The Waterbury Democrat., 1935-07-10
In New York
By PAUL HARRISON

New York, July 10.-This piece
will be mostly about corsets. But
don't stop reading yet, for Mae
Vests corsets are among them.
Also Mrs. John d. Rockefeller
Jr.'s corsets, Mrs. Thomas La
mont's corsets, Astor, Vanderbilt
and a lot of other corsets. All
the products Of Nine. Binner, a
vivacious little women who for
more than so years has been lit
orally shaping the destinfes Of
feminine celebrities.
Did pretty we'll by herself
| while she was about 1t becom.
ing not only shapely but we'll
known parsonage, Nine. Binner4
was a great beauty in her day.
and had a 19-inch waist along
with Anna Held and FRITZ Scheff.
She has made, and still is maxi
ing, a great deal of money; Is
widely travelled; has been ON
some Of the worlds great; cher
ishes Of beautiful dinner set given
her by Lillian Russell; and by
Caruso was dubbed the Queen
Of Spaghetti" He often came to
dinner at her house and would
spend most Of the evening in the
kitchen, helping her with the
cooking.
Supporting Herself
Madame Binner worked for .
corsetiere in Vienna when she was
only IL, and came to this country
at 16. Landed in Hoboken and.
knowing no English, spent ten days
there before discovering that she
hadn't yet reached New York. Fine
ally she had shop Of her own,
on Second avenue. The clientele
was undistinguished, but luckily in
cluded some domestic servants.
When their mistresses noticed how
trim they looked, Nine. Binner be-
gan to be discovered" by the car
riage trade.
In no time at all she had an
uptown shop and a distinguished
patronage. She made q corset
for Lillian Russell and went to
see her wear 1t on the stage.
Thought she detected a little
ridge or two that needed holding
down, so she took the contraption
back to her shop and put garters
on 1t. That was the first gartered,
corset-an invention that got her
International acclaim as a genius.
The actress was so pleased that
She ordered the most expensive
corset ever made-$390O, INCLUDE
| ing the diamond buckles on the
garters. 81
Later Miss Russell's Long Is.
land house burned down and at
the height Of the excitement she
went around screaming for some
| body to rescue her support.
Firemen had been trying to save
various valuables, but now they
paused. "Your what?" they hol-
Tered. "My support" shrieked
the lovely Lillian. My corset,
you foolsr' 81
In Pinch
| Anna Held offered Nine Binners
800 for every inch she could
take off her middle. The designer
made several hundred dollars on
the deal, but deplored the motive.
She always was one to fight for
the freedom Of the waistline, and
persuaded many OF her clients to
visit doctors before they pinched
their innards into all sorts of ail-
ments such as up-side-down stom-
achs. Smallest waist she ever saw
was IL L.. Its owner, a French
woman, had had her two lower
conference.
Among royalty, she says. the
Empress Elizabeth of Austria
/ 80 Au& E1xl 4
Mae West has a nice one, too, but
Mime. Binner won't give the exact
dimensions-such reticence being
a matter of form, no doubt. She
did reveal that La West, prepar-
ing for Diamond LII I" insisted
on a corset In which she could
wiggle. That was the word she
use--"wiggle."
Neck Lacing
strangest BIT Of vanity the de-
signer ever encountered was one
woman's insistence that her waist
be compressed to less than the cirs
cumference Of her husbands neck
He was n big man, 30 this didn't
prove too difiicult. Nine, Binner
| makes up sets Of stays and braces
for quite q few men. some Of whom
are quite prominent. but nene Of
whom can be named. s M
Every year she visits Paris ma
Hollywood 10 set . line on aty1e
trends. Nearly all movie actresses
/ are much too skinny. she be-
lieven; their eorsots weigh only
about three ounoos instead Of the
three pounds OF q few decades
ago. Most fun she has these days
= shaping ~ opera siss. whs