Badge Of Honor

Colophon Newsletter faces looking back–name badges of long-deceased employees. Wayne Guest is in the center.

We have never gone into detail before about “HOW” we were chosen to research and edit the Colophon. Never because it is along story. It happened by fate and the love of collecting.  It has all come about because of at least three individuals– and each of you, our friends and club members.

     When I started with Nabisco in 1968, my first day on the job was also photographed. My Sales Manager, F.E. (Earl) Walker, made a black & white photo of me, standing in the Louisville sales office on Kenjoy Drive. I have that photo, but sadly it is faded.

     The first five years with Nabisco was a challenge, each day an opportunity to be the BEST that I could be. Just like all of the other employees of NBC, the first few years were a test–a test to see if you could make the grade by being a good salesman. I passed the test, and I later retired with NBC.

     Collecting was always a part of my life. Before I met Prissy, I collected beer signs. I never drank, but loved the history of the different companies. I really did not collect Nabisco, but had won some awards, which now I treasure. I now know that all of the early years were the beginning of our collection.

     After Prissy and I were married, she became an important part of my career. She always  edged me on, to be the best. In addition, I know that she knew if I succeeded, the money I earned would be above average. That last part is still under investigation.  Looking back, I now know that Nabisco did not pay the best, but their fringe benefits were outstanding, “JOB SECURITY.” So after we were married, Prissy started collecting anything related to Nabisco–tins, paper ephemera, jars and more. The early years were a challenge to find almost anything related to NBC. Plus, no one knew very much about “What Was Out There.” No trade books or collecting magazines could be found with any in depth research about Nabisco. So we had to work extra hard finding the treasures. At this time, we never knew that Wayne Guest, Jerry Glenn and Dave Stivers collected NBC. They did and their collections at that time (early 1970’s) were impressive. We have a photo of Jerry and Audrey Glenn’s country store room in New Jersey. We met Dave Stivers at the Indianapolis Advertising Show and

Wayne Guest answered an ad that we had placed in a trade paper–“The Antique Trader”.

     I knew about Wayne Guest. He was in a lot of our sales meeting videos. He was an executive in the company. One day, we received a reply about our “WANTED” ad in The Antique Trader. It read, “I have a large & complete collection of National Biscuit Company antiques and collectibles, maybe I can help you fill in with some of my extras.” We were thrilled. We had a letter from a V.P. in New Jersey. I felt honored. We never dreamed of how large and complete Wayne and Sophie Guest’s collection really was, or how they would play an important part in our lives.

     Dave Stivers was the driving force in the creation of the “Inner-Seal Collectors Club.” He alone gained us the permission to use the trademarks of Nabisco with conditions. We have always honored those conditions. Dave was the first G.O. Manager in the club.

     Wayne Guest was one of our first club members. Jerry and Audrey Glenn were not far behind.  Wayne has done more to educate me about National Biscuit Company than any other person. He took me under his wing and told me, “BOY, I want you to become the most knowledgeable person alive who knows the history of the National Biscuit Company.” In all candor, I will admit, that he did a good job. However, I have some competition–mainly Dave Stivers and Jerry Glenn. They both had one up on me, they worked with “THE LEGEND,”  Wayne Guest.

     After Wayne mailed me and in 1994 joined the club, our relationship bloomed. He began to call me after every issue of the Colophon was released. He would congratulate me on that issue being the best. He started to confide in us. We were humbled by his trust and friendship. I looked forward to every letter and phone call. One of my first purchases from Wayne was the Green Books. He called me one day after getting the Colophon and said, “Charlie, do you have the Green Books?” I answered “No sir.” I did not think that I needed them. He reassured me. “You really do,” so he said. “I have some extras, I will sell you a complete set for $400.00.” I told him that I did not have the money right then. He said “Pay me as you can until you pay me in full.” I did just that and finally had a set of the most valuable reference tools ever released by any corporation. This set us up to have history at our hands in doing the Colophon. He sold us our first truck poster. It was expensive (to us). He assured us that he had a restaurant owner in New York who wanted that poster BADLY, and had offered a stunning amount for one. He told me, “I don’t need the money and I want it to go to a good home.” So I paid him by the month until he got the entire amount. We treasure that piece. By the same token, we would have UPS pull up and unload a box. It would be from Wayne. He would give us things which were irreplaceable–one of a kind with no others known to exist. I would call him and ask why he sent us these rare and beautiful pieces of NBC history. His answer every time would be, “I know you will keep these jewels and I know where they are.” He never wanted any money. This delivery by UPS was a complete shock. We had no idea what we were going to find in this large package. It was from Wayne, so I knew it was going to be special.

