COLEMAN, ELIZABETH 'BESSIE,' PIONEER AVIATOR (c)

At a time when no woman, particularly an African-American woman would have dreamed of becoming a pilot, on June 15, 1921 Elizabeth 'Bessie' Coleman, a fiercely independent woman became the first female of African-American descent and the first woman to hold an international aviation license, a feat that is quite amazing at the dawn of the Art Deco era. On the occasion of Black History Month, her remarkable short-lived pioneering role as a pilot deserves to be given her due recognition among the amazing women of the century. Against all odds “Bessie” was determined to succeed as a pilot and despite her youthful zeal she was confronted and rejected by typical prejudices of the day. In the beginning no flight school or flight instructors, including black male pilots, would accept Bessie as a student because because she was African-American and female. Putting adversity aside Bessie pursued her dream. She accomplished the impossible and broke barriers both as a woman and an African-American. Bessie was bravely independent and a woman, who decided, against all odds, that learning to fly provided an exciting challenge. WORLD WAR I PILOTS’ STORIES Elizabeth “Bessie” Coleman (1892-1926) knew that there wasn’t much of a future for herself in Waxahatchie, Texas, where she grew up the tenth of thirteen children to sharecroppers George and Susan Coleman. So at the age of twenty-three seeking better opportunity she moved to Chicago, Illinois where she lived with two of her older brothers. She found steady work at the White Sox Barber Shop as a manicurist, which was quite fortuitous because in this male dominated circle she would hear about aviation and flying from the young pilots returning home from World War I. She became enthralled with their stories and therein was planted a seed that would grow her determination to become a pilot. One of Bessie’s brothers had also served as a pilot, and he would tease her about the fact that French women had careers and could even fly planes. The idea that French women were pilots was just the kind of catalyst that was part inspiration and determination to o put her on another path toward a career in aviation. LEARNING TO BE A PILOT The problem quickly became apparent that she could not gain admission to American flight schools because she was black and a woman. Bessie must have launched a convincing campaign to reach her career goal. Encouragement came by way of Robert S. Abbott, founder and publisher of the Chicago Defender, which as part sponsor he would capitalize on her flamboyant personality and her beauty to promote the newspaper. Financial backing came forth from other sponsors too including Jesse Binga (a banker). Bessie first took French language classes at Berlitz in Chicago, and fully confidant in her language skills she traveled to Paris on November 20, 1920. THE FRENCH CONNECTION Upon arrival in the City of Light Bessie quickly enrolled in the prestigious Ecole d’Aviation des Freres Coudon at Le Crotoy. She learned to fly in a Nieuport Type 82 biplane, with a steering system that consisted of a vertical stick the thickness of a baseball bat in front of the pilot and a rudder bar under the pilot’s feet. On June 15, 1921 with skills acquired at the Ecole d’Aviation Bessie became not only the first African-American woman to earn an international aviation license from the Federation Aeronautique Internationale, but the first African American woman in the world to earn an aviation pilot’s license. Determined to polish her skills, Bessie spent the next two months taking lessons from a French ace pilot near Paris, and in September she sailed for New York. POLISHING HER SKILLS When Bessie returned to the United States, she discovered that she was unable to make a living as a civilian aviator, the age of commercial flight was still a decade or more in the future, but there was a demand to see her fly and in order to become a “barnstorming” stunt flyer, and perform for paying audiences, she would need more advanced lessons, so back she went to France to take advanced courses in aviation, visited the Netherlands to meet with Anthony Fokker, one of the world’ most distinguished aircraft designers, then headed to Germany, where she received additional training from one of the Fokker Corporation’s chief pilots. Bessie was ready and the world was waiting. QUEEN BESS When Bessie returned to the United States she became a media sensation and was admired by both blacks and whites. It was a monumental recognition for an African-American woman who had emerged from a small town to the heights of celebrity. She made her first appearance in an American air show on September 3, 1922, at an event honoring veterans of the all-black 369th Infantry Regiment of World War I. The show