To New York City’s La Guardia field and neighboring airports one night last week rolled 59 trailer trucks hauling the largest single consignment of air freight in the history of commercial aviation. It took the entire cargo facilities of American Airlines and six other lines to carry the 112 tons. The shipment consisted of razor blades—25 million of them. They were flown to 381 U.S. cities, to appear simultaneously on 150,000 retail counters.
In this razzle-dazzle fashion, American Safety Razor Corp.’s showman President Milton Dammann introduced a smooth-shaving new razor blade called Silver Star, made of a new metal called “Duridium” (a hard-alloy steel). With it, Dammann was out to crowd Gillette’s famed Blue Blade out of the No. 1 spot in the blade market. Dammann planned to spend $2,000,000 on the promotion campaign because his company needed that kind of boost. In this year’s first quarter its profits had dropped from $353,888 to $114,834.
More Must-Reads from TIME
- Cybersecurity Experts Are Sounding the Alarm on DOGE
- Meet the 2025 Women of the Year
- The Harsh Truth About Disability Inclusion
- Why Do More Young Adults Have Cancer?
- Colman Domingo Leads With Radical Love
- How to Get Better at Doing Things Alone
- Michelle Zauner Stares Down the Darkness
Contact us at letters@time.com