Talk:Russel Wright

message: THE albert einstein? prominent new york family? einstein hadn't even immigrated to the u.s. when she married wright.the vanderbilts are a prominent ny family. the rockefellers and the roosevelts are prominent ny families. explanation is in order.Toyokuni3 (talk) 22:41, 7 June 2008 (UTC)
replies: text: interesting. princeton did have a law school and the persistent perception that it still does is sufficient that somebody thought to make an article on it for wikipedia:Princeton Law School. however, it ceased to be in 1852, much too early for wright to have attended.(it apparently only produced 7 graduates.) the 'references' cited here are all but useless. however, i did find a reference at designaddict.com, which does claim that he began law studies at princeton.so at least the writer here didn't make it up out of whole cloth. still a pretty poor level of scholarship and research. see my comment above.Toyokuni3 (talk) 21:30, 14 June 2008 (UTC)

text: no it doesn't. she may have been an einstein,(that was already in the article) but the issue of 'prominent new york family' remains.as i commented above, when she married wright, albert einstein was still in germany. moreover,and i'm going out on a limb here, i don't think he ever lived in nyc. i will admit that princeton nj (where he did live) isn't all that far away. perhaps the contention is that the smalls were the prominent family? finally, one of the references listed for this article states that wright went to columbia!Toyokuni3 (talk) 22:56, 16 June 2008 (UTC)

text: i'm 99.9% certain that when i made tht comment there was reference in the article to wright having been entertained in ALBERT einstein's home in nyc. or at least it could be read that way. anyway, it's gone, and so not really worth looking through the history for. Toyokuni3 (talk) 14:46, 31 July 2008 (UTC)
thread_title: Albert Einstein

message: How did he study law at Princeton when there is no law school?  I should know, as I'm an alum.  This needs serious changing.  —Preceding unsigned comment added by 140.180.19.159 (talk) 18:01, 14 June 2008 (UTC)
replies: text: interesting. princeton did have a law school and the persistent perception that it still does is sufficient that somebody thought to make an article on it for wikipedia:Princeton Law School. however, it ceased to be in 1852, much too early for wright to have attended.(it apparently only produced 7 graduates.) the 'references' cited here are all but useless. however, i did find a reference at designaddict.com, which does claim that he began law studies at princeton.so at least the writer here didn't make it up out of whole cloth. still a pretty poor level of scholarship and research. see my comment above.Toyokuni3 (talk) 21:30, 14 June 2008 (UTC)

text: no it doesn't. she may have been an einstein,(that was already in the article) but the issue of 'prominent new york family' remains.as i commented above, when she married wright, albert einstein was still in germany. moreover,and i'm going out on a limb here, i don't think he ever lived in nyc. i will admit that princeton nj (where he did live) isn't all that far away. perhaps the contention is that the smalls were the prominent family? finally, one of the references listed for this article states that wright went to columbia!Toyokuni3 (talk) 22:56, 16 June 2008 (UTC)

text: i'm 99.9% certain that when i made tht comment there was reference in the article to wright having been entertained in ALBERT einstein's home in nyc. or at least it could be read that way. anyway, it's gone, and so not really worth looking through the history for. Toyokuni3 (talk) 14:46, 31 July 2008 (UTC)
thread_title: Law at Princeton???

message: Ann Wright was adopted and the Wright's only child (son or daughter.)  While Mary Wright was her Mother by adoption, this makes it sound like Ann was born to Mary, which is not true. She was two years old when Mary Wright died of breast cancer.  Also I've only seen her referred to as Ann in publications.  While Annie is a diminutive of Ann and may have been used by the family, I believe it's only proper to use her given name of Ann. There are several sources to confirm what I have just stated, one of which is Albrecht, Donald et al. "Russel Wright: Creating American Lifestyle." 2002. Harry N. Abrams, p.20.Mr. Mel Mac (talk) 11:01, 28 July 2008 (UTC)
thread_title:  Ann Wright was adopted. 

message: Melmac History
While Russel Wright was ONE of the first to research melamine dinnerware and actually had his first line, called "Meladur", tested in New York area restaurants around 1947, it was not produced for domestic consumption (home use) until 1949. Melamine dishware was first designed for the Navy during war time in 1943. Sets of Navy surplus were sold to the public in 1945 at war's end.
John Hedu's 1946 "Lifetime" line for the Watertown Co. of Watertown, CT. was the first Melmac (melamine dinnerware) designed and sold for domestic use. (See www.plasticliving.com as a source.  Christopher McPherson interviewed the designer Jon Hedu before his death and got this information from THE primary source, Jon Hedu, although there are other sources to confirm this.)
Joan Luntz, the designer of "Brookpark Modern Design" produced the second line of Melmac for domestic consumption in later 1946 right on the heels of Hedu's "Lifetime". (I have interviewed Joan Luntz and I'm writing a history of Melmac that will include this.) As a matter of fact there were about 14 other lines of Melmac for home use before Wright designed "Residential" in 1953. Overzealous Russel Wright fans keep repeating this misrepresentation that Wright was first, but that doesn't make it so.
Also Wright's "Residential" was the most popular Melmac for home use "sold door to door" in the 1950s, not THE most popular of all in the 1950s. (Albrecht, Donald et al. "Russel Wright: Creating American Lifestyle." 2002. Harry Abrams. p. 56 Most Melmac was sold in stores, not door to door, so this is a misleading fact when not clarified (when the "sold door to door" is left out.) Better perhaps, to say something like, "Residential was one of the most popular Melmac lines with gross sales of over $4 million in 1957". (Albrecht, IBID.)Mr. Mel Mac (talk) 11:28, 28 July 2008 (UTC)
thread_title:  Melmac History 

message: I'd like to see the source for the statement about Aline Bernstein and Russel Wright's love affair.  Bernstein had a long love affair with Thomas Wolfe in the 1920s (http://www.mountainx.com/features/2000/0209loveletters.php).  Was the affair with Wright concurrent? Also it's been said that Wright was gay, in his later years living openly with his lover Mr. Chapman at Dragon Rock.  Russel Wright and Mary Wright always had separate bedrooms and their only child was adopted according to several books.  They may have loved each other very much, but wasn't theirs was one of the "marriages of convenience" of the period (pre-Gay Liberation?)  Lastly, when I worked for George Cukor in the 1970s and asked him about Russel Wright and the Rochester theatre days, Mr. Cukor said Russel Wright was "one of the pretty, young homosexuals that flock to the theatre. The sobering Great Depression changed everything.  I went to Hollywood to direct and Wright went on to become a famous designer of furnishings."  Certainly it's possible that Aline Bernstein and R. Wright had an affair, but I'd like a source and possibly some acknowledgment that Wright was at least bi-sexual.Mr. Mel Mac (talk) 12:04, 28 July 2008 (UTC)
replies: text: since you see3m very knowledgable about his bio, perhaps you could address the issue above; i.e. his relationship, if any, to the 'prominent' einsteins, whoever they were.Toyokuni3 (talk) 17:29, 28 July 2008 (UTC)
thread_title:  Aline Bernstein/Russel Wright love affair?