UPDATED 9 DECEMBER 2014
Of all the early American perfumers who used vanity cases to help sell their cosmetic products, the perfumer C B Woodworth’s Sons holds a very special place. The company stands out for its adventurous use of both case designs and decorations that few of its competitors, other than Richard Hudnut, attempted to emulate. What Woodworth did, in effect, was to transform the compact case and vanity box from being regarded as just simple, utilitarian, containers into accessories that were both functional and attractive and which women would be proud to show off. Woodworth, like Richard Hudnut, also continually updated the vanity case designs it used due to the frenetic pace of change that characterised the American cosmetics industry, especially during the period between 1915 and 1930.
The company also has two other claims to fame. First, it was among the earliest American perfume houses to commission completely separate vanity case designs for different perfume lines. Second, and more notoriously, because the company was so successful, it was eventually acquired by the French perfume house – Bourjois – the first American perfume company to have ever suffered this fate.
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| 1859 Business Directory entry for Woodworth and Bunnel |
Originally founded by a certain Dr Mitchel and Ezra Taylor in 1855 in Rochester, New York, the company was acquired in 1856 by Chauncey B Woodworth in association with Reuben A Bunnel. Bunnel had an interest in his own perfumery business – Campbell, Bunnel & Co - but by 1860 Woodworth had succeeded to the entire business. In its early years the company produced perfumery, soaps and toilet articles and also glassware for perfumes and related products. By 1870 glass manufacture had stopped and the company reverted to perfumery, striving to live by its motto ‘Nothing but the Best’. An 1897 advertising card for its famous ‘Blue Lilies’ fragrance shows that the company promoted itself as producing ‘Imperishable perfumes, triple extracts and toilet preparations’ and it is for these products as well as its vanity cases that it is best remembered.
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| Chauncey B Woodworth |
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Extract from 1897 Woodworth
letterhead |
In one 1906 article about the company it was remarked that CB Woodworth was always ready to adjust his methods to ever changing conditions, so much so that it would become a tradition in the company to adopt new systems and new machinery whenever it seemed appropriate. This willingness to adapt would be seen in its marketing of a large range of quite remarkable vanity cases once these became fashionable.
By the end of the American Civil War, with branches in New York City, Chicago, Baltimore and New Orleans, the company was rated as one of America’s leading perfumers. To manage the increase in business Chauncey B would be joined by his son Chauncey C, in 1865 and the company’s name changed from Woodworth & Bunnel to CB Woodworth & Son. This leadership continued until 1890 when both the father and his oldest son (Chauncey C.) retired. By 1906 the senior members of the company were Frank E Woodworth, youngest son of Chauncey B, Frank K, son of Frank E and Chauncey C Woodworth Jr. It was still very much a family business but in recognition of the different family members then involved, the name was changed again to CB Woodworth’s Sons Company.
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| Frank E Woodworth |
Woodworth’s best-known early powder product was its ‘Trailing Arbutus’ talcum powder, which was available just before the start of the First World War. But at about the same time it also launched its ‘Fiancée’ perfume - a release that would set the company on the path of becoming one of America’s most prestigious perfume houses. The US Patent & Trademark Office records that the first commercial use of the ‘Fiancée’ name was on 12 January 1912. The Trademark was granted for, not only, perfume but also toilet water, toilet cream and talcum powders. It would become the first Woodworth line to be associated with vanity cases a few years later.
1915 – the company’s diamond jubilee year – was a watershed year. Individual Woodworth family members began selling their interests in the company and for the first time a non-family member, who had been lured away from their rival Richard Hudnut the previous November, was appointed as sales and marketing director. With big plans for expansion and new products being introduced, the company became a target for a takeover and in May of the same year the Woodworth family lost control of their business when a consortium of bankers purchased majority control. In the newly reorganized company Frank K Woodworth, who was vice-president, became the chemist in the laboratory and supervised all manufacturing processes. Eight months later a man who would be instrumental in designing some of Woodworth’s most memorable containers joined the company. His name was Edwin Ross.
Evidence of Woodworth’s first vanity case for either face powder or rouge appears relatively late – no earlier than about 1916. Surprisingly, I can find no evidence of the portable, round, cardboard, powder boxes used by both American and French perfumers and cosmetics manufacturers in the years before World War I. This rather suggests that Woodworth did not start marketing face powder and rouge until about 1916.
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Probably Woodworth's first metal compact rouge case C1916
Note the use of three flowers - the only case this was used on |
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| The Garden Fragrance case - released in 1916 |
This might explain why the earliest identifiable Woodworth rouge containers are made of brass because 1916 was the year when such containers really started to become the preferred packaging material by the American cosmetics industry. These 1 ½” diameter cases were just brass copies of the commonly used cardboard boxes and, like cardboard boxes, the tops had no hinge but were secured by the force of friction and were known as slip top cases.
