Jonteel – United Drug’s Bird-of-Paradise

The Literary Digest, July 1920.
An exotic Jonteel bird logo
dominates the back cover of this magazine.

In the fall of 1931, United Drug Company's general sales manager, George C. Frolich alerted his advertising department, “The toilet goods laboratory is developing new products and improving formulas of some of the older items. I want to get the best artists in America to design packages that will help Rexallites secure a million-dollar volume in 12 months!” Frolich was talking about Jonteel, a cosmetics line launched by United in 1917, followed by three years of intensive advertising in national magazines. Even in 1931 Jonteel remained a viable brand.

The Jonteel ad campaign was spurred by United's success in its first nationwide magazine blitz: a 2-page spread in the September 1915 issue of Collier's that firmly established the famous One-Cent Sale (see my Nov. 3, 2013 post). That promotion initiated a long history of popular semi-annual sales events, but just as importantly, it confirmed that pictorial magazine advertising was the best vehicle for embedding the Rexall trademark in the minds of consumers. Louis K. Liggett, president of United Drug Co., instinctively knew that when a marketing strategy worked, it was foolish not to work up a variation on the same theme.

Ladies’ Home Journal, December 1917. This opening Jonteel ad shows
actress Helene Chadwick enjoying the new “Odor of Twenty-six Flowers.”
Click on images to enlarge, click again to return to text.

The 1917 magazine campaign was spearheaded by a full-page, 4-color ad in the December issue of Ladies’ Home Journal. Adopting the growing trend of employing motion picture personalities to endorse cosmetics, silent screen starlet Helene Chadwick was signed to represent Jonteel. Four different photographic poses of the actress were displayed in various formats over the next three years. The ads appeared in women’s periodicals like Vogue, Woman’s Home Companion, Good Housekeeping, Ladies’ Home Journal, and La Canadienne, a magazine published for French-language readers in Canada. Ladies’ Home Journal received $9,000 for the first ad, calculated to reach 1,750,000 homes.

Oval talcum tins, manufactured in 2.5 oz. and 5.5 oz.
 sizes by the Tin Decorating Co., Baltimore, MD.

Fledgling Jonteel products—Talc, Combination Cream and Face Powder had been released in test stores in June 1917, and by October were placed with 40% of the Rexall franchised druggists. The introductory line was presented as elegant yet economically priced, and perfumed with a new “$100,000 Odor of Twenty-six Flowers.”  $100,000 represented the amount expended for marketing research, trademarks, packaging and developing the Jonteel fragrance itself. As for the 26 flowers, ad copy reveals only that jasmine, patchouli, lavender, rose, bergamot, labdanum, orange, ylang-ylang, olibanum, vetivert, sandalwood and geranium were among the essences contributing to the complex Jonteel bouquet.

Showcase and counter displays of Jonteel products, April 1921.

Rexallites were urged to display Jonteel items “wherever the goods can make an irresistible appeal to that insatiable searcher for money-spending opportunities—Woman.” As with the One-Cent Sales, Jonteel advertising emphasized exclusive selling rights by The Rexall Stores; and during 1918-20 that meant 8000 agencies in the United States, Canada and Great Britain. Among them were some 200 company-owned Liggett’s Drug Stores scattered from New York City to Winnipeg (half of them former Riker & Hegeman stores acquired in a 1916 merger), and 30 franchised Owl Drug Co. stores on the Pacific Coast.

The “Lesser Bird-of-Paradise” (Paradisaea minor),
native of Papua New Guinea.

The name Jonteel was conceived in March 1916 by a copywriter working for United Drug’s advertising manager, Charles E. Murnan. Originally proposed as Caresse-Jonteel, the first word was dropped after discovering it was already being used by cosmetics manufacturer Pattie Park Luzier of Kansas City. To elevate Jonteel to a strong brand image, an exotic bird was perched atop the prominent letter “J.” Selected from sketches submitted by 50 different artists, the brightly feathered creature was painted in red, purple and green against a backdrop of midnight black—an avian fantasy derived from “bird-of-paradise” species like Paradisaea minor. Another advisory sent from the advertising department recommended that for best impact, the dark Jonteel packages should be displayed against a background of rich yellow satin.

Display of Jonteel products in an Owl Drug Co. store window, circa 1919.

One naturally wonders, why a bird? The success of Owl Drug Co. in selling proprietaries using avian themes may be a likely reason. The wise old owl himself was pictured on most over-the-counter product labels, including toiletries. The single word Bird was trademarked for Owl’s specialty line of rouge and face powder starting in 1911, and Red Feather was registered by Owl in 1912 for a general line of toilet goods. When United Drug Co. was dressing their new cosmetics line in 1916, Owl’s brand experience likely figured into deliberations. Ultimately, toiletries emblazoned with the colorful Jonteel migrated from Boston to Owl Drug Co. stores all over the West, rested briefly, then flew off the shelves into shopping baskets.

