Ugly Beauty (31 page)

Acknowledgments

Caroline Davidson, Geoff Garvey, Dr. Lucy
Glancey, Abbie Greene and Nick Growse, Nick Humphrey, Sylvia Kahan, David Kuzma
at Rutgers University Library Special Collections, Brian Morgan, Luke Shepherd,
Ann Treneman, Monica Waitzfelder, Lindy Woodhead, and Randall Wright have given
me invaluable help during the writing of this book. I am deeply grateful to them
all. My thanks, too, to all at HarperCollins for their professionalism and
patience.

I am especially indebted to my agent, Clare
Alexander, who was instrumental in shaping this book, and my editor, Ben
Loehnen, who sharpened its points.

Notes

Chapter 1 : Beauty Is Power!

 1. 
Vogue
, February 1915.

 2. Yeb 63b, Ber 57b, see www.holysmoke.org/sdhok/jp-fem4.htm.

 3. Greg, “Why Are Women Redundant?”
National
Review
, April 1862.

 4. Rubinstein,
My Life for Beauty
, p. 13.

 5. Rubinstein,
The Art of Feminine Beauty
, p. 6.

 6. Carter,
With
Tongue in Chic
, p. 174.

 7. O’Higgins,
Madame
, p. 246.

 8. 
Life
, July 21, 1941, pp. 37–45.

 9. Quoted in Peiss,
Hope in a Jar
, p. 95.

10. All this detail—and everything else about HR’s life in Australia—comes from Woodhead,
War Paint
.

11. Rubinstein,
My Life for Beauty
, p. 25.

12. Woodhead,
War Paint
, p. 41.

13. HR to Rosa Hollay, June 1915, Bulmer papers. Thanks to Ann Treneman for help regarding this source.

14. Advertisement from
Table Talk
, quoted in Woodhead,
War Paint
, p. 51.

15. O’Higgins,
Madame
, p. 151.

16. Rubinstein,
My Life for Beauty
, p. 26.

17. Ibid., pp. 28, 13.

18. Phillips,
Skin Deep
, p. 29.

19. Rubinstein,
The Art of Feminine Beauty
, p. 14.

20. Rubinstein,
My Life for Beauty
, p. 32.

21. Rubinstein,
The Art of Feminine Beauty
, p. 15.

22. Carter,
With Tongue in Chic
, p. 175.

23. Rubinstein,
The Art of Feminine Beauty
, p. 16.

24. Rubinstein,
My Life for Beauty
, p. 33.

25. Ibid., p. 34.

26. Ibid., p. 33.

27. HR to Rosa Hollay, July 20, 1915, May 1920, Bulmer papers.

28. Rubinstein,
My Life for Beauty
, p. 100.

29. Ibid., pp. 39–40.

30. S. N. Behrman,
Portrait of Max
, quoted in George Landow, “Max Beerbohm Creates a Great Fuss,” http://www.victorianweb.org/authors/mb/rouge1.html.

31. Rubinstein,
My Life for Beauty
, p. 42.

32. HR to Rosa Hollay, December 8, 1914, Bulmer papers.

33. HR to Rosa Hollay, March 1923.

34. According to Fabe,
Beauty Millionaire
, p. 68.

35. Rubinstein,
My Life for Beauty
, p. 32.

36. Rubinstein,
The Art of Feminine Beauty
, p. 19.

37. O’Higgins,
Madame
, p. 92.

38. Rubinstein,
My Life for Beauty
, p. 70.

39. HR to Rosa Hollay, May 9, 1915, Bulmer papers.

40. O’Higgins,
Madame
, p. 104.

41. Figure given by the American Chemical Society; quoted in Woodhead,
War Paint
, p. 100.

42. 
New York World
, September 11, 1910; Lillian Wald,
The House on Henry Street
, 1915, p. 192; both quoted in Banner,
American Beauty
, p. 217.

43. 
American Magazine
, December 1922.

44. Gray, “People Who Want to Look Young and Beautiful,” pp. 32–33.

45. HR to Rosa Hollay, November 12, 1914, Bulmer papers.

46. O’Higgins,
Madame
, p. 224.

47. Ibid., p. 233.

48. 
Vogue
, May, 1, 1915.

49. Rubinstein,
My Life for Beauty
, p. 61.

50. HR to Rosa Hollay, July 13, 1915, Bulmer papers.

51. Quoted in Woodhead,
War Paint
, p. 122.

52. HR to Rosa Hollay, 1921, Bulmer papers.

53. O’Higgins,
Madame
, p. 181.

54. 
Times
(London), March 20, 2002.

55. 
The New Yorker
, June 30, 1928.

56. 
Life
, July 21, 1941.

57. O’Higgins,
Madame
, p. 93.

58. All this detail from Woodhead,
War Paint
, pp. 166–70.

59. Rubinstein,
My Life for Beauty
, p. 72.

Chapter 2: The Authoritarian

 1. 1936,
Skin Deep
correspondence, Rutgers University Special Collections.

