Toscanini to Whiteman

At precisely 8:25 every morning except Sunday last week, the employes of the First National Bank of Pikeville, Ky. entered the bank through a side door, filed past a chiming cuckoo clock, gathered in the directors' room. There Bookkeeper Mary Clark seated herself at a shiny electric organ and began a service consisting of a hymn, ten Bible verses, a short but earnest homily. The homily was delivered by stout, expansive, 39-year-old John Marvin Yost, the bank's vice president, cashier, trust officer and secretary. Sample sentiment: "Pikeville is the grandest town that ever was." At 9 sharp, John Yost and his 14 fellow employes were at their posts and "the best and soundest bank in Kentucky" --50 years old last week--was open for business as usual.

To Pikeville (pop. 3,376), in the drab, hilly, coal-mining country at Kentucky's eastern point, its First National Bank is a wonder that never pales. First National's employes, who start at $85 a month and get four-week vacations, try "to treat each customer as if he was their mother or father or sister or brother." All day every day, customers are entertained not only by the organ but by a 23-tube radio phonograph, playing in subdued tones requests ranging from Toscanini to Whiteman.

On Saturdays, when more clients come to town, two colored moppets in livery greet them at the front door, usher them into a lobby glad with music and flowers and the trilling of canaries. Christmas and holidays the bank keeps open house, with fruit cake, soft drinks and wine for all comers. Last year the bank gave away 20,000 gladiolus bulbs from its own nursery.

These and other innovations to win friends and influence people are the work of John Marvin Yost, a local boy who went into the bank 21 years ago and married a distant relative of its founder, Hotelman James Hatcher. Banker Yost, whose extracurricular activities include a model "Chick Manor" complete with running water and radio, launched his stunts one by one on First National's conservative directors. He says they "have tolerated, me because they . . . know I am honest, with one thing in mind: to run a good bank and make money." Last week Banker Yost rejoiced that deposits were at an all-time high of $2,041,243, assets at $2,325,000 as against $1,675,000 in 1929.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.