Alfred Carl Fuller came to the United States from Norway in 1903, and after working at a variety of jobs, he began selling brushes door-to-door in 1905.
By 1910, he had a staff of 25 salesmen. Over the years, Fuller adapted by expanding his line to include a variety of household cleaning products.
When he retired in 1943, annual sales topped $10 million. In 1948, Red Skelton starred in the movie The Fuller Brush Man; in 1950, Lucille Ball did the same in The Fuller Brush Girl.
In the 1990s, the Fuller Brush man may be no more, but the company lives on.
Headquartered in North Carolina, it still thrives, primarily through catalog orders.