Besides the bird’s striking appearance, the word Jonteel was a masterstroke of faux French branding. The fanciful name was instantly associated with “genteel,” yet pronounced more like the French gentil—both words suggesting something tasteful and refined. In the early 20th century practically all high fashion originated in Paris. Art Nouveau styling combined with distinctively French floral perfumery set the bar for American manufacturers as they strived to emulate the language, fragrances and imagery crafted by Parisian perfumers such as Houbigant, Piver and Coty.

United Drug Co. perfumer George Hall displaying imported perfumery materials, 1912.

The first perfume products made at United’s factory in Boston were offered to Rexall agents in December 1906, based on floral extracts imported from France and Bulgaria. The following year a toilet goods department was organized as a subsidiary called United Perfume Co., and Liggett’s father-in-law, George W. Bence, was put in charge. By 1910, perfumer George Hall (1874-1921) was president and general manager, a position he held for the next seven years. Hall would have been directly involved in compounding the Jonteel fragrance and instrumental in developing the initial line of products—Talc Jonteel, Face Powder Jonteel, Combination Cream Jonteel, Cold Cream Jonteel, and Odor Jonteel. The quirky style of trailing the tradename Jonteel after each product title was another ploy to imbue the line with a sophisticated European quality. United Drug also chose to omit their corporate name from toilet goods packaging, opting instead for a fictitious “perfumer” label. During the first decade, most products were labeled Harmony of Boston. But in 1917 the Jonteel line was assigned Liggett’s/New York, designed to reflect United’s greatly expanded chain of Liggett’s Drug Stores in New York City and other metropolitan areas.

George Hall enjoyed a solid reputation with the perfume industry in France; and on March 23, 1914 was awarded the Ordre du Mérite Agricole, bestowed by the French Republic for his outstanding contribution to agriculture. In the fall of 1916, with deliveries from war-torn Europe dwindling to nil, Hall announced that stocks of raw materials on hand would be sufficient to secure the Jonteel launch. Then suddenly, at a most critical time, Hall was forced to retire from United Drug in July 1917 for health reasons. Fortunately, another qualified perfumer, Francis N. Langlois (1893–1985), was hired away from Frederick Stearns & Co. in Detroit to manage United’s perfume and toilet goods laboratories. By serendipity, or perhaps with some cunning, the new superindendent brought with him a valuable asset—his obviously French name. Langlois consented to using his surname on the firm’s toiletries in April 1918, and after much test marketing, his facsimile signature was filed as a U.S. trademark in December 1922. In practice, “Langlois/New York,” was applied to United’s new Cara Nome and Juneve cosmetic brands, while the established “Liggett’s/New York” label continued on Jonteel packaging until the line was entirely redesigned in the early 1930’s.

Costumed women demonstrating Jonteel products in a store window boudoir scene,
Axt Drug Co., Fort Madison, Iowa 1918.

Helene Chadwick applying Jonteel Combination Cream in the February 1919 Ladies’ Home Journal and May 1920 La Canadienne. Both ads claim the cream “Will Not Grow Hair.” The myth that certain oleaginous substances promote hair growth originated with men’s use of lanolin, mineral oil, and vegetable oils like almond, olive and castor to stimulate hair growth. To reassure female consumers, manufacturers placed disclaimers in their advertising and labeling.

By July 1918 Jonteel sales were running about $80,000 per month. Rexall druggists were encouraged to put “human interest” in their window displays, and the agent in Fort Madison, Iowa took the advice to the limit by recreating a fashionable lady’s boudoir in the store’s main show window. Two young women played the roles of a society dame and her maid, the latter assisting in application of various Jonteel preparations. Response to the “live theatre” production generated sales “far beyond expectation.” In August, full-page color ads for Jonteel were also appearing in Saturday Evening Post, Collier’s, and Cosmopolitan. Expense for artwork and ad space in the December 1918 numbers alone totaled $25,000.

Jonteel Bath and Toilet Powder was produced in
Canada for distribution through Rexall Stores in that country.

F.N. Burt Company, a major fabricator of small boxes in Buffalo, NY
made the pasteboard containers for Jonteel
Cold Cream Face Powder, Rouge Compact, etc.

An unusual property of the Face Powder was its significant cold cream content. When rubbed on the skin, mineral oil in the cream was absorbed, leaving a film of powder firmly attached by the waxy ingredients to provide more permanence and protection from sun and wind. The manufacturing process was licensed under U.S. Patent No. 1332190, registered in February 1920 by La Meda Mfg. Co., a toilet goods firm in Chicago. In May 1922 United Drug promoted the cold cream feature to Rexallites as a selling point, but actual conversion of package titles to read "Cold Cream Face Powder" was delayed until the following spring. The cold cream and powder combination idea was not entirely new. Carl Weeks of Des Moines, Iowa pioneered the sale of Armand’s Cold Cream Powder beginning in 1918 and made it a popular seller for more than a decade.

