Marinello

In 1922, the United States Federal Trade Commission (FTC) charged the Marinello Company of Wisconsin, the Marinello Company of Chicago, the Marinello School of Chicago and the School of Cosmeticians with anticompetitive practices under Section 3 of the Clayton Antitrust Act (1914), specifically noting the measures the company took to stop price cutting.

The Marinello companies, the Marinello schools and the School of Cosmeticians were closely linked; in one sense they could all be considered to be a part of ‘Marinello’. Francis Chilson – who worked as the company manager of Marinello from 1927 to 1930 after Inecto took control – gives us a summary of the arrangement.

[Marinello’s] products were used in and distributed through more than 5,000 of the largest and most elegant beauty salons in the country. Marinello did not own these salons but controlled them absolutely. Nothing but Marinello products could be used in these salon; no beautician could get a job in any of them unless she had a certificate from a Marinello School of Cosmeticians and this, in turn, was the wholly owned subsidiary of the Marinello Company. It was a closed circuit.

(Chilson, 1972, pp. 59-60)

This advantageous closed business circle was set up by the founder of Marinello, Ruth D. Maurer.

Ruth D. Maurer

Ruth D. Maurer was born in Iowa in 1870 as Ruth Johnson, becoming Ruth Maurer in 1898 when she married the physician and surgeon Dr. Albert A. Maurer [1860-1942] in Kenosha, Wisconsin. Albert Maurer had two sons from a previous marriage, Claude N. Maurer [1887-1963] and Albert A. Maurer Jr. [1891-1964] and the couple did not produce any additional children. After the ceremony they settled in La Crosse, Wisconsin where Dr. Maurer had his medical practice.

Exactly how Ruth Johnson ended up in the beauty business is a bit of a mystery. Published accounts – to which she would have contributed – suggest that her introduction was through writing beauty hints in Chicago newspapers under the name Emily Lloyd, her mother’s maiden name.

Mrs. Maurer first became interested in cosmetics and beauty culture by contributing beauty hints to Chicago papers under the name of “Emily Lloyd.” So numerous were her inquiries regarding creams, lotions etc., that as a natural result she decided to try the manufacture of them according to her own formulas.

(AP&EOR, 1929)

I have been unable to find a single beauty article written by Emily Lloyd in any Chicago newspaper prior to 1903, the year that ‘The Skin. Its Care and Treatment’ was first published – a book widely attributed to her – but it is possible that Maurer worked as a newspaper columnist under another name.

Mme. Michaud

The first edition of ‘The Skin. Its Care and Treatment’ states that it is following the ‘Michaud System’. The Michaud name gets dropped in the second edition of the book which then credits Emily Lloyd as the author. Coincidentally, a Mme. Michaud wrote beauty hints for the Chicago ‘Weekly Inter Ocean’ newspaper, covering many topics in a similar way to those dealt with in the books.

If we accept that Mme. Michaud, Emily Lloyd, and Ruth Maurer are one and the same person then the considerable body of information in ‘The Skin. Its Care and Treatment’ can be seen to have derived from a combination of Maurer’s previous writings on the subject combined with technical information provided by McIntosh Battery and Optical Company and advice from other quarters. Athough it seems to have been gathered over a relatively short period of time, Maurer’s knowledge of skin-care appears comprehensive – even extending to cosmetic surgery.

How and why Maurer started writing beauty hints in the first place remains an unanswered question. Given her prodigious output of printed material it would seem that she had both an interest in, and talent for, the written word, and may have started out as a journalist. Newspapers of the time were dominated by male correspondents with women generally regulated to ‘Women’s Interests’ sections, such as social events, fashion and beauty hints, and this may have been reason behind her introduction to Beauty Culture.

The use of a French sounding alias such as Mme. Michaud was a common ploy used by American newspapers to increase a beauty column’s credibility with their readers. It also enabled the newspaper to maintain a column after the original writer had left.

A second unanswered question concerns Maurer’s connection to the McIntosh Battery and Optical Company. It is possible that the company approached the newspaper for a suitable writer and Ruth Maurer was chosen. However, first contact may have been made by Maurer herself. In 1901, she patented a depurator (Patent No. 680,723) and may have approached the McIntosh company, which was based in Chicago, to make it.

Emily Lloyd

The first link I have between Emily Lloyd and Marinello comes with the publication of the second edition of ‘The Skin. Its Care and Treatment’ in 1904. The book went through five editions all told – 1903, 1904, 1907, 1910, and 1914 – all published by the McIntosh Battery and Optical Company. Apart from the first, they were all credited to Emily Lloyd.

The book covered a wide variety of topics including: the structure of the skin; the manufacture of skin creams; the use of some cosmetics; how to massage; treatments for skin, hair, nails, feet, hands, teeth and the body; common skin complaints such as blackheads, pimples, freckles and wrinkles; electrical treatments; as well as diet, exercise, weight gain and weight loss and was generally well received by medical journals.

The writer of this somewhat extensive work modestly conceals his name, but the book merits careful reading at the hands of the physician who is pestered by a patient who wants some local treatment for a disfiguring facial blemish, or by individuals who make skin treatment their speciality. In our judgement either a woman has written much of the book or there has been feminine collaboration. It aims at the “open sesame” to beauty, and contains much of interest, even to those of us who believe that we can struggle along without doctoring our faces too much.

