K.O. for Mr. Avery

"I banana-peeled into this place," Chairman Sewell L. Avery once told a Montgomery Ward stockholder, "and then couldn't get out." That was only half true. In 1931 Avery, then head of prosperous U.S. Gypsum Co., reluctantly agreed to become boss of the giant mail-order house after it had lost nearly $9,000,000 in a year. He made "Monkey Ward" so prosperous in the following years that he never tried to get out.

But many of his underlings, fed up with his imperious one-man rule, did. As such smart merchandisers as Walter Hoving (see below) and the Ford Motor Co.'s Albert Browning left, they jokingly formed the "Has-Been Club." In due time they took in 21 Ward has-been presidents and top executives. Not till Vice President Wilbur Harrington Norton, 44, became president in 1946 did Chairman Avery have someone who was ready to dish out rough treatment as well as take it.

Showdown. Able, amiable Bill Norton was born and raised in Hampton, N.H., and prepped at Exeter. He left Harvard during his freshman year to support himself and three younger brothers after the death of their parents. Starting in Boston's Jordan Marsh Co., he worked his way up in various stores (e.g., W. T. Grant Co. and Filene's in Boston), until he joined Ward's in 1932.

Long before he became president (at $100,000 a year), Norton got along with Avery only by speaking his mind. That worked until recently. Then the showdown came. It was stirred up by aging (now 74) Mr. Avery, who had a scunner on two of Ward's eight vice presidents. Avery decided to settle the matter in his usual fashion: he wanted President Norton to fire them. Norton roared: no. When Avery roared back, Norton handed in his resignation. Within 48 hours the eight vice presidents did the same. (Vice president in charge of personnel and public relations, Lawrence A. Appley, had another job all set. On July i, he will become president of the American Management Association.)

The Winner. Even for tough old Sewell Avery this was too much. He hastily called a special meeting of directors to try to prevent the walkout of his brass. After a five-hour session with the board, Avery got the insurgents to withdraw their resignations and go back to work. Their terms: a change in the company's bylaws to give President Norton (and not Chairman Avery) "general executive authority . . . over the entire business and affairs of the corporation," subject only to the board's control. Crowed one executive: "It's the beginning of the end for Sewell Avery."

It also made Bill Norton the day-today boss of the second biggest merchandising business in the U.S.

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