King C. Gillette had thought he might be remembered as one of history's social and economic reformers. Instead he recalled as the inventor of the safety razor with its disposal blade and as the founder of the major American corporation that bears his name.
When Gillette, at the time a prosperous traveling salesman, first conceived of his blade in 1895, he was already well known in radical political circles. This year before, in a book titled 'The Human Drift,' he has proposed s sweeping plan to reorganize the entire world as a gigantic corporation that would be owned and managed by the people. Gillette evidently had hopes that the scheme would usher in an earthly paradise, and went on to spend much of his life promoting his peculiar version of Utopia. But, perversely, the world was more interested in the clean, close safe shaves that Gillette's razor gave than in his philosophy, so his curious economic and political notions have been all but forgotten.
'King C. Gillette' chronicles Gillette's struggles to build first a better world, and then a better razor blade. It is the beguiling and entertaining story of a visionary who could, and did, practice free enterprise and preach vigorously against it with equal enthusiasm.
It is also the history of The Gillette Company. From the glory days of the 1920s through the ruinous Depression, from the 'Calvacade of Sports' and the Super Blue Blade, through the advent of stainless steel blades, it is the story of a durable and highly competitive enterprise that has changed and prospered beyond this founder's wildest dreams.
CONTENTS: I Have Got It * A New razor * Novel Blade, Novel Holder * An Epoch in This Company's History * Familiar to All Men * Cut-out Corner * A Spirit of Confidence * Look Sharp, Feel Sharp, Be Sharp * A Remarkable New Stainless Blade * Sustained Profitable Growth
When Gillette, at the time a prosperous traveling salesman, first conceived of his blade in 1895, he was already well known in radical political circles. This year before, in a book titled 'The Human Drift,' he has proposed s sweeping plan to reorganize the entire world as a gigantic corporation that would be owned and managed by the people. Gillette evidently had hopes that the scheme would usher in an earthly paradise, and went on to spend much of his life promoting his peculiar version of Utopia. But, perversely, the world was more interested in the clean, close safe shaves that Gillette's razor gave than in his philosophy, so his curious economic and political notions have been all but forgotten.
'King C. Gillette' chronicles Gillette's struggles to build first a better world, and then a better razor blade. It is the beguiling and entertaining story of a visionary who could, and did, practice free enterprise and preach vigorously against it with equal enthusiasm.
It is also the history of The Gillette Company. From the glory days of the 1920s through the ruinous Depression, from the 'Calvacade of Sports' and the Super Blue Blade, through the advent of stainless steel blades, it is the story of a durable and highly competitive enterprise that has changed and prospered beyond this founder's wildest dreams.
CONTENTS: I Have Got It * A New razor * Novel Blade, Novel Holder * An Epoch in This Company's History * Familiar to All Men * Cut-out Corner * A Spirit of Confidence * Look Sharp, Feel Sharp, Be Sharp * A Remarkable New Stainless Blade * Sustained Profitable Growth