billed “Queen Bess,” as she was known, as “the world’s greatest woman flier.” Later she returned to Chicago to a large and enthusiastic crowd at the Checkerboard Airdrome (now Chicago Midway Airport) with a dramatic, daredevil performance including figure eights, loops and near-ground dips. However, she would not perform at events unless the audience was desegregated. With the admiration of cheering crowds people flocked to see her fly and to hear her speak in cities across the country. BESSIE’S FLIGHT SCHOOL Bessie never lost sight of her childhood vow to one day “amount to something,” and indeed she did just that as a pioneering pilot. Her wings took flight in yet another direction to open a flight school what would admit women and African Americans. She worked tirelessly to raise money and sponsors to reach that goal but tragedy struck on April 30, 1926, when Bessie, at the age of thirty-four, was in Jacksonville, Florida. Bessie had completed payments on her own plane, a Curtiss JN-4 in Dallas, Texas and had it flown to Jacksonville in preparation for an air show. Bessie and her mechanic, William Wills was flying the plane in a test run, but Bessie had not put on her seatbelt, and in a mere ten minutes into the flight the plane did not pull out of a dive, malfunctioned and crashed. Bessie was thrown from the plane and died instantly when she hit the ground. Wills died on impact when the plane plummeted to the ground and burst into flame. Thousands attended her funerals in both Jacksonville and Orlando Florida. On her last journey in Chicago an estimated 10,000 people paid homage to Bessie. HONORS AND RECOGNITION All honors were her due. Recognition flooded in citing Elizabeth “Bessie” Coleman for her bravery, her accomplishment as the first African-American woman and the first woman to become an aviation pioneer. A second-floor conference room is named after her at Federal Aviation Administration, Washington, D.C. Chicago’s Mayor Richard M. Daley in 1990 stepped up to the plate and renamed Old Mannheim Road at O’Hare International Airport “Bessie Coleman Drive,” and in 1992, he proclaimed May 2, “Bessie Coleman Day in Chicago.” She was honored with her image on a U.S. postage stamp in 1995 and was inducted into the Women in Aviation Hall of Fame the same year. Yet another honor followed in 2000 when she was inducted in The Texas Aviation Hall of Fame. Look for her name on buildings in Harlem.
ALTHOUGH ELIZABETH BESSIE COLEMAN DID NOT LIVE LONG ENOUGH TO FULFILL HER GREATEST DREAM, TO ESTABLISH A FLIGHT SCHOOL, HER MANY FANS, FRIENDS AND SUPPORTERS ASSURED ITS CREATION. THE BESSIE COLEMAN AERO CLUB WAS ESTABLISHED IN LOS ANGELES IN 1929 SPEARHEADED BY LIEUTENANT WILLIAM J. POWELL, WHO HAD SERVED IN A SEGREGATED UNIT DURING WORLD WAR I. HE TIRELESSLY PROMOTED THE CAUSE OF BLACK AVIATION AND SUBSEQUENTLY BESSIE COLEMAN AERO CLUBS SPRANG UP THROUGHOUT THE COUNTRY.

AYER, HARRIET HUBBARD, COSMETIC PIONEER ( c) By Polly Guerin

The story of Harriet Hubbard Ayer (1849-1903) reads like a modern day melodrama the likes of which read more like fiction than the transgressions of real life. Yet, this indomitable woman, determined to succeed took matters into her own hands and rose above the stigma of divorce, kidnapping, madness, seduction, betrayal and the loss of her cosmetic business to reinvent herself again as a world famous journalist who penned a column of beauty and cosmetic advice to a devoted audience of women and men. At a time when most women did not work Ayer established Recamier Preparations, Inc., the first cosmetic company owned and operated by a woman but a male dominated society would curtail her entrepreneurship. Vindictive and jealous men in her life punished her for her ambition, accomplishments and seized her children. These egregious setbacks did not squelch her spirit. She was a pioneer and set the stage for other women to succeed and made beauty in a bottle respectable. AN AMERICAN BEAUTY Harriet Hubbard was a natural beauty whose intellectual development evolved far beyond what anyone expected. Born into a family of wealth and privilege she matured into a beautiful, accomplished Chicago socialite and was painted by famous artists of the time including William Merritt Chase. No one, however, would have suspected that under the gaze of her beauty lurked a girl full of perseverance, resilience and determination. BECOMING MRS. AYER It is no wonder that she attracted the attention of Herbert Copeland Ayer, the son of a wealthy iron dealer. The Civil War was over and Herbert’s father prospered and with his social credentials confirmed the Hubbard-Ayer liaison was a surety. At the age of sixteen, on October 2, 1866, she married Herbert Copeland Ayer, a man fourteen years her senior. It did not prove a happy liaison and with her husband’s