G.M.'s New Boss

When Harlow H. ("Red") Curtice moved into the No. 2 spot at General Motors four years ago, he quipped: "You never stand still in this business. You either go up or down." Last week Curtice, who has never gone any way but up, became G.M.'s acting president as Charles Erwin Wilson prepared to become President-elect Eisenhower's Secretary of Defense (see NATIONAL AFFAIRS).

Curtice, now 59 and sure to be Wilson's successor, has been with G.M. all his business life. Born in Eaton Rapids, Mich., he graduated from Ferris Business College at Big Rapids in 1914 and hustled to Flint to start in as a bookkeeper for G.M.'s AC Spark Plug division. Within a year, he was AC's comptroller, the youngest executive (at 21) in the industry. He got a reputation as a comer who could "pitch, catch and cover first base at the same time." He learned finance, production and design, showed an aggressive flair for sales. At 35, he was named AC's president.

Four years later, in 1933, he got the tough job of curing the sick Buick division. Buick had been plagued by a series of poor-selling cars (the "pregnant Buick"); its sales had dropped 85%. With his knowledge of design and sales, Curtice put out a new series that caught on immediately, doubled Buick's sales in one year.

By 1936, Buick's production had quadrupled. From the Depression low of 41,000 units, Buick hit a prewar high of 377,000, fourth place in the entire industry, right behind lower-priced Ford, Chevrolet and Plymouth. When he left Buick to become G.M.'s executive vice president, Red Curtice took over design, public relations, distribution, engineering, research, personnel, employee relations, procurement and real estate for the entire corporation.

Curtice lives in Flint, commutes the 67 miles to Detroit almost every weekday by company plane. A man with a genuine liking for people, he can probably first-name more business friends than any other G.M. executive. He drinks and smokes sparingly, relaxes on rare fishing and hunting trips. But like most of G.M.'s top brass, he has only two real hobbies: making automobiles and talking about them.

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