Artkraft Strauss Sign Corporation.

The Arkraft Strauss Sign Corporation created some of the most iconic signs in American advertising. A major presence in Times Square since its earliest days, Artkraft Strauss was responsible for the "smoking" Camel Cigarettes sign, the "flying" Anheuser-Busch eagle, the 2 Times Square Coca-Cola sign, and numerous other large-scale illuminated signs referred to in the trade as "spectaculars." The company was also responsible for the New Year's Eve ball drop in Times Square, a tradition they began in 1907, until 1996.

The Artkraft Strauss Sign Corporation had its roots in Strauss Signs, a small sign-painting operation founded in 1897 by Benjamin Strauss. Strauss Signs had a reputation for producing meticulously painted showcards and applying gold leaf lettering to office doors and storefronts, but by the 1920s, the company had grown to become the principle builder of theatre marquees on Broadway, whose work included the original marquees of the New Amsterdam Theatre on 42nd Street, the Ziegfeld Follies, and many of the original Loew's Theatre buildings.

One of Strauss' employees, a Russian immigrant named Jacob Starr, quickly rose to the position of company foreman. He was dubbed "the lamplighter of Broadway" for the enormous quantities of incandescent bulbs used in his signs. In the 1920s, Starr struck out on his own. In 1929, he purchased the Artkraft Company of Lima, Ohio, which held the exclusive North American franchise for neon, a burgeoning technology at that time. Starr returned to New York in 1932 and merged his new company with Benjamin Strauss' Strauss Signs to become Artkraft Strauss.

During World War II, Artkraft supplied custom metal work to the United States military, including hand-made airplane wings and containers for installation in aircraft and tanks. When blackouts and energy shortages limited their ability to illuminate their signs through electricity and neon, the company developed alternative methods, including the use of rechargeable battery packs and dangling mirrors that picked up ambient light.

In the postwar decades, Artkraft grew to employ more than 200 people, many of whom were second- and third-generation artisans. During this period, they dominated the outdoor advertising market, and created many of the instantly recognizable signs which would become synonymous with Times Square: the Kleenex sign featuring Little Lulu; the animated Canadian Club whisky sign; the Bond Clothing waterfall; and a Budweiser sign atop the Brill Building with an animated neon eagle and "galloping" neon Clydesdales. In addition to the spectaculars of Times Square, Artkraft Strauss was responsible for a number of stadium scoreboards, including those in Busch Memorial Stadium in St. Louis; Philadelphia's Veterans Stadium; Anaheim Center in California; and Shea Stadium in New York.

Artkraft Strauss has historically been a family affair: Starr's son, Mel, became the company's primary designer and salesman in 1939, and later, its president; Mel's daughter, Tama, and son, Jonathan, took the company into the third generation of family ownership and operation after Mel's death in 1988. Tama Starr acquired sole ownership of the company in 1994, and as of 2011 continues to serve as its president and CEO.

Tama Starr's ascendancy coincided with the company's extension into marketing and promotion, advertising space leasing, sign design, and media consulting. It also marked an era in which Artkraft Strauss would become known for more than just their signs; they played an active role in the redevelopment of Times Square through their participation in the 42nd Street Development Project, a joint initiative of the City of New York and the New York State Urban Development Council. The company was awarded an exclusive contract to market ten new advertising displays in the heart of the revitalization area.

Their 1993 creation of an anti-gun sign, the Dehere Gun Fighters of America's Gun Clock-colloquially known as the "Death Clock," a play on the Durst Foundation's Debt Clock, another Artkraft Strauss creation-raised hackles among area businesses and the Times Square BID, who felt that broadcasting crime statistics in Times Square flew in the face of their efforts to rid the neighborhood of crime and to rehabilitate its reputation. This controversy had lingering and deleterious effects for Artkraft Strauss; most notably, it led to a falling out with the Times Square BID, who had promoted the New Year's Eve ball drops since the early 1990s. In 1996, Times Square BID announced that Artkraft Strauss would no longer provide or operate the New Year's Eve ball.

Artkraft Strauss continued to produce some of the most recognizable and innovative displays in New York City in the 1990s. During this period, neon had been eclipsed by other technologies, such as LED, video, and complex computer-operated robotics. Artkraft remained on the cutting edge of these technologies, as evidenced by their work on a number of large, technically sophisticated projects, including a 12 ton, half-scale model of a Concord jet for British Airways; a 48 foot mechanically animated lava lamp for Target; block-long Dow Jones and NASDAQ stock tickers on the face of the Morgan Stanley building; a new Coke sign at 2 Times Square featuring a 40 foot high, 3-dimensional Coke bottle with animated fiber optics and a popping cap; and the Holiday Inn Crowne Plaza marquee, which included an installation of over 15,000 square feet of signage. The company also managed a number of historically significant projects, such as the restoration of Radio City Music Hall's original art deco marquees, the contribution of a bronze marquee, vitrines, and a chandelier to Carnegie Hall, and the refurbishment of the Long Island City Pepsi-Cola sign which the company had originally manufactured and erected in 1936.

Over the years, Artkraft Strauss acquired the assets of smaller companies, and created a number of subsidiaries. Companies that have operated under the umbrella of Artkraft Strauss include Artkraft Strauss Leasing, Inc; Artkraft Infocenter Network; 212 West 43rd Street Corp.; A&S Electrical Displays; Electric Display, Inc; West Side Neon; Globe Maintenance; ESP Signs LTD; Calvano Erectors; El Advertising; and Crossroads Outdoor Advertising. By the end of the 1990s, it had diversified its operations to include marketing and promotion; advertising space leasing; sign design and engineering; and sign fabrication and installation.

Artkraft Strauss Sign Company closed its factory in 2006, and currently operates as a sign design and consulting company.

From the guide to the Artkraft Strauss records, 1927-2004, (The New York Public Library. Manuscripts and Archives Division.)