An American Story

The Little Jar with the Blue Star

The story of Blue Star Ointment is rich and colorful, with its roots in the early days of American industry and entrepreneurship. It began nearly a century ago in the rural farming town of Plantersville, TX. Adolph Gottlieb, a chemist by trade and a recent immigrant from Germany, opened a drug store/mercantile that catered to the farms and ranches that populated the surrounding area. Gottlieb originally developed his multi-purpose remedy for the farmers, their families and their livestock, as was the custom of the day.

Influenced by alchemy, Gottlieb chose to name his newly invented ointment “Blue Star”. Alchemy, practiced since the 5th century, a mixture of chemistry, magic, astrology and philosophy, and the predecessor of modern chemistry; alchemist sought to discover a life-prolonging elixir, a universal cure for disease. These early scientists used a five-point star to symbolize the five elements – air, earth, fire, water and the human spirit – that form the basis of alchemy; Gottlieb borrowed this symbol type for his own miracle salve.

In the 1930’s, Gottlieb retired and sold the Blue Star Ointment formula to Jim Bourland, a traveling salesman from Fort Worth, Texas. Bourland placed an ad in the Houston Post, heralding the healing powers of the multi-purpose remedy. The ads were small, but word spread quickly about the great healing success of Blue Star Ointment, and soon the little jar with the blue star was found in farms across Texas. When Bourland passed away, his housekeeper (who also assisted in producing the product) inherited Blue Star‘s valuable formula. Unfortunately she had no experience in sales and marketing, and the company soon languished.

At the same time, Robert George Whitehead, resigned from a lucrative sales position with Amalie Oil in New York. Robert moved his young family to Texas to start his own business. His new business began with two products he developed, a steam iron cleaner and a rust remover. While these products did well in hard water regions and for the time; Robert was looking for a new product to add to his roster. Not long after moving to Texas he discovered Blue Star Ointment and knew that this product could out-sell his other products, and even surpass the it's own former success.