 2. There are two principal sources of information on Eugène Schueller’s life. He gave a full account of his life history in evidence before the court that tried him for civil collaboration after World War I (Dossier instruit par la cour de justice du département de la Seine contre Eugène Schueller, Archives Nationales [cote Z 6 N L 11.108]). And some years later he told his story, differing slightly in some details, to journalist Merry Bromberger, who recorded the interview, along with others, in his
Comment ils ont fait fortune
(How They Made Their Money). Where no other source is credited, I have relied on these for what follows.

 3. Abescat,
La Saga des Bettencourt
, p. 83.

 4. Dalle,
L’Aventure L’Oréal
, p. 63.

 5. Interview with Liliane Bettencourt,
Egoïste
, no. 10, 1987.

 6. Ibid.

 7. Curie,
Madame Curie
, pp. 305–10.

 8. Abescat,
La Saga des Bettencourt
, p. 64.

 9. Schueller,
De L’Innocuité des teintures pour cheveux
.

10. 
Skin Deep
correspondence, Rutgers University Special Collections.

11. Interview with Liliane Bettencourt,
Egoïste
, 1987.

12. Bromberger,
Comment ils ont fait fortune
, p. 78.

13. Schueller,
Le Deuxième salaire
.

14. Testimony of Jacques Sadoul, Archives Nationales de France (CARAN): Dossier instruit par la cour de justice du département de la Seine contre Eugène Schueller (côte 26 NL 11.108).

15. Bromberger,
Comment ils ont fait fortune
, p. 78.

16. Ibid., p. 86.

17. Schueller,
L’Impôt sur l’énergie
, p. 115.

18. Corson,
Fashions in Hair
, p. 615.

19. Ibid., p. 619.

20. Schueller,
L’Impôt sur l’énergie
.

21. HR to Rosa Hollay, December 1915, October 1922, 1921, Bulmer papers.

22. O’Higgins,
Madame
, p. 28.

23. 
Coiffure de Paris
, October 8–10, 1909. Translation is the author’s, as are all translations not specifically attributed.

24. Schueller,
La Révolution de l’économie
.

25. Sadoul’s evidence, Dossier instruit par la cour de justice du département de la Seine contre Eugène Schueller.

26. Schueller,
Faire Vivre
, p. 24.

27. Ibid.

28. Schueller,
La Révolution de l’économie
, p. 35.

29. Ibid., p. 6.

30. Schueller,
Le Deuxième salaire
.

31. Schueller,
La Révolution de l’économie
, p. 202.

32. Ibid., p. 35.

33. Ibid.

34. Ibid., p. 219.

35. Bromberger,
Comment ils ont fait fortune
, p. 91.

36. 
Votre Beauté
, December 1934.

37. 
Votre Beauté
, January 1936.

38. Lecture, Salle Pleyel, December 6, 1941, Archives Nationales, cote Z 6 N L 11.108.

39. Bromberger,
Comment ils ont fait fortune
, p. 73.

40. Schueller,
Le Deuxième salaire
, p. 5.

41. Dalle,
L’Aventure L’Oréal
, p. 23.

42. Charles E. Sorensen, David L. Lewis, and Samuel T. Wilkinson,
My Forty Years with Ford
(New York, 1956), p. 29.

43. Albert Lee,
Henry Ford and the Jews
(New York, 1980), p. 99.

44. Schueller,
Le Deuxième salaire
.

45. Ibid.

46. Dunlap,
Personal Beauty and Racial Betterment
, p. 20.

47. Ibid., p. 36.

48. Ibid., p. 58.

Chapter 3: What Did You Do in the War, Daddy?

 1. Bromberger,
Comment ils ont fait fortune
, p. 73

 2. Schueller,
Le Deuxième salaire
.

 3. Koestler,
Scum of the Earth
, p. 32.

 4. Dalle,
L’Aventure L’Oréal
, p. 20.

 5. Potton,
On a trouvé un chef
.

 6. Lecture, Salle Pleyel, December 6, 1941.

 7. Schueller,
La Révolution de l’économie
, p. 219.

 8. Ibid., p. 122.

 9. Testimony of Georges Mercadier, Archives Nationales (cote Z 6 N L 11.108).

10. Lecture, Salle Pleyel, December 6, 1941, Archives Nationales (cote Z 6 N L 11.108).

11. Charbonneau,
Les
Mémoires de Porthos
I, pp. 16–17.

12. Lecture, Salle Pleyel, December 6, 1941, Archives Nationales (cote Z 6 N L 11.108).

13. Addressing the political bureau of MSR, November 23, 1941. Abescat,
La Saga des Bettencourt
, p. 105.

14. Schueller,
La Révolution de l’économie
, p. 202.

15. This was true even though the Germans confiscated 42 percent of French GDP, and workers’ buying power was halved by 1943. See Lacroix-Riz,
Industriels et banquiers sous l’Occupation
, p. 565.

