Couple’s Hard-Won Success Goes Up in Smoke : Fire: Husband and wife, both dwarfs, say they faced prejudice in a 15-year struggle to build their printing business.

Evan and Marilyn Artran labored for 15 years to build their Northridge printing firm, overcoming business setbacks with the same fortitude they used to conquer prejudice against their size. Both are dwarfs.

A mark of their success was the contract their firm, Letterpress Instant Printing Service, had won to print 7,000 publicity folders for the upcoming Oliver Stone movie, “JFK.” Evan Artran worked late over the weekend to finish the order.

But the folders--and everything else--were destroyed in a Sunday morning fire that gutted the family dream.

“We’re completely wiped out,” Marilyn Artran said as she surveyed the ruins of her business. “There’s nothing of ours left.”

The fire damaged three of four businesses in a one-story commercial building at Yolanda Avenue and Gresham Street, said Los Angeles Fire Department spokesman Michael Little. There was $300,000 in damage to the structure and $200,000 damage to the contents, he said.

The cause of the blaze, which started about 3:45 a.m., was under investigation, Little said. About 50 firefighters extinguished the fire 40 minutes after it began. But that was too late for the Artrans.

“As one of my kids said, ‘What a heck of a way to start off December, the month of Christmas,” Marilyn Artran, 45, said tearfully.

The couple married 22 years ago, just months after they met through Little People of America, an organization for people under 4-foot-10. After finishing school and holding a series of jobs, Evan decided to start a business of his own.

“My husband is a very independent person even though he’s a little person,” said Marilyn. “He was eager to do his own thing.”

The couple set up a small printing shop in their garage and worked on projects each night after Evan came home from his job in a local print shop.

Over the years they have changed locations several times, expanding the business with each move. The shop on Gresham, where the Artrans did specialized work for other printing firms, employed six people.

It has not been easy. At times, the couple’s size has presented business challenges. “Sometimes we had to prove ourselves when a new customer came,” Marilyn said.

She said she and her husband have faced prejudice but worked hard to establish themselves to their customers and, even after the fire, refuse to dwell on past problems.