Woman’s Home Companion, March 1919. The new powder and rouge “compacts” included a natural shade called Outdoor to match the complexion of open air enthusiasts. Helene Chadwick demonstrates a finger ring vanity case.

Information sent to Rexall agents in March 1920 outlined merits of the new silver-plated vanity case and how it should function as a “selling scheme” to secure future sales of Jonteel powder and rouge compacts.

Fine metal stamping is evident in this close-up of the octagonal vanity,
made by D. Evans & Company of North Attleboro, Mass.

The March 1919 Jonteel ads introduced an alternative to loose face powder—compressed discs or “compacts,” available in four shades. At the same time, three tints of rouge compacts were also offered. The compacts were individually packaged in round pasteboard cartons that were portable but not very durable. By mid-1919, however, wartime restriction on domestic use of metals was effectively relaxed, and later that year an 8-sided, silver-plated vanity case was produced to hold single Jonteel compacts. When the attractive vanity was revealed to Rexall druggists in the spring of 1920, they were directed to combine compact and vanity as a unit rather than sell the case empty. The strategy was to promote Jonteel compacts and secure repeat sales, not merely sell the vanity as an accessory.

The small, attractively embossed case was stamped “Sheffield Plate,” implying the ancient process of fusing sheet silver to copper, but the Jonteel vanities were actually machine stamped from brass and electroplated with a thin coating of silver. To learn more about these fascinating little boxes and their maker, D. Evans & Co. of North Attleboro, Mass., read Mike Hetherington’s blog post here.

Ladies’ Home Journal, December 1920. The 8-sided vanity bearing repoussé Jonteel bird and complete with finger ring, rouge or powder compact was offered in this Christmas ad for $1. Other products were assembled as gift sets ranging from $1.50 to $8. At the time, United Drug Co. claimed 10,000 Rexall agents in the English-speaking world.

Ladies’ Home Journal, February 1921. Miss Chadwick, in her final pose for the magazine campaign, recommends Combination Cream—a preparation used as a base for face powder and to treat chapped hands.
The oval jar was made of milk-white glass.

Compact cases represented a departure from the tradition of beauty aids being applied solely in the privacy of a woman’s home. Working, voting, post-war women were encouraged (particularly by Madison Avenue) to throw off old taboos and embrace independent attitudes, including the freedom to maintain personal appearance “on the go.” The finger-ring vanity was symbolic of such mobility—a conceptual image already presented in several 1918-19 Jonteel ads that show Miss Chadwick clad in evening wear, coyly yet expertly demonstrating the use of a finger ring vanity. After a run of 39 months, the inviting images of Helene Chadwick were retired. February 1921 was her last appearance for Jonteel; and the ad for March focused on the silver-plated vanity and the various shades of powder and rouge compacts, each embossed with the famous bird. Ironically, a bobbed-hair and bare-shouldered Chadwick resumed posing for magazine ads in 1924, selling Lablache cosmetics for Ben Levy Co. of Boston.

Woman’s Home Companion, May 1921. An artist’s painting replaced the photographic
poses of Helene Chadwick for the remainder of the 1921 magazine ad campaign.

Ladies’ Home Journal, December 1921. Both the silver-plated single and the
brass double vanity cases were offered in this Christmas “Gifts Jonteel” ad.

Less intricate than the repoussé silver-plated vanity, the stamped logo
 on the brass double case was nevertheless well executed.
Manufactured by E. Loesser Mills of Montclair, NJ.

Helene’s replacement was revealed in the May 1921 issue of Woman’s Home Companion—an artist’s rendition of a young woman exhibiting a glowing complexion in subdued light, applying Jonteel compact powder from a pasteboard box. The small text in the ad describes a “Double Vanity Case” to hold both powder and rouge compacts. A picture of the brass case finally appeared in the December 1921 Christmas ad: oblong-oval in shape, containing twin compacts, lambskin puffs and a wide mirror.

August Goertz & Co. of Newark, NJ filed a utility patent in September 1922 for this double compact case. Within a year United Drug had adopted the novel device. Insets show guilloché cover and interior of the Jonteel “Twin Vanity.”

Rouge compacts embossed with the Jonteel bird were
first supplied in metal single cases in the mid-1920’s.

The oblong double vanity was superceded in 1923 by a new style that was being quickly adopted by the toilet goods industry—a sizable (2½ inch dia.) round case containing large powder and rouge compacts and full-size mirror. The design chosen for both the Jonteel and Cara Nome lines was manufactured by August Goertz & Co. of Newark, NJ under their Patent No. 1558471. The pan holding the powder cake cleverly swung up-and-out on a yoke to reveal the rouge compact, and the entire internal assembly could be removed and replaced with a refill unit.

A completely modernized line of Jonteel products appeared in January 1933.
The packaging featured angular lines and tall glass containers.
Toilet Powder tins are known with both Liggett's/New York and Langlois/New York labels.