excessive drinking and other problems a shadow loomed over the marriage, which was acerbated by the Great Chicago Fire in 1871 in which the Ayer’s home as well as the properties of so many other citizen’s was destroyed. Harriet also suffered from the death of her daughter Gertrude, who had a delicate nature and succumbed to the affects of smoke inhalation from the fire. PARIS SOJOURN More tragedy struck in 1833. Heartbroken and exhausted, after the collapse of the Ayer iron business Harriet was forced to fend for herself and her two remaining daughters. After separating from her husband and compounded by her mother’s dwindling inheritance, Harriet was almost destitute. With resolve to maintain the lifestyle to which they had been accustomed Harriet moved with her daughters to New York City, where she found work as a decorator and a salesperson for Syphers, the antique furniture store. On one of her frequent business trips to Europe, she discovered a chemist in Paris who created creams and perfumes. THE MADAME RECAMIER FORMULA There are several versions of how Harriet acquired the skin care products. It is suffice to say that on one of her trips to Paris, the epicenter of fashion and beauty, she had the fortuitous occasion to visit a certain M. Mirault who made the Parma Violet Perfume Harriet used. M. Mirault also had a formula for a face cream that reputedly had been made by his grandfather for the famous French beauty from the days of Napoleon, Julie de Recamier (1777-1849), which he sold to Harriet for a great price. Realizing an opportunity in 1866, she launched Recamier Toilet Preparations, Inc. A SUCCESSFUL BUSINESS WOMAN A born innovator Harriet skillfully marketed the Recamier products using her own name Harriet Hubbard Ayer and the Hubbard family crest on the label. Through extensive advertising and paid endorsements by famous entertainers her commercial success proliferated. Such tactics proved successful because countless women who aspired to a higher social status were encouraged to purchase her products, which included brushes, soaps, balms and scents, as well as the coveted cream. VICIOUS MALE INTERVENTION A lot of jealousy surrounded Harriet’s success and most of it perpetrated by men. Severe problems arose when Harriet was publicly accused of scandalous behavior in 1889. It’s true that she suffered a form of mental symptoms of exhaustion and melancholia but she was still in control of her business until men intervened. Setting a trap Harriet was drugged and isolated and eventually institutionalized in 1893 by her former husband, who had been egged on by James M. Seymour, the scoundrel who plotted to take over her business. Such incarceration seems to be typical of the way men at that time could do away with unwanted wives or in Harriet’s case a woman of property and business. It took more than a year for Harriet to escape through the help of her lawyers and friends from the Bronxville Insane Asylum. However, she was unable to regain control of the business and retired from its operation. After her departure the company Harriet founded did not last, going into receivershiip in 1896. Other incarnations of the Recamier Manufacturing Company and all rights to the name "Harriet Hubbard Ayer" were obtained by other entrepreneurs seeking to ride on the reputation of her name and beauty products. In 1907, after Harriet's death, her daughter, Margaret Hubbard Ayer sold the rights to her mother's name to Vincent Benjamin. How successful these companies were is lost in the powder dust of the cosmetic industry. RINVENTING HARRIET HUBBARD AYER The Recamier business was run into the ground by Seymour but Harriet regained her health and reinvented herself. Obviously you cannot keep a strong willed independent woman down for long. In 1896 she was hired to write a column on beauty advice for the New York World and he role played an important part in advancing the careers of women in the new mass journalism. Eventually, the material from these columns became the basis of a book published in 1902, “Harriet Hubbard Ayer’s book: A Complete and Authentic Treatise on the Laws of Health and Beauty. OH YOU BEAUTIFUL DOLL The Ideal Toy Company launched a Harriet Hubbard Ayer doll in connection with the leading cosmetic company and each model included a beauty instruction booklet. With a lovely wig on her vinyl head, the doll came with curlers and cosmetics. Not only could her hair be styled, but Ayer cosmetics could be applied to her dainty face.was offered complete with makeup for little girls to hone their skills.
Harriet Hubbard Ayer was ahead of her time, a pioneer who spearheaded the beauty industry and paved the way for later women entrepreneurs. When Ayer died in 1903, at the age of 54, she was the highest paid journalist in the United States.
