Boston Morning Globe
Bridgeport Post
Bridgeport Telegram
Chicago Advertising Age
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New York, June 21 — The amazingly colorful career of "a modern Horatio Alger" came to an end last week when Archie M. Andrews, 59, chairman of the board, Dictograph Products Company, and former chairman, Hupp Motor Car Company, died at his Greenwich, Conn., home after a brief illness. The story of Andrews' rise from a ten-cents-a-day photographer's apprentice at 16 to a multi-millionair captain of finance at 50 is far more fantastic than the most imaginative novel. Broke in 1929 after the market crash swept away his 80-million dollar fortune, he recouped most of his losses before his death. Perhaps his most significant contribution was in the electric razor business, in which he was interested through his connection with Dictograph, manufacturer of the Packard shaver. Mr. Andrews, by opposing the late Colonel Jacob Schick in a long series of legal battles involving their respective shavers, dispelled the belief in a Schick monopoly and opened up a new industry. Further, his dynamic advertising and promotion played a large part in making the country "electric shaver" conscious. The advertising world will long remember the Packard magazine copy which pictured a naked baby and was captioned, "Just an idea of how smooth your face feels after using a Packard Lektro-Shaver." Aside from Packard's paid advertising, the promotion stunts engineered by Mr. Andrews and his able agent, Arnold Van Leer, attracted still more attention to the infant industry and the Packard product. A parachute jumper shaved the Packard way in mid-air, a six-day bike rider was photographed while using the razor in the midst of a Madison Square Garden race, and reams of publicity pictures and paragraphs were printed the country over. Mr. Andrews' P.T. Barnum instincts were demonstrated in the promotion of other products in which he was interested. When Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia of New York was in the midst of an anti-noise campaign, Andrews and Van Leer presented His Honor with a new silent radio, with accompanying publicity. Branded as a stock manipulator and often in the courts, Mr. Andrews was a humanitarian at heart. Dictograph makes the "Acousticon" hearing aid, and he established a free school on Fifth Avenue for deaf children. He took great personal delight in bringing hearing to those unfortunates, and often provided the children with entertainment and parties. Making money was easy for such a promoter as Mr. Andrews. When he was only 22, he was a stock broker. He admitted later that he had "no capital, no office, and no nothing" but by first finding a seller and then uncovering a buyer to meet the price plus commission, he expanded the business to a national basis and laid the foundation for his fortune. He once remarked that before the 1929 debacle, he had a million dollars for each year of his life before lunch and a million and a half for each year after lunch. When asked if he ever knew anybody else with $80,000,000, he answered: "Nope, never did, and probably wouldn't have liked him anyway." He retired at the age of 50, but soon returned to the wars in the field of banking and business management in 1932. Two years later he became chairman of Hupp, after having been the largest stockholder for 20 years. A bitter fight for control arose and he lost his position in 1935. At the time of his death, Mr. Andrews was also president of the Progress Corporation, maker of Packard and Roto-Shaver razors; president and chairman of the board, Platinum Products Company; vice-president and director, Lektro-Shave Corporation; treasurer and director, Internation Ticket Scale Corporation; and president, A. M. Andrews Investment Corporation. Following his first job as a photographer's assistant, he taught banjo lessons at 25 cents each in his native Chicago, and sold papers in front of the Chicago Herald building. In 1920, he bought that building, and later acquired a seat on the Chicago Stock Exchange. He is survived by his widow and eight children, including an infant son. Among his fraternal affiliations, he was a member of the Advertising Club of New York. |
