Chewing tobacco companies show their marketing zeal

Pinkerton Tobacco was founded in 1887 by John W. Pinkerton when he bought controlling interest in the Worstall Cigar and Tobacco company in Zanesville, Ohio. He launched Red Man Chew in 1904, and signage began to appear on barns throughout the region.

 

One of those barns sits on a 300-acre former dairy farm near Tyrone, Pa. Today, the structure has been “repurposed” as a family-owned events center known as The Barn on Pennington Road. The “RED MAN: AMERICA’S BEST CHEW” sign on the side of the barn facing the road has appeared in countless wedding album photographs.

 

During World War II, sugar rationing limited the amount of sugar available to flavor Red Man Chew. The founder’s grandson, Sherwood Pinkerton Jr., was now president of the company. Trained as a chemist, he discovered a way to maintain the taste of Red Man by using sugar substitutes from natural fruits. 

Marketing tie-ins with rural and outdoor sports have been a hallmark of the Red Man brand.

Chewing tobacco became popular among baseball players as it was a way for them to keep their mouth moist while on the field during long games, as the field is dry and dusty, according to one baseball historian. 

From 1952-55, Red Man produced a series of baseball cards, featuring Major League Baseball players.

 

Each set included 50 of the top players from that time – names like Richie Ashburn, Yogi Berra, Dom DiMaggio, Larry Doby, Bob Feller, Nellie Fox, Monte Irvin, George Kell, Ralph Kiner, Gil McDougald, Sal Maglie, Minnie Minoso, Willie Mays, Stan Musial, Pee Wee Reese, Robin Roberts, Red Shoendienst, Bobby Shantz, Enos Slaughter, Duke Snider, Warren Spahn, Vic Wertz, Ted Williams and Early Wynn. 

Red Man is no longer. The brand was permanently changed to “America’s Best” in 2022.

As early as 1904, Queen City Tobacco Co. of Cincinnati, Ohio, received a product endorsement for its Red Devil brand of chewing tobacco from one of the star players from that era. He was Cleveland’s captain and manager, Napoleon “Nap” Lajoie.

 

Large yellow posters proclaimed: “Nap Lajoie Chews Red Devil. Ask Him If He Don’t.” Sports author Al Stump said Lajoie’s chew was “big as a hockey puck.”

 

Also during the 1904 season, Lajoie received a suspension after he squirted tobacco juice into the eye of umpire Frank “Blinky” Dwyer. 

The Beech-Nut brand of chewing tobacco was rolled out in 1915 by P. Lorillard Company of New York City, and it enlisted the services of brothers Jay “Dizzy” Dean and Paul “Daffy’ Dean in 1934 to pitch Beech-Nut. The Deans set a professional baseball record that year, one that may never be equaled again. The Dean brothers combined for a total of 49 victories (30 for Dizzy and 19 for Daffy) while pitching for the St. Louis Cardinals.

 

After his playing career, Dizzy Dean entered the broadcast booth. There, he became a philosopher, uttering words of wisdom, such as: “I never keep a scorecard or the batting averages. I hate statistics. What I got to know, I keep in my head.” 

He also extended his comments beyond the baseball diamond with observations like: “It puzzles me how they know what corners are good for filling stations. Just how did they know gas and oil was under there?”

Dizzy Dean and broadcast booth partner Pee Wee Reese.

 

Lionel, the toy train company, introduced its “Tobacco Railroad” series” of three boxcars in 1976, rolling billboards for Beech-Nut chewing tobacco as well as Camel cigarettes and Prince Albert pipe tobacco. Six more boxcars, followed in 1977-78, promoting six other tobacco products.

 

No “Tobacco Railroad” series cars were found in Lionel’s 1979 catalog, however, prompting one collector to proclaim: “Lionel kicked the habit.”

Advertisers once painted their messages on the sides of barns

Before there were billboards, there were barns with painted messages on the sides facing a road. One of the earliest “barn-side advertisers,” was Mail Pouch Tobacco, a product of Bloch Brothers Tobacco Company, based in Wheeling, W.Va.

