In the modern world, sales training is usually about “pain points,” “funnels,” and “closing techniques.” But in 1924, if you wanted to be a top-tier salesman, you didn’t just check your script—you checked your geometry.
Post #5 of our Character Reading series dives into a heated debate of the Roaring Twenties: The War between Curved Lines and Straight Lines.
The article, titled “What Makes a Successful Salesman?”, appeared in the December 1924 issue of Character Reading magazine—one of dozens of popular publications that blended early psychology, phrenology, and self-improvement advice during the Jazz Age. This was an era when America’s consumer economy was exploding, department stores were becoming palaces of merchandise, and the professional salesman was emerging as a cultural icon. It was also a time when pseudo-scientific theories about skull shapes, facial geometry, and racial characteristics were printed alongside legitimate business advice without a second thought.
The piece features two distinct authorities: Dr. J.M. Fitzgerald and Joseph Ralph, founder of the Pacific Institute of Vocational Analysis. Their advice offers a fascinating window into a moment when biological determinism, “character reading,” and measurements of head shape were considered standard business metrics—right alongside actual sales techniques.
The Geometry of Trust: Mom vs. Dad
Dr. Fitzgerald opens with a theory that sounds almost Freudian, though it predates the widespread popularity of psychoanalysis in American business literature. He argues that humans naturally trust Curved Lines because they remind us of our mothers and our earliest positive experiences.
“Our first happy impressions received in this world are… spherical. Our first meal is thus obtained. The mother’s face and body is much more likely to be built on curved lines.”
In contrast, Straight Lines represent authority and fear—specifically, the disciplinarian figure of “Dad.”
“The straight-lined face, head, and square shoulders… of dad made us walk a straight line.”
Fitzgerald even invokes Shakespeare, citing Julius Caesar’s famous distrust of Cassius’s “lean and hungry look”—a straight-lined face that Caesar found threatening. This blending of classical literature with modern sales psychology was typical of 1920s self-improvement writing, which sought to lend intellectual weight to emerging theories of personality and success.
The Advice? Fake What You Lack.
Despite the unusual theoretical foundation, Fitzgerald’s practical advice to salesmen is surprisingly actionable and reveals the performative nature of early 20th-century business culture: Balance your geometry.
If you are Round (Friendly): You must “square your chin” and “bring your upper lip straight and firm” to show you mean business. Your natural friendliness dispels fear, but you need to project strength and purpose, or buyers won’t take you seriously.
If you are Square (Stern): You must “curve your mouth and eyes” to radiate hopefulness and kindliness, or customers will see you as a “darn grouch.” Fitzgerald even provides testimonials from three men who increased their earnings from USD 25-35 per week to USD 5,000-10,000 per year by learning to smile and project warmth—transforming themselves into “that smiling salesman.”
This focus on physical self-presentation reflects the growing emphasis on personality and charisma in 1920s business culture. The decade saw the publication of Dale Carnegie’s early work and the rise of “personality training” as a professional field.
The “Nordic” Salesman and The Long Head
While Fitzgerald talks geometry, the second expert, Joseph Ralph, dives deep into the phrenological and racial theories that were disturbingly prevalent in 1920s professional literature.
Ralph argues that technical knowledge is actually useless for a salesman—an interesting claim during a decade of rapid technological advancement. Instead, success depends entirely on “Feeling Tones” and, more controversially, head shape and racial background.
The “Long Head”: According to Ralph, a successful salesman needs a “long head from the ears back”—the supposed location of “Sociability” in phrenological theory. Length from the ears forward indicated technical thinking (undesirable for sales), while length behind the ears indicated social ability.
The “High Head”: Height over the ears supposedly indicated confidence; height over the temples indicated “visualization” ability—what we’d now call imagination or creative thinking.
Historical Note on Racial Pseudoscience: Ralph also explicitly states that an outside salesman “must be strongly Nordic,” and claims that “no small, slimly-built, dark-haired, dark-eyed, medium-low-headed person will be happy as a traveling salesman.” This reflects the racial pseudo-science that was endemic in 1920s American professional and academic circles—the same decade that saw the passage of restrictive immigration quotas and the widespread popularity of eugenics theories.