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Dies At Home Here Dictograph Products Company, Inc. Archie Moulton Andrews, 59, chairman of the board of the Dictograph Products Company, Inc., and former chairman of the Hupp Motor Car Corporation, died Friday afternoon at his home, "Freestone Castle," on Hemlock Drive, Edgewater Park, following a short illness. The funeral was held Wednesday morning at 11 o'clock from the home. Officiating were the Rev. A. J. McCartney of the Church of the Covenant, Washington, D. C., and the Rev. Albert J. M. Wilson, rector of Christ Church. Interment was private. "Freestone Castle" was built about 30 years ago and was sold to Mr. Andrews in 1928 by Harry H. Frazee. Mr. Frazee and James Walker, former mayor of New York, were close friends, and the latter frequently visited here while Mr. Frazee owned the property, which was held at about $300,000. At the time Mr. Andrews bought it, he was living in New York. Mr. Andrews was born in Chicago. His career was like that of a hero in a book by Horatio Alger, Jr. He was a member of a large family in which there was not enough money to permit him to complete his secondary education, and at 16 he used to stand in front of the Chicago Herald Building to sell newspapers. He also taught banjo lessons for 25 cents each. Many years later, in 1920, he bought the Herald building, largely out of sentiment. Early in his career he was stricken with an illness which interrupted it for five years, but when his health was restored he became a vigorous sportsman. His fortunes pyramided steadily and when he was 50 he retired. However, the urge to continue his business exploits proved too strong, and in 1932 he reentered the field of banking and business management. Previous to 1920 he had been an investment salesman, later buying a seat on the Chicago Stock Exchange. Mr. Andrews fortune, prior to 1929, was estimated at from $50,000,000 to $80,000,000. He was one of the organizers and president of New Era Motors, Inc., which was formed to manufacture Ruxton front-wheel drive automobiles. Although the company manufactured several cars, used for experimental purposes, none was ever put on the market, and the firm petitioned for bankruptcy in 1930. Mr. Andrews, who had offices at 521 Fifth Avenue, New York, became chairman of the Hupp Company in 1934. He was then the largest stockholder in the corporation, a position he said he had maintained for 20 years, but after a bitter fight for control in 1935, he lost the chairmanship. Besides being chairman of the Dictograph Products Company, Mr. Andrews was president of the Progress Corporation, manufacturers of electric safety razors; president and chairman of the board of Platinum Products Company, Inc.; vice president and director of the Lekro Shave Corporation and treasurer and director of the International Ticket Scale Corporation. He was also president of the A. M. Andrews Investment Corporation. In 1929 he was elected a member of the National Metal Exchange. In 1924, "after I had gone to live in idleness — happily ever afterward, as I thought — in Pasadena," Mr. Andrews went into the penny scale machine business, taking over a concern that was in a financial jam. He bought the business just as ticket scales were developing, these being the kind that deliver to each user a card on which his weight and the date are printed. As the new scales supplanted the old ones, revenues increased enormously. At the end of four years, a syndicate was organized and a New York banking house bought Mr. Andrews out. "My profit," he later said, "was a sum equivalent to about one fifth of all the pennies in active circulation in the United States. A year later the stock of the company I had sold was selling on the New York Curb market at a price that gave the business a value of more than $50,000,000." About ten years ago, Mr. Andrews bought Henry Ford's famous yacht Sialia. The yacht had cost Mr. Ford $1,250,000. Mr. Andrews bought it for exactly $1,000,000 less than that sum. At that time the Sialia was 19th in size among yachts under American registry. Mr. Andrews was a member of the Indian Harbor Yacht Club and his yacht was at one time a familiar sight here. It was estimated in 1929 the yacht cost him $137,342 to operate, it being a typical boat in this respect in the million dollar class. It carried a crew of 32. The original Sialia was 202 feet long but Mr. Ford cut the yacht in two and built in a new mid-section about 21 feet in length without in any way impairing its seaworthiness. That job cost $650,000 or $50,000 more than Mr. Ford paid for the yacht in the first place. In June of last year, properties of Mr. Andrews were placed under the control of a temporary receiver, it being the latest action in a proceeding started by creditors who filed a petition in bankruptcy against him the preceding February, alleged improper deals. Mr. Andrews opposition to the receivership as unnecessary was without avail. His property here was in his wife's name. The preceding April he had bought the Erskine-Danforth Building in Stamford, the Packard Shaver and products of the Dictograph Products Company, Inc., to be manufactured on the premises, located at Manhattan, John and Pacific Streets. The Federal Circuit Court of Appeals in New York in a two-to-one decision last year found that the Packard Lektro-Shaver, made by the Dictograph Products Company, did not infringe upon the patent