(2 of 6)
The Bright Diamond. In this diadem of empire, the most sparkling asset is Unilever's star-spangled subsidiary, the U.S. Lever Brothers Co. To most U.S. citizens, Pepsodent toothpaste and Lifebuoy soap are as American as the hot dog. But Pepsodent and Lifebuoy—along with Lux, Rinso, Spry and a radio contract with Comedian Bob Hope—are topmost among the assets listed on the books of Unilever House. The unrelenting war against body odor is a British war.
This week, Unilever and its overseas colony throbbed with transoceanic cables, scurrying couriers and all the excitement that once attended the birth of an infanta.
The excitement was over a new head for the empire's most important overseas post. From headquarters at Cambridge, Mass, came the solemn announcement: on July 1, Charles Luckman, sometimes called the jet-propelled wonder boy of U.S. sales promotion, will become the boss of Lever Bros, in the U.S. Luckman's age: 37. His new salary: $300,000 a year.
On his new job, "Chuck" Luckman will take over the second-largest soap-selling enterprise in the U.S. (first: Procter & Gamble), and the third-highest advertising and promotion budget ($25 million in 1945). What manner of prodigy is he?
The Bright Boy. Above all, like old Lord Leverhulme, Luckman knows how to play that advertising tune. No braggart, but no man for mock modesty either, Luckman himself lays his swift rise, like a bar of soap whooshing out of. a bather's fist, to three things: breaks, courage, ability.
Yet Chuck Luckman is quiet, softspoken, unassuming, with an old man's Wisdom in handling other men, an impish sense of humor, a rare flair for showmanship. Once, at a formal Boston dinner, he rose to make a speech, looked down at the assembled Lowells and Cabots around him and said solemnly,: "Just call me God."*Except for his hair, which he has more of, and his clothes, which are conservative, he could pass for an unsung, unsinging Bing Crosby. (Occasionally mistaken for his good friend, he obligingly autographs Bing's name.)
Luckman likes to trade gags and mashie shots with Employe Bob Hope. He also likes to collect pipes (his teeth are white without benefit of Pepsodent)—but he never smokes before lunch. He also likes to remodel houses—he is now busy on his $65,000 new house in Boston's suburban Wellesley Hills. Best of all he likes to ride cow ponies with his wife, attractive Harriet McElvoy Luckman, and three sons —Charles Jr., 13, James, 10, Stephen, 7—on their 22,000-acre "Lucky Five" cattle ranch near Julian, Calif.
Beneath this easygoing exterior, Luckman has dry-ice nerves, intense energy. He gets up every day at 5:30, works at home till breakfast, then spends another ten hours at work, usually in his paneled office in Cambridge. He never raises his voice, never loses his temper, never makes snap judgments, always pla.is everything in advance. But when the plans are made, "then is the time to get in there and go like hell."