July 30, 2024 • 8 mins
We all dream, but what stops us from making those dreams a reality? This is about a middle-class kid from Ohio who never stopped believing in the future.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Have you ever asked yourself if there's a limit to
your dreams? Maybe you think you're not talented enough, or
connected enough, or you're gonna have the right looks or
background to make it to the top. Well, guess what,
You are only limited by yourself. None of the rest
of it matters. And the person I'm going to tell
you about proves it. Ever heard these from the golden
(00:21):
age of Madison Avenue ad agencies? I love New York. Oh,
I'm a bad voice. Sorry, PLoP plup, fizz fizz. Oh,
what a relief it is. Well, they came from a
really surprising source. I'm Patty Steele. This kid from Youngstown,
Ohio became the most powerful and wealthiest woman in the
ad world at a time when women were not really welcome.
(00:44):
Mary Wells Lawrence believed in herself and the future. That's
next on the backstory. The backstory is back. Okay, you're
just a shy, middle class kid from Youngstown, Ohio. But
within in a few decades, you become the most powerful
woman in the ad industry's mad Men era with iconic
(01:07):
ad campaigns, and you have spectacular homes around the world
and a massive yacht in the Mediterranean sounds like my
kind of life. And imagine being a part of the
impossibly glamorous world of Madison Avenue advertising in the nineteen
sixties and seventies. I love the show mad Men. You
sort of get a peak at all that glamour, but
(01:28):
you also get a peek at the prejudices that put
up roadblocks for so many talented people in those days.
Mary Wells Lawrence was one of them, but she wasn't
going to let anybody stop her. Mary created some of
the most iconic advertising of that time period. For Ford
Quality is job one for Alka Seltzer PLoP PLoP, phizz fizz. Oh,
(01:49):
what a relief it is, Midas Muffler Trust, the Midas Touch,
also Twa pan am Hertz, IBM, Procter and Gamble, and
notably the State of New York. You know the tune
I Love New York. And she completely rebranded Braniff, an
unsuccessful regional airline, making it into the airline of the
(02:11):
jet set through brilliant advertising, fresh customer relations, and a
colorful makeover of its jets and flight attendant uniforms. Then
she married the CEO and continued to grow her own business.
She was the first woman to found own and run
a major ad agency, and the first female CEO of
a company that traded on the New York Stock Exchanges
(02:33):
Big Board. Okay, now, let's go back to that shy
little girl. An only child growing up in a middle
class family in Youngstown, Ohio, a world away from all
the glitz of post World War II New York City.
Her dad sold furniture, and her mother wanted Mary to
be an actress, enrolling her in music, dance, and acting classes, all,
(02:54):
as it turned out, useful in the world of advertising.
In her late teens, her dad took married to New
York City to study acting at the Neighborhood Playhouse. Think
what that must have been like in nineteen forty five.
She'd never seen a person of color, a really big city,
or even an ocean before a year later, at eighteen,
(03:15):
she headed to the Carnegie Institute of Technology in Pittsburgh
to study business. Eventually, while working as an ad copy
writer back in Youngstown, she got married and then divorced.
Several years later, she moved to New York City working
in Macy's ad department, and then came her career at
several iconic ad agencies. From there, she just kept moving up.
(03:37):
During those years, she and her team came up with
iconic ads, including one for Braniff, which at the time
was a struggling regional airline. The CEO asked her to
put Braniff in the news, and so that's what she did.
She said, Braniff's terminals looked like a prison camp, the
planes were drabbed, and flight attendants dressed like nurses. But
(03:57):
it was the nineteen sixties, and she said, I saw
Braniff in a wash of beautiful color. The airliners were
painted in those brilliant colors, interiors were redone in gorgeous
mods sixties fabrics. Terminal lounges were redesigned with primitive art,
and flight attendants were dressed in Emilio Pucci fashions, clothing
(04:18):
and sexy designs, all in brilliant colors that were removed
in layers during the flights. An idea she called the airstrip.
Although they never got naked. The ad slogan the end
of the plane plane. Braniff suddenly became the airline of
the young jet set and had an eighty percent jump
in business. Mary thought she'd earned the right to be
(04:41):
her agency's president, and her CEO said, you're absolutely right.
We're going to give you all the decision making power
and the money of the president. But here's the thing,
You're a woman, and a woman president will scare clients away.
So she didn't get the title. Mary was livid. She
said he could see that I was feeling a red rage,
and he said, you wouldn't want to ruin something you bill,
(05:03):
would you. That's when I just walked out the door.
I wanted my own agency. Her team went with her
and they set up shop in a hotel suite. Pretty
soon they had clients like Ford, IBM, Procter and Gamble,
American Motors, Cadbury, Schwebs, Hurts, Philip Morris and Pan MTWA,
and of course Braniff. She then married the brand of CEO.
(05:25):
Then came her most far reaching ad campaign of all.
