Eventually Your Ribbon House (Tales From the Schmatta Trade, 2)

Sample folder; front—

Dial MUrray Hill 4-4322, and, Eventually...

Reverse—

Merchandise inside—

Opened; 7x14 inches

Left side of triptych: two thin layers of fabric ("self material") are sewn together for straps—

The other straps use machine-made ribbon ("standard qualities")—

Stock shades: white, pink, tearose

The company's one-time headquarters, 102 Madison Avenue at 29th St—

Photo: 14 to 42  (2003)

This is from New York City Signs – 14th To 42nd Street. Among the site's details on 102 Madison Avenue at 29th Street—

The Ribbon Mills Corp. dates from 1924. They were located at 1180 Broadway (Arthur Flatto, president-treasurer) until 1933, then moved to 102 Madison Ave. They remained at this address until 1939. Click here for Ribbon Mills sign. Ribbon Mills Corp. was preceded by the Flatto Ribbon Corp., founded by the brothers George I. Flatto (1886-1969) and Arthur C. Flatto (1895-1955) in 1919. They were sons of Samuel A. Flatto, a pawnbroker, who immigrated from Germany ca. 1867-70. The family appears in the U. S. Census of 1900 living at 170 E. 95th St. George is 13 years old and Arthur C. Flatto is 5. Prior to founding Flatto Ribbon Mills in 1919 George Flatto had previously been employed for 17 years at E. H. Levy. Another brother, William Flatto (1885-1965), was also associated with the business. He was elected a director of Flatto Ribbon Corp. in 1953. Ribbon Mills and Flatto were both located at 29-33 W. 35th St. in 1940/41 (with prominent signs) when the "tax photos" (available at the NYC Municipal Archives) were taken. The Ribbon Mills Corp. closed in the early 1950s and Flatto Ribbon continued until around 1959.

Site note: "Construction of new residential housing along 29th St. has almost totally destroyed the view of these signs as of mid-year 2007."

Among other long-ago building occupants was Max Held Waist Co./Forsythe Waist (previously, Max Held "Herald Square Waist Makers"). Fels Dresses was founded in the 1880s, and in 1901-02 was listed as manufacturing suits and children's clothes. 14 to 42 posts this 1920 New York Times ad—

1926 ad; different address, same old slogan...

And as for that Ribbon Mills slogan...

Sooner or later: You'll buy.

The mildly threatening line seems a peculiarly New York locution of yore. Though the ribbon folder is a fascinating bit of commercial history, the slogan can't help but make me think of an elderly, spectacularly hideous New Yorker of our own time.

If only we could send him and his locution ("You're going to love me! Believe me!"), back to the day of ribbon houses.

Tales From the Schmatta Trade (1)

As told on thrift shop sale day...

Marcus & Wiesen, Inc      Made in U.S.A.

(from pinterest: a product of somewhat newer vintage)

The Vanity Fair brand still exists—as VF, which includes more recently purchased brands (Lee, Timberland). As company history would suggest, the organization went from specializing in ladies' unmentionables to encompassing what might be the other end of spectrum—products meant to convey an image of the rugged outdoors. By now, however, all the stuff likely comes from the same set of Chinese factories.

Marcus & Wiesen, Inc., is not mentioned in that history page, and was probably a sub-contractor for Vanity Fair.

The name does appear in Chain Store Age, Volume 17 (1941). In the section, Directory of Manufacturers (page 42, under "Garters, Ladies' & Children's"), Marcus & Wiesen is listed at 26th E. 14th St., New York.

Emilio Guerra

An extensive and interesting history of 22-26 East 14th Street is found in the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission's 2008 report (pdf). The building began as Baumann Brothers Furniture and Carpet Store, built 1880-1881.

One of the more prominent, prolific, and versatile New York firms in the late-nineteenth century, D. & J. Jardine executed designs for a wide variety of building types, including a number of notable cast-iron fronts, in contemporary styles. The wide cast-iron front facade of the Baumann Brothers store, manufactured by the West Side Architectural Iron Works, is one of the Jardines' and one of the city's most inventive, unusual, and ornamental. Built toward the end of the heyday of cast-iron fronts in New York and the flourishing creativity in that material, the Baumann Brothers store is also a signal achievement of Aesthetic Movement design.