The first Woodworth compact case was probably made for the Fiancée line’s rouge, known as Beauty Blush, in about 1916. The case itself was decorated with the trademarked Fiancée word and the edges were decorated in a classical design comprising 2 strands crossing 8 times. The design also used a spray of three flowers (I am sure that any association with Richard Hudnut’s Three Flowers line was purely accidental but the three flowers motif was never used again on a vanity case!). Also marketed in a brass compact case was a little known Woodworth line called Garden Fragrance, which was probably also released in 1916, when the Garden Fragrance line was launched. Both cases were probably used just for rouge products only and there is no evidence of metal cases being offered for compressed face powder at this time. Both the Garden Fragrance case and the early Fiancée case are very rare and the case manufacturer for either case has not yet been identified.
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The next version of Fiancee cases from C1917 - probably
manufactured by The Scovill Manufacturing Company |
Whether there was an issue, or not, with Richard Hudnut over the use of the three flowers motif, Woodworth did redesign its case decorations for Fiancée rouge and later powder products. As part of the redesign Woodworth established a unique accent colour for its ‘Fiancée’ powder boxes. From about 1917 onwards ‘Fiancée’ packaging would always be associated with a rich, burnt, orange. This colour would be used in its presentation boxes as well as the lamb’s wool puffs. Later on, the colour accents would also be incorporated in the exterior case decorations. In terms of its compact cases, Woodworth also started using the Scovill Manufacturing Company of Waterbury, Connecticut as its case manufacturer of choice and this relationship would endure for the next fifteen years.
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| Kendall's revolutionary rouge pad holder |
One of the features of early American compact case design was the adoption, in about 1917, of an oval oblong case that contained both rouge and powder. Indeed, the first American cosmetics companies to use metal compact cases would invariably market their powders and rouges in these oval oblong cases as one convenient option for their customers. Woodworth would be one of these companies and the cases, manufactured by Scovill, made use of the designs of inventor William Kendall. Kendall, who I regard as the father of American compacts, had invented and patented a number of products and techniques that would improve the manufacture of compressed powder products as well as holding the compact powder discs securely in the case.
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A Fiancee oval oblong double compact case C1920.
Note the new edge decoration |
A common mistake, when trying to date cases fitted with Kendall patents, is to assume that the patent date and date of manufacture of the case are the same. In most instances the case will be much newer than the Kendall patent date. Typically, Kendall’s powder holders are identified with the patent dates of 8 August 1916 and/or 14 August 1917. Invariably, the majority of cases using these patented holders were actually manufactured well after these dates because the holders were used until at least 1930 by very many different cosmetics brands and by a number of different case manufacturers.
Within a few years of ‘Fiancée’ vanity cases being launched, Woodworth released its second major perfume and cosmetic line – ‘Karess’. The US Patent & Trademark Office records the first commercial use of the ‘Karess’ trademark as being 1 January 1921 although the launch date of the ‘Karess’ fragrance is often quoted as being in 1922. Just as the ‘Fiancée’ line has its unique colour scheme, so too would ‘Karess’. It’s accent colour was blue and the border decoration on Karess vanity cases comprised a Greek key design, incorporating four florettes positioned at the cardinal points of the case.
In the three years, or so, since the oval oblong, double vanity cases had first emerged in the United States, numerous modifications to the basic design had been patented, but there were limitations to their design and their popularity was coming to an end. By the time ‘Karess’ face powder and rouge was ready to be marketed, in 1922, just one oval oblong ‘Karess’ compact case could be released before newer compact cases superseded it. This case was a little larger than its earlier ‘Fiancée’ cousin and its lacquer work exhibited the high gloss that would be characteristic of many American made brass vanity cases of the early 1920s. ‘Karess’ oval oblong cases, while rare, are often to be found in good condition because many are unsold inventory items, which signals the unpopularity of the oval oblong cases by 1922.
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The Karess oval oblong double compact case C1922.
Note the blue Greek Key decoration |
The introduction of the Karess line also heralded another major change for Woodworth. From the available evidence it seems clear that the company had been a wholesale perfumer whose main retail outlets were drug stores and department stores. This distribution channel would have worked quite well until large drug store co-operatives and chains such as Rexall and Owl Drug started to become dominant by the early 1920s. Such co-operatives established their own perfume and cosmetic lines and this may well have prompted Woodworth to start advertising more aggressively in its own right as well as trademarking its new perfume lines. It may have also been the reason why Woodworth decided to stand out from the competition both as a manufacturer of perfumes and related products as well as the packaging it used. In the summer of 1922 it made its move.
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| Woodworth's letterhead in 1923 -note the use of the Three Flowers logo |
In August 1922 Woodworth stunned the American cosmetics industry by announcing that it had become the first American manufacturer to go into the imported field. It had established a company in Paris under the name of Société Anonyme Parfums Woodworth, based at 44 Rue de Lisbonne. Edwin Ross and CC Woodworth (one of the few family members remaining) were the leading figures in the French company. At the time the new company was launched its first perfume and cosmetics line, Tous les Bouquets, was also announced. The well-known French perfumer, Henriette Gabilla, had actually made this fragrance but Woodworth had acquired it from her. This perfume and other related preparations were manufactured, bottled, packed and shipped in Paris. Included, were French-manufactured vanity cases – although only one has been identified so far. This one example is, however, quite stunning. Richly decorated in a predominantly blue and lemon yellow cloisonné design, it was released during the period between 1923 and 1926. It is both rare and very collectible.