The square, pillow-shaped, nickel-plated Double Vanity.
A metal mirror swings on the case hinge pintle and separates the rouge and powder compartments—
a feature commonly seen on cases made by Hingeco Mfg. Co. of Providence, RI.

Slender metal cases with hinged covers were created to carry
single rouge and powder compacts. Manufactured
by Chase Brass & Copper Co., Waterbury, Conn.

 The stylish yet affordable Jonteel line persisted throughout the prosperous 1920’s even though growth and sales of United’s more opulent Cara Nome and Shari toiletries gained momentum during the decade. Since introduction in December 1917, over $25 million of Jonteel brand products had been sold—an average of $160,000 per month. In 1931, however, at the depth of the Depression, sales of all toiletries were in decline, and decision was made to redesign and expand the lower priced Jonteel line to fit the times. Vanity cases and other containers were modernized by package designer William Fink of New York City. The new look exhibited a blend of Art Deco and the emerging Moderne style which emphasized rounded corners, bright enamels, and verticality.

Body powders were packaged in enameled metal cans. The tall 5 oz. Talcum was added several months after the new line was launched in January 1933. Inset shows the Langlois/New York label adopted for the redesigned Jonteel line.

The rejuvenated line was launched in January 1933 and enjoyed three years of favorable response, especially from the urban middle class demographic. Besides some magazine advertising, United Drug contracted with Globe Film Enterprise in Hollywood, California to produce “Jonteel Talkies”—six motion picture clips that showed “beautiful living models using Jonteel Toilet Goods and talking about the qualities and beautifying results of Jonteel preparations.” Rexall agents ordering these short films to run in their local theaters could draft a fifteen-word commercial message to be flashed on the screen in the final seconds.

The majestic Jonteel bird was such a colorful, eye-catching logo it was featured on other
United Drug Co. merchandise ranging from boxed chocolates to hair nets.

In spite of these and other valiant efforts to keep the venerable bird flying, the lengthy and profitable Jonteel campaign had finally run its course. Company promotion of the brand ended with launch of the new Adrienne line of toiletries in the spring of 1936.

>>Special thanks to my good friend Michael Hetherington for his collaboration and good fellowship in tracking down history of the toilet goods industry. Mike has created a wonderful blog on the subject with special emphasis on compact cases. Enjoy his many Collecting Vintage Compacts posts here.  Also my sincere gratitude to C.J. “Jonteel” Vaughn for many years of support in the collection of information and artifacts related to United Drug Co.

Selling the Rexall One Cent Sale

One Cent Sales were arguably the most successful drugstore merchandise promotions staged in the 20th century. During the years I worked in Rexall Stores, sales were held each spring and fall and lasted 6 to 10 days. Storefront windows were plastered with signs, colorful newsprint “shoppers” were delivered to everyone in town, and the sales were pitched as “shopping events” on radio and television. Huge displays of fast movers like aspirin, mouthwash, milk of magnesia, deodorant and shaving cream swelled the aisles as long as stock held out.

Idea for the Rexall One Cent Sale is credited to druggists Gray & Worcester of Detroit, Michigan, charter stockholders in the United Drug Company. The store initially attempted "2-for-1" sales with moderate results, but was inspired to try the added twist of charging a penny for the second item. United Drug acquired controlling interest of Gray & Worcester in January 1909, and in May of that year opened a second store across the street on Woodward Avenue.

A pictorial ad in the Detroit News for August 27, 1909 used the slogan, “See What 1 Cent Will Buy” and listed 17 items regularly priced 5 to 25 cents at both stores. Response was superior to anything tried before, and repeat “One Cent" sales proved the concept was a winner.

August 1909 ad for Detroit, MI Rexall Stores.

Crux of the sale was simple yet ingenious. Rather than discount the retail price of an item, it was advertised at full price. The buyer was then irresistibly enticed, for an additional penny, to acquire a second identical item. The Rexall One Cent Sale did not precisely offer “two for the price of one” or “50% off,” but suggested to the shopper, “pay the regular price for one, and get another for only one cent more.” The ploy seems to wither under analysis since it obviously had the effect of a half-price sale, but its unique structure emphasized normal price and thus avoided perception of reduced value of the product. The strategy was wildly successful, and remained so for decades. When president and general manager of United Drug Co., Louis K. Liggett, heard about Gray & Worcester’s success, he encouraged other Rexall stores to emulate the sale. Most druggists were hesitant to try it as a major promotion, preferring to combine the idea with an established event such as the annual Rexall Week Sale that featured Rexall brand articles. As a compromise, some dealers coupled items that were not identical, e.g. the buyer of a box of Rexall Tooth Powder was offered a jar of Rexall Cold Cream for the additional penny.

Gradually, Rexall dealers across the country included more One Cent Sale merchandise in local newspaper advertising. Charles and Oscar Bradley ran a three day sale at their Huntington, Indiana store in March 1912 in which most of the advertised items were under the One Cent option. Of these, 30 percent were manufactured by United Drug Company. Rexall druggist F.P. Reynolds of St. Thomas, Ontario, Canada followed suit in the fall of 1913 with a heavy offering of Rexall brand medicines, toilet goods and stationery in his One Cent Sale.

