Campana Corporation of Batavia, Illinois, was a major manufacturer of cosmetics in the 20th century.
History
Campana Corporation was incorporated in Delaware in 1926, then authorized to operate in Illinois in 1927. Its first product was Italian Balm, a hand lotion. According to I. Willard Crull, the founder's nephew and successor as president, Italian Balm was invented by William Cox, who named the product after Dr. Roberto Campana, an Italian skin specialist he held in high regard. Ernest M. Oswalt purchased the business in 1926.[1] In Canada, Italian Balm was manufactured by The Hutchings Medicine Company of Toronto, Ontario.
Although the company first operated only two years before the start of The Great Depression, it was initially very prosperous due to innovative advertising promoted by its owner, Ernest Morgan Oswalt. Campana was one of the first companies to offer free cosmetics samples in magazines, a method that is still extensively used. A second method of advertising was the use of radio commercials. Oswalt hired writer Florence Ward to create a radio variety show that would feature commercials for the company. The show, The First Nighter Program, was very successful and ran for 22 years. The company's treasurer and Oswalt's nephew, I. Willard Crull, would write over a hundred radio plays for the program under the pen name Anthony Wayne.[2]