas season in 1941. Additionally, Google News has newspaper ads for the Ranger Tech from the Boston Globe and the Chicago Tribune that go back at least to June of 1941. Those are all pay-per-view, but this one from August of 1941 in the Milwaukee Journal is available for viewing.
As for the post-WWII production, Gillette certainly did use the wartime break as an opportunity to revisit their pricing, but it doesn't look like the low end was their issue. Before the war it looks like they were selling the Milord Tech for $1.50 and the Ranger Tech for 98¢. After the war the Milord bumped up to $2.50 and later $2.75, and the Super Speed, once it was released, was advertized as a "regular $1.50 value" priced at $1, all the way up until 1950 when they changed it to a "$1.75 value" still for $1. So, I doubt very much that the Ranger Tech's price point was causing them that much pain originally, given that it's pretty much where they ended up with the Super Speed anyway.
There seems to be so many inconstancy in his book, i am considering emailing him and advising him of the inaccuracies. Maybe we should gather a few B&B members and start a B&B reference book with more accurate data.
But wasnt the production higher for the Ranger Tech? Maybe that could have been a factor too.
Well, de-mobilization of the industrial base following the war didn't mean things slowed down totally. Gillette (among others) was still making blades under Federal contracts for depot storage. The War Department had not yet transitioned servicemen over to reliance on the exchange system for personal items. This might have impacted their production lines, especially as they had to make a major shift in tooling to re-adjust to the civilian market.
That is a true and well observed fact, did you read that somewhere or is it just an observation?
Thanks to this thread about the 1905 Gillette catalog and my conversations with the winner (who should hopefully be along here shortly), I remembered that, few months ago I had acquired a similar booklet belonging to the New Improved era. This is the "Three Reasons" booklet that is referenced in this 1925 advertisement for New Improved (bottom right corner):
I'm putting up the full scan of my copy of the "Three Reasons" booklet in this thread for reference purposes.
Cover page:
Second and third page showing an article by Nickerson extracted from "The Gillette Blade" magazine:
Fourth and fifth page, continuing the article from the previous page:
Sixth and seventh page showing questions and answers:
Eighth and ninth page, continuing with the questions and answers:
Tenth and eleventh pages, more Q&As:
The last page:
It's plainly obvious in the answers to many questions that this is a marketing oriented booklet. For example, questions 1 to 7 and their answers make it sound like the New Improved is the one razor everyone needs to solve all their problems with older razors. Also interesting to note is the Q&As on pre-shave routines, questions 15 - 22. For example, in question 18, the answer says that many users find it useful to chill the skin with cold water so as to contract the pore and make the hair stand out.
Overall, it's a very interesting booklet to read, and a good a peek into the Gillette company's marketing thoughts for their New Improved razor models.
I'm putting up the full scan of my copy of the "Three Reasons" booklet in this thread for reference purposes.
Cover page:
Second and third page showing an article by Nickerson extracted from "The Gillette Blade" magazine:
Fourth and fifth page, continuing the article from the previous page:
Sixth and seventh page showing questions and answers:
Eighth and ninth page, continuing with the questions and answers:
Tenth and eleventh pages, more Q&As:
The last page:
It's plainly obvious in the answers to many questions that this is a marketing oriented booklet. For example, questions 1 to 7 and their answers make it sound like the New Improved is the one razor everyone needs to solve all their problems with older razors. Also interesting to note is the Q&As on pre-shave routines, questions 15 - 22. For example, in question 18, the answer says that many users find it useful to chill the skin with cold water so as to contract the pore and make the hair stand out.
Overall, it's a very interesting booklet to read, and a good a peek into the Gillette company's marketing thoughts for their New Improved razor models.
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Thanks for posting that. I think it deserves a separate discussion, and so I took the liberty of starting a new thread: http://badgerandblade.com/vb/showthread.php/363158
Wow, super cool info here on B&B. I was able to ID my daily shaver for the last 7 years as a 1975 Gillette super slim 109!
You always count on our superb and informed members for great history on Gillette or Traditional wet shaving.
I posted a few things, if you need any assistance let me know.
Found this on an online auction site:
Gillette Safety Razor Co. Specimen Stock Certificate.ND, (ca.1900-1920), Less Than 100 Shares, Specimen Capital stock certificate. Blue border. Ornate vignette of old fashioned safety razor with "Gillette" logo in bottom corporate seal area. XF condition. Red specimen overprints, POC`s and "00000" serial numbers. Rare and popular stock certificate. ABNC
Here's the site:
http://www.the-saleroom.com/en-gb/a...logue-id-2890705/lot-19177161?searchitem=true
Gillette Safety Razor Co. Specimen Stock Certificate.ND, (ca.1900-1920), Less Than 100 Shares, Specimen Capital stock certificate. Blue border. Ornate vignette of old fashioned safety razor with "Gillette" logo in bottom corporate seal area. XF condition. Red specimen overprints, POC`s and "00000" serial numbers. Rare and popular stock certificate. ABNC
Here's the site:
http://www.the-saleroom.com/en-gb/a...logue-id-2890705/lot-19177161?searchitem=true
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- #159
Here's an orange version of the same certificate.
Where did you get that?