Newspaper ad for One Cent Sale at Huntington, Indiana Rexall Store, March 1912.

Rexall druggists enjoyed significant advantage over their competition because of United Drug Company’s business model—cooperative manufacturing. Most franchised dealers were stock-holding, dividend-earning members of the cooperative and were well aware the most profitable items in the store were United Drug controlled brands like Rexall, Puretest, Firstaid, Harmony Perfumes and Liggett’s Candy. These long-margin products were made in their own factories and distributed through their own warehouses, with no percentage going to intermediate jobbers or wholesalers. It followed that a Rexallite’s best chance to show a profit from One Cent Sales was to feature items manufactured by his own organization. Preliminary surveys indicated the most popular product lines for sales were candy, stationery, dental items, toilet goods, and seasonal remedies such as cough syrup and spring tonics.

As favorable reports rolled in from agents trying the sales, Liggett became more convinced of the merchandising power of the One Cent Sale, but at the same time he was frustrated by the many Rexallites slow to embrace an idea that was proving effective. When war in Europe in 1914 ultimately brought economic depression to United Drug Co., as it did to commerce in general, Liggett decided the sale should be adopted by all Rexall stores as a “hypodermic to hold the volume of business.” As he did everything else, Liggett pushed the concept with all the vigor he could muster. In his April 17, 1915 “Dear Pardner” letter addressed to Rexall agents, he appended a stern postscript: “We all of us are learning something every day from somebody. I have learned a great deal from reading the sermons of Rev. Billy Sunday, including his maxim that it pays to deliver a message straight home without any fuss or frills. It is more emphatic that way and it gets results. So I am sending you a message, and am going to say it just as if I were talking to you in your store—WHY IN HELL DON'T YOU RUN A ONE CENT SALE?”

Louis Liggett’s thorny message was hard to ignore, and so was United Drug’s new effort to make the sale more attractive. The company developed a comprehensive program that provided Rexallites with newspaper ad copy, merchandising kits, and stock order guidelines; and in the fall of 1915 initiated the first “Rexall Stores One Cent Sale” national magazine campaign.

Courtesy Dennis B. Worthen

A two-page spread in the September 25th issue of Collier’s pictured Rexall Tooth Paste, Harmony Shampoo, and Flor de Murat Cigars along with several other United Drug products, and urged readers to ask their local Rexall store when they would be running a sale. There were about 7000 independent and company owned stores nationwide in 1915, and Liggett was effectively marshaling consumers to motivate Rexallites to commit to a One Cent Sale.

Rexall store in Keene, New Hampshire preparing for One Cent Sale, October 1915

The campaign worked. With the advent of national advertising, dealer confidence improved dramatically. Large quantities of goods, purchased at lowest cost during such promotions, afforded stores a modest 20-22% gross profit. Of greater value was the semi-annual blitz of product and store identification, plus increased foot traffic. Success in retailing has always depended upon luring people into the store, and Rexall One Cent Sales did just that.

Window display of One Cent Sale merchandise. Dysle & Co, The Rexall Store, Marietta, Ohio, June 1916.

Ready to open the doors for One Cent Sale, 1930's.

 In 1931, in the midst of the Great Depression, United Drug Co. instituted several changes in One Cent Sale promotions—changes that drew the attention of millions of new customers in a way that was intensely modern for the time. Starting November 2nd, two days before the Fall One Cent Sale began, electrically transcribed Voice of Rexall radio programs were broadcast each morning by some 200 U.S. and Canadian radio stations—15 minutes of music, drama, and sales messages calculated to reach a large portion of North America’s radio audience. To maximize return on advertising expense, all Rexall agencies, including Owl and Liggett’s company stores, staged the sale the same four days of the same week, Wednesday through Saturday. The commercial spots featured a young, feminine voice personifying “Little Red Cent” teamed with a masculine “Big Half Dollar” Rexallite, and continued until the sale was over.

Promotional for "Voice of Rexall" radio program, September 1931.

When the Fall 1931 radio promotion was a phenomenal success for all concerned, decision was made to try it again in Spring 1932. This time United Drug’s advertising manager, John E. Fontaine, arranged for both morning and evening radio programs to be aired over NBC’s Red and Orange networks, with supplementary stations to fill any gaps—all projected to reach an estimated 13 million radio sets. Starting in February the new evening shows were broadcast Sundays at 7:15 p.m. Festively dubbed The Rexall Radio Party, announcer Ben Grauer greeted listeners with the stirring introduction, “Ten thousand Rexall Druggists are on the air!” For several years the sales were known as Rexall Original Radio One Cent Sales.

Helena, Montana newspaper ad for April 1932 One Cent Sale.

Price card, 1940's.