Phrenology—the study of skull shapes to determine personality and ability—had largely been debunked by the scientific community by the 1920s, but it retained enormous popular appeal. Publications like Character Reading magazine existed in the hazy space between legitimate psychology (which was still a young field) and outright quackery. Reading these archives reminds us how casually business advice was mixed with the prejudices and pseudoscientific beliefs of the era, and how recently discriminatory hiring based on physical characteristics and ethnicity was considered not just acceptable, but scientifically justified.
Feeling vs. Facts: An Accidental Truth
Despite the disturbing focus on skull measurements and racial determinism, Ralph stumbles onto a truth that every modern marketer and sales trainer knows: Emotion sells.
“It is not what he knows which counts so much as how he feels… A mere ability to state facts does not take one very far.”
Ralph argues that salesmanship is fundamentally about creating “feeling tones” and mental pictures of desire—concepts that aren’t far removed from modern discussions of emotional intelligence, storytelling in sales, and neuromarketing. He dismisses the idea that salesmanship could be reduced to “multiplying the number of typewriters in the home office, and the purchasing of postage stamps”—essentially predicting that direct mail and form letters (the 1920s equivalent of spam email) would never replace human persuasion.
His emphasis on confidence, sociability, imagination, mental alertness, and “self-detachment”—the ability to see from the customer’s perspective—actually holds up remarkably well, once you strip away the phrenological nonsense and racist gatekeeping.
A Window Into 1924 Sales Culture
This article captures a pivotal moment in American business history. The 1920s saw explosive growth in consumer culture, advertising, and professional sales forces. Companies were learning to sell not just products, but lifestyles and dreams. The modern sales profession was being born—but it was still dragging along the pseudoscientific baggage of the previous century.
The fact that this advice appeared in a magazine called Character Reading—alongside other features on personality analysis and self-improvement—shows how hungry the expanding white-collar workforce was for guidance on how to succeed in the new economy. If you could just decode the right signals, project the right geometry, or measure the right parts of your skull, surely success would follow.
Below is the complete transcribed advice from 1924. Read it to see how the “Spherical Plan” and “Feeling Tones” were used to move merchandise in the Jazz Age—and to appreciate how far we’ve come in separating genuine insight from pseudoscientific prejudice.
Want to Read the Full 1924 Issue?
This article is just one piece of a fascinating historical document. The complete December 1924-January 1925 issue of Character Reading magazine is filled with vintage graphology, personality analysis, silent film star profiles, and more glimpses into Roaring Twenties self-improvement culture.
Download the Complete Digital Issue Here →
What You Get:
- High-Quality PDF (22.7 MB) + Zipped JPG Archive (40 MB)
- Scanned at 600 DPI (2135 x 3240 px) for exceptional clarity
- Instant download with 365-day access
- Perfect for graphic design projects, historical research, collage art, and vintage enthusiasts
Step back into the Jazz Age with this rare, complete scan of a forgotten magazine that tried to decode human personality—one skull measurement at a time.
Original Text: What Makes a Successful Salesman?
(Transcribed from the December 1924 Issue of Character Reading)
CHARACTER READING
WHAT MAKES A SUCCESSFUL SALESMAN?
Two Authorities Review Curved Lines for Salesmen
By J. M. Fitzgerald, M. D.
WE are pleased by curved lines much more than by straight lines. Psychologists have not given us the reason why, but I believe that it is because our first happy impressions received in this world are from observing and sensing things of a spherical nature. Our first meal is thus obtained. The mother’s face and body is much more likely to be built on curved lines than on straight ones. Our cup, plate, and saucer appeal to us repeatedly. The round, warm sun appeals to us similarly. We usually could get around mother in some way or other, but the straight-lined face, head, and square shoulders and hands of dad made us walk a straight line, and we met these straight lines oftener than was pleasurable. Caesar tells Antony that he does not like the straight-line face, head, and body of Cassius—“I would like to have about me, fat, sleek-headed men, that sleep o’nights.”
We have here the key to the physical personality. If a man is built on the spherical plan, he should square his chin, bring his upper lip straight and firm against his under lip. He should cultivate those faculties and qualities that give him a straightforward gaze, steady eye and hand, firm neck, and firm legs. These promise directness and strength and a fixed purpose; since the rounded lines of the head and body dispel fear, such a person, if a salesman, would have a splendid combination; friendliness, with the possibilities of direct and intelligent action.
