Cleo McVicker worked as a salesman at Kutol Products Company, a soap manufacturer founded in 1912, in Cincinnati, Ohio.  In the late 1920s, the company was in financial distress and tasked (then) 21-year-old Cleo with selling off the company's remaining assets (mainly powdered hand soap).  Although he managed to turn a nice profit, the company barely stayed afloat.  Cleo hired his brother, Noah, to help him in operations to turn the company around, and they purchased Kutol Products in 1927.  One of several children, Joseph S. McVicker was born to Cleo and his wife, Irma, in 1929.

In a 1933 meeting with Kroger Company (the grocery store chain), Cleo was asked if they made wall cleaner to remove coal dust from wallpaper in homes. The brothers had never made this product before but Cleo was so sure they could, he agreed to provide Kroger with 15,000 cases of wall cleaner.  If he failed to do so on time, Kutol would be required to pay Kroger $5,000 in fines, which would have bankrupted them!  Noah succeeded in creating the product using a common household recipe  and they made the Kroger deadline!  Over the next 20 years, Kutol primarily manufactured soap and wall cleaner, and became the largest wallpaper cleaner manufacturer in the world.

Sadly, Cleo died in a plane crash in 1949.  Around this time, soot-producing coal furnaces in homes were being replaced with electric, oil and natural gas heaters. Kutol was in a downward spiral because of less demand for their wall cleaner, as well as the fact that homes were replacing paper wallpaper with easily cleaned vinyl wallpaper. Irma hired her son Joe (now 25) to take Cleo's position in the company,  together with her son-in-law, Bill Rhodengaugh, with hopes of coming up with a solution to reverse declining finances.  Joe was diagnosed with a rare form of cancer at this same time, which placed added expenses and stress on him and Kutol Products operations.

Joe's sister-in-law, Kay Zufall, stepped into the picture in 1954. Kay ran a nursery school and needed cheap materials for her class to make Christmas decorations.  She heard that wallpaper cleaner compound could be used for this project so she bought Kutol's wallpaper cleaner to test on the crafts. When Kay found it worked perfectly and her kids had fun with it, she called Joe and said they needed to make their now obsolete wallpaper cleaner into a toy.  Acting on her suggestion, Joe removed the detergent from the white Kutol dough and added an almond scent and coloring.  He re-named the compound "Kutol's Rainbow Modeling Compound," which Kay quickly suggested the name of "Play-Doh." With no money for major advertising Kutol initially sold Play-Doh in 1-gallon cans of red, blue and yellow to schools throughout Cincinnati.  Initial attempts to sell smaller cans to retail stores were extremely slow.

In 1956, Joe and his uncle, Noah, formed Rainbow Crafts Company as a subsidiary of Kutol Products Company to make and sell Play-Doh. Also in 1956, a 3-pack of 7-ounce cans was added to the product line.  In-store demos at Macy's and Marshall Field's opened retail accounts. In 1957, the compound's salt content was reduced to allow models to dry without losing their color. One morning in 1957, Joe managed to talk his way into a meeting with Bob Keeshan, better known as Captain Kangaroo, who agreed to use the product once a week on his show in exchange for 2% of sales. This move quickly rocketed Play-Doh to a national hit, and later appeared on Ding Dong School and Romper Room.  Kutol quickly had about 116 months worth of orders to fill, even with the factory operating at maximum capacity!  Though they still sold wallpaper cleaner for $.34 a can, they were able to get $1.50 per can for Play-Doh for the same quantity and same product (except for the color in Play-Doh and small amount of detergent in the cleaner).  In 1958, Play-Doh's sales reached nearly $3 million!  In 1964, Play-Doh was exported to Britain, France and Italy.

Although several people were involved in the creation of Play-Doh, a patent (#3,167,440) for the product was granted only to Joseph S. McVicker and Noah W. McVicker on January 26, 1965. Also in 1965, General Mills purchased Rainbow Crafts and all rights to Play-Doh for $3 million, placing the compound with its Kenner Products subsidiary.  Joe and his former partner Bill Rhoedenbaugh split (with Bill upset over the "cheap" deal Joe had made). Bill was given full ownership of Kutol Products in exchange for his 49% share in Rainbow Crafts.  In 1971, Rainbow Crafts and Kenner Products merged, and in 1987, the Tonka Corporation bought the two.  In 1991, Hasbro became Play-Doh's owner, and continues to manufacture the product today through its Playskool division.  More than two billion cans of Play-Doh were sold between 1955 and 2005, and in 2005, Play-Doh was sold in 75 countries around the world at 95 million cans a year.  In the United States, more than 6,000 stores carry Play-Doh.  Play-Doh was inducted into the National Toy Hall of Fame in 1998. In 2003, the Toy Industry Association placed Play-Doh on its "Century of Toys List," a roll call of the 100 most memorable and most creative toys of the 20th Century.

Joe McVicker ultimately squandered the $3 million he made in the sale of Rainbow Crafts and Play-Doh and died nearly broke in 1992.  Bill Rhoedenbaugh managed to turn Kutol around and today it's one of the largest industrial and institutional hand soap manufacturers in the world (now run by his sons).

National Play-Doh Day is September 18th.

Mazon Office Holidays:  We will be closed Mon. Sept 2 in observance of Labor Day and Mon. Oct. 14 in observance of Columbus Day.  You may submit your invoices during our closed hours via fax, e-mail or drop-slot to be processed the next business day.

Taking People With You: The Only way to Make Big Things Happen, by David Novak (chairman & CEO of Yum! Brands, Inc.), published by Penguin, January 2012.  Hardcover, 256 pages.  ISBN-10: 

1591844541.

Called one of the best-performing CEOs in the world by Harvard Business Review, David Novak runs the world's largest restaurant company, leading 1.4 million employees. Now, he's written a book and is offering you a rare opportunity, a chance to change your business and your life.

Not what you'd expect from a corporate suit, but Novak is not your typical executive. Novak doesn't waste time and doesn't insult your intelligence. Instead, he forces you to dig deep to find out what drives you by asking: "What's the single biggest thing you can imagine that will grow your business or impact your life?"

Whether you're running the night shift at one of his Taco Bells, or you're leading a multinational conglomerate, Novak's advice is a real game-changer -- if you're willing to do the work. Be warned: this book puts the "work" in workbook. Taking People With You is the result of a program that Novak teaches up to eight times a year within the company; a step-by-step guidebook and workbook. Think of this book as your own personal MBA course with one of the most successful executives on the planet. And like any MBA course, it takes time, diligence and patience, or as Novak says, "To do this right, you need to take your time, reflecting on each step and on your own leadership style."

If you're looking for a book you can grab in the airport and complete by the time you reach the coast, skip this one. But if you're ready to put in the time and work to make the big changes, Novak's book will surely become your treasured traveling companion. (Source: CNBC.com)

We act as though comfort and luxury were the chief requirements of life, when all that we need to make us really happy is something to be enthusiastic about."

-- Charles Kingsley 

A man walked into a sports bar and saw an old friend of his drinking alone.  Approaching his friend, he commented, "You look awful.  What's wrong?"

"My mother died in April and left me $15,000," the friend answered.

"Boy, that's tough," the man replied.

Continuing, the friend said, "Then in May, my dad died leaving me $50,000."

"Gosh, both parents gone in such a short period of time?  No wonder you're depressed,"  said the man.

"Last month, my aunt died and left me $10,000," the friend added.

"That's a lot to deal with.  Losing three close family members in three months is terrible!" replied the man.

Then this month," continued the friend, "nothing!  Not even a single dime!"