Beginning in 1933, radio promotions for One Cent Sales were heard on the Rexall Magic Hour—a series of syndicated broadcasts that featured entertainers and musicians such as Kay Thompson, Jane Froman, Conrad Thibault, Dan Vorhees, comedian Arthur Voran, and violinist David Rubinoff. Voran’s specialty was the clever impersonation of celebrities like Jack Benny, Fred Allen and Eddie Cantor. But during the 1940’s and particularly after World War II, Rexall began sponsoring radio shows starring actual Hollywood personalities, most notably Ken Murray, Marie Wilson, Judy Canova, Ray Bolger, Jimmy Durante and Garry Moore.

Perhaps most memorable of the Rexall radio programs was the Phil Harris/Alice Faye Show which ran October 3, 1948 to June 4, 1950 on NBC Sunday nights. The avuncular “Rexall Family Druggist,” played by veteran film actor Griff Barnett, typically promoted the drug business at start and finish of the half-hour programs; and for the April 17, 1949 episode he touted the Spring One Cent Sale. To hear his messages plus enjoy an entertaining situation comedy where Phil, his sidekick Frankie Remley, and obnoxious grocery boy Julius Abruzzio get into another mess of trouble, click here (directs to YouTube).

Harris/Faye radio show and One Cent Sale promotional ad, October 18, 1949.

Rexall Drug Co. sales personnel, April 1950, L to R: Louis Yager, Ethel Diserens, Bert Corgan, LeeRoy Lambert.

1950 Encased penny.

Immediately following the Spring 1954 One Cent Sale, Rexall Drug Company’s market research department sent detailed questionnaires to their stores requesting information on merchandise stocked and sold during the sale. To analyze the data and use it to plan future sales, punch cards were fed into a Remington Rand 409-2R electronic computer recently installed at Rexall headquarters in Los Angeles. In comparison to today’s integrated circuit microprocessors, the computing unit was a monster—7 feet wide, 6 feet in height and crammed with 1850 vacuum tubes to handle calculations. The Model 409-2 was developed under executive direction of General Leslie R. Groves of Manhattan Project fame. Later versions were marketed as UNIVAC 60/120.

Remington Rand 409-2R sensing-punching and computer units. At right, a computer specialist displays one of the many vacuum tube chassis.

Television viewing in the United States skyrocketed after World War II. In 1947 Motorola introduced their VT-71 Golden View tabletop television that sold for under $200, making TV affordable for millions of Americans. While less than 1% of U.S. households had a television set in 1946, the saturation was close to 60% in 1954. When TV network expansion achieved coast-to-coast coverage in the early 1950’s, the medium became very attractive to large commercial advertisers.

Rexall Drug Company’s first venture into network TV entertainment was Pinocchio, the 1957 live musical produced by David Susskind’s Talent Associates Ltd. in New York City. Presented as a one-hour program, this version of the popular fairy tale starred Mickey Rooney and Walter Slezak, broadcast over NBC on Sunday, October 13 at 6:30 p.m. to attract a family audience (and simulcast on NBC radio). Of the six minutes commercial time (miniscule by today’s standards) 70% was live and devoted to the upcoming Fall One Cent Sale. Some reviewers were offended by the integration of this small amount of advertising into the dramatic action (a technique that worked well on the Harris/Faye radio show), with one critic going so far as to paint the intrusion as “bringing the pig into the parlor.” Rexall president Justin Dart wrote to Susskind five days after the broadcast to personally express his delight with the production; and John Bowles, Rexall Division president, followed ten days later with his own letter thanking the producer for making “Pinocchio the talk of America” and the October One Cent Sale “the greatest in our 54-year history!”

October 1960 One Cent Sale ad and April 1961 TV Guide featuring "National Velvet."

Rexall sponsored only one TV series—National Velvet, telecast over NBC at 8 p.m. on Sundays. MGM produced the weekly half-hour show, modeling it after their 1944 film starring Elizabeth Taylor. The program ran for two seasons, September 18, 1960 to April 2, 1962 (54 episodes), and starred Lori Martin in the role of Velvet Brown, a 12-year-old farmgirl whose dream was to race her spirited gelding in the Grand National steeplechase in Liverpool, England. The TV show was launched, per usual, to coincide with a One Cent Sale. An edited version of the pilot episode, “The Raffle,” was created for preview by Rexall dealers. In one section, Rexall executives Mel Erickson and John Bowles meet Lori Martin and producer Robert Maxwell to announce a prize contest for naming Velvet’s horse. Two other members of the cast, Ann Doran and Arthur Space, discuss the program and mention Rexall products they use—Super Plenamins and Thru Liniment. At the close Lori adds, “Don’t forget the One Cent Sale.” To see these scenes, click here.

Malcolm X on New York City sidewalk, April 30, 1962.        Gordon Parks photo courtesy Smithsonian Institution.

