Technology's Midwife

At Chicago's Bell & Howell, it sometimes seems, officers' country is open to anyone but out-and-out minors. The founders, Movie Theater Projectionist Donald Bell"and Camera Repairman Albert Howell, were only 38 and 28 when they set up shop in 1907, and youth has been serving the top jobs ever since. In 1917, the reins went to 30-year-old Joseph McNabb, who in turn was followed in 1949 by 29-year-old Charles H. Percy, who seven years ago turned the presidency over to 34-year-old Peter G. Peterson.

Now middle age is setting in, relatively speaking. Last week, at 41, Peterson climbed upstairs to Bell & Howell's chairmanship, vacant since 1966 when Illinois Republican Percy campaigned for the U.S. Senate. Into Peterson's old office moved Robert A. Charpie, formerly president of Union Carbide's electronics division and, at 42, something of a corporate veteran.

More, More, More. Youngsters have taken Bell & Howell a long way. The founders, who stuck pretty much to movie equipment, provided Hollywood with its first reliable projectors and cameras, could fairly boast that they "took the flickers out of the flicks." Chuck Percy sought new fields, led Bell & Howell deep into such areas as microfilm and mailing systems, business machines and bindery gear.

In his turn, Peterson pressed Bell & Howell to become "more innovative, more proprietary, more systems-oriented." Among Bell & Howell's successes under Peterson are a classroom projector that uses convenient filmstrip cassettes; a "Language Master" teaching device that allows children to see and hear a word, then record their own pronunciation for comparison; and an inexpensive ($12,600) color TV camera.

Electric Effect. Such innovations had an electric effect on company earnings, which had been under pressure during the early 1960s from some unprofitable acquisitions, as well as rising competition from Japanese camera makers. Since 1962, however, profits have more than tripled to last year's $ 11 million.

With full company coffers, Peterson has returned to the acquisitions route in search of software to complement his company's audiovisual hardware. In the past 15 months, Bell & Howell has absorbed half a dozen companies at a cost of some $35 million. They range from Chicago's Wilding Inc., a movie company currently filming The Monitors, a social satire featuring walk-ons by Senator Everett Dirksen and Bob Hope, to Boston's Charles E. Merrill Books, Inc., a leading textbook house.

The latest acquisition--President Charpie--should keep innovation coming. The holder of a Ph.D. in theoretical physics from Carnegie Institute of Technology, Charpie joined Union Carbide at 25 when he went to work at the Government's Carbide-run Oak Ridge nuclear laboratories in 1950. Rising through Carbide's technological ranks, Charpie was tapped to head its electronics division when it was formed two years ago, there oversaw development of new laser systems, fuel cells and other items.

When he describes Charpie's new duties, Peterson could easily be defining Bell & Howell's profitable new role. The incoming president, Peterson says, will act as "a midwife between advance technology and the marketplace."

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