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BARNES, DJUNA CELEBRATED MODERNIST WRITER (c) By Polly Guerin

Djuna Barnes’s extraordinary career as a journalist and illustrator deserves revisiting primarily because she made an important contribution in the development of 20th century English language modernist writing. She was born in a log cabin in 1892 and lived through the Deco years and became one of the key figures in 1920s and ‘30’s bohemian Paris and fulfilled a similar role in Greenwich Village. Though her upbringing in an unconventional household was fraught with incest, rape and hardship, Barnes developed an outsider’s perspective on ‘normal’ life that served her well as a writer. As a woman determined to succeed much of Barnes’s journalism was subjective and experiential. An early twentieth-century advocate for women’s rights Barnes also wrote interviews, features, theatre reviews, and a variety of news stories, often illustrating them with her own drawings. Left: This satirical drawing of a dandyish Greenwhich Village resident accompanied Barnes's 1916 article "How the Villagers Amuse Themselves." Newspaper Fiction: The New York Journalism of Djuna Barnes, 1913-1919, an exhibition of 45 objects including drawings, works on paper, documentary photographs, and stories in newsprint by the celebrated writer Djuna Barnes will be presented in the Herstory Gallery of the Elizabeth A. Sackler Center for Feminist Art from January 20 through October 28, 2012 at Brooklyn Museum, 200 Eastern Parkway, Brooklyn, New York. http://www.brooklynmuseum.org/. GREENWICH VILLAGE Barnes’s liberal sexuality fit in perfectly with the bohemian lifestyle of Greenwich Village and, later, the lesbian expatriate community in Paris. From her first articles in 1913 until her departure for Europe in 1921, she specialized in a type of journalism that was less about current events and more about her observations of the diverse personalities and happenings that gave readers an intimate portrait of her favorite character-New York City. Attempting to capture its transition from turn of the century city to modern metropolis, Barnes developed her unique style of “newspaper fictions,” offering impressionistic observations and dramatizing whatever she felt to be the true significance of subtexts of a story. Prior to publishing the modernist novels and plays for which she is now remembered, such as Ryder (1928), Nightwood (1936) and The Antiphon (1958), which present complex portrayals of lesbian life and familial dysfunction, Barnes supported herself as a journalist and illustrator for a variety of daily newspapers and monthly magazines including the Brooklyn Daily Eagle, McCalls, Vanity Fair, Charm and the New Yorker. THE BOHEMIAN LIFESTYLE In 1915 Barnes moved to a flat in Greenwich Village, where she became part of a thriving Bohemian community of artists and writers counting among her social circle Dadaist artists and poets. One supporter was Guido Bruno, an entrepreneur and promoter of published magazines and chapbooks out of his garret on Washington Square. He was willing to risk prosecution by publishing Barnes’s 1915 collection, The Book of Repulsive Women, with its explicit poetic descriptions of sex between women, at a time when lesbianism was virtually invisible in American culture. Barnes was unusual among Villagers in having been raised with a philosophy of free love, espoused both by her grandmother and her father. She retained sexual freedom as a value and had a number of affairs with both men and women during her Greenwich Village days. PARIS SOJOURN (1921-1930) Barnes first traveled to Paris on assignment for McCall’s Magazine, where she soon became a well-known figure on the local scene; her black cloak and her acerbic wit are remembered in memoirs of the time. She was part of the inner circle of the influential salon hostess, Natalie Barney, who would become a lifelong friend and patron, as well as the central figure in Barnes’s satiric chronicle of Paris lesbian life, Ladies Almanack, which was published under the pseudonym “A Lady of Fashion.” However, the most important relationship of Barnes’s Paris years was with the artist Thelma Wood, a Kansas native who had come to Paris to become a sculptor. Driven by Barnes’s influence Wood took up silverpoint instead, producing animals and plants that one critic compared to Rousseau. By 1922 they moved in together in a flat on the Boulevard Saint-Germain. In 1928 Barnes dedicated Ryder and Ladies Almanack to Thelma Wood the year that both books were published and the year that she and Wood separated. NEW YORK CITY AGAIN Barnes published little journalism in the 30s and was largely dependent on the largesse of the art patron, Peggy Guggenheim. Barnes was constantly ill and drank more heavily. After an attempted suicide Guggenheim funded hospital visits and doctors, but finally lost patience and sent Barnes be back to New York. During her Patchin Place years, Barnes became a notorious recluse. E.E. Cummings, who lived across the street, checked on her periodically, others put roses in her mailbox. It is at this time that Barnes stopped drinking in order to begin work on her verse play The Antiphon, that drew heavily on her own family history, the writing was fueled with anger. Although Barnes had other female lovers, in later years she was known to claim, “I am not a lesbian; I just loved Thelma.” BARNES WAS ELECTED TO THE NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ARTS AND LETTERS IN 1961. SHE WAS THE LAST SURVIVING MEMBER OF THE FIRST GENERATION OF ENGLISH-LANGUAGE MODERNISTS WHEN SHE DIED IN NEW YORK IN 1982.