The buyer or business man to whom such a salesman would present himself would feel that he was worth listening to, for nothing is more rare than a highly developed, intelligent, and earnest, vigorous purpose; even if the buyer did not purchase anything from such a salesman, he would feel that he might get a fact or idea that was worth his five minutes’ time.
SQUARE AND STRAIGHT LINES
On the other hand, if a salesman is built on the square and straight-lined make-up, he should curve his mouth and eyes in such a manner as to radiate hopefulness, kindliness, and sensitiveness as to the claims of others. I hold in my hand cards bearing the names of three men, who have in five years’ time raised their earning power as bookkeeper, clerk, and draughtsman from $25.00 a week for the first two and $35.00 for the third to $5,000, $7,000, and $10,000. They caught the spirit and purpose of this message and put the curves into their mouth and eyes, and friendliness into their voice, so that the remark that greets them is “HERE COMES THAT SMILING SALESMAN,” instead of “Here comes that darn grouch.” These are their own words to me.
Every salesman should be “in condition” as to his physical state. He should keep every muscle of his body in excellent tone, that he may have all parts of the will areas of his brain coupled up and acting concordantly. THIS IS ONE OF HIS BEST ASSETS.
PERSONALITY A CULTIVABLE THING
Personality is a cultivable thing. The salesman should have a flexible personality. HE SHOULD BE SOCIALLY DISPOSED SO THAT HE WILL INSTINCTIVELY AND NATURALLY SUPPRESS HIS EGOTISM, THAT HE MAY PLEASE A CUSTOMER AND MAKE A SALE. The sales manager should have more of a fixed or directive personality. He must supply the salesman with plans, ideas, information, and initiative. He must aid the salesman in fixing his belief and will in himself and his goods and the work he proposes to carry out. He must have the power of arousing enthusiasm, initiative, self-confidence, and resourcefulness; otherwise the sales manager is misplaced.
What’s in Back of the Salesman’s Ears?
By Joseph Ralph Founder of the Pacific Institute of Vocational Analysis
THE general requirements of a salesman are confidence, sociability, fluency of language, imagination (mental vision), mental alertness (resourcefulness), and self-detachment. In addition to which the outside salesman, especially along specialty lines, must be strongly Nordic.
No small, slimly-built, dark-haired, dark-eyed, medium-low-headed person will be happy as a traveling salesman, as the conditions encountered in such a life are not those to which he takes kindly. It will be well, therefore, that the person desirous of analyzing his vocational adaptability along salesmanship lines gives full consideration to racial influences. That much should be decided before one goes any further.
Broadly speaking, technical knowledge is more of a draw-back than an asset in salesmanship. In order to sell things, the salesman has to create a mental picture of desire in the mind of the customer, the first requisite of which is imaginative ability.
Now an engineer has to be imaginative, otherwise he could never do any creative work. But the engineer’s form of imagination would be useless to a salesman. The imaginative faculty of the engineer, or designer, relates wholly to the technical possibilities of the thing he is creating, in which there are absolutely no emotional influences embodied. And in order to be a successful salesman one must be able to appeal to one or more of the basic traits of human nature.
In three basic traits of human nature are love of money, the pleasure liking, and the desire for power. Strong feeling-tones are invariably linked up with these fundamental trends and which have to be liberated in order for a person to become “sold” to an idea or a thing.
More than in any other line, the success of a salesman depends upon his mental attitude. It is not what he knows which counts so much as how he feels.
A mere ability to state facts does not take one very far along the line of salesmanship; and it is because of this that salesmanship is becoming more and more intensively personal. For that matter, if bald statements of facts were all that is necessary in order to sell things, salesmanship would merely consist of multiplying the number of typewriters in the home office, and the purchasing of postage stamps.
Salesmanship is based upon persuasion; and although much successful salesmanship implies the more subtle and indirect form of persuasion, the term in question adequately expresses the governing influences which come into play in the selling sphere.
The salesman must be confident. Consequently he must be free from the emotional conflicts which make people depressed and fearful. If a person suffers from feelings of inferiority (whether consciously or not), he will not get very far in salesmanship until he has become straightened out in that respect.
He must be sociable. This means that he must be a mixer. This sociability need not be of the back-patting variety; but the sort of attitude towards one’s fellows which results from being long-headed from the ears back.