It was I Love New York, which began in nineteen
seventy seven when the city was dangerous, filled with garbage
and graffiti, there was a serial killer running around, and
there was plenty of racial upset. To bring back tourism
to the city and around New York State, Mary's company,
(05:46):
Wells Rich Green was hired along with a graphic designer
who came up with the heart logo to match the
slogan I love New York, says Mary. The first ad
we made ended with the actor Frank Langella as Dracula
outside of Broadway Theater where he was starring as that vampire.
He looked into the camera and he said, menacingly, I
(06:06):
love New York, especially in the evening. The ad campaign
was originally supposed to last just a few months, but
it went on for years. One of the most successful
in history, Mary Wells Lawrence came of age in an
era when deals were made in exclusive New York City restaurants,
spectacular seaside mansions in the Hamptons, and in the south
(06:28):
of France, where she and her husband owned a chateau,
and where her pal, Princess Grace of Monaco would drop
in to wow her clients. They spent a lot of
time on board their yacht, and in fact, after her
husband died in two thousand and two, she sold it
and bought a much bigger one, the one hundred and
fifty five foot yacht called Strange Love. Mary said, I
(06:51):
love to travel. I constantly want to learn things, learn
something each day that I didn't know yesterday. In nineteen
seven one, she was named Woman of the Year by
the American Advertising Federation and inducted into the ad Hall
of Fame. In nineteen ninety nine, Adage called her advertising's
most widely publicized symbol of glamour, success, wealth, brains and beauty,
(07:17):
and she was tough. In the nineteen eighties, she survived
both uterine and breast cancer, but Mary Wells Lawrence continued
to believe in the future. One of my favorite stories
about her came from an interview in the New York
Times Real estate section. She was selling this incredible apartment
she lived in in New York because she wanted to
(07:37):
move to the UK. She said, all my life, I've
been where I was supposed to be. I always wanted
to live in London and never got the chance. So
that's where I've bought a new place. Now here's the thing.
She was ninety one years old at the time of
that move, and she was looking toward the future. And
that is the way to live your life. You gotta
(07:58):
believe hope. You're enjoying the backstory with Patty Steele. Follow
or subscribe for free to get new episodes delivered automatically
and feel free to dm me if you have a
story you would like me to cover. On Facebook, It's
(08:19):
Patty Steele and on Instagram Real Patty Steele. I'm Patty
steel The Backstories a production of iHeartMedia, Premiere Networks, the
Elvis Durand Group, and Steel Trap Productions. Our producer is
Doug Fraser. Our writer Jake Kushner. We have new episodes
every Tuesday and Friday. Feel free to reach out to
(08:39):
me with comments and even story suggestions on Instagram at
Real Patty Steele and on Facebook at Patty Steele. Thanks
for listening to the Backstory with Patty Steele, the pieces
of history you didn't know you needed to know.
Have you ever asked yourself if there's a limit to
your dreams? Maybe you think you're not talented enough, or
connected enough, or you're gonna have the right looks or
background to make it to the top. Well, guess what,
You are only limited by yourself. None of the rest
of it matters. And the person I'm going to tell
you about proves it. Ever heard these from the golden
(00:21):
age of Madison Avenue ad agencies? I love New York. Oh,
I'm a bad voice. Sorry, PLoP plup, fizz fizz. Oh,
what a relief it is. Well, they came from a
really surprising source. I'm Patty Steele. This kid from Youngstown,
Ohio became the most powerful and wealthiest woman in the
ad world at a time when women were not really welcome.
(00:44):
Mary Wells Lawrence believed in herself and the future. That's
next on the backstory. The backstory is back. Okay, you're
just a shy, middle class kid from Youngstown, Ohio. But
within in a few decades, you become the most powerful
woman in the ad industry's mad Men era with iconic
(01:07):
ad campaigns, and you have spectacular homes around the world
and a massive yacht in the Mediterranean sounds like my
kind of life. And imagine being a part of the
impossibly glamorous world of Madison Avenue advertising in the nineteen
sixties and seventies. I love the show mad Men. You
sort of get a peak at all that glamour, but
(01:28):
you also get a peek at the prejudices that put
up roadblocks for so many talented people in those days.
Mary Wells Lawrence was one of them, but she wasn't
going to let anybody stop her. Mary created some of
the most iconic advertising of that time period. For Ford
Quality is job one for Alka Seltzer PLoP PLoP, phizz fizz. Oh,
(01:49):
what a relief it is, Midas Muffler Trust, the Midas Touch,
also Twa pan am Hertz, IBM, Procter and Gamble, and
notably the State of New York. You know the tune
I Love New York. And she completely rebranded Braniff, an
unsuccessful regional airline, making it into the airline of the
(02:11):
jet set through brilliant advertising, fresh customer relations, and a
colorful makeover of its jets and flight attendant uniforms. Then
she married the CEO and continued to grow her own business.
She was the first woman to found own and run
a major ad agency, and the first female CEO of
a company that traded on the New York Stock Exchanges
(02:33):
Big Board. Okay, now, let's go back to that shy
little girl. An only child growing up in a middle
class family in Youngstown, Ohio, a world away from all
the glitz of post World War II New York City.
Her dad sold furniture, and her mother wanted Mary to
be an actress, enrolling her in music, dance, and acting classes, all,
(02:54):
as it turned out, useful in the world of advertising.