MEIERE, HILDRETH ART DECO MURALIST (c) By Polly Guerin

If walls could talk what would they say? They would praise the artisitic oeuvre of Hildreth Meiere, who installed a prolific outpouring of works at a hundred public and religious buildings, like Temple Emanu-El, St. Patrick’s Cathedral and St. Bartholomew’s in New York City, and the National Academy of Sciences in Washington, D. C. and the Nebraska State Capitol. Her most famous designs are the Art Deco roundels, the plaques Dance, Drama and Song that appear on the 50th Street facade of Radio City Music Hall in Manhattan. For this Art Deco muralist, mosaicist, painter and decorative artist the domes, ceilings, walls, windows and floors of monumental buildings were her canvas. She completed more than 100 commissions which ranged from corporate art to liturgical works. SUCCEEDING AS AN EQUAL In the 1930s Meiere was considered the most famous muralist of the Art Deco style, and probably, the most prolific, in the country. She was a woman determined to succeed and beat the odds against professional success for her sex. She wrote to a friend in 1936, “I’ve worked as an equal with men, and my rating as an equal is all that I value.” Hildreth Meiere (1892-1961) was a woman artist who was able to gain the respect of the greatest muralists and architects of her day. Her finest achievements and artistic installations serve as an inspiration for all women in the fields of creative endeavor. MEIERE’S EDUCATION Achieving recognition as an artist takes many avenues of education and exploration, but foremost is the innate talent that Hildreth possessed. Educated at the Art Students’ League in New York, her hometown, the California School of Fine arts, the School of the Art Institute in Chicago, she sought after the best teachers and studied in Florence, Italy. There she was overcome by the glories of the Renaissance and all that preceded it, and she fell in love with mural painting and the magnificent walls. MEIERE’S OEUVRE It wasn’t long before Meiere’s talent would attract architects. In 1923, architect, Bertram Grosvenor Goodhue hired Meiere to decorate the dome of the National Academy of Sciences in Washington, D. C. and her career took off exponentially. She worked on two additional projects for Goodhue, most notably the Nebraska State Capitol’s eight distinctive works, which collectively became her piece de resistance. Meiere collaborated with other architects and craftsmen who executed her creations which reached beyond painted wall murals to include glass and marble mosaics, marble floors, glazed terra-cotta tiles, stained glass and wool tapestries. Her range was astonishing and identified with rich decorative quality.
HILDRETH MEIERE’S BEAUTIFUL ART OF MOSAIC CONTINUES TO BE ENJOYED IN CHURCHES AND PUBLIC BUILDING ACROSS THE COUNTRY. HER RANGE WAS ASTONISHING YET SHE FOUND TIME TO PAINT THE PORTABLE WOODEN ALTAR PIECES PRO BONO FOR MILITARY CHAPLAINS DURING WORLD WAR II. SHE SERVED ON BOARDS OF SEVERAL PROFESSIONAL GROUPS INCLUDING THE ART STUDENTS’ LEAGUE, THE NATIOANAL SOCIETY OF MURAL PAINTERS AND THE LITURGIAL ARTS SOCIETY TO NAME A FEW. IN 1956 SHE WAS THE FIRST WOMAN HONORED WITH THE FINE ARTS MEDAL OF THE AMERICAN INSTITUE OF ARCHITECTS AND THE FIRST WOMAN APPOINTED TO THE NEW YORK ART COMMISSION.

Hildreth Meiere is finally having her overdue recognition. The first thorough exhibition of her work, “Walls Speak: The Narrative Art of Hildreth Meiere,” through June 2012, showcases her work at the Regina A. Quick Center for the Arts at St. Bonaventure University in Bonaventure, N. Y., near Buffalo. The exhibit "The Narrative Art of Hildreth Meiere," has been extended to 2012 at the National Building Museum in Washington, D. C.

The International Hildreth Meiere Association conducts activities to promote and perpetuate the legacy of Hildreth Meiere. Contact Email: info@hildrethmeiere.com Web: www.hildrethmeiere.com.

NAEGEL, DIANE LYNNE DYNAMIC INNOVATOR (c) By Polly guerin

There are many stars in the galaxy but one very special individual descended on earth bringing with her innovation, creativity, entrepreneurism and publishing. That star that shined its light in so many endeavors was Dianne Lynne Naegel whose vibrant young life was cut short on Sunday, September 25, 2011, from complications due to breast cancer. At thirty-one Diane accomplished what would take some people a lifetime. She was a woman determined to succeed and did so with such grace, charm and beauty that she could pass through a crowded room and turn heads with her personal style. She was part a modern muse, a Vintage aficionado and Art Deco enthusiast, but always her interpretation was original. Diane Lynne Naegel leaves a legacy of inspiration for others to follow. THE AMAZING INNOVATOR Tributes keep pouring in about the life of this young innovator. Kathryn Hausman, president of the Art Deco Society of New York said, “Diane was a lovely young woman who partnered with her fiancé, Don Spiro, on monthly Wit’s End Deco soirees held around the city and featuring a jazz age celebration of music and dance. On occasion ADSNY offered its membership invitations to special venues. Diane and Don partnered with ADSNY on the Madame Yevonde events last year. Knowing how devoted she was to DECO I had invited her to be on the ADSNY board. In addition, she had a major following with the younger Decophiles and I had hoped to have her bring awareness to her group of ADSNY’s mission.” ZELDA MAGAZINE As publisher and designer of Zelda: A Magazine for the Vintage Nouveau, Diane was a born innovator seeing the magazine through several