 

Jake Park of Bridgeport, Pa., who has an interest in vintage barns, said: “These eye-catching pseudo-billboards were painted initially by men hired to travel the country and paint ‘CHEW MAIL POUCH TOBACCO. TREAT YOURSELF TO THE BEST’ signs on as many barns as possible.”

 

Originally, the Bloch brothers – Samuel and Aaron – were merchants, operating a wholesale grocery and dry goods store in Wheeling. In 1879, they branched out into the tobacco business, producing stogies that were rolled by hand and clipped.

 

After the cigar products were finished and wrapped, factory workers scooped up the leftover tobacco leaf cuttings. Someone determined there was pleasure to be gained by chewing on the scraps. The light bulb went off. 

The Bloch Brothers were pioneers in the chewing tobacco business. They were the first to manufacture flavored chewing tobacco, using licorice, molasses and other ingredients. Their chew was nicknamed “West Virginia Cole Slaw.”

 

Mail Pouch Tobacco became a staple for working men employed in occupations where smoking was hazardous – in coal mines, steel mills, textile plants, furniture factories, oil fields and even farming. 

As early as 1891, farmers across 22 states began welcoming the Mail Pouch sign painters who offered them a small leasing fee, a free pouch or two of chewing tobacco and a fresh coat of paint for a portion of their barns. 

One farmer who participated in 1946 was Joseph Warrick of Belmont, Ohio. His son, Harley Warrick, a 21-year-old Army veteran, had just returned home after World War II. Harley was helping out at the family dairy when the painters arrived. By the time they finished the job, Harley had hired on as a new member of the Mail Pouch painting crew. 

For Harley, this was a “let’s run off and join the circus” moment. He said: “It’s got to be better than milking 27 head of Jerseys every night and morning.” 

Harley went down in history as “the most prolific Mail Pouch barn painter” of all time. He worked 55 years for Bloch Brothers Tobacco and painted or retouched nearly 20,000 barn signs during his career, working six days a week.

 

Harley painted without using a guide, always starting with the “E” in CHEW. “The first 1,000 were a little rough; after that, I got the hang of it,” he once said.

 

He became a celebrity. Harley’s work was featured on television in “On the Road with Charles Kurault.” Harley painted a Mail Pouch sign on a building for the movie “Fool’s Parade” in 1971, where he met leading actor James Stewart.

 

After Harley Warrick died in 2000, at age 76, a group formed to preserve the Mail Pouch barns as American folk art. The Mail Pouch Barnstormers organization has more than 140 members, and they are dedicated to preserving the remaining Mail Pouch barns. The group gathers annually in Harley’s hometown for a picnic.

 

One of Harley’s nephews, William DeVine, wrote a poem in 1980, titled “The Barn Painter.” Here’s a bit of it: 

The weathered barn was in decay / Its ancient back was bowed / But early on the warm Spring day / Its savior happened by the road. 

His canvas this day was weathered poplar wood / Untouched by paint or brush for a century / Thirsty boards drank paint, fast as they could….

Names of N.C. places tell a fascinating story of who we are

North Carolina has more than its fair share of “beautiful” names assigned to its cities, towns and small communities.

Among the most pleasing to the ear is “Fuquay-Varina,” a growing municipality located in southern Wake County.

 

There was a Mr. Fuquay as well as a Ms. Varina, but their paths never crossed. Here’s the story: 

William Fuquay was a Frenchman who fought on the side of the colonials in the Revolutionary War. Afterward, he acquired about 1,000 acres of farmland where Fuquay-Varina now exists. Back then, the community was known as “Sippihaw,” named for a Native American tribe. 

In the late 1850s, a Fuquay family descendant, while plowing a field, uncovered a mineral spring. “Taking the waters from Fuquay Springs” became an attraction for people with all types of physical ailments. 

James Devereaux Ballentine grew up in Sippihaw and was the town’s schoolmaster before going off in 1861 to fight for the Confederate army in the Civil War. During his tour of duty, he received letters from one of many southern ladies who wrote to the troops to boost their morale by offering words of encouragement. 