(The Detroit Medical Journal, 1903, pp. 239-240)

As might be expected, electrical machinery, manufactured by the McIntosh Battery and Optical Company, featured heavily in treatments and there were also McIntosh company advertisements at the back of each edition. The first and subsequent editions also carried an advertisement for the Marinello Company listed at La Crosse, Wisconsin, and 57 Washington Street, Chicago, the site of the Western Methodist Book Concern Building.

In 1913, Marinello had moved to the 14th floor of the Mallers Building on the corner of Wabash Avenue and Madison Street, Chicago. By this time Marinello products were being sold through outlets across the United States including New York, Chicago, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Dallas, Kansas City, Milwaukee, Canton, St. Paul, St. Louis, Denver, Spokane, Boston, and Washington.

Why Ruth Maurer maintained Emily Lloyd as an alias is a puzzle. It may have been to avoid any connection with her husband’s medical practice but there is also the possibility that it was to avoid prejudice, given that the Maurer family was Jewish. Perhaps Ruth thought that an anglicised name had a better chance of producing good sales. Whatever the reason, she continued to publish material under her alias well into the 1920s including: ‘The Marinello Text Book’, first published in 1915; ‘The Prismatic Ray (1910), a book on high frequency treatments; the ‘Marinello Messenger’ (1913-1914), an internal news bulletin for Marinello salons; ‘Milady Beautiful’ a commercial magazine, first published in 1913 as the ‘Cometicians Exchange’ which lists Emily Lloyd as its editor; ‘Emily Lloyd’s Note Book’ (1915); ‘Special Lesson’ (1920) published for the National School of Cosmeticians; and assorted newspaper interviews she gave on the subject of beauty treatments. The Marinello Training School was also founded under the name Emily Lloyd.

Marinello Training School

Following the establishment of the Marinello companies, Ruth Maurer started the Marinello Training School at 57 Washington Street, Chicago, later known as the Marinello School of Beauty Culture. The generally accepted opinion is that the school opened in 1905 but the American College and Private School Directory has it starting in 1904 (Meyers, 1909, p. 175), the year Maurer moved to Washington Street. A 1923 Marinello promotional piece for the trade suggests that the school opened with only three students.

Maurer may have based her school on the highly successful Moler schools, founded in Chicago in 1893 by A. B. (Arthur Bass) Moler [1866-1955]. Primarily aimed at barbers, Moler also included classes for a number of treatments normally associated with Beauty Culture including facial massage, manicure, chiropody and electrolysis. He would later open Moler Beauty Colleges specifically to train cosmetologists.

Going on a picture of an early class, the Marinello school accepted both male and female students and covered both hairdressing as well as skin treatments. Its credo embraced “Scientific Massage as indicated by the position of the blood vessels and nerves. Use of Batteries and Electric Appliances of all kinds” (Lloyd, 1907).

In the 1907 edition of ‘The Skin. Its Care and Treatment’ Emily Lloyd is listed as the Director of the Marinello Training School and I. R. Outerbridge as its Supervisor of Instruction. It is unlikely that Maurer conducted any of the practical classes – her strengths were more in organisation and publicity – but she could have given occasional talks on the more theoretical sections of the course covered in her books.

1907 Hairdressing class at a Marinello School

Above: 1907 Hairdressing class at a Marinello School. The Chicago school was based in the Western Methodist Book Concern Building.

1910 Class at a Marinello School

Above: 1910 Class at a Marinello School. The student front left appears to be administering a Red Light Treatment, the one behind a Water Massage (vacuum suction), then a blue light Acne Treatment. At centre back, Faradic Massage and at back right, Electrolysis.

1916 Manicure class at a Marinello School

Above: 1916 Manicure class at a Marinello School.

The Marinello schools followed a medical training model. Students were expected to have a basic knowledge of anatomy and the structure of skin, recognise important skin diseases and conditions, and operate in an environment that followed what were then accepted medical standards of disinfection and sterilisation of equipment.

So, no matter who the person is, whether friend, relative or acquaintance, not for one moment should the vigilance be relaxed, but always the same precautions maintained and just as much effort made to avoid infection as though every person treated was a possible source of danger.
Constant, scrupulous effort will inevitably be rewarded. Hence, it behooves every operator to bear in mind always that the one great, imperative, crying necessity in every branch of her work is the thorough understanding and the practical, every day use of the principles of sterilization.

(Lloyd, 1914, p. 32)

Much has changed in the last 100 years – for example, sterilsation has no place in a modern beauty salon – but the general training approach taken by Marinello is still used today. However, some procedures, such as using orpiment (natural arsenic trisulphide) as a depilatory and the ecorchement face peeling treatment, ceased long ago.

See also: Chemical Depilatories and Face Skinning

Text books

It seems likely that the early Marinello schools used ‘The Skin. Its Care and Treatment’ as a textbook, as this would explain the increased amount of material dealing with running a beauty salon in later editions. However, a lot of material in the book would have been unsuitable for beginning students and a simpler ‘The Marinello Text Book’ was introduced in 1914. It went through five editions (1914, 1915, 1920, 1921, and 1923) and remained the textbook for undergraduate classes in Marinello schools until Maurer lost control of Marinello in 1927.