issues, first issue Fall/Winter 2009, and the most recent issue Spring/Summer 2011, the fifth issue was about to be published at the time of her demise. Hausman adds with gratitude: “She had given ADSNY complimentary full page advertisements in several issues, and for this we were very proud.” Alicia Kachmar said, “She was an amazing woman that no amount of words could truly describe. She was a gem.” Sam Altman: “To know that she was able to touch so many lives during her journey is inspirational.” DESIGNER PAR EXCELLENCE Diane Lynne Naegel was no ordinary gal, she was proprietress of the Internet scarf business Lulette.com for a year before coming to New York to work in the fashion business, and how lucky these companies were to have such talent in their business. Working first at the Gap in the International Division and most recently as Accessory Designer at OshKosh b'gosh Corp., she designed children’s accessories. She was passionate about her work and lent some of her expertise on the Rose Marie Reid swimsuits and modeled her own in the Thrifty Vintage Chic Swimsuit Edition. DIANE, THE EARLY YEARS Diane Lynne Naegel was born August 31, 1980 in Cincinnati, Ohio, the first and only daughter of Sarita Diane Naegel and Mark Robert Naegel. No one would have suspected that from a typical upbringing that she would emerge as the dynamic creative individual that she became. She attended pre-school and grade school at Concordia Lutheran School and high school at St. Ursula Academy, graduating with Honors. Diane studied and worked at the University of Cincinnati, the co-op program of the College of Design, Art, Architecture and Planning and graduated with Honors with a degree in Fashion Design 2003. She received several recognition awards: Fashion Mafia Winner of Saks Fifth Avenue Award-outstanding senior and Collection winner of director’s Choice Award for Senior Thesis Collection. New York’s fashion industry as mentioned previously was her next move.
THE LOSS OF SUCH A VIBRANT AND CREATIVE SPIRIT TOUCHES ALL THE LIVES OF THE PEOPLE WHO KNEW HER, NONE MORE SO THAT THAT OF DON SPIRO, DIANE’S FIANCE WHO SAID, “To those who knew and loved her, she would want you to be strong, enjoy every bit of life, and be happy celebrating her memory.”

MAYER, TERRY-FASHION ICON, BELLOLOGIST (c) by Polly Guerin

Of all the women who have reinvented themselves Terry Mayer, a woman who wore many hats during her storied career, became a fashion authority, a publicist and product innovator. Terry’s meteoric rise to the top echelon of women determined to succeed was accomplished by the sheer magnitude of her prolific outpouring. As a mentor to many women in the fashion industry she helped to elevate other women to achieve their goals and all the time she was the ultimate fashion icon, beautiful, intelligent and a native New Yorker. Terry Mayer quietly and with dignity leaves a vast legacy of original ‘firsts’ that count her among the legends of New York women, the ‘brains’ behind America’s most glamorous period in fashion.
THE LADDER TO SUCCESS Well suited to the fashion culture of New York City when Terry graduated from college she pursued her dream and entered the business world. After landing a job in the publicity/marketing department of Macy’s Department Store she started on a course that would define her life and her career. Vin Draddy, president of David Crystal Co., makers of fine women’s dresses on New York’s Seventh Avenue recognized her talent and appointed Terry the firm’s publicist. She spearheaded the growth of the company’s fashion recognition and worked on the exciting new colorful line of IZOD golf shirts. Terry far exceeded her ambition and decided to break out on her own.
BECOMING TERRY MAYER PUBLICITY Competition was rampant in the fashion publicity but undaunted Terry created many ‘firsts,’ like the Denim Council. At a time when denim was considered utilitarian she promoted denim as fashionable and chic through newsletters and fashion shows. It was at this time that Terry began her awesome collection of ‘Drum Beaters,’ amusing and animated figures and characters that represented the drum beating of publicity. A unique collection it really should be housed in a museum. Terry aligned herself with the international sectors of fashion and was cited for her work on the Inter-American Council promoting Latin American fashion. She also spearheaded the campaign on the Mayor’s Committee to celebrate New York City. In time she participated in many fashion industry organizations and was a founder of The Fashion News Workshop.
A REGULAR AT ‘21’ Terry had great social instinct and knew that being seen and socializing with clients and the fashion cognoscenti was an essential to a successful publicity career. She became a regular patron of ‘21’ the famous restaurant on W. 55 Street and her name was assigned to her regular table, #53. One could find her meeting a client for a drink to gossip and catch up from time to time. Terry once remarked, “I had been going to ‘21’ since the 60s and enjoyed being made a fuss over. That’s what it’s all about. Maybe that’s what life is about.” When a birthday or a career achievement was celebrated at ‘21’ Polly, her chief copywriter at Amos Parrish where Terry was vice president of Fashion, was often a guest. “I never had a meal I did not enjoy,” Polly exclaimed, “For anyone who was in Terry’s orbit she celebrated life and made it a more exciting.” Terry never lacked for admirers and especially when male diners came forward to greet her. The fashion icons of the day included celebrity designers. Even Bill Blass made his way to her table.
