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October 13, 2025 27 mins

On this episode of Our American Stories, escaping war-torn, Nazi-occupied Croatia during World War II, Tony Maglica started over in the United States with nothing but ambition and skill. He worked tirelessly, built his own tools, and eventually invented the Maglite: a flashlight that redefined quality and reliability. For decades, Maglite has been proudly made in America, carried by first responders, explorers, and anyone who needed a light they could trust. Here’s Tony with his remarkable story of survival and the fulfillment of his American Dream.

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Episode Transcript

Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:10):
This is Lee Habib, and this is our American stories.
In nineteen ninety six, The Wall Street Journal referred to
the mag Light flashlight as the Cadillac of flashlights.

Speaker 2 (00:21):
The creator of.

Speaker 1 (00:22):
This flashlight that sold millions, Tony Maglica, founder of mag Industries. Today,
our own Mounty Montgomery, brings us the story of this
Croatian immigrant who started with nothing and ended up with something.

Speaker 2 (00:38):
Tony Magnica was born in New York City in November
of nineteen thirty, but with the Great Depression of full
Swain and his family moved back to his mother's native
island in Croatia nineteen Doidoo.

Speaker 3 (00:51):
My mom went to back to Europe. My father say
here they thought things going to blow up in no time.
So things are going to be good right away, you
know so, But he said he didn't have no money,
he didn't have no jobs. My father didn't even have
the money to send my mom back. He had to

(01:14):
borrow money on the future a job that he did
and paid it back. So I went over there with
my mom and we're supposed to go back in a
couple of years. So they said about to say, a
the more money and this and that and we are

(01:36):
quite caught in the war World War two, and that
wasn't very pleasant to anyone. It was very difficult to
live on the Mussollani. They if they suspected that you
are a communist or you are on all decide whatever

(02:01):
side that it is, they simply torture you and kill you.
One of the tortures there was by riching the oil
castro and they will put a tool in your drug

(02:23):
and they will give you maybe a quard or so
it is oil and you die. I mean it's just
simply not immediately, but you know, it's just it's a
horrible way to die. There was no freedom to leave

(02:45):
the town. We have no income. Then when the Italian
gots defeated, they got involved with with Germans. When the
German comes in the town, he was so frightening because

(03:06):
they run the all the people in the town to
come down to a to the town and they put
entirely down in the semi circle against a big wall
with the three machine guns, one here, one there, one

(03:30):
in the center. And I was just a young man.
I remem better. My mom was there standing up. I
was right on the center. So I went down to

(03:51):
my mom's skirt. This guy was really upset. Tell us
to come out. They tell us to we exposed somebody.
They s said that they know that we killed somebody
in time to dispose the person who have committed his crime. Well,

(04:19):
there was no one to commit a crime. And we
no no if somebody commem at a crime, said, if
you don't say, we're gonna kill it a all of you,
So what do you what are you gonna do just
to point the finger on the inner person. And and
the people that time, even if their life wasn't the lion,

(04:41):
they won't do it. They won't lie. There was a
priest there and he was begging there hand that the
people are never to commit to any kind of crime.
And mm he has pre say you have a power
to kill us all m I understand that. But if

(05:04):
we've tell you that this person could commit the crime,
we don't know that anybody commit the crime. And in
this thumb never been pursuing in jail. There's never been
anyone in compete. They you know, they they believe in
God by doing s crime like that. So anyway, on

(05:26):
the end of about four hours they're standing up and
you don't know the one they gonna pull the trigger.
It's almost like being dead anyway, you don't know any
second that they gonna turn around start spitter shitting. So
m my mom was terrified, and of course I was terrified.

(05:49):
I mean, we're all the whole town was terrified. Then
they let us go. He wasn't senteen everywhere in the country,
you know, or the tom you know, they put the
people against the wall.

Speaker 1 (06:08):
Just shut up, and you're listening to the voice of
Tony Maglica, and he's telling the story of his life
in Croatia around World War Two and letting folks know
what real totalitarianism looks and feels like to a small
village where he had set up until these grand inquisitions

(06:29):
and interrogations by well by the Nazis, that there had
never been a person in jail in his tawn. And
yet they were looking for a murder, a murder suspect
and make one up. We don't care when we come back.
The story of Tony Maglica continues from nothing to something,

(06:50):
a part of our American Dreamers story here on our
American Story. Lihabibe here the host of all American stories.

