2. Seltzer Service: Help the Reader, From Cradle to Grave

Louis Seltzer was proud of the oft-repeated statement that The Press followed its readers “from the cradle to the grave.” Newborns were promptly enrolled in the paper’s Cradle Club, where they regularly received pamphlets on the care and feeding of the infants. There was a teens writer who reported on the accomplishments of those in that age group.

And there was a Golden Age writer who covered meetings of Senior Citizen groups. Couples planning a Golden Wedding celebration were encouraged to come into The Press office, have their picture taken in the photographic studio and then to sit down with a reporter who would prepare a story to be published with the photograph of the couple in the next day’s paper.

Once a year Seltzer would play host at a dinner party for all the people in the city who celebrated a golden wedding in the last year. They would enjoy a fine meal, wear paper party hats, have a piece of a giant wedding cake, and hear Editor Seltzer praise them for being role models in the community. For many of the attendees it was their first time in the ballroom of a big hotel.

At the end of one’s life, The Press was happy to carry a glowing obituary about the individual: a man could be noted for being an excellent handyman who frequently came to his neighbor’s assistance in fixing things,” and the women were cited for being “an outstanding mother and an excellent cook and seamstress.”