The last TV special sponsored by Rexall Drug Co. was Hanna-Barbera’s animated movie, The New Alice in Wonderland (or What’s a Nice Kid Like You Doing in a Place Like This?), written by comedian Bill Dana who portrayed his Jose Jimenez character as the White Knight. The 60-minute show, a modernized adaptation of Lewis Carroll’s classic that substitutes a TV screen for the looking glass, was broadcast on the ABC network, Wednesday, March 30, 1966. When Alice bounces a ball for her dog, it magically disappears through the living room television set, and the dog and Alice chase after it, entering Wonderland. Animated commercials for the Rexall One Cent Sale reprise the celebrity-voiced characters. To see one of the ads, click here.

Barbara Walters and Hugh Downs, The Today Show.

Integrated commercials, such as those for Rexall One Cent Sales, were not always part of dramatic presentations. Hugh Downs, Barbara Walters, Joe Garagiola and Frank Blair alternated pitching Rexall products as part of their news, weather and interview duties for NBC’s The Today Show. On the October 15, 1969 morning edition, Hugh Downs announced details of the 10-day Fall One Cent Sale starting on the 16th, including a bonus—decorative, pressure-sensitive "Daffy Daisies" for each $1 spent on Rexall brand sale merchandise. Click here to watch Hugh Downs selling a One Cent Sale, live!

National Cigar Stands and the Tobacco Trust

Louis K. Liggett at 42.

Louis K. Liggett loved a good cigar. Most photos show him with a panatela or corona wedged between his fingers and several others stashed in a coat pocket. Like many men, he equated fine cigars with success, and by 1905 Liggett was unquestionably successful with performance of the United Drug Company. He was acutely aware, however, that neither he nor the majority of his drugstore-owning Rexallite partners would enjoy increased prosperity without expansion of cooperative enterprise—the heart of their burgeoning business. His proposal that year was to install attractive and efficient cigar stands inside drugstores, a radical idea for the time.

Cigar stands traditionally had been small, independently owned corner and sidewalk shops that as a group were poorly managed, poorly arranged, and produced marginal profits. In 1901, New York tobacco merchant George J. Whelan organized the first chain of cigar stands, known as United Cigar Stores Company. His standardized shops provided good pay and working conditions for employees, effective window displays and advertising, and an overriding work ethic that focused on selling cigars and related tobacco products. Although he didn't advertise the fact, Whelan had combined United Cigar Stores Co. with the “tobacco trust,” a sprawling conglomerate of some 80 manufacturing and distribution companies in the U.S., Porto Rico and Cuba. The trust was formally styled Consolidated Tobacco Co. from 1901 to 1904, then as American Tobacco Company.

Since Whelan had already adopted “United” as an appellation for his cigar stores, Louis Liggett incorporated his new enterprise as National Cigar Stands Company, “to operate cigar stands in drug stores and to import and manufacture cigars and other tobacco products.” He naturally antagonized the tobacco trust by competing with the combination’s retail stores (Whelan’s chain), but managed to appease the monster by becoming one of its largest private-label customers. Chartered in New Jersey in July 1905, National Cigar Stands Company leased offices the following month on East 21st Street in New York City.

J.A. Skinner's Drug Store in Cedar Springs, Michigan circa 1910. National Cigar Stores signage is visible on windows and below the display of cigars at left.

Liggett announced his plan for the newly formed company in late September at the third annual meeting of the United Drug Company in Boston. He explained that the purpose of the closely allied corporation was to give independent druggists collective buying power in the tobacco field, identical to what Liggett had accomplished a few years earlier with Drug Merchants of America, organized to buy drugstore proprietaries. National Cigar Stands Co. was to operate under the same cooperative principles as United Drug Co., charging its members a small percentage above cost to pay for administration, handling and advertising, while eliminating jobber and other middleman overhead. Liggett assured that in many instances the factory-to-retailer distribution system would result in cost savings of 30 to 50 per cent, and enable National Cigar Stands to sell quality cigars at prices the competition could not match. 

The 300 Rexall druggists at the meeting were enthusiastic about what they heard, and when stock was offered it was quickly over-subscribed. As president of the new firm, Liggett traveled to Cuba and arranged to take the entire output of several cigar manufacturers in Havana, then repeated the arrangement with a number of leading producers in the United States. Because American Tobacco Co. controlled most of these firms, Liggett was undoubtedly making supply (and credit) arrangements with full knowledge of tobacco trust officials.

Showcase pictured in 1905 promotional book.

Liggett vigorously promoted the idea of taking cigar business off the street and bringing it into the context of a larger store to increase foot traffic in front of other merchandise. Men in particular would become more familiar with their local drugstore. To solve the problem of displaying cigars yet keep them in ideal smoking condition, Liggett designed an attractive humidity-controlled showcase, constructed of ebony, gun metal, marble and plate glass. The National Cigar Stands registered trademark was a loose representation of the United States Capitol building, displayed on window signs and more dramatically as a 3-dimensional metal and glass chandelier suspended several feet above the showcase counter. The signs and hanging canopies were electrified to continually flash colored lights. 