The publication of ‘The Marinello Text Book’ saw Maurer sever her publishing ties with McIntosh Battery and Optical Company to produce her own books through a printing plant she established at 172 Sixth Avenue South, La Crosse, Wisconsin. Other books published by her included ‘Practical Lessons in Chiropody’, ‘Electricity and how to use it on the Face and Scalp’ and ‘Twenty Lessons in Business Building’ all edited by Elizabeth Curtis Nolan, and ‘Emily Lloyd’s Note Book’ on Marcel Waving.

The arrival of the new textbook did not necessarily mean that ‘The Skin. Its Care and Treatment’ was no longer used in Marinello schools. By 1907, the school was offering both undergraduate and postgraduate courses and postgraduate students may have used this more advanced text.

School of Cosmeticians

The third arm of the Marinello empire was the School of Cosmeticians. Begun around 1912 as a gathering of Marinello alumnae (Wynne & Levinger, 1995), it had become the National School of Cosmeticians by 1920, an accrediting body providing certification for graduates of the Marinello program of instruction. This completed the ‘closed circuit’ previously described by Chilson (Chilson, 1972).

Having established the accrediting body, Maurer then campaigned for state governments to pass laws to control the licensing of beauty shops.

Eight states now have laws requiring beauty operators to be qualified by having received a standard of education in their art and to be licensed by the state. Illinois followed the lead of Louisiana, Arkansas, Missouri, Oregon, Utah, New Mexico and Wisconsin, in adopting the licensing law proposed by the American Cosmeticians Society and the bill was signed by Governor Small at the close of the Illinois legislative session.
“The law is necessary to maintain the standards of the cosmeticians’ profession,” said Emily Lloyd, beauty expert and head of the National School of Cosmeticians, in an address here. “In most other nations the profession of beauty culture is supported by the aristocracy. In America, millions of women are not only demanding beauty materials on a grand scale but they are hiring an army of beauty specialists to apply them. There are now nearly 30,000 beauty shops in the United States, employing more than 100,000 women.
“Under the new law, beauty operators must each spend 625 hours in an accredited school of beauty culture, or one year of apprenticeship in a shop under the direction of a registered beauty culturist, and are admitted to public practice only after receiving a state license. Licensing of shops and operators will be under a committee which will function under the Department of Registration and Education.”

(Ellensburg Daily Record, 1925)

The increased controls on beauty shops and the raised training standards are admirable but we should be in no doubt that they also helped Marinello in its battle with other beauty-training schools that offered shorter and cheaper courses. Time clocks were undoubtedly installed to ensure that Marinello students reached the necessary 625 hours of training mandated by many American states.

Marinello Company

Maurer made a number of references to making up her first batch of creams in a double boiler in the basement of her La Crosse home at 631 State Street. Exactly when this began is hard to say but it may have been as early as 1901, the date given on some of her trademark applications. By 1903, she had skin-care products for sale but it seems unlikely – given the pressures on her time – that she made them herself and the whole ‘boiler in the basement’ may have just been good advertising copy to accompany the homespun image of early advertisements.

Maurer was the driving force behind the business but she had plenty of help from others. As well as the US$300 stake she received from her husband to kick-start the enterprise, the formulae for the early Marinello products were developed in conjunction with the chemist Carl F. Runckel [1876-1949] who operated a drug store with his brother, Louis, at 124 South 5th Avenue, La Cross. The company accounts were managed by Harriet Chamberlain (Peterson, 2004).

The company establishment date is confounded by the fact that, initially, there were two registered Marinello businesses, one in La Crosse and another in Chicago. Both are mentioned in the 1903 edition of ‘The Skin. Its Care and Treatment’. The FTC has the company founded in 1904 but there is an advertisment for the Marinello Company that dates from 1903 and, as previously mentioned, trademark applications list the use of the Marinello name back to 1901.

The name for the company was a tribute to Giovanni Marinello, the author of ‘Gli Ornamenti delle Donne’ (The Beautification of the Ladies), an Italian book on female health and beauty, first published in 1562. The frontispiece of the sixteenth-century text was later used in the Marinello ‘Beautistry’ textbooks first published in 1932.

Products

By 1914, Marinello was producing over 50 preparations including skin creams, skin bleaches, hair dyes, perfumes and toilet waters, hand creams, manicure products, foot creams and decorative cosmetics such as dry, liquid and paste rouge, a stick rouge, eyebrow pencils, water cosmetique, and face powders. Chilson later commented on the extent of the Marinello range.

The Marinello product line was all-embracing. It offered a complete line of hair preparations, eye preparations, manicure preparations; every conceivable kind of creams, pastes, gels, lotions, powders, lipsticks, rouges including cake, paste and cream rouges; skin bleaches; deodorants in every conceivable form; a line of what actually were pharmaceutical ointments; perfumes, toilet waters and colognes, together with a host of accessory products. Many of these products were in the Marinello line before 1920 and many, indeed, were the precursors of products that were considered new and unusual when later introduced by other companies.

(Chilson, 1972, p. 60)

Early Marinello products included Pencil Nail Polish, Creme Celeste, Whitening Cream, Antiseptic Lotion, Lettuce Cream, Acne Cream, Tissue Food, Finishing Cream, Vegetable Powder, and Acacia Balm along with soaps and hair-care products.

