Iconic Fuller Brush Salesman Inspires Movies

The Fuller Brush Company was founded January 1, 1906, by Alfred Carl Fuller, a businessman from Nova Scotia, Canada.

The company began with door-to-door sales of brushes of various sorts, including hairbrushes with a lifetime guarantee, for which the company gained fame.

During the 1940s and 1950s, the ubiquitous Fuller Brush salesman became a cultural icon, inspiring comedy and jokes, movies, and at least one song.

Movies included The Fuller Brush Man, a 1948 comedy movie starring Red Skelton and Janet Blair and The Fuller Brush Girl, a 1950 comedy movie starring Lucille Ball and Eddie Albert.

The Fuller Brush Man is a 1948 comedy film starring Red Skelton as a door-to-door salesman for the Fuller Brush Company who becomes a murder suspect.

The Fuller Brush Girl is a 1950 slapstick comedy starring Lucille Ball and directed by Lloyd Bacon. Animator Frank Tashlin wrote the script. Ball plays a quirky door-to-door cosmetics salesman for the Fuller Brush Company. The film also stars Eddie Albert and has a cameo by Red Skelton.

Today, over a century later, The Fuller Brush Company's Sales Force continues to grow »