(07:34):
Every day on this show, we're bringing inspiring stories from
across this great country, stories from our big cities and
small towns. But we truly can't do the show without you.
Our stories are free to listen to, but they're not
free to make. If you love what you hear, go
to Alamerican Stories dot com and click the donate button.
Give a little, give a lot. Go to Alamerican Stories

(07:56):
dot com.

Speaker 2 (07:57):
And give.

Speaker 1 (08:09):
And we continue with our American Stories and the story
of Tony Maglica. When we last left off, Tony was
telling the harrowing story of living under both Italian and
German occupation in war torn Croatia during World War Two.
But if there was anything positive about this time in
Tony's life, it was his mother. Here's Tony telling the

(08:33):
story of what she did to help the family during
this traumatic time.

Speaker 3 (08:40):
On anything. What she did, we sold it, everything that
we brought it from us, We sold it blancs, the cops,
this boom, the plays, whatever we have treaded for a corn,
my mom will have will say, the corn and the

(09:01):
various seats of various grout, verious beans and stuff like that.
And I learned something from it. No matter how hungry
we was, my mom would go to the pillowcass and
she will take a cup wheat. And I tell you
it's hard for me even talk about it. There is

(09:25):
no one like the mother.

Speaker 2 (09:27):
By nineteen fifty, Tony had had enough of living in
war term Croatia and made the decision to come back
to the United States.

Speaker 3 (09:37):
Well, there was a vault that a war board personnel board,
big ship, and they got it. The England got it
for the damage that they did. I guess they had
to pay. So they took the boat and so they
used that to transport the people. I know it words

(09:58):
like it was making a tourism other So you have
two three classes on that boat. The toy class. It
was just a shelve light like a shelf with your store,
your cans. There was a six beds in this little closet.

(10:21):
So it was myself five other people. So I have
a tough but there's other people have it even tougher
than I am. Family was torture, the member of the
defendant has got killed. All these things. You have to
have a desire to survive. You have to have a

(10:44):
desire to accomplish something.

Speaker 2 (10:47):
And Tony would accomplish something, But for right now he
was just one of many immigrants arriving in New York,
speaking very little English and with no money. So his
first task was fine work.

Speaker 3 (11:02):
When I come to New York, I went to work
in a sewing company to make him clothes. So make
a collar of the sleeves or whatever. Fifty five cents
an hour. I was a lot of money then, well,
least for me was anyway. I didn't know anything in
the interest in metric so I said, I want to

(11:26):
learn how to do it. So the guy says, to me,
go to school. There's trade school. So I went to
trade school. I was there one week. The guy said,
little fella, you need to go get a job. You
don't need to go to school for this, and you
can teach the other guys how to do that. I
couldn't speak English, now can I teach anybody? So I

(11:51):
went to Denver, Colorado, got a job in machine shop.

Speaker 2 (11:55):
But before Tony was hired at the shop he would
work at. He faced some a version because of his
lack of English, and.

Speaker 3 (12:02):
They said, you can't how can you do this job?
You can't work. I said, give me a job. If
I can't do it, don't have to pay me anything.
I want for free. Said, oh, we have a union
here and stuff. We can't do that. And the guy
says over there was speaking Italian, So my Italian was

(12:22):
not really good, but I was the only thing I have.
And nobody speak orations or the guy that told to
me and Italian, and he said, you really think you
can do the other way? I said yeah. So the
guy said that the guy, why don't you give a
guy opportunity to give him a chance? The guy said, well,
come on in the office. It won't like that that
way doing it. He said, look, nobody knows anything, you know,

(12:45):
why don't you just maybe you can get big laugh
out of it. The guy give it to me. Give
me a machine that wasn't running for years. I cleaned
that machine, made a slide move, turned the machine on,
and I made it parts in one week, just as
good as the people was doing. Now another machine that

(13:07):
was costing that time probably maybe eight thousand dollars. I've
worked there for a year or something. But then these
people says, you know, Tony, once you go to California,
it's a nice weather and you can make it three
dollars an hour, three dollars an hour. God, you know,

(13:28):
that's a lot of money. Three dollars an hour, more
than three times on I may now and I bought
it nineteen forty seven Surrey Backer, and I was at peace.
I'll tell you the guy that I worked and they
give me a dollar and a quarter an hour, he

(13:49):
give me Heath Carter Drive. That's the first list of
me in this country. At people pleasant, they wanted me
to help me. I felt so guilty that I have
to leave by I said, I gotta get it, I
gotta get ahead. So anyway, I only made it about

(14:12):
ten miles away from the Denver my car overheated.