Pencil Nail Polish: “Put up in pencil form, enclosed in metallic case for carrying in pocket, purse, anywhere.”
Creme Celeste: “A refined, delightfully scented greaseless cream … For cleansing it Is invaluable, readily absorbed and removes all substances from the pores of the skin. Guaranteed not to promote the growth of hair.”
Whitening Cream: “[F]or bleaching the skin and removing all traces of sallowness or moth patch.”
Antiseptic Bleaching Lotion: “[A] liquid to be used in connection with either the whitening cream for bleaching, or with Acne Cream for treatment of blackheads and pimples.”
Lettuce Cream: “[A] substitute for soap; a delightful preparation for removing all traces of soil leaving the skin soft and pliable.”
Acne Cream: “[F]or astringent action on large pores and in treatment of blackheads and pimples.”
Tissue Food: “[F]or softening and massaging the skin in cases of withered appearance or wrinkles.”
Vegetable Face Powder: “[P]ure, velvety and clean … can be used with safety on the tender skin of an infant. It protects as well as beautifies.” Shades: Cream, Flesh, and Brunette.
Acacia Balm: “A liquid powder for whitening.” Shades: White, Flesh, and Brunette.
Olive Soap: “[A] nearly neutral substance, contains no cheap oils—made of the best ingredients—a benefit to any skin.”
Hair Tonic: “[F]or stimulation. Made in two forms: one for oily, the other for dry scalps.”
Follicle lotion: “[A]n adjunct to the tonic, espacially useful for inflamed an tender surfaces.”
Scalp Food: “[A]n antiseptic ointment remarkably efficacious in treatment of dandruff-will destroy all animal and vegetable parasites.”

The recipes for some of these products were included in ‘The Skin. Its Care and Treatment’ and two examples are given below. The use of minim (℥) measurements reflects their pharmaceutical origins.

Cream Celeste is a very good skin food when made of the finest materials. It is prepared as follows:

Almond oil8 ℥
Spermaceti2 ℥
White wax1 ℥
Honey1 ℥
Rose water2 ℥
Borax3 ℥

Rose geranium oil—sufficient to perfume. The oils may be melted together, and then the honey added and stirred in well. Last of all, the rose water, in which has been dissolved one dram of borax. Enough of the oil of rose geranium to thoroughly perfume the mixture may be used as soon as it is cool.

(McIntosh Battery and Optical Company, 1903, p. 26)

[T]he Whitening Creme spoken of elsewhere, but has been used with very good results:

Almond oil6 ℥
Lanolin1 ℥
Spermaceti2 ℥
Cocoanut oil1 ℥
White wax1 ℥
White precipitate1 ℥
Oil bitter almonds1 ℥

Melt the oils together and then add the white precipitate first, mixed with one-half ounce of alcohol. Perfume with oil of bitter almonds.

(McIntosh Battery and Optical Company, 1903, p. 27)

Early Marinello cosmetics were more concerned with skin- and hair-care than with make-up. The only make-up items Maurer includes in her early books were loose and liquid powders, recommended primarily as skin protectants or for fragrance. She includes recipes for three of these in her 1904 book – an after bathing powder, a vegetable powder, and a liquid powder. The recipe for the vegetable powder is included below:

Best Venetian talc4 ℥
Sulphate barium5 ℥
Corn starch4 ℥
Rice flour2 ℥

Sift all together through a coarse sieve, several times, so that the lumps in the barium sulphate may be broken up. Then add one-half ounce of lanolin and one ounce of almond oil and sift again. Add to these ingredients sufficient carmine and ochre to make the tint a soft tan and sift through three grades of bolting cloth before adding the perfume, which may be either oil of rose, nerolli or any other odor desired. The next four siftings will be necessary in order to make the powder fine enough to use on the face.

(Lloyd, 1904, p. 95)

Maurer first writes about other forms of make-up in her 1914 version of ‘The skin its care and treatment’ and it is around this time that we see the first Marinello advertisements for rouge and different grades of face powder with other types of make-up mostly arriving after the First World War.

Salon treatments

We are fortunate that Maurer left records form many of the Marinello salon treatments including those for the scalp and hair (which I will not discuss), and for the skin.

1914 Marinello shampoo and facial booth

Above: 1914 Marinello shampoo and facial booth.

Marinello salon treatments used anything that was believed to be effective. For example, while some salon chains had arguments over whether facial massage or patting was best practice, Marinello salons used both. In fact, I have yet to find a treatment type used in any beauty salon up to 1927 – the year that Maurer lost control of the company – that could not also be found in the Marinello treatment book.

Marinello shop in Chicago

Above: House in Chicago with a Marinello Beauty Shop on the side.

A feature of Marinello of treatments was the incorporation of machine aids and electricity. This may have stemmed from the fact that Maurer’s original book was written in conjunction with the McIntosh Battery and Optical Company but it may also reflect an American sensibility. Moler, for example, also included hydro-vacu treatments, electrical facial massage, electrical roller treatments, vibratory facial massage and electrolysis in his barber training manual (Moler, 1905).

Post war

In the 1920s, the Marinello began moving its base of operations to New York, by then a major centre for Beauty Culture. An eastern office had been established at 366 Fifth Avenue, New York in 1919. The western office in Chicago remained but had been moved from the Mallers Building to a building on Tower Court in 1921 which subsequently became known as the Marinello Building.