Ballentine was so impressed with his letters from “Varina,” he just had to find her when he returned home in 1865. He located Virginia Avey in Fayetteville, about 45 miles due south of Sippihaw. They courted and were married in 1867. He always called her “Varina.” 

A new settlement began to form south of the Fuquay Springs, at the rail junction of the Cape Fear and Northern Railway and the Norfolk Southern Railway. A new post office was needed. Ballentine got the job in 1880.

He chose to name his post office “Varina” as an expression of his love and affection toward his dear wife. 

In 1902, Sippihaw was renamed “Fuquay Springs,” and it was incorporated in 1909. Varina remained unincorporated, but the people of Fuquay Springs and Varina agreed to merge in 1963 to form the Town of Fuquay-Varina.

 

What’s cool is that this town with the hyphenated name has two historic districts and has been able to successfully retain its charm and identity…without being totally swallowed up by urban sprawl from Raleigh.

The town’s logo spells out Fuquay-Varina using dashes (not hyphens) of alternating colors, while promising to offer “a dash more.”

 

The pitch is that the “town offers something extra that allows people to personally connect with all the desirable traits that make Fuquay-Varina distinct” for its current population of about 41,482. 

Then, there’s Winston-Salem, North Carolina’s largest hyphenated city, with about 252,274 people. In 1913, the two communities of Winston and Salem in Forsyth County were formally linked to become a single municipality.

 

The merger process began in 1879. It was a long and rocky road that extended over several decades. 

The U.S. Postal Service played a role in the matchmaking. It discontinued the Salem post office in 1899, sending the mail over to the Winston post office, while creating a new Winston-Salem post mark. 

The (Raleigh) News & Observer once “compared the Winston-Salem consolidation campaign to a courtship and impending wedding,” wrote author Frank Tursi. 

The N&O reported: “The bride-to-be, Miss Salem, feels that in learning, in the love of music and the arts, she is the superior of the groom, Mr. Winston.”

 

“The bride-to-be had stipulated that she will not give up her maiden name and lose her identity.”

 

Scenes from Old Salem

They were officially wed on May 6, 1913. Mr. Winston and Miss Salem, who’ve lived happily ever after, observed their 110th anniversary a few months ago.

Billboards are part of the landscape…for better or worse

Vermont is celebrating 55 years of being billboard-free in 2023, and visitors are continuing to express their appreciation for the experience of “not being attacked by advertising at every turn in the road,” said Brian Shupe of the Vermont Natural Resources Council.

 

In 1968, Vermont became the first state in the union to ban billboards to restore “its rural natural scenery.” At the time, Vermont’s billboard opponents built their campaign around a humorous short poem written in 1932 by the legendary poet Ogden Nash.

 

Ogden Nash

Titled “Song of the Open Road,” Nash’s four-line verse reads:

 I think I shall never see

A billboard as lovely as a tree.

Perhaps unless the billboards fall,

I shall never see a tree at all.

Joyce Kilmer

Nash penned it as a parody to Joyce Kilmer’s famous poem “Trees” written in 1913 that begins…and ends: 

I think that I shall never see

A poem lovely as a tree….

Poems are made by fools like me,

But only God can make a tree. 

Vermont is not alone. The states of Alaska, Hawaii and Maine also prohibit billboards.

North Carolina, obviously, allows billboards – lots of them. The state has “at east 23,654 billboards,” according to AdQuick of Los Angeles, which specializes in logistics associated with outdoor advertising.

 AdQuick noted that North Carolina became the first state to regulate outdoor advertising in 1907, intending to “ensure that billboards did not distract drivers and did not detract from the natural beauty of the state’s landscape.” 

Today, the North Carolina state statutes contain pages and pages of regulations and requirements that apply to the outdoor advertising industry, designed to control and restrict the size of billboards and their location. 

Fortunately, the state prohibits billboards along its scenic byways, so U.S. Route 70 through the Down East section of Carteret County should remain free of “jumbo-sized billboards.” The highway has been designated part of the Outer Banks National Scenic Byway since 2009. (Give thanks every day to the community leaders who had the vision to push that through.)

