His Collectibles

Chic Sales - The Specialist
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Charles "Chic" Sale was a forty-five year old stage actor and comedian when he wrote a book entitled "The Specialist" in 1929. This book of fewer than 3,000 words was inspired by the antics of a local carpenter named Lem Putt from Charles' hometown of Urbana, Illinois, who specialized in the building of "privies"

Charles first created a vaudeville production of "The Specialist" which played to audiences from coast to coast. The threat of potential copyright infringement on Charles' stories motivated him, with the help of two newspapermen, to write a book of his act, also entitled "The Specialist".

The book quickly gained acclaim with over a million copies sold and fan mail pouring in at such a rate that Chic was forced to postpone his show for six months in order to respond personally to
each letter.

Chic's name started to become at "privy" synonym. Much to Charles' chagrin,'Chic Sales' were being built everywhere. "That is a terrible thing to have happen," said Charles.

Charles died in 1936 and would never have believed that during the war soldiers would stumble upon outhouses on lonely Pacific islands bearing homemade 'Chic Sale' signs.

Nominated by Sherman Hines, founder of The Outhouse Preservation Society.