Call Letters Spelled the Company Motto

Agents carried free show tickets door to door, so the farmer on the porch already knew the name on the card.

Win Over the Coach and the Whole Town Follows

A design that barely changed needed no new molds or yearly ads, until television handed the choice to the star.

Fine Print Carried the Front Page

Strangers selling couches and hiring clerks paid by the line, and that money kept a Denver newsroom running for nearly 150 years.

Novelty Was Built to Run Two Seasons

Ice shows built around cartoon characters took the same arenas, and they traveled by truck.

Hits Were Chosen in the Corner Booth

Behind the glass sat a row of counters, one for every selection, and the whole music business read them. The factory line closed in 1974.

Somebody Had to Solder It Together

A stranger with no training had to do factory work on a card table, and getting that right was the whole competitive position.

Lending Needed a Law Written First

Revolving accounts arrived by mail and needed no interview, no ledger card and no office in the plaza.

Twelve Thousand People Under One Roof

Its buildings only worked while every streetcar line in the city ended at the same corner.

Bought From Other People's Errors

Its racks were stocked with other retailers' errors, and when manufacturers opened outlets of their own the errors stopped arriving.