16. Schueller,
La Révolution de l’économie
, quoted in Rochebrune and Hazéra,
Les Patrons sous l’Occupation
, p. 771.

17. Quoted in Lacroix-Riz,
Industriels et banquiers sous l’Occupation
, pp. 561–65.

18. Ibid., pp. 327–28.

19. Letter, Schmilinsky to Baron Dr. von Mahs, October 29, 1941: Archives Nationales (cote AJ40 vol 775). Quoted in Lacroix-Riz,
Industriels et banquiers sous l’Occupation
, p. 436.

20. Charbonneau,
Les
Mémoires de Porthos
, p. 334.

21. Péan,
Le Mystérieux Docteur Martin
, p. 249.

22. Amouroux,
Les Beaux jours des collabos
, p. 362.

23. Schueller interrogation, February 19, 1948, Dossier instruit par la cour de justice du département de la Seine contre Eugène Schueller (cote Z 6 N L 11.108).

24. “Un beau-père encombrant,” 
Le Monde
, February 12, 1995.

25. See, for example, Charbonneau,
Les Mémoires de Porthos
, p. 342.

26. Abescat,
La Saga des Bettencourt
, p. 103.

27. Abellio,
Sol invictus
, p. 213.

28. Schueller interrogation, February 19, 1948, Archives Nationales cote Z 6 N L 11.108.

29. Rochebrune and Hazéra,
Les Patrons sous l’Occupation
, p. 753.

30. Giesbert,
François Mitterrand
, p. 96.

31. Abellio,
Sol invictus
, p. 213.

32. Charbonneau,
Les
Mémoires de Porthos
, p. 344.

33. Abellio,
Sol invictus
, p. 213.

34. Ibid., p. 215.

35. Schueller interrogation, February 19, 1948, Archives Nationales (cote Z 6 N L 11.108).

36. Archives de Paris, Comité régional industriel d’épuration d’entreprises de la Seine, affaire Schueller, 1946.

37. Peiss,
Hope in a Jar
, p. 242.

38. Woodhouse,
War Paint
, pp. 274–75.

39. 
Current Biography
, 1943, ed. Maxine Block.

40. Gilman,
Making the Body Beautiful
, p. 180.

41. Guenther,
Nazi Chic?
, pp. 98–101.

42. Dossier instruit par la cour de justice du département de la Seine contre Eugène Schueller (cote Z 6 N L 11.108).

43. Evidence given in Schueller’s trial for industrial collaboration, December 6, 1948. These of course were the official figures. They tell us nothing about the black market. Archives Nationales (cote Z 6 N L 11.108).

44. Archives Nationales (cote Z 6 N L 11.108).

45. Dalle,
L’Aventure L’Oréal
, p. 33.

46. Archives de Paris. Comité régional industriel d’épuration d’entreprises de la Seine, affaire Schueller, 1946.

47. Archives Nationales (cote Z 6 N L 11.108).

48. Archives Nationales (cote Z 6 N L 11.108).

49. Abescat,
La Saga des Bettencourt
, pp. 60–61.

50. Archives Curie, Paris: BnF Mss. Archives Joliot-Curie (déposées à l’Institut Curie) NAF 28161.

51. Ibid.

52. Archives of the Groupement des Industries Métallurgiques Mécaniques et Connexes de la Région Parisienne (GIMMCP), quoted in Vinen,
The Politics of French Business 1936–1945
, p. 196.

53. Berr,
Journal
, p. 204.

54. Charbonneau,
Les
Mémoires de Porthos
, p. 345.

55. Archives Nationales (cote Z 6 N L 11.108).

56. Archives de Paris, Comité régional industriel d’épuration d’entreprises de la Seine, affaire Schueller, 1946.

Chapter 4: Family Affairs

 1. O’Higgins,
Madame
, p. 183.

 2. Bettencourt described their meeting in the preface to a souvenir book privately published by the family to celebrate Schueller’s centenary in 1981.

 3. 
La Terre Française
, December 6, 1941.

 4. Pierre Bettencourt,
Les Désordres de la mémoire
, p. 207.

 5. Dalle,
L’Aventure L’Oréal
, pp. 14–15.

 6. Ibid., p. 20.

 7. Péan,
Une Jeunesse française
, p. 99.

 8. Ibid., p. 76.

 9. Dalle,
L’Aventure L’Oréal
, pp. 24–25.

10. Ibid., p. 62.