In 1884 Baumann Brothers occupied the entire building and advertised as, "the largest and most complete furnishing establishment in America." During the twentieth century—

For eight decades, the ground story contained 5-10-and-25-cent stores, beginning with the fourth Woolworth store in Manhattan (1900-28), acclaimed at its opening as "the largest ten-cent store in the world" and in 1910 the location of the chain's first lunchroom. This space was later a store for F. & W. Grand, H.L. Green, and McCrory. The upper stories were leased for over eight decades for show rooms and manufacturing by various firms related to the textile and sporting goods industries. This was the location of Rubens & Meyer, hosiery (1901-14); [Lewis Mark] Hornthal, [Joseph J.] Benjamin & [Simon R.] Riem, wholesale clothing manufacturers (c. 1902-23); Sohn, Oppenheimer & Co., fine trousers (1913-29); [Alex] Marcus & [Alex] Wiesner (later Wiesen), elastic specialties, garters, and girdles (1930-85)...

Following ownership changes over the years, the lot was transferred

... in 1967 to the Marcus & Wiesen Realty Corp., whose principals were the long-term garter-making tenants in the building. The southern portion of the lot and the building were conveyed in 1902 to the James McCreery Realty Corp., which retained ownership until 1965, when they were acquired by the Marcus & Wiesen Realty Corp. The entire property was sold to Irving and Elliott Sutton in 1979. The building became a condominium in 1999. The upper stories (Lot 1101), acquired at that time by the New School University, are currently in use as an annex to the Parsons School of Design, while the ground story contains a drugstore and several small shops.

Along the way, the "garter-making tenants" were involved in some legal drama, according to the 1940 Federal Supplement: Cases Argued and Determined in the District Courts of the United States and the Court of Claims, with Key Number Annotations, Volume 30 (Page xxix). The case in District Court of NY.: Marcus & Wiesen v. Universal Brassiere & Just-Rite Corset Co.

At some point the company relocated from such valuable real estate as its original home, but continued in its industry for an undetermined period of time. The last reference I find is from 1995, per a note in this book, Unions and Workplace Reorganization (edited by Bruce Nissen).

A note that's sadly quaint in itself; just imagine, companies deigning to talk with unions. And, it turns out, 1995 was when the storied ILGWU last existed under that name.

Steamy!

Did this subject once inspire a whole genre of post cards?

I haven't been able to find "naughty laundress" as a period subject, but it would have been a natural. After all: working-class women, stripped to their underwear... Even if this well-groomed model is posed (and wearing rather fancy lingerie, at that), "doing the wash" was an excellent excuse for the pose.

Don't know the card's date, but those nice undies include a slip with decorative border somewhere between art nouveau and deco.

I especially like the retouching to denote water drops.

The card was widely marketed:

And this really jumped out at J:

Haven't managed finding more about that besides another card, with this description:

Hand-tinted card, posted in 1912, of a lovely young woman with an Art Nouveau style. This card was printed on paper soaked in radium bromide; after the discovery of radiation by the Curies in 1898, uranium and its salts took on magical properties in the minds of the people and were used for "health"and decoration (it glows!), in food, clothing, toys, and yes...postcards! No promises that this card glows, as we haven't yet had the chance to place it under a blacklight.

There's no visible effect on the laundress card either. It actually looks like photo paper that this was printed on, as there's silver residue (which doesn't show on the scan).

I also saw references to radium brom in homeopathy; well, another good reason to give that theory a miss.

So: did this represent la petite blanchisseuse, or der kleine Wäscherin?

The card probably is German.

As were many good old-fashioned questionable radium products.

Madame La Jeanne of Kalamazoo

From the "Free" table at a rummage sale: Sister J. picked up the items below, for a friend who collects such things.

Not that I, who scan and take pictures of the stuff, am in a position to criticize other people's hobbies—

Instructions for use—The design is possibly from the late 1940s or early 1950s, though there's no telling when these may have been produced, or how long the company was in business. The penciled price is likely original—from the days of 5 and 10¢ stores, and small local businesses like dry goods shops.

From time to time, J. reminds me of how the old Woolworth stores had consistent stock, year after year—goods made by U.S. companies, some which must have been small factories making a single product for a dependable retailer. J. also reminds me that, despite the cheapness of Woolworth's goods, the quality was vastly superior to almost anything we can find now.

"La Jeanne": an American small manufacturer from the days before quick turnover of truly shoddy products—no need to do more than slap a designer label on 'em.