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| Woodworth's Tous les Bouquets vanity case made in C1924 |
The establishment of the French company was an aggressive move which was tantamount to a declaration of war against French perfumers. But, it was really designed to bring the competition to the French, in France just as French perfumers had brought their perfumes to America. While Richard Hudnut (and probably other manufacturers) products were also sold in France it was not through a separate French company and this is what made the Woodworth move unique. A few months later, back in the United States, Edwin Ross’ influence would again be seen – this time on the vanity case front.
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| Edwin Ross in 1923 |
One of the problems with the oval oblong, double, compact cases - then still in widespread use - was that the amount of face powder and rouge contained in the case was the same. But women used more face powder than rouge and wanted a compact case that would allow them to use up rouge and face powder at more or less the same rate. This meant smaller rouge compacts or larger powder compacts provided in the same case.
Ross produced a stunningly different, double vanity, design with asymmetrical, scalloped, features for which two design patents were granted in 1923. The second patent concerned the surface ornamentation on the box cover, which would be produced for ‘Fiancée’ powder. This design was used only once and is quite rare. Far more common is the same case design used for ‘Karess’ powder and decorated with the blue, highlighted, Greek Key design and florettes. An additional feature on this case was the concentric circled engine turning and this decoration would continue for ‘Karess’ cases for the next four or five years. A goldtone version of the ‘Karess’ case was also produced. These new double vanities were showcased in August 1923 and were described as “…an original design, containing oval rouge and powder compacts, which is so small that it may be put into a flat envelope type of purse…”.
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| Edwin Ross' innovative double compact case design |
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The new double compact case made by Scovill C1924 for the
Fiancee line. Note the use of orange paint |
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| The Karess version C1926 |
For sheer audacity in vanity case design, Edwin Ross’ case set a benchmark that, in my view, would not begin to be challenged, seriously, for another quarter of a century when the Illinois Watchcase Company and Volupté started producing their novelty designs.
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Clarence Cook, working for Scovill, may have been the
inspiration behind Ross's design with this arrowhead double compact |
But, while Ross’s exterior design was unique, the interior powder and rouge receptacles were really the work of a Scovill designer named Clarence P Cook. In fact it was Cook whom, in December 1922, actually filed for a patent in which the face powder container was twice the diameter of the rouge container with the rouge compact separated from the face powder with a hinged metal cap. The only difference between Cook’s design and Ross’s was the shape of the container. Cook’s was an arrowhead shape and this would be the next vanity case launched by Woodworth, possibly as early as mid 1924.
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A Karess version of the Clarence Cook design
C1925 |
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A Fiancee version of the Clarence Cook design.
Note the different border decoration. C1924 |
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The use of scalloped engine turning was
a later development for Karess C1926 |
Once again, the innovative design would make Woodworth vanity cases stand out and except for Hudnut’s Plaza Duo vanity case (which was very similar in shape) there was no other case design that tried to compete with it. Despite the fact that a patent application was made in December 1922 it would not be until March 1927 that a patent would be granted. By 1927 the arrowhead design had become passé, however, and no Woodworth arrowhead vanity case is marked with the patent number. This means that all were manufactured before 1927.
The arrowhead vanity case would also stabilize the branding of ‘Fiancée’ cases. Up until 1926 a variety of decorations had been used but by 1926 Woodworth eventually settled on a very sophisticated design that incorporated red coloured engine turned tendrils. At last, ‘Fiancée’ had a look to match that of ‘Karess’.
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The new look Fiancee double compact with
tendrils on an orange background C1926 |
The arrowhead vanity cases would continue to be produced until the end of 1926 and both silver tone cases and gold tone varieties of both ‘Fiancée’ and ‘Karess’ were produced. There are also examples of ‘Karess’ goldtone arrowhead cases also being offered for loose powder. This case used a patented loose powder dispenser known as a ‘Vanipat’, which would more commonly be used in association with Woodworth’s last major fragrance – ‘Viegay’.
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A single rouge compact case made by
Scovill for the Fiancee line C1926 |
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| A large single powder compact case for Karess C1926 |
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| A small rouge compact case for Karess C1926 |
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| A Kornucopia of Karess Kases, each for just $1!, in a drug store display C1926 |
In conjunction with the Cook-designed arrowhead cases Woodworth also offered the more conventional single, compact, round cases for face powder or rouge, suitably decorated with the appropriate designs to signify the particular fragrance. But, probably prompted by Edwin Ross’ resignation as General Manager in November 1926, 1927 would prove to be another significant year for Woodworth as once again it changed direction.
Watch for Part 2 of the Woodworth story in a later post.
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