Albany Products Company Inc Anti-Corrosive Castleton NY 12033

 Recently discovered in an old storage barn in South Schodack NY a box of nuts and bolts and a post card  and a sales brochure from a company called Albany Products Inc. As it said on the brochure , nuts , bolts and non ferrous fasteners. The address on the post card had the corporate address 351 Connecticut Avenue South Norwalk , Connecticut. This was at one time a fairly successful nearly nationwide company. They had offices in Norwalk , Boston , Chicago , Cleveland , Dallas and San Carlos. It was a consortium of manufacturing companies that produced hardware.  In my hometown of Castleton NY 12033 a company called The Anti- Corrosive was part of this consortium. It was located on route 9J by the Hudson River. There was a large billboard sign next to the road which announced the company. It was well known in Castleton/Schodack because it had a super large representation of a nut and bolt screwed together on the billboard.
 One might ask why if they had a corporate headquarters in New England , why would the company call themselves Albany Products. Well first of all it made them first in the phone book , which was important back in pre-www eras. Secondly , with the incorporation most officials and initial sales force came from the Albany , Tri Cities area. Hence the name , reflecting the origins. Two salesmen that I knew came from Castleton NY. One was a  Jack Davis and the other one Henry Peters who started the New England office of The Anti Corrosive. Peters ended up selling many of the specialty items used on a once famous submarine called The Nautilus which was the first atomic powered submarine in the world and the USA fleet.
 The oddest part of this company was their corporate logo which was on the post card. It was a picture of a man , dressed in a gray suit perhaps 1950's style  with a bow tie with a } type symbol on the tie. He has a rather happy sublime smile. Protruding from his ears is a large nut and bolt. Truly one of the more unusual  corporate logos I have ever seen anywhere.
 You may wonder what happened  to this once successful American Company. Well it was bought out in the mid to late seventies. Also as American manufacturing goes, it went  , overseas to such countries as China.
  As a post script , I knew Henry Peters , he was a favored uncle. Hence my limited knowledge of this company. He lived in Berlin Ct. 06037 on top of a ridge. Upon finding these materials I was flooded with rather fond memories of the 60's and 70's when I knew him best. By the way he was a top salesman in their workforce for many yrs. This blog is so dedicated to him.
 

Simon Templar : RIP ?

 I have been reluctant to write this blog. Being a fan of old style detective fiction and spy fiction , whether it be Phillip Marlowe or James Bond {he started in 1952} or Simon Templar The Saint.1928. I do think some interesting literature came from these authors , Ian Fleming , Leslie Charteris , Dorothy Sayers etc. But times and tastes change. The hardboiled Private Eye has given way to more technological  or  a more cultured type of agent. So after waiting for the new Saint pilot to be made and  sold for production my actress daughter has informed me that this project is as dead as a door nail to use an old phrase. The expensive pilot did not appeal  to those entertainment  powers that be. So it appears this era of sleuth sainthood is over. After multiple books , movies , radio and TV shows it may very well be RIP for Templar. That stick figure with the halo is probably retired as a long standing logo. But the updated logo for the 90's movie of a lightening bolt with a halo remains my tattoo.
 So I finally decided that this obit of sorts should now be written. Mind you my Aunt who socially knew the creator Leslie Charteris in Ocala FL and tried to convince  my Mom to give me the middle name Templar is rolling over in her grave. It appears time to say good by.