(6 Sep 2014)  
 
“Imagine the pandemonium that broke loose when the roses were put on display and they saw for the first time the flower that was destined to become the synonym for the rose – The American Beauty. “The buds were the size of goose eggs and the petal count higher than any rose before or after that time,” Irwin continued. “When Myer Heller sent his message to New Castle (that their flower had won grand prize) the town went wild. Strangers grabbed each other on the streets and the local people who once thought the greenhouse men an odd breed greeted them as brothers. Someone grabbed a fiddle and they put on a celebration the town was long to remember.”
After they won the Kansas City show, the Heller Brothers had “unbelievable business.” The American Beauty Rose took its place as a symbol of wealth alongside mink and diamonds. They sold for $36 a dozen at Chicago flower sheds. That was promptly doubled for retail. “Lucky indeed was the girl who could stand at her graduation or wedding with the American beauties in her arms,”