La-Z-Boy Advertisement in American Home Magazine, "A Family Affair with the Bing Crosbys," October 1967

In 1927, cousins Edward Knabusch and Edwin Shoemaker, established what would later become La-Z-Boy, Inc. in Monroe, Michigan. They were a perfect pair: Shoemaker was fascinated with technology and Knabusch was a master marketer. Celebrity endorsements, beginning with Bing and Kathryn Crosby in the 1960s, would become an enduring La-Z-Boy advertising strategy.