The four guys who founded Harley-Davidson (above) look more like bankers than bikers. Albert Goodwill Spaulding, the man whose name graces millions of basketballs, was actually a pro baseball player. And the real Wendy Thomas (below), whose picture used to hang in Wendy’s fast-food restaurants, is slightly more demonic-looking than the chain’s cartoon version. So many things to glean from Life magazine’s feature, "Hi, Rubik! Faces Behind the Brands," which gathers 32 photographs of folks whose names, products, inventions and franchises are now world famous. Chewing-gum titan William Wrigley Jr. is here, looking kind of like W.C. Fields, as are jeweler-to-the-stars Harry Winston, tea baron Sir Thomas Johnstone Lipton and glamour-girl designer Coco Chanel, rocking an awesome hat and pearls. The pics are great—Erno Rubik of the Rubik’s Cube is surrounded by the blocks of frustration he unleashed on the world, and Mary Kay Ash of Mary Kay Cosmetics reminds us how fabulous an early-’80s Dallas hairdo could be. Oh, and if you’re wondering, in the photo above, that’s three Davidsons (from left, brothers William, Walter and Arthur) and one Harley (William S.).
—Posted by T.L. Stanley