Tower Court

Above: Marinello Building on Tower Court near the corner of Chicago Avenue and Michigan Boulevard. The left arch is the entrance to the Marinello Shop, the right arch to the Marinello Beauty School.

1926 Marinello Building in Tower Court

Above: 1926 Another view of the Marinello building in Tower Court. To the right is the Old Water Tower. The building under construction is the Women’s Athletic Club.

1923 Group photograph for the Marinello Eighteenth Summer School 1923 Group photograph for the Marinello Eighteenth Summer School

Above: 1923 Group photographs for the Marinello Eighteenth Summer School in front of the Marinello building on Tower Court. The women in the top photo pointing the umbrella at an unidentified man (possibly A. S. Wildey, Marinello’s vice-president and treasurer) appears to be Ruth Maurer.

The eastern office moved to 72 Fifth Avenue in 1925 and this became the new company headquarters. The seven-storey building included offices, a Marinello school and manufacturing facilities.

1925 Marinello building

Above: 1925 The seven-storey Marinello building at 72 Fifth Avenue, New York. First floor: Retail and wholesale display; Second floor: Post-graduate training; Third floor: Marinello school; Fourth floor: Executive offices; Fifth, sixth and seventh floors: Manufacturing.

The year 1925 marked the high point for the company with Marinello schools functioning in New York, Philadelphia, Chicago, Cincinnati, Minneapolis, Detroit, St Louis, Denver, Los Angeles, and Portland. Somewhere between 25,000 and 30,000 Marinello beauticians were then operating across the United States with over 8000 beauty shops using Marinello products, about 6000 of them using Marinello products exclusively (AP&EOR, 1925).

Products

Marinello continued to add products to its range and its line covered almost every conceivable beauty need by the late 1920s. Some products were sold exclusively through its salons but many items were also available through drug and department stores.

1921 A Marinello salon

Above: 1921 A Marinello salon.

Skin-care

Marinello had five main skin-care creams in its inventory after the First World War – Lettuce Brand Cream, Tissue Cream, Astringent Cream, Whitening Cream, and Acne Cream. These were generally advertised alongside a seventh, Foundation Cream.

n 1919, Marinello added two new creams – Motor Cream, a general skin protectant, and Combination Cream, described as a ‘skin food’ combined with a mild bleach. Other new lines included: Muscle Oil (1919), a skin-care cosmetic found in most salon inventories of the time; and two pastes that could be used as masks – Erasetor (1921) a clay pack, and Skinglo (1923). Both lines acted as a mild bleach.

Motor Cream: “Neither wind nor weather can harm your skin if you fortify it with Motor Cream first.”
Combination Cream: “For use on sensitive skin. … It nourishes and bleaches slightly at the same time.”
Muscle Oil: “[N]ourishes the tissues of the skin and builds up sagging and flabby muscles.”
Erasetor: “For removing wrinkles. Has a slightly bleaching effect. Does not dry the skin.”
Skinglo: “[P]roduces an immediate effect, bleaching any complexion from two to four shades, and at the same time restores the clear tone of youth.”

See also: Motor Skin and Muscle Oils

Another line worth mentioning is Marinello’s Medicated Powder (1919). It could be used in combination with the Acne Cream but Marinello also suggested using it to soothe sunburnt skin. Unfortunately, I do not know the active ingredient it contained.

Medicated Powder: “For use in acne cases or after the skin has been sun-burned. Free from any perfume and absolutely certain not to irritate the skin.”

Treatments

In 1920, Maurer put together a list of treatments offered though Marinello salons. Skin-care treatments from this list include:

Plain Facial: “Her patrons leave, looking and feeling years younger as well as strangely rested, at peace with themselves and the rest of the world, and anxious to return to the same operator for the same type of treatment.” Preparations: Lettuce Cream, Whitening Cream, Acne Cream, Tissue Cream, Motor Cream, Astringent Cream, Lavender Lotion, and Skin Toning Lotion combined with Iontophoreis.
Rest Facial: “A Scientific Massage Treatment in which the patron is rested, refreshed and decidedly benefited. Especially good for nervous, tired, and prematurely withered or aged skins, as well as for general use.” Preparations: Lettuce Cream, Lavender Lotion, Muscle Oil, Combination Cream, and Skin Toning Lotion combined with Iontophoresis.
Muscle Strapping: “[I]s given to tone, lift and develop the muscles. It is possible to remove all lines with this treatment providing the patron will co-operate and have as many treatments a week as operator may see fit to produce results. Patron should also he advised to use Muscle Strapping Outfit at home which sells for US$15.00 and contains everything necessary for home treatment.” Preparations: Lettuce Cream, Muscle Oil, Tissue Cream, Witch Hazel, Lavender Lotion combined with Iontophoresis, and High Frequency.
Tired Eye Massage: “The use of the eye cup and finger manipulation in conjunction with the bandalette for tired or inflamed eyes brings great relief.” Preparations: Lettuce Cream, Witch Hazel, Muscle Oil, Lavender Lotion, Skin Toning Lotion combined with Eye Cup, Bandalette, and Iontophoresis.
Coarse Pore Astringent Treatment: “Frequently the afflictions that cause the most grief are apparently of such innocent origin that little is done to relieve them and as a consequence women suffer for years from oily skins, feeling that nothing can be done to cure this trouble.“ Preparations: Lettuce Cream, Astringent Cream, Whitening Cream, Astringent Lotion, Witch Hazel combined with Electrolytic Cup, Faradic Muscle Contraction, and Patters.
Dry Skin Astringent Treatment: “Complexions of this description need constant care to keep them in good condition, and women who are so afflicted should make up their minds to submit cheerfully to the inevitable in the shape of constant and frequent applications of oils and skin foods in order to keep the skin smooth.” Preparations: Lettuce Cream, Muscle Oil, Tissue Cream, Astringent Lotion, Foundation Cream combined with Electrolytic Cup, High Frequency, Light Treatment, Iontophoresis, and Patters.
Acne Treatment: “In all Acne cases the good results of the treatments depend upon the care with which the comedones are removed. The work is tedious,but necessary and while the skin should not be bruised by undue pressure, still, unless the pests are removed there will be no improvement – hence the necessity for care and attention.” Preparations: Medicated Soap, Acne Lotion, Acne Cream, Medicated Powder, and Stronger Acne Cream combined with High Frequency.
Methine Treatment: For Acne Rosacea. “In this condition nose, chin and cheeks are often times very red and angry looking and covered with small red papules. When the condition has become chronic the superficial blood vessels wilt be much dilated.” Preparations: Medicated Soap, Lettuce Cream, Methine Tincture, Methine Ointment, Stronger Acne Cream, Astringent Cream, Lavender Lotion, Calmine Lotion, Medicated Powder combined with Iontophoresis, and Light Treatment.
Bleach Mask: For Tan, Freckles, Leukoderma, Chloasma, Oily Skin with large pores, and Acne. “This process will positively bleach the skin from two to five shades without irritation, if care is used in giving the treatment. Occasionally, in very sensitive subjects, a rash will appear the following day, but this soon vanishes, and the skin will be clearer than before.” Preparations: Lettuce Cream, Bleaching Lotion, Witch Hazel, Tissue Cream, Whitening Cream, Lavender Lotion, Refining Powder combined with Iontophoresis, and Light Treatment.
Milk Beaching treatment: “This treatment is intended for skins too sensitive to stand the other bleaching treatment. It has a refining, softening influence on the skin leaving it as soft as velvet, and can be used on practically every condition.” Preparations: Lettuce Cream, combination Cream, Boracic Acid Solution, Witch Hazel, Milk, Astringent Powder, Muscle Oil, and Skin Toning Lotion. Treatment may also use Iontophoresis, and Light Treatment.
Marinello Wrinkle Mask: “Given for deep and superficial lines. Action lifts tissues underneath lines filling up epithelium.” Preparations: Lettuce Cream, Whitening Cream, Tissue Cream, Combination Cream, Astringent Lotion, Wrinkle Paste, Motor Cream, Foundation Cream, Witch Hazel, Bi-carbonate of Soda combined with Faradic Muscle Contraction, and Iontophoresis.

See also: Iontophoresis, High Frequency, Electrolytic Cup and Red Light, Blue Light

Later skin-care treatments included Marinello’s Myo-tone Treatment (1924) and the Torben Beauté Treatment (1926). The Myo-tone Treatment used electricity to induce muscle contactions, supposedly to firm muscles, eliminate muscle sag and reduce wrinkles. This was a modern version of the Faradic treatments Marinello had already been offering in its salons. The Torben Beauté Treatment used Torben Cream and Torben Paste, both made with Torbernite, a radioactive ore containing uranium.

Myo-tone Treatment: “Myo-tone means muscle toner and muscle toning means not only stimulated and rested muscles, but the elimination of sagglness and the smoothing out of wrinkles as well.’
Torben Beauté Treatment: “Through its marvelous radio-active energy, it accomplishes these very things you so much desire.” Preparations: Lettuce Cream, Torben Cream, and Torben Paste combined with the Electrolytic cup.

There are records for Marinello also selling a Torben Rouge.

Also see: Faradic Treatments and Radioactive Cosmetics

Make-up

Post-war shade ranges for Marinello make-up continued to be very limited. This became an increasing problem for Marinello salon operators during the 1920s as the use of make-up became more accepted and it would appear that some Marinello salons got around the problem by using make-up from other cosmetic companies.

Foundations

Until Marinello introduced its Foundation Cream (1919), it generally recommended its Tissue Food as a powder base, a cream that had been in the Marinello range from the beginning. Following their introduction, Marinello also suggested that Combination Cream, and Motor Cream could serve as a powder base under specific conditions.

Foundation Cream: “Before using powder. It makes the powder go on so much more smoothly and stay longer.”

Face powders

As mentioned earlier, the original face powder sold by Marinello was Vegetable Powder which came in three shades – Cream, Flesh, and Brunette. By 1920, the Vegetable Powder had been replaced by Marinello (heavy), Nardys (light) and Marinello Bouquet (medium) powders. Each came in their own fragrance and distinctly shaped box – Marinello, octagonal; Nadys, triangular; and Marinello Bouquet, rectangular. They also came in different price points, with Marinello Bouquet being the most expensive.

The powder comes in Marinello Powder – 60¢ – this is a very excellent powder clinging well and quite heavy. Nardys Powder is a lighter variety and costs 75¢. It pleases many people and is well scented. Marinello Bouquet, neither extremely heavy nor light, price $1.00 is exquisitely scented and is not only popular but very beneficial.