BECOMING A BELLOLOGIST If indeed ideas are planted in the very young then Terry’s subconscious mind held a secret. As Terry recalls when she was a little girl, her mother put bells on her shoes, “so I would not get lost around the house." And so it was that after a 30-year career in publicity and public relations and counting her service as president of the Publicity Club of New York, Terry embarked on yet another career designing bell jewelry. As the commentator of a Denim Council fashion show she had blue-jeaned models wear jingling bells around their waists. That sparked an idea and led Terry to take a course in jewelry design at the Fashion Institute of Technology. Eventually her own bells, which she designed as jewelry in the shape of fruits, animals, seashells and sailboats with a tinkling bell found their way into stores like Tiffany & Company and as the bull and bear in the financial district.
THE BELL ASSOCIATION With her enthusiasm and success as a jewelry designer it was inevitable that Terry’s path would lead further into the world of bell collecting. As president of the New York chapter of the American Bell Association International, Terry held regular meetings with sort of “show and tell” sessions among avid bell collectors. The collections discussed included all kinds of bells that have maintained a lofty place in American history, in church towers, pilot houses, locomotives and schoolhouses. Today many museums maintain bell collections including world famous historical collections as well as American glass bells, walking sticks, sleigh bells, bicycle bells and even mother-of-pearl teething rings. Most wonderful and privileged were the New York chapter meetings that were held in the music department of the Metropolitan Museum of Art where historic bells were the main topic on view and discussion. There were ancient bells that lonely shepherds once used to communicate from mountain to mountain as they tended their flocks of sheep and majestic stone temple bells of the Orient that when struck released a different sound message. These meetings were organized through the largesse of Joe Petnick III who passed these treasures among the bell enthusiasts and regaled us with historic stories and legends of the past.
ON A PERSONAL LEVEL TERRY MAYER WAS GENEROUS; SHE WAS KIND AND A CHAMPION OF WOMEN PURSING CAREERS IN THE FASHION, ADVERTISING AND PUBLICITY ARENAS. SMART, ATTRACTIVE AND INNOVATIVE TERRY MAYER WAS ONE OF THE OUTSTANDING WOMEN WHO SUCCEEDED IN THE COMPETITIVE BUSINESS WORLD. WHEN MOST WOMEN WOULD HAVE RETIRED TERRY MAYER REINVENTED HERSELF FROM FASHION PUBLICITY ICON TO JEWELRY DESIGNER. SHE CREATED NEW WORDS, ‘BELLOLOGIST,’ FOR EXAMPLE, TO IDENTIFY WITH HER ROLE AS JEWELRY DESIGNER AND BELL ASSOCIATION PRESIDENT.
THANK YOU TERRY MAYER FOR BEING ONE OF THE MOST ADMIRED AND VENERATED WOMAN OF THE CENTURY.

CAPITMAN, BARBARA BAER, CHAMPION OF ART DECO (c) By Polly Guerin

When it comes to Art Deco preservation and the woman who founded numerous Art Deco chapters around the country I recognize and honor the memory of an amazing Art Deco woman Barbara Baer Capitman. An intrepid little woman with a colossal personality, Capitman was a pioneer and spearheaded the struggle to save Miami’s colorful Art Deco district. Identifying the architectural value of the 1930s buildings in South Miami Beach she literally put her body on the line to protect deteriorating Art Deco buildings marked for demolition. It is amazing how one person with limited resources yet possessing a powerful goal could change the course of a city’s prosperity so completely and wonderfully. It had a ripple effect through its people and tourism, and gave rise to a greater appreciation of Art Deco style nationwide. Barbara Baer Capitman was a woman determined to succeed and her reputation as the indomitable champion of Art Deco treasures of Miami Beach is revered in the architectural history of our country.
BECOMING A PRESERVATIONIST Leave it to a woman to rally behind a cause and put her whole heart and soul into its realization. After the death of her husband William, at 53 Barbara Capitman became a preservationist she admitted, “To fill the void and as a means of making new friends.” Petite and feisty she attributed her quavery voice, which her detractors frequently mimicked, to the shock of his death. Unfazed by any criticism Barbara pressed on as a preservationist, observing as she did that the 1930s Art Deco buildings in South Beach could be a historic district of 20 century architecture. Although Art Deco is somewhat more whimsical in Miami, the style is exemplified by the Chrysler Building and Radio City Music Hall in New York City, which are the best examples of Art Deco.
