Hart (Hartvigsen), Hal

The Road to Madison Avenue Hart (Hartvigsen), Hal

Publisher Marketing: The Road to Madison Avenue, a memoir, traces Hal Hart's life from an Iowa farm village during the Great Depression to Madison Avenue. The accounts of his life range from humorous to serious, and for business executives, are instructive. His stories about working with corporate clients are textbook examples of how he resolved many public affairs issues. A major story is his successful seat belt promotion while president of a local Safety Council. The 1961 promotion influenced Detroit car makers to install seat belt anchors in new cars and police and highway patrol's to include seat belt usage in vehicle accidents. Because of his auto industry background in public relations and publishing, a Madison Avenue public relation agency choose him to head a program that successfully countered proposed federal legislation to control the vast automotive industry. His "Peanuts Gang" and early life in Elwood, are described poignantly in a manuscript the author found forty-five years after he had written it as a thirteen-year-old. The story of his Yorkshire Terrier, Thatcher, will bring tears to your eyes. The sports story of Frankie Z will amaze you. His marriage into local society produces stories from mother-in-law problems to boxing with the world's leading violist. More than eighty photographs, dating back to the 1920's, paint a picture of people with whom he grew up, the sports celebrities he followed and interviewed as a radio and TV sports broadcaster, and people he worked with in public relations. He veers away from his business career to include chapters on his dogs, his boats, his family and trips like visiting a Broadway singing star at her Nova Scotia estate.