San Francisco County
Biographies
JACOB CHARLES GREEN
GREEN, JACOB CHARLES, President of the J. Charles Green
Company, San Francisco, California,
was born at Kempen, Germany,
Sept. 7, 1869, son of Solomon Green and Helen (Cohn) Green. His father was a well known glass manufacturer
of Kempen. He was married in Salt
Lake City, Utah, Dec. 25, 1904,
to Miss Mae Gibbons, and is the father of one child, Herbert Green.
From
1875-1880 Mr. Green Attended the common school in Kempen,
and then took a two years’ course in the Gymnase of
the same town. In 1882 he went to California
and for the next three years was a pupil at the South Cosmopolitan grammar
school of San Francisco. During this period he was selling newspapers
on the street, in this way earning the expenses of his schooling. Grammar school through, he entered the
circulation department of the Evening Post, working there for three years; then
going over to the Evening Bulletin for one year, where
he was a sort of factotum and assistant manager, and at the end of this time he
had gained knowledge enough to start a newspaper of his own. This confidence was justified, in 1890, by
the success of three papers—the California Dramatic and Sporting News, the
Pacific Coast Home Monthly, and the Sunday Comfort, of all of which he was publisher,
proprietor and business manager. Having
advanced their circulation and advertising departments to encouraging
proportions, he sold out to enter the general advertising field. This included covers for bills of fare,
dramatic amusement weeklies, and a patent cover which he invented to show
advertising on the cover pages of magazines after their distribution. In 1894 he entered the bill board advertising
business on his own account, and on December 26 of the following year the firm
of Siebe & Green was formed, becoming a
competitor of the California Advertising Sign Company, at that time in control
of the field in San Francisco. During the evolution of this firm and up to
the present, J. Charles Green symbolized the progressiveness that has actuated
it. In 1898 the firm of Owens &
Varney, which had bought out the California Advertising Sign Company,
consolidated with Siebe & Green. Subsequently both the Siebe
and the Owens interests were sold to J. Charles Green and Thomas H. B. Varney,
under the firm name of Varney & Green.
In
1908 J. Charles green and Mr. Varney divided the business, the former retaining
that of San Francisco and the northern part of California.
After
the earthquake of 1906 Mr. Green proved himself one of the most public spirited
and resourceful of San Francisco’s
citizens. None was more optimistic and
courageous than he; and the posters reading, “Work morn, noon and night, and
make dear San Francisco one million
by 1915,” which he donated to the city, bearing their message of hope and
confidence in the future are said to have had an inspiring effect on the
decisive movement for the Great Exposition of 1915.
At
the great convention, held at Washington with regard to the Panama-Pacific
International Exposition, there were deputations from almost all the large
cities, each anxious to secure the right to hold the exposition within its own
city. Mr. Green interviewed the members
of the San Francisco delegation
before they left for the capital, urging them to do all in their power to get
the honor for their city. Also, he
ordered 100 posters, 100 by 10 feet, bearing the words, “Get San Francisco the
Exposition,” and had them posted up all over the city
of Washington. When the San Franciscans arrived they were
greeted by these posters all over the national capital and it put a fighting
spirit into them that helped win the day.
Six minutes after the announcement had been made of San
Francisco’s victory he had that city covered with huge
posters conveying the news and praising the work of the delegation. His action in this instance was voluntary and
inspired by patriotism. It had the
effect of instilling confidence into the members of the delegation and of instilling
in the minds of the citizens of San Francisco
appreciation of what the delegation had done for the city. From that time forward Mr. Green has been one
of the hardest workers for the success of the great exposition, and his hobby
can truly be said to the success of San Francisco
herself.
Among
the notable expressions of his efforts in this direction, since 1906, were the
building of the Princess, the Valencia and the Orpheum Theaters and the
Auditorium building; and among the strongest proofs of his marvelous power of
instilling his enthusiasm into others is the loyalty and pull-together spirit
of his employes.
The
rise of Mr. Green from the position of a newsboy, alone in a new country,
unable to speak its language, to that of a leader of civic enterprise and the
head of a great business has been one of the most remarkable in the annals of San
Francisco. To
persons unfamiliar with the subject, the extent of Mr. Green’s operations is
surprising. In his advertising business
he has 275 employes, 100 of whom are artists and
designers. He has a monthly pay roll of
$25,000, while for space in San Francisco
he pays a rental of $70,000 per annum.
He has invested in steel and wooden boards $750,000, and utilizes nine
motor cars and thirty-eight horse-drawn vehicles to handle the material used.
Mr.
Green is President of the Valencia Street Improvement Co., the Grauman Skating Rink Co., and the Market Street Improvement
Co. of San Jose; and he is a member of the following clubs and
associations: The Army and Navy, S. F.
Ad. Club, Rotary Club, Home Industry League, Chamber of Commerce,
Paint Association of America, Association of Bill Posters of America.
Transcribed by Betty Vickroy.
Source: Press Reference
Library, Western Edition Notables of the West, Vol. I, Page
781, International News
Service, New
York,
Chicago, San
Francisco, Los Angeles, Boston, Atlanta. 1913.
© 2007 Betty Vickroy.
California Biography Project
San Francisco County
California Statewide
Golden Nugget Library