       Henry Ford invented the automobile assembly line, Alexander Graham Bell invented the telephone, Thomas Edison invented the light bulb, and the National Biscuit Company took the crackers out of the barrel and made “UNEEDA BISCUIT.” All of these inventions are monumental steps in America’s great history. We opened the box and inside we could not believe our eyes, four books in the NBC color of red, each book marked in gold on the cover with the following: “The Uneeda Quartet, In-Er Seal, Uneeda Jinjer Wafers, & Uneeda Graham Wafers/ Uneeda Milk Biscuit.” Inside of these fragile books were the original black & white slicks of the whole campaign relating to the introduction of all of these products, all “IN-ER SEAL”. We were shocked and astounded. We never had any idea that they existed, much less we now had them in our care.

     We called Wayne, I could not wait to talk to him. He knew what I had called about. I told him that we had just received a UPS delivery and we were shocked to see what was inside. For once, I was lost for words.  That in itself was not Charlie. He told me, “BOY, I have had those books in my collection for years, I got them out of New York before we moved the G.O to East Hanover. They belonged at one time to Adolphus Williamson Green. They were in the advertising department. They are THE ONLY FOUR IN EXISTENCE, relating to the introduction of the IN-ER SEAL campaign. They are priceless. I could not put a value on them. I wanted you to have them. I know that they will be safe in your collection and they need to be saved.” I could not believe that these books existed, and that we had been given the honor of keeping these artifacts of country store and National Biscuit Company history. If we ever doubted his trust in us, this UPS delivery forever imbedded in us his love of the club and us.  We were humbled by his generosity and trust in us. Our collection grew and our knowledge of Nabisco also grew. All of this was due to Wayne and Sophie.

      Wayne had told me that some of his most beautiful things were given to him. I know about the gentleman in G.O. he replaced as Director of Sales, Shelby Timberlake. He gave Wayne all of his paper ephemera. Wayne was with Shelby one day and Shelby asked Wayne, “Do you like to collect?” Wayne replied, “You Bet!” Shelby told him, “I
have a lot of NBC paper ephemera, and I am going to give it to you.” One Saturday, Wayne said a truck pulled up and unloaded several large boxes at his house. Inside of those boxes contained the history of Nabisco–ads, signs, brochures and more. He was astonished, just like us. Wayne’s candy collection was given to him by one of his best friends in Oklahoma. He loved this man and it broke Wayne’s heart when he passed away. When he was Director of Sales, he went to Oklahoma to visit his old friend, rented a car at the airport and went to his house. Once inside, Wayne saw some beautiful things. One piece was a paper mache eagle advertising the American Biscuit Company. Wayne commented on how beautiful it was, and it went home with Wayne. This special friend’s father worked for Sommer-Richardson Candy Company in St. Joseph, MO. His dad had collected their wrappers and boxes for years, and they were now in Wayne’s friend’s collection. He asked Wayne, ”Would you like these pieces of NBC History?” Wayne answered “You bet,” and they also went home to New Jersey. Wayne was heartbroken to take these pieces, but he knew his friend was sick.  They were saved in Wayne and Sophie’s collection, and most were sold at the Edwards Auction.

     Looking back, I guess we realize that throughout all of the years that we were fortunate enough to know Wayne, most were when he was at his best. The saddest time was when we learned that he was getting ill. He would call me on occasion. I had not heard from him for awhile, and he would tell me that he had been under the weather. Little did I know that our mentor was slipping away.  We also learned that Wayne’s collection (some of it) would be auctioned off by Edwards Auction. Each of you should have received a book at that time showing some of this amazing man’s lifetime collection. Why I would say some of it is because Edwards did not sell everything.  If you still have the catalogue from Edwards Auction, it is a KEEPER. Jerry Glenn did a great job supplying the information and history of the company. The catalogue is absolutely beautiful. There were pieces in that auction that we wished we could have saved. They sold out of my price range; however, some things did stay in the club. John Barney got the horse blanket, Green Books and the horse & wagon driver’s handbook All of which are very rare. Some things wound up in auctions in different parts of the country and sold for

almost nothing. We know of one individual, Bruce Moses, who purchased a full large box of paper ephemera at an auction in Northern Indiana. He called us after finding our name in an antique magazine. He asked me

if what he had was original. After he told me  about some of the things in the box lot that he had purchased, I told him that I knew who owned the pieces. They were original and priceless, and I also gave him the name of the person that they belonged to.  I know that he purchased the whole box for under $500.00. He was the only bidder. He offered all of it to us for $12.000.00. I also know that he sent most of that find (he sold me some individual pieces including a rare Nabisco Potato Chip bag and a rare Sky King Cookie box) to another auction company in Maryland (Parzow). He got over $16,000.00 for his box lot. You can fill in the blanks. I also know that we purchased two “Loving Cups” at an online auction from the same online seller (not Moses). Both of these belonged to Wayne at one time. We wrote about the cups. Wayne had sent me the information about the original owner years before, and now we had the cup. He had told me that he purchased the cup from a couple and they had it stored in a safety deposit box. He paid them over $400.00 for the cup. We bought it online for about $200.00. I called Wayne after that and told him that I had bought the cup. I have no idea how the seller acquired the two cups and Edwards Auction did not have them in the sale. We were lucky in that case, because we did not get anything from the Edwards Auction. Surprisingly, a lot of things showed up after the Edwards Auction. We don’t know how they got away from Edwards.

