Evening star., 1937-01-16

say, "Fact are chiefs ye Gamma fee
frae" facts are children you can't
get away from and certain 1t is
that amateur dabbling In lotions and
creams, INDUCED In at home since
earliest times, now was done away
with. A few far-sighted individuals
had brought cosmetics and all that
they were to signify out Of the Sc
clusion Of the private still room into
the public domain of commerce.
Agents were required, in those first
stages, to sell the public an idea that
Is now an accepted part Of the general
scheme Of living.
X X
A DVERTISING had not come into
its kingdom of million dollar sc-
counts, but some Of the pioneers were
already allying themselves with the
literary big-wigs. "a skin Of beauty
is joy forever, so one "cosmetician"
freely paraphrased Keats. He assures
the public Of that time that his pro-
duct has stood the test Of 81 years,
and "is so harmless we taste it to be
sure it is properly made" This
beautif1er was for sale at call druggists
and fancy goods dealers in the United
States, the Canadas and Europe" 1t
was one of the few that did not have
to be sent for or gone after.
When cosmetics first began to make
an impression in the open commercial
market, buyers had to spend time and
trouble to obtain any speciality. The
next forward step, from a business
point Of view, was to make all products
easily available-to put them into the
purchasers hands, as 1t were. Hence,
by 1902 we find the department stores
in the van of the new crusade. Ad-
vertisements for Saunders Bloom Of
Ninon Face Powder" evidently an
imported product, added the welcome
news that it could be bought at John
Wanamaker's New York store.
BY 1906, woman's chief end was
openly admitted to be her own beauti-
fication. The new creed was nobly
set forth by one individual who manu-
factured his own line Of preparations
for the complexion. I'm our day."
ran his advertisement women want
to be young and beautiful. 1t Is not
as it used to be in our grandmothers'
time when the old lady's cap was
put on as soon as girl was married.
These dreadful days have gone, never
to return-heureusement."
RUT the palm for the publicity
which these early cosmeticians
were putting out would seem to 60 to
the Small Sisters. In 1905 they stated
that they had been earring for COM
plexions for 12 years" That would
place them in business around 1894,
and in little more than decade they
had come far in their chosen field.
sisters were Small in name, but not
in pricel They charged $5 for one
treatment, and $50 for "a course Of
instructions, treatments and articles"
Any one who doubts that ''the lux
uries OF one generation become the
necessities of the next" need only
read few Of the early cosmetic ad-
FeIIScLlcuLS. ~ u W SOCleIy HOHIcu
that the appeal is confined. OF course.
in the first decade of this century
daughters in even middle-claSs fami.
lies did not turn out to work in droves
as they do now, and the wealthy
would have swooned at such an idea.
The business world was still 95 per
cent men. Women were usurpers ex-
cept in shops and factories, where
made-up employees would certainly
have been sent home
This is the eighth in series
of articles dealing tuith the his
tory OF cosmetics. The nert wi4
appear shortly on this page.