Electrified chandelier

All this and much more was detailed in a 64-page prospectus—How to make the Cigar Stand support the Drug Store, authored by Liggett and published by his ad man at the time, Ben B. Hampton, who mailed copies to all Rexall agents in November 1905. The book was filled with illustrations and a convincing text urging future NCSCo agents to sell exclusive, competitively priced cigars from a scientifically designed showcase. They were assured that together with modern local advertising their cigar business would turn a better annual profit than all other departments—prescription, proprietary medicines, toilet articles, and soda fountain combined. Putting it in irresistible pecuniary perspective, Liggett emphasized that in 1904 $350 million was spent on cigars in the United States.

Keystone Pharmacy, The Rexall Store, Windber, Pennsylvania, circa 1915. A National Cigar Stands showcase has been positioned next to the soda fountain.

Patented paper sack for cigars.

Although the initial offer for National Cigar Stands agencies was made to Rexallites, non-franchise drugstores were admitted to the organization when local Rexall agents bypassed the opportunity. Company policy was to contract with one out of every four drugstores in a town or city, and a preliminary goal of 2000 National Cigar Stands in the United States was set. In July 1906, one year after incorporation, Liggett asserted that 1600 druggists had adopted the plan and installed stands in their stores. The magic “2000” was announced during the fourth annual United Drug meeting in Boston two months later. Established Rexall agencies such as the Cahoon-Lyon Drug Co. of Buffalo, Gray & Worcester in Detroit, and Scholtz Drug Co. in Denver were tasked as regional distributors.

Tobacco jobbers and the United Cigar Stores Co. didn’t react to the new competition quietly. Information was leaked to the media charging that National Cigar Stands was controlled by the “Tobacco Combination.” To their chagrin, it was soon made apparent that United Cigar Stores Co. itself was the major retail distribution arm of American Tobacco Company and the charge was a blatant distortion of fact. Liggett and other NCSCo representatives countered that their cooperative firm was formed to fight business methods of the trust rather than be part of it. What must have been confusing to observers, however, was the September 1905 migration of George M. Gales from American Tobacco to National Cigar Stands as vice president. Gales had been connected with the tobacco giant in New York City for eight years, most recently as secretary to John Blackwell Cobb, long time American Tobacco Company officer.

Blair & Brennan, The Rexall Store, Creston, Iowa, 1910.  Martin J. Brennan is standing at upper left, cigar in mouth.

When the U.S. Commissioner of Corporations submitted a report on the tobacco industry in February 1909, he included these candid remarks, “While the American Tobacco Company owns no stock in the National Cigar Stands Co., it is very heavily interested in it through loans.  Moreover…most of the brands of cigars bearing the name National Cigar Stands Company are manufactured by the Combination.” In retrospect, the trust obviously welcomed agreements with Liggett and his company to make private label merchandise as well as to sell American Tobacco brands like Bull Durham, Lucky Strike and Pall Mall, yet was ambivalent about how to deal with competition their new customer might present at street level.

Denver, Colorado agents, Feb 1907.

In spite of the brouhaha in the newspapers and trade press, Liggett was confident he would prevail. Making things easier was the antitrust action brought against the combine in 1907. It made its way through the courts until May 1911 when the U.S. Supreme Court finally ordered dismantling of the behemoth, a decision propelled by the conglomerate’s intimidating size and international scope, plus the determination it was restraining and monopolizing trade as prohibited by the first and second sections of the 1890 Sherman Antitrust Act. To promote market competition, four firms were ultimately created from its assets: R. J. Reynolds, Liggett & Myers, Lorillard, and another American Tobacco Co.

Tip tray displaying medallions for National Cigar Stands exclusive brands.

Private label cigars manufactured for National Cigar Stands ranged from inexpensive American Rule stogies that sold 3 for 5 cents, to fancy El Carvajal excepcionales imported from the Havana factory of H. de Cabañas y Carbajal and retailing at 25 cents each. New NCSCo agents could stock any popular brand previously sold in their store, but after a showcase was installed no new brands could be carried that might be confused with National Cigar Stands labels. Other NCSCo cigars that proved popular over the years were Don Bravo, Flor de Madrid (a “clear Havana” made in the U.S. from tobacco grown in Cuba), La Idalia, Louis K, Cuba-Roma, Lord Carver, and their strongest seller, Black and White, a domestic nickel cigar containing some Cuban leaf.

    Black and White cigar cutter and box for 5¢ Invincibles, circa 1926.

Company letterhead, 1912. By this time George M. Gales was president and National Cigar Stands Company had expanded to Boston and Chicago.

National Cigar Stands Company, initially financed by individual directors and Rexall agency stockholders, was acquired by United Drug Co. in 1913 in the wake of the American Tobacco Company dissolution. Loan obligations held by the tobacco trust were likely discharged by United Drug, and NCSCo stockholders promptly exchanged their shares for UDCo stock. The merger was finalized in March 1914.