In her late teens, her dad took married to New
York City to study acting at the Neighborhood Playhouse. Think
what that must have been like in nineteen forty five.
She'd never seen a person of color, a really big city,
or even an ocean before a year later, at eighteen,
(03:15):
she headed to the Carnegie Institute of Technology in Pittsburgh
to study business. Eventually, while working as an ad copy
writer back in Youngstown, she got married and then divorced.
Several years later, she moved to New York City working
in Macy's ad department, and then came her career at
several iconic ad agencies. From there, she just kept moving up.
(03:37):
During those years, she and her team came up with
iconic ads, including one for Braniff, which at the time
was a struggling regional airline. The CEO asked her to
put Braniff in the news, and so that's what she did.
She said, Braniff's terminals looked like a prison camp, the
planes were drabbed, and flight attendants dressed like nurses. But
(03:57):
it was the nineteen sixties, and she said, I saw
Braniff in a wash of beautiful color. The airliners were
painted in those brilliant colors, interiors were redone in gorgeous
mods sixties fabrics. Terminal lounges were redesigned with primitive art,
and flight attendants were dressed in Emilio Pucci fashions, clothing
(04:18):
and sexy designs, all in brilliant colors that were removed
in layers during the flights. An idea she called the airstrip.
Although they never got naked. The ad slogan the end
of the plane plane. Braniff suddenly became the airline of
the young jet set and had an eighty percent jump
in business. Mary thought she'd earned the right to be
(04:41):
her agency's president, and her CEO said, you're absolutely right.
We're going to give you all the decision making power
and the money of the president. But here's the thing,
You're a woman, and a woman president will scare clients away.
So she didn't get the title. Mary was livid. She
said he could see that I was feeling a red rage,
and he said, you wouldn't want to ruin something you bill,
(05:03):
would you. That's when I just walked out the door.
I wanted my own agency. Her team went with her
and they set up shop in a hotel suite. Pretty
soon they had clients like Ford, IBM, Procter and Gamble,
American Motors, Cadbury, Schwebs, Hurts, Philip Morris and Pan MTWA,
and of course Braniff. She then married the brand of CEO.
(05:25):
Then came her most far reaching ad campaign of all.
It was I Love New York, which began in nineteen
seventy seven when the city was dangerous, filled with garbage
and graffiti, there was a serial killer running around, and
there was plenty of racial upset. To bring back tourism
to the city and around New York State, Mary's company,
(05:46):
Wells Rich Green was hired along with a graphic designer
who came up with the heart logo to match the
slogan I love New York, says Mary. The first ad
we made ended with the actor Frank Langella as Dracula
outside of Broadway Theater where he was starring as that vampire.
He looked into the camera and he said, menacingly, I
(06:06):
love New York, especially in the evening. The ad campaign
was originally supposed to last just a few months, but
it went on for years. One of the most successful
in history, Mary Wells Lawrence came of age in an
era when deals were made in exclusive New York City restaurants,
spectacular seaside mansions in the Hamptons, and in the south
(06:28):
of France, where she and her husband owned a chateau,
and where her pal, Princess Grace of Monaco would drop
in to wow her clients. They spent a lot of
time on board their yacht, and in fact, after her
husband died in two thousand and two, she sold it
and bought a much bigger one, the one hundred and
fifty five foot yacht called Strange Love. Mary said, I
(06:51):
love to travel. I constantly want to learn things, learn
something each day that I didn't know yesterday. In nineteen
seven one, she was named Woman of the Year by
the American Advertising Federation and inducted into the ad Hall
of Fame. In nineteen ninety nine, Adage called her advertising's
most widely publicized symbol of glamour, success, wealth, brains and beauty,
(07:17):
and she was tough. In the nineteen eighties, she survived
both uterine and breast cancer, but Mary Wells Lawrence continued
to believe in the future. One of my favorite stories
about her came from an interview in the New York
Times Real estate section. She was selling this incredible apartment
she lived in in New York because she wanted to
(07:37):
move to the UK. She said, all my life, I've
been where I was supposed to be. I always wanted
to live in London and never got the chance. So
that's where I've bought a new place. Now here's the thing.
She was ninety one years old at the time of
that move, and she was looking toward the future. And
that is the way to live your life. You gotta
(07:58):
believe hope. You're enjoying the backstory with Patty Steele. Follow
or subscribe for free to get new episodes delivered automatically
and feel free to dm me if you have a
story you would like me to cover. On Facebook, It's
(08:19):
Patty Steele and on Instagram Real Patty Steele. I'm Patty
steel The Backstories a production of iHeartMedia, Premiere Networks, the
Elvis Durand Group, and Steel Trap Productions. Our producer is
Doug Fraser. Our writer Jake Kushner. We have new episodes
every Tuesday and Friday. Feel free to reach out to
(08:39):
me with comments and even story suggestions on Instagram at
Real Patty Steele and on Facebook at Patty Steele. Thanks
for listening to the Backstory with Patty Steele, the pieces
of history you didn't know you needed to know.
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