 

In eastern North Carolina, the opening of the U.S. 70 bypass around Goldsboro and I-795 toward Wilson, has helped reduce travel times between the Raleigh area and the Crystal Coast, but the outdoor advertising companies have seized the day. 

Is anyone keeping score about the number of new billboards that have sprung up along those 47 new miles of super-highway? 

According to the state specifications cited in the North Carolina Department of Transportation (NCDOT) guidelines, these new billboards have “faces” that measure 14 feet tall and 48 feet across. They cannot be located within 660 feet of the highway right-of-way. 

The minimum distance between billboards is 500 feet, so they can be about one-tenth of a mile apart. 

Traveling at a speed of 70-plus miles per hour, experts say travelers have but 3 fleeting seconds to read each billboard message. Most of the billboards are too busy and cluttered for one’s brain to grasp, comprehend and remember. 

The best billboards are simple. They don’t try to say too much. Seven words or less is the rule of thumb. 

Along the U.S. 70 bypass and I-795 corridor, some of the standout billboards advertise Chick-fil-A, Bojangles and Nahunta Pork Center.

 

But my favorite along this stretch is the billboard for Daniels Furniture, a family-owned business in Goldsboro. The billboard states: “If You’re Buyin’, Go See Bryan!” (Six words.) 

Bryan Daniels is president of the company that was founded by his father, Lonza Daniels, in 1989. The slogan is used to reinforce other store advertising platforms as well.

Labor Day originated in 1882 in New York City

Happy Labor Day 2023. This holiday on the first Monday of September has become known and celebrated as summer’s “last hurrah.” Enjoy family time at the beach. Fire up the outdoor grill for a glorious cookout.

 

Lest we forget, this is a national holiday to honor the nation’s workforce. The first big Labor Day parade occurred in 1882, organized by labor union officials in New York City. It was a big deal for laborers who toiled in factories in the 19th century, an opportunity to demonstrate “the strength and esprit de corps of trade and labor organizations.”

 

Labor Day evolved into an annual celebration of the social and economic achievements of American workers who contributed mightily “to America’s strength, prosperity and well-being,” says the U.S. Department of Labor. 

The true “founder of Labor Day” may have been a machinist from Paterson, N.J., named Matthew Maguire…or it might have been a carpenter from New York City by the name of Peter McGuire. 

They’re surnames are so similar, said Grace-Ellen McCrann, a librarian with the New Jersey Historical Society. She believes the true “Father of Labor Day” was Matthew Maguire, who was the secretary of the Central Labor Union of New York in 1882. 

McCrann reported: “Matthew Maguire sent out the invitations, and he and his wife rode in the first carriage at the head of the parade.” The keynote speaker at the gathering was Peter McGuire, an associate of Samuel Gompers of the American Federation of Labor. Perhaps this is the source of confusion, she suggested.

Matthew Maguire

 

As many as 25,000 workers participated in the parade. It was followed by “a festival for the recreation and amusement of the workers and their families.” Some sources said there was a picnic with a lot of beer involved…and dancing. 

Labor Day became an official federal holiday when the act of Congress was signed by President Grover B. Cleveland in 1894.

 

President Cleveland

There are a few noteworthy “calendar” issues associated with Labor Day that are worthy of discussion. 

There will be “no wearing of white clothing” between Labor Day and Memorial Day. Labor Day is also the end of hotdog season. Labor Day marks the beginning of oyster eating season, as September is an “R” month.

 

Let’s tackle the fashion code issue first. It used to be standard practice to pack away one’s white clothing as summer ended, a tradition attributed to northern city dwellers as they shuttered their summer cottages and cabins and returned to their urban lifestyle. 

Reader’s Digest reported: “By the 1950s, women’s magazines started making this ‘no white after Labor Day’ rule more public. Wearing white only between Memorial Day and Labor Day now signified that a lady was part of the in-the-know fashion club.”

