Fred Stein developer and manufacturer of Steinite radios was born in 1888 and grew up in Atchison, Kansas in a nice home on the banks of the Missouri River, not far from the childhood home of famed aviator Amelia Earhart.

In 1923, he began selling his famous crystal radios for $6, and with few changes, sold them through 1924 until he sold interest in his business to a Chicago area firm.

In 1925 Stein Labs began selling two-tube radio designs and employed 1,185 employees producing more than 20,000 radios a month before the 1929 - 1933 Depression.

Steinite radios were then marketed through independent distributors. Many of those early Steinite merchants were automotive supply distributors.

The Lion Match Company of New York started producing personalized matchbooks for the distributors using an early sketch drawing by Harry Moskovitch of a dapper well-dressed man on the back. The hand-drawn man in the vested suit would become known as Steinite Radio "Jack".

Look at the comparison of the early 1920s Steinite Radio "Jack" image on the left and the 1927 PEP Boy "Jack".
              

The three famous corporate caricatures that would later become famous throughout the country as The PEP Boys were commissioned in 1923/24 from drawings by the same Harry Moskovitch creator of Steinite "Jack".

 

 

Manny Rosenfeld, a passionate cigar smoker with round glasses and a Charlie Chaplin mustache, stood on the left. Moe Strauss., who would be known as 'the father of the automotive aftermarket,' was positioned in the middle. Graham "Jack" Jackson's grinning caricature made a brief appearance before being replaced after 1927 with that of Moe's brother, Isaac "Izzy" Strauss, on the right side.

Any existing early Harry Moskovitch drawn Steinite Radio "Jack" matchbook cover is an exceedingly rare treasure.


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