I was getting really bored after my second year at H.H. Gregg, so I applied at the Indianapolis Star. I had applied years earlier, after I lost my job at Ayres. But with no computer skills, they wouldn’t hire me. My father-in-law had retired from the Star after a career as a photoengraver. He loved the place and thought it was the best place to work. He was in the Photoengravers Union (President at one point), so the pay was good and the benefits were the best. I knew I could make more money there than any other place as a graphic artist, so I applied again — my third time in 4 years.
This time, with computer skills and catalogue expertise (which they needed), I was hired. The funny thing was, although they insisted that I have computer skills, they didn’t have a computer for me for weeks. I would sit at the bosses’ computer every time she got up from her seat or use the scanning station computer in between other people.
My big client those first few months was Spiece — a large shoe and clothing store that was up on North Keystone. They were family-owned from northern Indiana. The owner wanted his ads to match his ego, which was very large; so that was good for the advertising revenue. My job was to keep him happy. I never got to meet him face to face, but did hear him talk at a sales meeting (over the intercom).
Of course, there was no budget for hiring models for the ads he wanted, so I had to be creative. Luckily, I found people in the building that I could talk into modeling for me. I would be in the elevator and see a young trim co-worker and ask “what’s your pant size?” People must have thought I was crazy.
I used photos of my family too. My 13-year-old son was a Spiece model many times. All of his classmates in middle school thought he was famous, since they kept seeing him in newspaper ads. I remember one family cookout my beautiful, tall, blonde niece was in her cute Levis and I asked her to model for me by the big maple tree. That photo became that week’s Spiece ad.
The Spiece owner decided he wanted a Christmas catalogue and I only had two weeks before it needed to be printed. He wanted 16 pages and I got only a Post-It note describing what he wanted: IU stuff, Levis, 50 pairs of athletic shoes, designer clothes and accessories. When I was at Ayres, there was a whole staff of people to help and three months to do a catalogue. But I had to do the Spiece catalogue all by myself in two weeks. I had to pick out the merchandise, have it rung up at the store (the cash register’s print out description was all I had for copy), haul it back to the Star in my own van and sort it out, do the page layouts, find models (free ones, of course), set up the photo shoots, edit the photos, write the copy and do all the production work on the computer to make the catalogue.
The 50 pairs of shoes were shipped in. When I went to the photo studio to set up the shots for our photographer Randy (who was so patient and so good at what he did) I realized the shoes were not laced — I needed to have them laced up to photograph them. I called the salesperson for the account and he made up some excuse not to help. He said call building services — and of course they didn’t have anyone available to lace up shoes. I called my boss and she sent down a couple of people to help me sit on the floor and lace up 50 shoes!
I was two days from deadline when I realized I needed a front cover! What am I gonna put on the front cover? Well, I’d spent every waking hour on this catalogue and it was only a few weeks before Christmas, so what would make me happy to have on the front cover — my kids! So my 23-year-old daughter and 13-year-old son were on the front cover (pictured here). I sent the catalogue out to all the friends and relatives for Christmas.
Luckily, the client loved the catalogue, even though we weren’t set up to do such work. Later, I had to produce a 16 page catalogue for Diversions Gift Store with dozens of gift items and collectibles all packed in those tight little styrofoam containers. What an ordeal that project was, with setting up all the photos and unpacking and packing all the merchandise! I even splatter painted a big piece of blue watercolor paper to look like it was snowing in the background and used polyfill (quilt batting) as snow for the items to be displayed on.
Doing jewelry photo shoots was even more challenging — you can’t imagine how hard it is to make a diamond ring stand up on end to get a shot. At Ayres there were specialized stylists who knew all the tricks and made a great living. I was on salary and a woman. I remember even the person who ironed and pressed the clothes for the photo shoots made $750 a day, but they still had to live in a closet size apartment in New York City.
The advertising department went through many a reorganization over the years. When I first started at the Star, the classified pages were still pasted up by hand and union workers (all men, all white and over 70 of them) sat at what they called dog houses (slanted tables) with their long galley (sheet) of type and they put the puzzle of classified ads together every day. When everything was computerized, those employees were sat in front of a computer and taught to do corrections. Many did fine, but many couldn’t learn something so totally foreign to them. At least the Star tried to retrain them — many newspapers across the country just left them idle until their contracts ran out and they could retire. I remember one guy just made coffee all day for the department. Those were the days when the Pulliams still owned the Star. It was a far different place than it is today with a giant corporation making all the decisions. Back then, the company had an employee picnic grounds and swimming pools — the “Fourth Estate” off 56th Street (up against Belzer Boy Scout Campgrounds). It was a great place for Star employees to take their families for a day of swimming, grilling, volleyball, or just hanging out. Since my father-in-law had worked there for years, we had been going since I married his son, Steve. They had a big shelter building with fireplaces and tables. A big pool house and a playground. We, as a family, spent every Memorial Day, Fourth of July, Labor Day, family birthdays and many Sundays in between at Fourth Estate. Generations of the family slid down that slide into the pool. After Gannett took over the Star in 2000, it didn’t take long for it to be eliminated. (paula.eastsidevoice@yahoo.com)
These are the first few years at The Star — next month I’ll tell you more.
