Billy B. Van and His “Pine Tree” Soap

 Billy B. Van and His “Pine Tree” Soap 

  BILLY B. VAN used to be in the show business. His job was to make people laugh. Just as he felt that he was making some progress toward becoming established in his chosen profession he developed tuberculosis and had to leave the show in Boston. He had little or no money at that time, so the members of the company and other friends financed his period of recuperation in the White Mountains in New Hampshire. Here he regained his health and in two years was able to go back to the theater for six months. His long stay in the pine forests gave him two ideas: One, to take the fresh, fragrant odor of the pines to people who had neither the time nor the money to get to the pine woods; the other, to build up a business that would support him comfortably as soon as he could leave the theater. He decided that soap was the product that would suit his purpose, and he experimented with many formulas before he found one which would actually hold the fragrance of the pine needles. After searching around a bit, he discovered a man who would make the soap for him in quantities. However, he, Billy B. Van, would have to go out and sell it. At first, he laughed at the idea of a comedian becoming a salesman. Then he realized that this was what he had been doing all during his show life—selling; he had been selling himself to his audience night after night. It should be easier to sell soap, he reasoned. So each morning he filled his pockets with samples of his soap, his heart with hope, and started ringing doorbells. There were difficulties. There always are. The druggists didn’t know his soap and wouldn’t stock it; the jobbers wouldn’t move it, and he had no money for advertising. Suddenly the idea came to him that he could introduce his soap through the hotels. Most of his life had been spent in hotels and he knew hotel managers from one end of the country to the other. But the hotel managers thought it a huge joke—Billy B. Van selling soap! He soon found that there was no short-cut to prosperity selling to friends. He finally secured permission to place a trial order in a hotel. Around each cake of soap he wrapped a circular stating: “This soap will keep everything clean but your conscience.” A coupon was attached to the circular which read, “Dear Billy: I like your soap. Send me six cakes. Here’s your dollar.” The idea worked like a charm. Many orders came from the hotel’s guests. In this way, Billy B. Van had put the reverse English on direct-mail advertising. As he had no money to write to prospects he arranged for them to write to him! This was the opening wedge in the merchandising of the Pine Tree Soap. From that time on, little by little, he progressed with his merchandising plans. Eventually he built up a lucrative business in the White Mountains where the pine trees send out their clean, healthy fragrance. The point to this story is not, however, that Billy B. Van, one-time showman, became a successful soap manufacturer, but that by doing the obvious thing he made money. So many people foolishly suppose that the only ideas that are any good are the clever ones, which nobody ever thought of before. The truth is that the ideas that make the biggest money are usually those which are only waiting for somebody to pick them up, just as Billy B. Van picked his Pine Tree Soap idea out of the air of the New Hampshire mountains. There were many brands of soaps on the market when Billy B. Van started to sell his soap, but as he found out, there is always room for another product— if it has quality and answers a specific need. 

Knapp Specialized in Pressed Chicken 

   IN EVERY farming community there is an opportunity to start a “pressed” chicken business. No skill and very little capital is required. You simply contract with the farmers and poultry raisers in your community for their chickens when they become too old to lay and too tough to eat. Because they are such tough old birds you don’t pay much for them. Then you buy or borrow a steam pressure cooker, and you are in the pressed chicken business. That there is good money to be made quickly in such a business is demonstrated by the experience of the Knapps, The Knapps have a poultry farm in Eaton County, Michigan, not far from the State Capital. In addition to selling eggs—there is a capacity of 2,000 laying hens at the farm—quite a few chickens are also sold, mostly broilers. However, at the end of the breeding season there are, of course, a number of old hens and stags which must be marketed for which only the lowest prices can be obtained. After handling the left-over stock in this manner for some time, the idea occurred to them that they might be able to make a profit by cooking the old birds and selling them as “pressed chicken.” The chickens for this purpose are best cooked in a pressure cooker as cooking under pressure requires only from 30 to 40 minutes, whereas cooking in an open kettle requires from two to three hours. In addition to reducing the time spent in cooking, the pressure method of cooking produces a much richer product than the open-kettle method as the additional water required in the latter method naturally reduces the rich stock. With a pressure cooker Mrs. Knapp was able to save the cost of the extra cooking time. After the chicken is thoroughly cooked, the meat is cut into cross sections (to reduce the length of muscle shreds), seasoned to taste (some seasoning is added during cooking), the chicken stock is added, and a tablespoonful of plain gelatin. The extra gelatin helps to keep the mold firm and makes for easier slicing of the loaf when it has set. The molds should be greased to prevent the contents from sticking and when filled they are placed in the refrigerator to set. In addition to making plain loaves, Mrs. Knapp also adds sliced vegetables, olives, the riced white and yolks of hard-boiled eggs, etc. By preparing the loaf in layers a very attractive summer dish can be made. To form this loaf, the chicken should be cooked in the usual way, the white meat separated from the dark meat and each kind cut fine or run through a food chopper. The yolks and whites of several hard-boiled eggs should be chopped up separately and each seasoned well. Then the four ingredients, the white meat, dark meat, egg yolks and egg whites, should be mixed with the chicken stock which has been cooked down thick enough to jell. The white and dark meat and the yellow and white egg should then be arranged in layers, pressed in a pan or jar and allowed to set overnight. Adding water to the stock results in a larger quantity of food, but, of course, the product brings a lower price. In a quality market a loaf should sell for 50 cents a pound. As a five-pound male bird, at the usual 45 per cent loss, should dress out to about two and three-quarter pounds, the return on one bird would be about $1.28. By adding water and doubling the amount, a product would result which could be sold for about 25 cents a pound. Although the addition of water would make a loaf not nearly so rich, the return per bird would be the same. Whether to dilute the product or put up a richer loaf depends entirely upon the market. If a quality market can be developed and you can secure 50 cents a pound for the loaf, it means making as much money on fewer customers and, therefore, less selling effort. However, if the trade prefers a lower price and the diluted product, there is nothing to do but cater to your market.