from the archives of the PCA Pennant

May 19, 2006

THE PENNANT Vol. XIV, No.2 Fall 2000

Who was that Man? I'd Like to Shake His Hand.

By Daniel A. Zazove and L. Michael Fultz

Even though it was priced more than double its chief competitor, Eversharp's Skyline, the Parker '51' became the best selling fountain pen of all time, with over $400,000,000 in sales.

In a poll conducted by the Illinois Institute of Technology, it was voted the fourth best industrial design of the twentieth century. Yet, very little is known about its development and many of those responsible remain a mystery.

America's great depression was a blow to the writing instrument manufacturers from which many would not recover. By 1933 many Americans were struggling to put food on the table. But in that trying year, young Kenneth Parker, newly elected president of the Parker Pen Co., stunned competitors by introducing the Vacumatic pen, the Company's first new model in 11 years. Kenneth Parker was no ordinary pen company executive. In 1923, at the age of 28, he convinced Parker Pen's Board of Directors to gamble the entire future of the company on a risky $125,000 advertising campaign to promote the new Duofold pen, while his father, George, was on an extended sea voyage to Asia and Africa. Kenneth believed in the philosophy of artificial obsolescence identified by the famous Hungarian-born industrial designer, Maholy-Nagy.

read the rest of this article here :

http://pencollectors.com/pennant/fall00/shakehand.html

Who is this man and what in the world is he doing???

http://tinyurl.com/qltl5

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