Speaker 2 (14:18):
Nevertheless, Tony made it to California, where he would eventually
find work at the Aosmith Company, a manufacturer of everything
from car bodies to water heaters.

Speaker 3 (14:29):
There was really good job. I was making over three
dollars an hour.

Speaker 2 (14:34):
But there was a downside.

Speaker 3 (14:35):
We have a norm that you have to produce leaves
that much to keep your pay rate. And so I
will make that. I will even give it some parts
to the people next to me. Make it the same parts.
Remember the inspector who will say, this is not your part,
this is this is Tony part. To the other guy.

(14:58):
So the guy who was you know, let it go,
you know. But the one thing that didn't like they
didn't want me to make it so many parts, didn't
want me to shop my own tool, very strict union.
The guy said, look, you don't have to make that

(15:19):
many parts. I said, but look at how many people
on the line waiting to get a tool shot. I said,
I can do it in five minutes, and I ain't
back to work. The guy said, Tony, if you're going
to do that, you're going to get in trouble. And
it was right I did. The people when I go

(15:41):
out to the bathroom, they over there saw me down
everywhere I can.

Speaker 2 (15:46):
They messed with Tony's machine and bring his ability to produce.

Speaker 3 (15:51):
I said, my god, I was thinking about my mom
telling me you work hard and do a good job.
Why this? Why do people do stuff like that? I
was read, is sick of my stomach.

Speaker 2 (16:05):
Tired of spending his days at a company where he
was being held back, Tony decided to use one hundred
and twenty five dollars he had saved up to make
a down payment on his own machine. Soon he was
able to rent a garage in South Elmonte California and
would pick up some contract jobs, initially working for a
supervisor AO Smith Company, who would offer him some advice.

Speaker 3 (16:29):
He said, Tony, I heard you had a lady at home,
and he said, what about making these chefs for an
And I said, sure, here you're telling me what you
can do. The guy gives me that. He said, Tony,
you know you're doing a good job, but I need
a thousandths of the sport, not just fifty or one hundred.

(16:52):
Why don't you just quit a job and do this
in your garage. You can make more money than you're
making here, said doctor was my goal, but I are
youn't know where to get to work.

Speaker 1 (17:05):
And you're listening to Tony Maglica tell the story of
his journey from Croatia, through Europe to the United States,
from New York City to Denver and ultimately to California
where he was looking for that three dollars a day job,
but in the end fellow workers were holding him back
from his potential and what he could do with his

(17:25):
life and what happens next. Well, you'll hear more of
Tony Maglica's story Our American Dreamers here here on our
American story, and we continue with our American stories and

(18:11):
the story of Tony Maglica. When we last left off,
Tony had just been given a bit of advice. He
was told that he could make more money being his
own boss. So in nineteen fifty five Tony founded mag Instrument.
Let's pick up where we last left off.

Speaker 3 (18:30):
I was doing the water for Jance Bonner Clard and
I was doing also the business for Cloudy Multiflyer. Then
used to be a calculator by division and multiplication, you know. Anyway,
they did the government job. So I was doing some
job from them, and I was doing all different kinds

(18:54):
of stuff. The twenty millimeter projectile my way is so
infuse bomb and it was a very competitive job. For
one penny. You can lose the job even if you
run it now and it's job shop is very competitive.
Business people don't know how competitive that is. Anyway, I

(19:17):
was doing different job shop work, all kinds of job
shop work, including a component. Then actually took the satellite,
first satellite up in space. I was making parts for everybody.
Then there's a company by an a Bankei company, and

(19:37):
they made an aluminum light. So I told the guy,
you know, I can make a light better than anything
that you guys have. So when I develop and a showment,
he said, no, we want to make our own life.
We don't want your life.

Speaker 2 (19:54):
But despite the setback, others were still interested in Tony's flashlight,
including Neil Perkins, founder of Safari Land, who was looking
to make a new flashlight specifically designed for law enforcement.

Speaker 3 (20:09):
And he said, I heard that you have a flop flight.
How about let me sell your flat flights. Okay, how
many you can sell last year? We will sell several
thousand for the whole year. Yeah, he said that part
of it that we couldn't get it. I said, well,

(20:30):
if I'm going to make it for you, I wanted
fifteen thousand a month. He said twenty fifteen thousand a month.
It's crazy. Well, I said, I know I can make
it and I can sell it. I can make it
and I can make it in production. I can make

(20:51):
it economic point off and be able to sell it.
He said, I'm sorry to telling about the cows. I
wish you changed your If you changed your mind, If
it doesn't work, please come back.