rights of the product of Schick Dry Shaver, Inc., and Shick Industries, Ltd. A $50,000 damage suit was removed from the assignment list in Superior Court at Bridgeport on Tuesday because of the deaths of Mr. Andrews and Col. Jacob Schick, official in the Schick Dry Shaver Company, Stamford, and former resident of Old Greenwich, who died about a year ago. Mr. Andrews brought suit against the Schick Company on Jan. 30, 1935, asking $50,000 for non-payment of commissions he claimed to have earned through the sale of razors, chiefly at the Chicago World's Fair. The action was to have begun before Judge Arthur F. Ells and a jury today. Mr. Andrews' clubs included, besides the Indian Harbor Yacht Club, the Westchester Country Club at Rye, Advertising Club in New York, Chicago Athletic Association and Chicago Yacht Club, the Annandale Golf Club of Pasadena, Calif., and the Masquers Club of Hollywood. Surviving are his wife, Mrs. Eleanor Underwood Andrews, and eight children. They are Robert N. [sic], David P., John C. and Archie M. Andrews, Jr., the Misses Charlotte and Barbara Andrews, Mrs. William M. Cosel and an infant son who will be christened Frederick Benjamin Andrews. |
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In Services Today At Freestone Castle More than 100 friends and business associates this morning attended the funeral of Archie M. Andrews, nationally known business executive who died Friday afternoon at his home, Freestone Castle in Edgewood park. Funeral services were held at 11 a. m. at the Andrews residence with the Rev. A. J. McCartney, of the Church of the Covenant at Washington, and the Rev. A. J. M. Wilson, pastor of Christ Church, Greenwich, officiating. A large number of beautiful floral tributes were presented, and scores of telegrams and cablegrams from all parts of the world were received. Among those of his business associates attending the services were: Lawrence Ogden, Daniel Helpin, Maj. George Robertson, Stanley Osserman, F. E. Moskovics, W. G. Fitzgerald, Thomas Bracken, Dr. Philip Schmidt, Ivan Enstrom, Andrew LaFleur, Albert Saphin, Victor Abrams and John Florman. Also attending were Rene Black, Dean Cornwall, the artist, and many local friends. Final dispostion of the body will await the arrival of Archie Andrews, Jr., a student at Rugby, England. Temporarily it has been laid to rest in Putnam Cemetery Masoleum. |
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Archie Moulton Andrews, who was associated in various business organizations, died yesterday at the age of 59 at his home, Freestone Castle, here. He leaves his wife, three daughters and five sons. Among the enterprises in which Mr. Andrews was active were the Dictograph Products Company, Progress Elektro Shaver Corporation and the International Ticket Scale Corporatation. He was a member of the Westchester Country Club, Rye, N. Y.; the Indian Harbor Yacht Club, here; the Advertising Club of New York, the Chicago Athletic Club and the Annandale Golf Club of Pasadena, Cal. |
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Archie Moulton Andrews, 59, chairman of the board of Dictograph Products, Inc., and of International Ticket Scales, and president of the Progress Elektroshave Corp., died at his home at Greenwich Conn., yesterday. Andrews, widely known in the film industry and formerly associated with Trans Lux as a director, had been ill only briefly, it was stated. Surviving are his widow, Mrs. Eleanor Underwood Andrews, three daughters, Mrs. William M. Cosel; Barbara and Charlotte Andrews, and five sons, Archie M., Jr., John C., Robert U., David P. and an infant, Frederick Benjamin. A native of Chicago, Andrews was educated there. He was a member of Westchester Country Club, the Advertising Club of New York, the Annadale Country Club of Pasadena, the Masquers of Hollywood, the Indian Harbor Yacht Club, the Chicago A.A. and the Chicago Yacht Club. Funeral arrangements last night were incomplete. |
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Funeral services for Archie M. Andrews, chairman of the board of Dictograph Products Co., Inc., will be held at Freestone Castle, his Greenwich, Conn., home, tomorrow. Dr. Albert Joseph McCartney of the Church of the Covenent, Washington, will officiate at the funeral. New York friends will leave for Greenwich on trains departing from Grand Central at 9:20 a.m., EDST. In addition to being chairman of Dictograph Products Co., Andrews was president of the Progress Corp., safety razor manufacturers; president of Platinum Products Co., Inc.; vice-president and director of the Lektro Shave Corp., and treasurer and director of the International Ticket Scale Corp. |