(Lloyd, 1920)

The shade range of these powders was also extended to include White, Cream, Light Pink, Flesh, Deep Pink, Brunette, and Blended. Marinello recommended using the Flesh shade if the person was blonde, Blended if they were of medium colouring, Cream if they had an olive complexion, and Brunette if they were very dark.

Of particular interest is the Marinello Phantom Powder which debuted in 1914. It appears to have been a type of wet white. It was sold as a solid powder but could be turned into a liquid by adding suitable fluids. Phantom Powder was applied using a sponge moistened either with water, Marinello Skin Toning Lotion, or milk. As such, it predates Doraldina’ Allura (1926) and Max Factor’s Pan-Cake (1938), which were also solid powders applied with a sponge. It seems to have been very wear resistant with Marinello claiming that it would not come off when swimming.

Phantom Powder: “[A] water-proof powder, will not rub off nor wash off, is not affected by perspiration, and can be removed only by a cleansing Lettuce Cream. A positive blessing for evening use and out-door sports.” Shades: Cream, Flesh, and Brunette.

See also: Doraldina and Pan-cake

In the 1920s, Marinello seems to have switched to face powders made entirely with minerals, slightly increased their shade range, and placed a greater emphasis on the fragrance used to scent each powder. By 1924, we find Marinello selling four newer face powders – Marinello Girl, Marinello Bouquet, Arvel (1919), and Blue Emeryl (1923). As far as I can tell all of these powders came in the same six shades – White, Naturelle, Flesh, Cream, Brunette, and Youth Glow, with the Youth Glow shade added in 1922.

Marinello powders were also became available in mirrored metal compacts that women could take with them in their purse. The earliest of these appeared before the First World War. Designed for loose powder it was superseded by double and triple compacts containing compressed powders, initially only in Flesh, and Naturelle shades.

Rouges and lipsticks

Marinello continued to sell liquid, paste, dry/powder, and stick rouges after the war. I don’t have shade ranges for the Paste Rouge but the Liquid Rouge came in two shades, Light, and Dark, with Light recommended for blondes and Dark for brunettes. Compact Rouge came in Wild Rose, Olive and Youth Glow in 1922 with Poppy added in 1925. The original Stick Rouge was being referred to as a lipstick by the 1920s but the only shades that I know of were Medium, Dark, and Youth Glow.

Eye make-up

Marinello did sell Eye Brow Pencils and Water Cosmetique (a type of mascara) but unfortunately I have no information of the shades ranges of either product through to 1930, nor do I have any information on the company selling an eyeshadow.

See also: Marinello: Turn to beauty (c.1924)

Inecto

Inecto, Inc. was established by the advertising executive, Neal R. Andrews [1891-1953], in 1919 to bring the French hair dye, Inecto Rapid, to the United States. Ralph L. Evans [1895-1965] joined the firm in 1923 as its chemist but soon became a stockholder and took a management position.

The company had a number of links with Marinello. Inecto products, such as Inecto Rapid Notox, were used in Marinello salons and both companies used the same sales company, F. Richie & Co., to distribute their goods. In 1927, Inecto negotiated a deal with Marinello that saw them gain management responsibility for both Marinello Products and the National School of Cosmeticians. Why Ruth Maurer agreed to this arrangement is unknown to me but Chilson suggests that money problems were part of the reason.

She [Ruth D. Maurer] was continually surrounded by a noisome collection of sycophants who bled her dry of money and eventually forced her to sell out to the Inecto Company, then the largest hair dye company in this country.

(Chilson, 1972, p. 60)

Maurer’s relationship with Andrews and Evans quickly deteriorated, leading to her resigning from Marinello in 1929 after a US$30,000 buyout (Peterson, 2004). She also quit the National School of Cosmeticians.

1928 Marinello Winter School

Above: Part of the group photograph taken at the Marinello Winter School in 1928. The unhappy looking woman on the bottom right with her back almost to us appears to be Ruth Maurer. One of the causes of her distress, Neal Andrews, attended the conference and may also be in the photograph.

Despite claims that she was retiring, Ruth Maurer quickly established the Ruth D. Maurer Corporation in 1929 and then began producing a new line of cosmetics under the Rudemar brand in 1930.

See also: Rudemar

After Maurer left, Chilson thought that Andrews mishandled the relationship between Marinello and the salons it supplied and this contributed to the dramatic decline in sales from which Marinello never recovered.

[Inecto] came to the fore selling through jobbers only. The president of Inecto, the late Neil R. Andrews, thought Mrs. Maurer’s method of selling was insane. Without preliminaries the controlled beauty salons were told they now could buy only through jobbers, which they refused to do. That was the beginning of the end. Marinello sales declined more than a million and a half dollars the first year of the new program and continued to decline until the end, less than decade later.

(Chilson, 1972, p. 60)

Andrews tried to repair the damage through the ‘Guild of Marinello Shops’ scheme. This recognised two types of salons – Marinello Approved Shops which used Marinello products and services exclusively and Marinello Registered Shops that used other methods and products as well as those from Marinello but had at least one Marinello-trained beautician working in the salon. Both types of salon could become part of the Marinello Guild but membership was selective with only about 5,000 of the 12,000 Marinello salons expected to qualify. The advantages of joining the Marinello Guild seem to have been restricted to offerings of business and sales advice (Cocks, 1928). It does not appear to have survived the Second World War.

