Meet Me Face To Face

A white background with red and blue text, and an image of the back of a person's head.

This button was for the Tom Murray clothing store in Chicago, which sold shirts, pants, jackets, hats, dresses, and other items. The "Meet me face to face" slogan encouraged potential customers to visit his shop in person. Murray was known as a successful advertiser whose campaigns were often imitated by competing shops, and who sometimes wrote ads in newspapers and clothing trade journals. He sold good-quality clothing at slightly lower prices than his competitors and was once known as "Ten-Dollar Tom." Murray's shop was in business from 1898-1915, when he closed it and started selling clothes by mail order.

One of Murray's most notable stunts was hiring a woman to paint his shop's outdoor sign in 1906. Since women were not allowed in such a job at that time, Alice DeBarry's sign-painting drew crowds and even caused traffic jams. Police made her stop painting and took her to the station. Murray posted DeBarry's bond and then employed her as a cashier in his shop.