The Order Of The Blue Vase

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Nov 09 2003, 00:00 IST

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The United States, soon after the First World War, was somewhat of a nation in isolation. The Senate’s refusal to ratify the Versailles Treaty kept it out of the League of Nations. The influx of immigrants were a drain on the economy and the economy was yet to get its succour from the magic of “mass production”. The invincible, ruthless American tycoon was the icon of the day and of screen-writer Peter B Kyne’s tales of Cappy Ricks.

Even though Mr Kyne really attained the halo of an author with his best-selling love story Kindred Of The Dust, the legend of his crusty timber tycoon Cappy Ricks (first published as a nautical adventure story in 1916) and its successors, Cappy Ricks Retires and The Go-Getter made several comebacks. The Go-Getter, the story of a war cripple turned super salesman, who won Cappy Ricks’ confidence and a $ 10,000 job, first appeared as a serial in the Saturday Evening Post and Cosmopolitan magazine in 1921.

Business historian Alan Axelrod puts that story back in the bestseller lists, with an “Afterword” on motivation, in times when business worldwide is trying to live down a recession and the aftermath of the terror strike on the twin towers in New York. The Go-Getter according to its publishers, has sold five lakh copies worldwide, but this time it is “non-fiction”. The unavoidable declivities of the Ricks Logging and Lumbering Company’s roller coaster ride to riches, are parables for modern day managers to learn from, and war

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