     After the auction was over, I got a phone call from Wayne. He was pleased with the results of the auction. He did say that he was upset for being charged a selling fee of 5%, since the buyers paid a buyer’s fee. He told me how much he got. That secret will die with me. He did tell me that some of his things went to another group of sellers besides Edwards. He said that three van loads of NBC memorabilia were removed from his house at that time. We know that there has not been anywhere near three van loads sold anyplace, at anytime, to our knowledge. We do not know if Wayne was at his best when this happened. So I don’t know for sure that three van loads were ever taken away to sell. Wayne told me later that he had not heard from this one auction group involved, and when he tried to call them, their number had been disconnected. This upset him tremendously.  He also told me that when all of this came about (the sale), he was not feeling well. Had he not been sick, and he would have done a lot of things differently. He told me what he would have done. I now know this to be true. Wayne had told Jerry (his son) that one piece which was sold at the Edwards Auction would never be sold in his lifetime. It was a painting of the Slicker Boy, that painting was used in all the early ads by NBC. The package that the Slicker Boy held was removable, so other products could be substituted.  It was given to Wayne by one of the Presidents of NBC, who I believe was Lee S. Bickmore. Looking back, I know that he must have been sick or that painting would not have been included in the Edwards sale.  That painting was bought by someone, and we don’t know who. We have not heard what happened to it, or who purchased the painting.  A lot of NBC’s history was disposed of when Wayne and Sophie left New Jersey. A lot of it went to individuals (collectors and dealers) who could care less about that history. It is gone forever. Wayne told me during one conversation, “I want to spread these pieces around.” Well, he did just that. Some of Wayne’s things that he told me about have not shown up–not at any auction or online. We hope that the family still has these pieces. However, a lot of his history is saved in our collection and the collections of some other club members–safe with a man he called “BOY,” whom he took under his wings and molded into a true historian of the National Biscuit Company. Did he do a good job? Someone else will have to answer that question. We are honored that he picked us out to carry the history of Nabisco forward. God Bless both of these wonderful and special people, Wayne and Sophie Guest. 

     The next person we know about on the cover  is George Yetter, a Sales Manager from

Philadelphia. He was a man who came up through the ranks .His badge is shown on the cover 

the six o’ clock mark, below Wayne. We have never met George Yetter. He passed away a long time before the club was ever formed, before I ever became associated with Nabisco, and a long time before I ever thought about the history of NBC. He collected hunting rifles and had a large collection. His picture is shown in a lot of the Nabisco magazines. He was shown at home or on the job. Now, why would this man be important in the history of the National Biscuit Company? How could anyone top the man we just talked about? That would not be easy to do, because these two individuals got to be special in NBC’s history for different reasons. Both went up with the company through the ranks, but only George Yetter looked in the face of a legend. He stared at and talked with “THE UNEEDA KID,” GORDON STILLE. The year was 1948 and the place was Philadelphia.

     Yes, George Yetter was picked to meet with Gordon Stille, the “UNEEDA BOY.” The reason was that Gordon lived in Philadelphia and George Yetter was the Divisional Sales Manager in Philadelphia. There was a law on the books that stated if a trademark figure was still alive, anyone using their image must get their signature every twenty years to continue to use that trademark. This was the second time that the company had contacted Mr. Stille about signing since the company gained the original permission. The last time was in about 1928. Gordon signed the form; however, this time problems were on the horizon.

      Gordon Stille wanted reimbursement from the company for his signature approving their continued use of his image as a trademark. He was not in good health and his family was pushing him to get some money. In fact, George Yetter related to corporate that Gordon Stille did not look well when he met with him. In fact, Gordon Stille passed away a few months after these meetings.

     I have included copies of the original letters and correspondence between Gordon Stille and the company for you to see. Also included with this article are some letters from individuals who were trying to collect compensation by claiming to be the original “UNEEDA BOY.” They came out of the woodwork, but all were shut down by the NBC legal department.

     We found George Yetter’s badge online. We were thrilled to see his badge, and we knew his history.