Speaker 2 (21:05):
So it determined, Tony took his flashlight to a trade show.

Speaker 3 (21:09):
We saw him for a show. Thousands.

Speaker 2 (21:13):
You heard right. Tony had far exceeded expectations at his
first trade show, and Magniic wasn't just popular with law enforcement.
With the introduction of mini mag it became popular with
the average consumer as well. Tony was making a lot
of flashlights.

Speaker 3 (21:31):
I reviewed thousands day, all the flashlight combined. Not just
MANI mine, but many not. We sold him millions.

Speaker 2 (21:45):
Tony Maglica, who came back to his birth country, speaking
no English and with very little money, it become a
self made millionaire. Tony didn't settle down, though, and now
in his nineties he's still working and making Magli in America,
nowhere else.

Speaker 3 (22:03):
I got to work every day. I never missed the day.
I work from Monday through Saturday. Saturday. I spend not
quite full day, but during the week I trying to
be here before eight, and I never leave before six,

(22:28):
maybe seven sometime when it's nice with the light is on,
I don't go home till nine. Then when I come home,
I eat the dinner. I go right on the drawing
board upstairs. People said, why are you doing. Don't you
made enough money? Yes, I hadn't made enough money. I

(22:49):
want the mag to continue. I want my children to continue.
I want the people that are here, they've been with
me from beginning, to continue. So what do I do now?
Just kick him in a butt and say go home.
You can't do that. My conscience will let me. When

(23:11):
you make enough money for yourself and your family is secure,
and if you can do a good thing, good deed,
there is not the biggest pleasure in the world. They're
doing that. My really gully this some day to have
this company before I leave this rf that I can
get a good people. Give him a little slice of

(23:36):
that pie.

Speaker 2 (23:37):
For Tony. His mission is to keep his business in
the country that made it possible to exist in the
first place, and to continue to help the people that
open their arms to him. It's the least you can do.

Speaker 3 (23:50):
People retire, or people call me and tell me that
they thank me. They thank me what I've done for them.
One guy I have it. I didn't have it very
much money or they all was really struggling there, and
the doctor told me he's got a script working. The

(24:11):
guy comes him in my office and he's crying. I said, John,
what's the matter. I have to leave my job, this job,
I said, But this is the end of the world. No,
he said, I have a heart problem. The doctor wants

(24:33):
me to retire. Stop working, said John, it's O care.
You know I didn't have that much money. I wrote
him a check over one hundred thousand dollars, send them
around the world. I felt good to know that I
was able to do that for him. I invested in equipment,

(24:54):
I invest invest on the people, and I didn't want
to go through not to make it. I can go
in through her there to try and make it. I
mean to multibillion error. Why this is the only place
in the world they can do what I did. And

(25:14):
everybody has a doctor opportunity. There is no place in
the world that you can have what you opportunity that
you have here. I will give up all my business,
everything for this country. I will give my life for
this country. You're free to do whatever you want, slung
as you say, within the law. The best day I have.

(25:39):
I think when I landed in New York, it was
land of freedom. You don't understand what that is. Nobody
understand what the freedom is. Nobody understand what we got here.
They don't understand that our constitution, Like there's something horrible

(26:01):
saying they think they want to change it. Why do
they want to change it when it's perfect? Don't try
to fix something is now broken. That compared with all
the world, to find the place that you can think
you would rather be than hear it. I don't care

(26:22):
who you are, I don't care what you are. God
bless you be what you want to be.

Speaker 1 (26:34):
And you've been listening to the voice of Tony Magliica.
And this may be as good a story as we've told,
not just about him, but about the country that adopted
him and the country he adopted, because it's a two
way street. In my goodness, did he adopt this country
and does he love it? In Croatia, across Europe and
across America, from New York to Denver to California. And

(26:56):
when he finally becomes his own boss and brings his
maglighte to a trade show, two hundred and fifty thousand ordered,
and yet he didn't cash out. He didn't make his
Maglite in China. He wanted to keep it here in
appreciation of the country that he so loves. The story
of Tony Maglika, the story of American entrepreneurialism and the

(27:19):
American heart, This is our American stories.
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Host

Lee Habeeb

Lee Habeeb

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