THE MIAMI DESIGN PRESERVATION LEAGUE It was inevitable that such a monumental task of saving the Art Deco treasures in South Miami Beach, which Capitman took up unrelentingly, was an insurmountable task alone. Although she began her campaign to create 20th century historic district in Miami Beach in 1975, she no doubt realized that she would need support to back up her preservation goals and in 1976 through Barbara’s efforts and her son John Capitman, The Miami Design Preservation League (MDPL) was formed. The initial impetus for forming The Miami Design Preservation League (MDPL) was to find a project to honor the United States’ bicentennial and in 1977 MDPL was duly incorporated by the State of Florida.
THE FIRST ART DECO WEEK As an incentive to showcase the Art Deco Section of Miami Beach, and hoping to attract locals, tourists and Art Deco aficionados to the area, the first Art Deco Week was held in October 13-19, 1978.Within four years, despite opposition by the Miami Beach city manager and the Chamber of Commerce, Barbara and her Design Preservation League won listings of the mile-square district on the National Register of Historic Places, providing federal tax incentives for restoration. The Miami Beach Historic District popularly referred to as the “Art Deco District” is the only district with 20th century architecture in the register. Art Deco Week continues to be a great attraction and draws visitors worldwide. Today the festival is in its 28th year and attracts upwards of 400,000 over the three-day festival.
MIAMI BEACH ART DECO REVIVAL A born visionary, in the early 1980s it was Capitman’s idea to bring the fashion industry and travel writers to South Miami to see the Art Deco architecture first hand. While it was winter in New York South Beach provided a summer venue for fashion industry professionals and photographers. As an incentive she offered the photographers and press inexpensive rooms in the Art Deco District. Miami Beach became a sensation and advertisements and travel stories worldwide garnered millions of dollars in free advertising as did its fame increase with the hit television series “Miami Vice,” which gave the district more free publicity on a major television network. Today celebrities, the fashion cognoscenti, the curious tourist come to call South Beach their own playground of Art Deco delights. World famous artist and one of the pioneering Art Deco collectors Andy Warhol was among the celebs who visited South Beach and the news generated caused a sensation that brought art-world notoriety to the district.
CHAMPIONING ART DECO No better spokesperson ever existed for Art Deco style than Barbara Baer Capitman. In 1981, at her own expense, she went on a three month nationwide tour driving her small car across the country to tell people about Miami Beach’s historic district and to promote Art Deco style. Her feisty personality and determination to popularize Art Deco was singular achievement which led to preserving nationwide the “decorative arts” style of architecture popular between the two world wars. She personified the genre and instigated the founding of Art Deco Societies around the country including Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago, Washington D.C., Boston and New York to name a few. Modeled after these societies many others sprung up all over the world, but Miami Beach became the Mecca for Art Deco enthusiasts. Capitman also became the founder of the World Congress on Art Deco, a major conference that is held in a different country every two years. The 11th World Congress on Art Deco met August 14 to August 2o in Rio de Janiero, Brazil, marking the first ever meeting in Latin America. World Congress’ were previously held in New York, Australia, England, New Zealand, Tulsa and South Africa.
THE INDOMITABLE CAPITMAN After Capitman took her celebrated trip around the nation in search of Art Deco treasures the idea for a book inspired her to write Deco Delights, her definitive book on the efforts to save and protect Miami Beach’s famed Art Deco district published in 1988. At the time of her death Capitman was working on a book, “Rediscovering Art Deco U.S.A.,” her final book, but passed away in the midst of the project, on March 29, 1990. The book was completed by co-authors Michael K. Kinerk (an original member of the MDPL) and Dennis W. Wilhelm, who spearhead the Miami Art Deco Society today. The publishing world was her métier for she had worked all her life in the design and publishing, serving as editor of numerous magazines. At the time of her death, she was president of the International Coalition of Art Deco Societies (ICADS), president of Art Deco Society of Miami and counted the Miami Design Preservation League and board member of the metro Dade County Historic Preservation Board among her liaisons.
WHILE MOST OF THE INVESTORS AND BUILDERS WHO RESTORED SOUTH MIAMI’S ART DECO DISTRICT MADE HUGE FORTUNES BARBARA BAER CAPITMAN GARNERED NO FINANCIAL REWARD FOR HER PRESERVATION EFFORTS. FOR CAPITMAN SAVING MIAMI’S COLORFUL ART DECO TREASURES WAS A LABOR OF LOVE. HER SOLE COMMITMENT TO RESCUING ART DECO FROM OBLIVION IN SOUCH BEACH, AND ESTABLISHING SOCIETIES AROUND THE COUNTRY IS A LASTING LEGACY AND A FITTING PROJECT THAT HONORED AMERICA’S ART DECO HERITAGE.