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Steel's : A Forgotten Stock Market Scandal from the 1920s by Dave Dyer (2013, Hardcover)

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About this product

Product Identifiers

PublisherSyracuse University Press

ISBN-100815610122

ISBN-139780815610120

eBay Product ID (ePID)166705600

Product Key Features

Number of Pages192 Pages

Publication NameSteel's : a Forgotten Stock Market Scandal from the 1920s

LanguageEnglish

SubjectHoaxes & Deceptions, United States / State & Local / Middle Atlantic (DC, De, Md, NJ, NY, Pa), General, Criminal Law / General, Industries / Financial Services, Investments & Securities / General

Publication Year2013

TypeTextbook

Subject AreaLaw, True Crime, Business & Economics, History

AuthorDave Dyer

FormatHardcover

Dimensions

Item Height0.7 in

Item Weight12.3 Oz

Item Length9.2 in

Item Width6.3 in

Additional Product Features

Intended AudienceScholarly & Professional

LCCN2012-050446

Dewey Edition23

ReviewsA fascinating and thoroughly engaging story of Buffalo-based Steel's department store told by a master storyteller., Dyer's highly readable, concise account of Steel's business career and his fabulous discovery, as well as presumed archival preservation of this valuable cache of Steel Sparks, will spark future conversations for business historians.

IllustratedYes

Dewey Decimal364.163092

SynopsisWhile trying to solve a family mystery, Dave Dyer uncovered a massive stock market scandal that had been forgotten by history. His great uncle Clayton Pickard vanished in 1923, and, in the process of researching him, the author found a collection of thousands of original documents and photos from Clayton's employer, the L. R. Steel Company. The documents, unopened since 1923, told the fascinating story of a visionary entrepreneur operating in the boom-town environment of Buffalo. Steel's is about the rise and fall of the retail empire created by Leonard Rambler Steel. Like a Silicon Valley tycoon, he sprang into new ventures with enthusiasm and foresight. At its height, his chain store operation had 75 stores spread over 61 cities in the United States and Canada. He hired women in management and elderly people in his sales force, and anticipated some of the retail models that are used today by global companies such as Ikea and Wal-Mart. His most remarkable insight was to recognize the marketing potential of the new medium of silent film. In 1921 he created a 3-hour film about his life and company that was screened for free all over North America. The movie, a precursor to today's infomercial, attracted prospective buyers for the 5,000 salespeople who sold the company's stock. Almost 60,000 people bought the stock, three times the number who bought into Charles Ponzi's better-known scheme. Eventually, his big ideas became too grandiose, such as developing Niagara Falls into a permanent international exhibition dedicated to commerce and technology, and the investors lost all their money when the company collapsed in 1923 amid fraud charges. With no other published accounts of this scandal, the story told in Steel's was doomed to be lost forever until the author discovered the document trove that brought it back to life. The remarkable creativity and foresight of the founder makes for a fascinating tale of failure by someone who had what it takes to succeed. The L. R. Steel Company could have been Wal-Mart, but ended up like Enron., A fascinating look at the rise and fall of L.R. Steel's five and dime stores, a chain of 255 stores across America and Canada in the early 1920s, and the financial decisions which led to the fall and how this scandal related to and ultimately eclipses in scope the original Ponzi scheme., While trying to solve a family mystery, Dave Dyer uncovered a massive stock market scandal that had been forgotten by history. His great uncle Clayton Pickard vanished in 1923, and, in the process of researching him, the author found a collection of thousands of original documents and photos from Clayton's employer, the L. R. Steel Company. The documents, unopened since 1923, told the fascinating story of a visionary entrepreneur operating in the boom-town environment of Buffalo. S teel's is about the rise and fall of the retail empire created by Leonard Rambler Steel. Like a Silicon Valley tycoon, he sprang into new ventures with enthusiasm and foresight. At its height, his chain store operation had 75 stores spread over 61 cities in the United States and Canada. He hired women in management and elderly people in his sales force, and anticipated some of the retail models that are used today by global companies such as Ikea and Wal-Mart. His most remarkable insight was to recognize the marketing potential of the new medium of silent film. In 1921 he created a 3-hour film about his life and company that was screened for free all over North America. The movie, a precursor to today's infomercial, attracted prospective buyers for the 5,000 salespeople who sold the company's stock. Almost 60,000 people bought the stock, three times the number who bought into Charles Ponzi's better-known scheme. Eventually, his big ideas became too grandiose, such as developing Niagara Falls into a permanent international exhibition dedicated to commerce and technology, and the investors lost all their money when the company collapsed in 1923 amid fraud charges. With no other published accounts of this scandal, the story told in Steel's was doomed to be lost forever until the author discovered the document trove that brought it back to life. The remarkable creativity and foresight of the founder makes for a fascinating tale of failure by someone who had what it takes to succeed. The L. R. Steel Company could have been Wal-Mart, but ended up like Enron.

LC Classification NumberHG4928.5.D94 2013