He must be fluent of language. As words constitute the chief vehicle whereby mental pictures can be transferred from one mind to another, fluency of speech is essential to salesmanship; not the oratorical brand of fluency, of course, but the pleasing style.
He must have imagination (mental visualization). The salesman has to picture the desires of his prospect, and also the virtues of his wares. He has to visualize a requirement, and illustrate how that requirement can be met.
He must have mental alertness. Different individuals will have distinct personal characteristics and will therefore react differently to influences. And as those influences can be varied in form and profuse in number, the salesman must be a quick thinker. No man with a vertical forehead will be able to meet these conditions to the best advantage.
The successful salesman is one who can become self-detached. This means that he can dissociate himself wholly from personal interests, personal viewpoints, and personal desires, and get right in-
(Continued on Page 22.)
What’s in Back of a Salesman’s Ears?
(Continued from Page 9.)
side the mind of his prospect. In a sense he must transform his own self into the other person’s personality.
When he does this he will be able to make his prospect see and feel as he is himself feeling. On the other hand, while he is seeing and feeling wholly from his selling standpoint, he cannot generate the necessary feeling tones in the other person.
The salesman must have a long head; and the more that this length is found behind the ears so much the better. Length from the ears forward implies method, and an ability to apply technical principles to material conditions. The salesman can very well dispense with these qualities, for as he can have only a certain maximum in length of head, in any event, the more of this which exists from the ears back the better off he will be.
This long-headedness gives the salesman his ability for social approach.
The salesman should have a fairly high head; high over ears and also over temples. His height over ears will conduce to his feelings of confidence, and his height over the temples will enable him to visualize things.
Knowing his own characteristics, the salesman must be able to read the character of others. He must be able to recognize at a glance the sociable and the unsociable person, the one to whom ideals will appeal, and the one who will be bounded by material expediences, the lover of home and family, and the one who likes best to go with the crowd, the individual with whom argument is like a red flag to a bull, and the type that will yield to pushful tactics, the person who will say little yet think much, and the friend who advertises his feelings only too freely.
In this series of lessons on character and vocation analysis no attempt is made to train people for a vocation. All that we seek to do is to point out vocational demands and vocational adaptabilities. Each person must make his own adjustments. It does not therefore come within the province of these efforts to teach salesmanship, or any other professional requirement. To attain that knowledge some of the various admirable training schools must be approached. But what we do seek to accomplish, and what we trust we shall succeed in doing, is to bring the individual face to face with his best vocational adaptability.
If you are therefore aspiring to adopt high-class salesmanship as a profession, success in which offers bigger returns than along any other line of effort, it would be well if the general requirements for such successful salesmanship were adequately visualized. In all of which one should remember the point to which previous reference has been made: that the greatest of all requirements in salesmanship is not knowledge, per se, but the right feeling tones. It is not what the salesman knows which decides his vocational success, but how he feels.
Certain principles of salesmanship can be taught, just as the principles of other professions; but before undergoing any such training, or even seriously considering doing so, the first logical requirement is that of determining one’s adaptability for such a profession. A mechanic can be trained, but a mechanic’s vocational adaptability cannot be taught; and the same rule applies to salesmanship. Probably in no other calling is there such a pathetic stream of rag, tag, and bob-tailed down-and-out misfits as in the salesmanship sphere; and all because of the pathetically false conclusion that anyone can be a salesman. Salesmanship, consequently, has become a veritable Sargasso Sea into which many of the derelicts of life have drifted.
Want to Read the Full 1924 Issue?
This article is just one piece of a fascinating historical document. The complete December 1924-January 1925 issue of Character Reading magazine is filled with vintage graphology, personality analysis, silent film star profiles, and more glimpses into Roaring Twenties self-improvement culture.
Download the Complete Digital Issue Here →
What You Get:
- High-Quality PDF (22.7 MB) + Zipped JPG Archive (40 MB)
- Scanned at 600 DPI (2135 x 3240 px) for exceptional clarity
- Instant download with 365-day access
- Perfect for graphic design projects, historical research, collage art, and vintage enthusiasts
Step back into the Jazz Age with this rare, complete scan of a forgotten magazine that tried to decode human personality—one skull measurement at a time.
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