(FORTUNE Magazine) – It was just a little party that Curtis L. Carlson, 74, gave to celebrate the 50th birthday of his Minneapolis-based Carlson Co. He had 4,000 people to dinner and 3,000 more for dessert, with Bob Hope to provide the Minnehaha. Total tab: $1 million. That was part of a three-day festival commemorating the growth of Carlson's Gold Bond Stamp Co. from a trading stamp firm into a privately held $4- billion-a-year conglomerate that embraces Radisson Hotels, TGI Friday's restaurants, and Ask Mr. Foster Travel Services. Not bad for a local guy who started out selling trading stamps store to store in the Twin Cities. For the finale, employees, suppliers, and clients gathered in the St. Paul Civic Center to take in a 90-minute spectacle featuring a 30-piece orchestra, a 32-member dance troupe, and a film on the life of the founder. Every guest got a copy of The Ultra Entrepreneur, a biography of you-know-who. Especially productive employees were inducted into a Hall of Fame and rewarded with miniature statues of Curt. All this self-promotion made Carlson feel a bit sheepish. ''It got a little embarrassing after a while,'' he admits. But he believes the big hurrah is good for business. And going out with a bang, he says, will make it easier to hand over the chief executive's office to his son-in-law, Edwin ''Skip'' Gage, later this year. Skip may find that, like Bob Hope, Curt Carlson is a tough act to follow.