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GATORPRESS
| How it started: The
Type and Gripe Factory started printing in 1947 at Seabrook, Texas. The
founder of the company was Josiah A. "Papa Joe" Miller. Papa Joe printed
the local newspapers, including the Bayshore Sun, the Seasider, and the
Houston Tribune, which he founded, then later sold to the Chicago Times
newspaper syndicate. Papa Joe was a regular drinking buddy with a fellow nemed Jacob Rubenstein, who lived in Kemah. Rubenstein was engaged in selling machine guns to a pair of young Cuban revolutionary brothers named Fidel and Ramon Castro. He later became famous as "Jack Ruby" The truth was, Papa Joe was a regular drinking buddy with everybody. He was officially named "Town Drunk" in 1962, which would not have been such a big deal, except that the town was Houston.  Joe Miller in Seabrook, 1948 First CEO (1947-60) of Gator Press When
Papa Joe was sent by the government to a secure facility in recognition
of his ability to print US Currency, his wife, Dorothy Barrow Miller,
operated the presses and maintained the family moonshine still for five
years, from 1960 until 1964.  "Dot" Miller CEO 1960-65 During
her tunure at the helm, the company changed its' name from Miller Press
to The Type And Gripe Factory (TGF). Dot started the company tradition
of shooting clients who neglected to pay their bills, earning a
reputation among Texas publishers that remains to this day. In 1965, Thomas Edwin Miller (aka Trader Tom) took command of the company and went in an entirely new direction: Mobile presses. Tom loaded up a VW Van and a converted horse trailer, and set off across America, doing on-the-spot printing at cultural events and locations. Tom printed a paper called "The Dime Bag" on no regular schedule and distributed wherever he was. In 1967, he published in Birmingham, in 68, the Chicago Democratic Convention, in '69, at Woodstock. Editions appeared in New Orleans, San Francisco, New York, Miami, and Austin. He would come back to Seabrook when a few printing jobs had piled up, and print in marathon sessions for 48 hours straight, then load up his presses and roll out on the road. He went to all of the "happenings" right up until 1975, when disco became popular. Unable to do "the Hustle", he was shunned by the intelligentsia. The late Hunter Thompson once said of Trader Tom "Him? Him? Oh, I think I met him once, briefly. I guess he seems okay."  Trader Tom & his son, current CEO "Gator" Miller. Tom was CEO from 1965-1981 Trader
Tom returned to Seabrook, where he started the world's largest
collection of seashells. You may have seen it - it is kept on many (if
not most) of the world's beaches. He also continued as CEO until 1981,
when his second son, Gator, took over. During the 27 years that Gator has run TGF, there have been many changes. The company has expanded into commercial printing, web hosting and design, and public relations. In the 61 years since it was founded, TGF has gone from a small local printing shop into a diminutive neighborhood publishing emporium. We continue to work hard to ensure that we are able to do as little physical labor as possible. We have also been a leader in drug-testing all of our employees in order to more accurately purchase necessary supplies. |
The Big Shots
The Factory  Our main plant is located (above) in San Leon, Texas. Maybe YOU could be on this page... We are always looking for people who are talented, but who have not yet been convicted of more than two felonies. If you are willing to work exhiliratingly long hours for an enormously diminuitive salary, and would like to work somewhere where your talents can be properly recognized and extinguished, please contact us. A Message to our employees: I
know that many of you have been upset about the new compensation plan,
which we refer to as the "McCain Business Model", so I will
explain once more the theory of "trickle down" economics: When the
bosses make more money, this benefits the workers lower down on the
totem pole. The more money the bosses make, the better things get for
the laborers. So, in the best interests of our workers, we have increased the paycheck reduction of our staff, and made deep cuts in the reductions to our executive compensation. We have also eliminated all executive bonus restrictions. This should make our workers very happy, as the executives will now be able to trickle down upon our workers. My wife and I are very pleased with the response so far. One of our foremen stopped me the other day and said, "Thank you for teaching all of us what our troops are fighting for. God Bless America. Semper Fi and apple pie. Mission accomplished. Let me hold a quarter." Gator
Press has survived hurricanes and catastrophic shortages of liquor, and
we will get through this current busy spell. When it is over, and all
the jobs printed, we can kick back and smoke a joint, and so can our
workers, because most of you will be laid off. Sincerely, Gator & Cindy - TGF Co.  | |||||||||||||||||||||||
