Happy Birthday Uncle Henry!

Codger_64

Codger_64

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People from all walks of life, near and far, are at least vaguely acquainted with the name "Uncle Henry", even people who do not own or collect knives. But who the heck is he? Was he a real man, or a figment of some marketing guru's imagination like J.C. Higgins?

Born Henry B. Baer in Manhattan on Christmas Eve, December 24th, 1899, the man known to his peers, workers, customers and friends, eventually to the world as "Uncle Henry", was the namesake of his maternal grandfather, Henry Bodenheim (1823-1873).Today would have been Henry B. Baer's 108th birthday.

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Happy Birthday Uncle Henry!

Michael :)
 
What do you suppose that big 897 up on that plaque would bring on ebay or some other like place. I'll start the imaginary bidding off at $50 bucks... Michael once again thanks for the info it will make for good trivia around the Christmas table with the uncles and such.- Merry christmas all-----Joel s
 
Last year when I posted his bithday greetings, I was asked if he had arthritus in his hands in these pictures. That might have been but this is more likely the cause of the apparent handicap:

It was while making a sales call in New York City that Henry met with a bizarre accident. Opening a door he thought led to a stairwell, Henry plummeted four stories down an open elevator shaft. He survived the fall, but spent six months in Bellevue Hospital recovering from his injuries… a broken pelvis, two broken arms and nose, and a potentially fatal skull fracture.

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For those six months he was recovering in the hospital younger brother Albert, then 18 and employed with Adolph Kastor & Bros., visited nightly and wrote to Henry’s customers, taking care of their orders so that no customers were lost.

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His maternal grandfather, Henry Bodenheim (1823-1873) was a partner of Aaron Kastor in Bodenheim, Meyer, and Kastor of New York City, importers of guns, cutlery, and hardware from Belgium, England, and Germany, primarily marketed in the South. Bodenheim came to America from Germany in the 1840’s and lived in Vicksburg, MS., until 1865. The Vicksburg, Missisippi city directory of 1860 lists Bodenheim H. & Co., drygoods merchants, Washington St., West side.

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Bodenheim, Meyer & Co., 149 Duane and 9 Thomas street, New York is listed in a letter of 1872 pleading with the Federal government to end the post war Federal occupation of New Orleans.

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Henry Bodenheim died in 1873 and the company reorganized as Meyer & Kastor, but did not fare well for a variety of reasons. In September of 1876, the company closed up shop for the final time; all debts and assets were liquidated.
 
Henry Bodenheim died in 1873 and the company reorganized as Meyer & Kastor, but did not fare well for a variety of reasons. In September of 1876, the company closed up shop for the final time; all debts and assets were liquidated.

In fact, it was Aaron’s nephew, Adolph Kastor, immigrated from Germany in 1870, who hired Henry's younger brother, Albert as a salesman at age 16 in 1922. In October, 1876, the 20-year old Adolph Kastor had his new company operating in a building on Canal Street in New York City, Adolph Kastor & Bros., importers of German made knives. This eventually became Camillus Cutlery. In 1932, August Kastor retired from Kastor Bros. and sold his shares in Kastor Bros. to Albert Baer. This is how the Baer's came to begin Camillus ownership.

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From one codger to another, I thank you for that Uncle Henry education tonight. In the left front pocket of my jeans is a small (medium?) Schrade Walden Uncle Henry stockman, the model that the immense one in that photo is patterned after. I've been using it lightly for about 30 years, and it's doing its job as well today as when I first began carrying it. Last week I used it to cut my food when I had lunch at a Chinese restaurant with a friend of mine, and, no, he was not the least bit bothered by that. All of my friends are subject to do the same thing when dining out. Around here men carry and use their knives daily. Merry Christmas, sir.
 
Henry started out at age sixteen working for Frank Seeman Inc., an advertising agency in New York in 1916 and attended classes at the Art Student‘s League at night. But he soon joined the U.S. Navy in 1917, serving in WWI.

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Returning home at the war‘s end, Henry was employed with his two uncles in their furniture business. Both Uncles died four years later in 1922 and Henry, then 22, took over the business, traveling from Maine to Georgia three weeks of the month as salesman.
 
Henry's creativity bloomed in the cutlery world with colorful logos, slogans, and unique knife designs including the Old Timer lines (1958) and the Uncle Henry lines (1967) that saw Schrade rise to the top of the heap in the marketplace, holding the title of the world's largest manufacturer of quality cutlery for years.

From the 1989 Schrade newsletter:

“Henry Baer possessed a natural business accumen which along with his sense of humor and affability made him a success. His creativity was evidenced by many Schrade innovations. And his commitment to making quality product demanded that he field test all Schrade designs before they were introduced to the public.”

In 1983, Henry Baer was elected into the Cutlery Hall of Fame for his contributions to the cutlery industry.

He was artistic in the more commonly thought of arts as well as in his knife design work. His inter-office memos were decorated with caricatures of himself doing whatever action he was requesting of his staff in the memos. His communications with customers were often spiced with poems and jokes, his watercolors and self-portrait artwork hung in the factory. I have a few examples of his sketches and caricatures from some papers of the early 1970's.

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Henry Baer, retired President of Schrade Cutlery Corporation died in his apartment in Manhattan NY., at age 88 at 12:00 noon, Sunday, June 14th, 1987. He had been the President more than 35 years, and also Vice President of the Imperial Schrade Corporation, Schrade’s Parent Company. Listed in his obituary were his wife, Elsa Baer, sons Henry Phillip and Albert, both of Manhattan and two grandchildren, Hank and Susie Baer.


Michael
 
That was really interesting Codger Thank you very much. You have so much information have you written a book on Schrade?
 
.......No but he definately should.....as an artist I'm really glad Henry stuck to knives.. and didn't give up his day job......Does anyone know if Bruce Voyles Schrade book is available yet? Hoo Roo
 
Awesome write-up Michael! You definitely need to get that book written, at this point you must have enough info to write a volume the size of a Webster's dictionary:eek:. Call me if you need someone to proof-read the manuscript:D:D .

Larry, the last I heard Bruce Voyles was planning on debuting the book at the Shot Show in Las Vegas, which takes place the first week in February. I'm not sure if that's still the plan though.

Eric
 
If I remember correctly, the last time he posted here he indicated that he might not make that deadline.
 
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