| Died: Archie M. Andrews, director of the Dictograph Products Co., president of the Progress Lektro Shave Corp., president of Platinum Products Co., Inc., chairman of the board of the International Ticket Scale Corp., onetime board chairman of the Hupp Motor Car Corp. He began his career selling newspapers in front of the Chicago Herald building, which he bought in 1920, as a matter of sentiment. |
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ARCHIE M. ANDREWS EX-HUPP EXECUTIVE Archie Moulton Andrews of Greenwich, died at his home, Freestone Castle, here this afternoon following a short illness. His age was 59. Mr. Andrews was associated with various business enterprises among them being the Dictograph Products Co., Progress Lekto Shaver Corporation and International Ticket Scale Corporation. He was a member of the Westchester Country Club of Rye, N. Y.; the Indian Harbor Yacht Club, Greenwich; Advertising Club, New York, Chicago Athletic Association and Chicago Yacht Club, and the Annandale Golf Club of Pasadena, Calif. He was a native of Chicago. Surviving are his widow, Eleanor Underwood Andrews; three daughters, Mrs. William N. [sic] Cosel, and Barbara and Charlotte Andrews, and five sons, Robert N. [sic], David P., John C., Frederick B., and Archie M. Andrews Jr. Mr. Andrews was a former chairman of the board of the Hupp Motor Car Corporation, and his fortune, prior to 1929, was estimated at from $50,000,000 to $80,000,000. He became chairman of the motor company's board in 1934 and was later a member of its coalition board. His career was like that of a hero in a book by Horatio Alger Jr. He was the member of a large family in Chicago in which there was not enough money to permit him to complete his secondary education, and at 16 he used to stand in front of the Chicago Herald Building to sell newspapers. He also taught banjo lessons for 25 cents each. Many years later he bought the Herald building, largely out of sentiment. His fortunes pyramided steadily and when he was 50 he retired. However, the urge to continue his business exploits proved too strong, and in 1932 he re-entered the field of banking and business management. He was a president of the New Era Motors, Inc., sponsor of the Ruxton, a front wheel drive automobile. |
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Mr. Andrews, who had offices at 521 Fifth Avenue, New York, became chairman of the Hupp company in 1934. He was then the largest stockholder in the corporation, a position he said he had maintained for twenty years, but after a bitter fight for control in 1935 he lost the chairmanship. A native of Chicago, Mr. Andrews began his career by selling papers in front of "The Chicago Herald" Building. As a matter of sentiment, he bought the building in 1920. Previous to that year he had been an investment salesman, later buying a seat on the Chicago Stock Exchange. Besides being chairman of the Dictograph Products Company, Mr. Andrews was president of the Progress Corporation, manufacturers of electric safety razors; president and chairman of the board of Platinum Products Company, Inc.; vice-president and director of the Lektro Shave Corporation and treasurer and director of the Internation Ticket Scale Corporation. He was also president of the A. M. Andrews Investment Corporation. In 1929 he was elected a member of the National Metal Exchange. Mr. Andrews was one of the organizers and president of New Era Motors, Inc., which was formed to manufacture Ruxton front-wheel drive automobiles. Although the company manufactured several cars, used for experimental purposes, none was ever put on the market, and the firm petitioned in bankruptcy in 1930. Early in his career Mr. Andrews was stricken with an illness which interrupted it for five years, but when his health was restored he became a vigorous sportsman. His clubs included the Annandale Country Club of Pasadena, Calif.; the Indian Harbor Yacht Club of New York, the Chicago Athletic Club, the Chicago Yacht Club, the Masquers Club of Hollywood and the Advertising Club of New York. Surviving are his wife, Mrs. Eleanor Underwood Andrews, and eight children. They are Robert, David, John and Archie Andrews Jr., the Misses Charlotte and Barbara Andrews, Mrs. William M. Cosel and an infant son who will be christened Frederick Benjamin Andrews. |
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A. M. Andrews, Dictograph Executive, Dies at 59 Archie M. Andrews, chairman of the board of Dictograph Products CO., died at his home at Greenwich, Conn., yesterday afternoon after a short illness. Mr. Andrews was 59 years of age. No funeral arrangements had been made at a late hour last night. Besides his position with Dictograph, Mr. Andrews was associated with the Progress Lektro Shave Corp. and other enterprises. Mr. Andrews is survived by his wife, Eleanor Underwood Andrews and eight children, Mrs. William M. Cosel, Archie M. Jr., Barbara, John C., Charlotte, Robert U., David P., and Frederick Benjamin. |