 

EmilyPost.com now says: “Of course, you can wear white after Labor Day, and it makes perfect sense to do so in climates where September's temperatures are hardly fall-like. It’s more about fabric choice today than color. The true interpretation is ‘wear what’s appropriate’ – for the weather, the season or the occasion.” 

One who always marched to her own drummer, as far back as the 1920s, was fashion designer Gabrielle “Coco” Chanel of France, who made white a year-round part of her wardrobe. 

Born into poverty and raised in an orphanage, Chanel rose to extend her influence and brand beyond couture clothing to include jewelry, handbags and fragrances. Her signature scent, Chanel No. 5, has become an iconic product. 

Furthermore, Chanel not only made suntans acceptable, “she made sunbathing fashionable,” said author Edmonde Charles-Roux. Voilà!

Golfing legend Arnold Palmer was a Coast Guard veteran

During his senior year in 1950 at Wake Forest College, golfing phenom Arnold Palmer abruptly left school after his golf teammate and college roommate Bud Worsham was killed in an automobile accident. 

“After the devastating loss of his best friend, Wake Forest was not the same for Arnie,” wrote Elaine Tooley who interviewed Palmer many years later for the university’s alumni magazine. 

“I thought I’d go crazy,” Palmer said. “Grief is one of the most powerful forces on Earth and almost always unpredictable. I’d never felt anything like the emotions and conflicting feelings suddenly turning over inside me. Staying at Wake Forest suddenly felt empty and pointless without Bud there. Wake Forest without Bud was unthinkable.” 

“I joined the Coast Guard,” Palmer said. “On a cold winter day in mid-January 1951, I arrived at Cape May, N.J., to begin my basic training at boot camp.” 

“I had little time for golf during my nine months at Cape May, although I did design and build, almost single-handedly, a nine-hole, pitch-and-putt course between two airport runways on the base – my first golf course design job,” Palmer said.

 

His first Coast Guard assignment was in Cleveland, Ohio, where he became the yeoman for the commander of the 9th Coast Guard District, Rear Adm. Roy L. Raney. Palmer became his boss’ personal golf instructor and was allowed to compete in regional golf tournaments on the weekends.

 

Adm. Raney coaxed Palmer to enroll at the U.S. Coast Guard Academy and become an officer. Palmer said he was flattered by the offer, because his “three years in the Coast Guard helped shape the rest of my life.” 

Yet, he was ready to exit the Coast Guard in 1954 to pursue golf as his life’s work. Palmer’s first goal, however, was to return to Wake Forest as a student-athlete. Palmer excelled on the links and was the medalist in the very first Atlantic Coast Conference golf tournament in 1954, but Duke won team title. The spring semester ended with Palmer a few credits short of earning a business degree from Wake Forest. 

A few months later, Palmer won golf’s U.S. Amateur Championship in Detroit, Mich., and decided to turn pro. He was off and running on the PGA Tour. 

Palmer’s first tour victory came during his 1955 rookie season when he won the Canadian Open played in Toronto, Ontario, earning $2,400 for his efforts. (Over the course of his career, Palmer won 95 tournaments, including 62 PGA Tour events and 7 majors.) 

After winning the Masters Tournament at Augusta, Ga., in 1958, Palmer followed through on a promise he made to himself in 1950, while riding on a train that carried Bud Worsham’s casket to the Worsham family in Cabin John, Md., Elaine Tooley wrote. 

“Sitting there in the baggage car, looking at the coffin, crying, I decided one thing. If I ever got able, got the money, got the opportunity, I was going to do something to honor Bud Worsham.” 

“In January 1960, Palmer created the Bud Worsham Memorial Scholarship, providing financial aid for Wake Forest undergraduates on the men’s varsity golf team,” Elaine Tooley said. “That generosity has given scores of young golfers the opportunity to pursue their education and sport, including Jay Sigel, Lanny Wadkins, Curtis Strange, Jerry Haas, Billy Andrade and Len Mattiace.” 

During their time together on Wake’s campus, Arnie and Bud were “basically inseparable.” 

One would nag the other “to hurry up and get his homework done so they could golf,” Tooley said. “They were Wake Foresters.” Their spirits live on.