Who Am I? July, 2019
I was born in Krakow, Poland, one of eight daughters, in the second half of the 19th century to Naftoli (Horace) and Gitte (Gitel). Dad was a shopkeeper, egg merchant, and food broker. I helped dad out at work by doing some of his bookkeeping. Mom dabbled in the preparation of beauty creams with the aid of Dr. Jacob Lgusky(Lykusky), a Hungarian chemist, who used herbs, essence of almonds, and the extract from the bark of the Carpathian fir trees to concoct different lotions.
I had a spat with dad over a potential beau of mine so one fine day in the early days of the new century I packed some jars of mom’s creams and took off for ‘down under’ in the Western Victoria region to join one of my uncles. That region was known for its sheep and their oil was readily available. Lanolin was produced from that oil and I hit on the idea of adding lavender, pine bark and water lilies to kill the smell of the oil. I began to add that mixture into mom’s creams which enhanced my already beautiful complexion. In the meantime, I took different jobs being a lady’s maid or a nanny. Many local people admired my beautiful complexion and began to ask about the secret of my beautiful skin. I invited Dr. Lgusky to Australia and we created additional beauty products.
I moved to Melbourne and found an ‘angel’ to invest in my proposed beauty business which initially centered on my moisturizing cream. A Women’s page editor came to interview me and the subsequent exposure was a boon to my business. Soon after, I opened beauty salons in Sydney and London. There is no question about the fact that I was a social climber who liked to embellish my humble beginnings. In London one of my regular clients was Margot Asquith, the wife of the British prime minister. I pleased her greatly with my beauty treatments and, as a result, well-to-do clients began trekking to my salon. I always tried to cultivate the right people and I hosted lavish dinner parties at every opportunity.
Along the way I met a savvy, polished, Polish-American journalist who became my business partner and husband. He was a terrific publicist as well as a worldly dilettante who was very well-informed about literature, modern art and décor. We utilized his talent and skill to enhance the appearance of our salons. I travelled to Paris to study skin treatment for a few months with a well-known chemist and some dermatologists and later presented myself as a beauty and skin expert. I often appeared in a lab uniform in my ads. We decided to live in Paris and opened a salon there; however, when the Great War broke out we left to come to the U.S.
When we landed in N.Y.C., I noted that “it was a cold day and all the American women had purple noses and grey lips, and that their faces were chalk white from terrible powder. I recognized that the U.S. would be my life’s work.”
I was a firm believer that effective marketing, fancy packaging and an attractive and knowledgeable sales staff wearing neat uniforms could move product. I opened a chain of salons in such places as Newport, Miami, San Francisco, Atlantic City, Detroit, Southampton and Philadelphia. Some of those sites were run by my sisters. My products were also marketed in department stores but only on the condition that I could approve the training and the inspection of their staffs. I was quoted as saying, “There are no ugly women, only lazy ones.”
Unfortunately, my first husband was a serial philanderer so our marriage didn’t last. My second attempt at marital bliss was with a younger man who claimed to be a Georgian prince. This association gave me a claim to royalty and a new marketing angle whereby I began promoting men’s colognes, fragrances and facials named after my new spouse.
I spent some time during the ‘Roaring Twenties’ in Hollywood coaching young starlets like Theda Bara and Pola Negri on the use of mascara to emphasize their eyes and augment their allure screen vamps.
It can be said that I made cosmetics mainstream. My mantra with cosmetics was “the higher the price, the more the women wanted them.” Not much has changed in this regard! My well-appointed residences were featured in décor magazines and used for fashion shoots. I would often wear flamboyant jewelry and bright red lipstick.
I was a philanthropist and through my foundation I donated over $130 million over 6 decades to the fields of education, art and health. My foundation was located in Fairfield, N.J., not very far from the JHSNJ, until 2011.
That’s me in the photo below. Now, could there still be anyone among our readers who cannot answer the question – (1a)”Who Am I?’ (1b) I had 7 other sisters. Name 2 of them. (2a)Who was the ‘angel’ I found in Melbourne that really launched my success? (2b)What was my first moisturizer concoction called? (2c) Who was that editor from Woman’s page who gave me all that free publicity in Melbourne? (3)What was the name of my first husband? (4a)What did my employees call me? (to my face, that is!) (4b)I was painted in oil by 6 different acclaimed artists. Name one of them. (4c) What was the name of my autobiography? (5)What was the name and location of my first salon in N.Y.C.? (6)Which corporation owns my eponymous company today?
