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Through the late 1920s, matchbooks earned money for every aspect of the industry. Tens of thousands of advertisers used matchbooks, now the most popular advertising format in America. A Mom 'n Pop store opened in a rural neighborhood. Mom organized the decorations and did the cooking. Pop arranged for the rental agreement, building signs, business permits and related services. Local newspapers probably carried a short story about the opening of the business, but a continued customer base called for a repetitive advertising efforts. Viola! The matchbook.
At just under $5.00 a case for 2,500 professionally printed matchbooks, Pop probably placed the order and within six weeks was distributing matchbooks throughout the neighborhood. It worked again and again, in hamlets, towns and cities all over America. Not only did businesses get on the band wagon, but service companies and product manufacturers (remember Pabst, Duke and Wrigley?) joined the throngs. 
Then came that dark October day in 1929, heralding the beginning of the end for most large production matchbook orders. Discretionary expenditures for matchbooks dwindled as advertising budgets fizzled, the first fatalities of surviving businesses after the crash. Diamond Match Company, along with other once prosperous matchbook companies, was hurting. Another Henry Traute was needed, or at least another brilliant marketing idea. It came to Diamond Match in the form of an old idea relegated to back rooms during the heyday of production. Since businesses, services and product manufacturers were curtailing their orders, why not sell matches to the public? The question remained - what do you sell to a post-1929 depression-ridden American public?
The answer was the Silver Screen. Early in 1932, Diamond produced the first movie star set on matchbooks, destined for the American market. On "the smallest billboards in the world," ten personalities adorned the "test set," as collectors coined it. Katherine Hepburn, Slim Summerville, Richard Arden, Ann Harding, Zazu Pitts, Gloria Stuart, Constance Bennett, Irene Dunne, Frances Dee and George Raft made the final cut.
It worked for Diamond and the rest is history. After success with the first test set, which sold for a penny at the local Five 'n Dime, Diamond released matchbooks with several hundred more national celebrities. Stars' photos, with brief personal biographies on the back of the matchbook, came from the movies, radio (both NBC and CBS) and popular night life.
Closely following their Hollywood successes, Diamond introduced matchbooks with the second most popular American heroes, the sports personality. Football, baseball and hockey teams signed releases as their players' photos and biographies found their way to matchcovers. Later called Group One matchcovers by matchcover collectors, college and professional sports teams were featured. Football matchbooks included players from the Philadelphia Eagles, Pittsburgh Pirates, Detroit Lions, Chicago Bears, Green Bay Packers, Boston Redskins and New York Giants. Nationally recognized football games also appeared including the 1933 and 1934 rivals of Army vs. Navy, Fordham vs. St. Mary's, U. of Georgia vs. Georgia Tech, Holy Cross vs. Boston College and Notre Dame vs. Southern California.
It was a runaway success story for Diamond Match and the savior of the industry. These popular sets continued through the late 1930s, when war broke out and matchbook companies focused their attention on the largest accounts yet, the United States military and the patriotic efforts of a country about to grow up.