Reorganisation

After Maurer left, Neal Andrews and Ralph Evans set about reorganising the various Marinello businesses. In 1929, they replaced F. Richie & Co. with their own sales force of 12 people organised into a newly established business, Sales Affiliates, Inc. The following year they founded Andrevan, Inc. in New York, the name formed from an amalgamation of their surnames, which they wholly owned. They then used that company to acquired the stock of the other three corporations; Sales Affiliates, Inc., Inecto, Inc., and the Marinello Company.

In 1932, Andrevan changed its businesses procedures after the Revenue Act (1932) raised the U.S. corporate tax rate by almost 15 per cent. Inecto and Marinello began selling their products directly to Sales Affiliates, Inc., at a new low price which Sales Affiliates then sold it to the trade at the old higher price. This was done to reduce the tax the company paid, a strategy that failed after the American Internal Revenue Service (IRS) won its case against Bourjois who had done something similar.

See also: Bourjois (post 1930)

Relationships between the various businesses were altered again in 1933 with Inecto becoming responsible for all manufacturing, while Marinello was reduced to a bottling and packaging operation. However, as all the businesses now operated out of the same New York building at 33 West 46th Street – incidentally owned by the Notox Realty Corporation, another wholly owned subsidiary of Andrevan – operations were largely unaffected by the paper shuffling.

The Marinello schools continued. The organisation of the textbook and curriculum was passed to Florence E. Wall [1893-1988] an Inecto employee who had been working as a technical advisor before developing Inecto’s training school – the Notox Institute of Canities – and the accompanying textbook – ‘Canitics. The treatment of canities reduced to a science and elevated to an art’ – in 1926. Although Wall left in 1928 she helped write a range of new Marinello courses introduced in that year and was largely responsible for the production of the first edition of ‘The Science of Beautistry’, the new textbook for the National School of Cosmeticians, even though it was not published until 1932. Wall retained her interest in Beauty Culture after she left Marinello and went on to become a leading educator in the field with a number of books to her credit.

There were some positive developments. In 1928, the new owners announced that they were going to dump the elephant and repackage the line in pink, Luminique glass jars topped with glass stoppers or brushed aluminium lids, with an Art Deco looking head in profile on silver labels. The Marinello line was also introduced into Britain and Europe and Marinello salons were established in some cities there.

1935 Marinello products

Above: 1935 Marinello products (Denmark).

These moves overseas were ultimately unsuccessful and the range there did not survive the Second World War.

Zotos

Sales Affiliates continued to promote Marinello products but interest in the cosmetics side of their operation continued to decline. The introduction of Zotos machineless permanent waving pads in 1932 created a good deal of salon business during the depression years. They must have been the saviour of many small town salons in the depression when customers could get cosmetics through cut-price stores and follow their own skin-care regimes at home. Salon operators could charge US$15 dollars for a permanent wave, a considerable sum of money for the time. Demand for Zotos salon permanents remained high following the development of thioglycolic acid cold waves in 1939, for which Sales Affiliates held patents, only becoming threatened by the introduction of Toni home permanents and similar products after the Second World War.

Although the Marinello products continued to be supported – with the line being repackaged again in 1944 – Marinello branded cosmetics eventually disappeared, a fate shared by a number of other cosmetic companies as well. However, not all traces of Marinello disappeared. The Marinello Schools remained in operation in the United States until 2016 and Zotos, Inc., the successor to Sales Affiliates, continues as a part of Shiseido Co., Ltd.

Timeline

1903First edition of ‘The Skin: Its Care and Treatment’ published.
1903The Marinello Company formed.
1904Marinello moves to the Western Methodist Book Concern Building, Chicago.
1905Marinello Training School founded.
1912Marinello factory moves to 209 Fifth Avenue South, La Cross, Wisconsin.
1913Marinello moves to the Mallers Building, Chicago.
1914New Products: Phantom Powder.
1915First edition of ‘The Marinello Text Book: Teaching the Care of the Face, Scalp, Hair and Hands’ published.
1918Marinello charged under the Clayton Anti-trust Act.
1919Eastern office moves to 366 5th Avenue, New York.
Marinello factory moves to 225 South Sixth Street, La Cross, Wisconsin.
New Products: Foundation Cream, Combination Cream; Motor Cream; Medicated Powder; and Muscle Oil.
1920New Products: O-So-Dry.
1921Western office moves to Tower Court, Chicago.
New Products: Erasetor.
1923New Products: Skinglo.
1924Marinello incorporates in Delaware.
New Products: Nailglos Liquid Polish and Remover.
1925Marinello headquarters moved to 72 Fifth Avenue, New York; Manufacturing begins in New York.
1926New Products: Torben Cream; and Torben Paste.
1927Inecto, Inc. acquires the Marinello Company and the National School of Cosmeticians.
Marinello goes on sale in Britain through John Morgan Richards and Sons, Ltd., London.
1929Sales Affiliates, Inc. established to sell the products of Marinello and Inecto, Inc.
Marinello range repackaged.
Ruth D. Maurer resigns from Marinello.
1930Andrevan, Inc. acquires the stock of Sales Affiliates, Inc., Inecto, Inc., and the Marinello Company.
1931Marinello, S.A. established in France.
1932First edition of ‘The Science of Beautistry’ published.
1933Inecto acquires all the manufacturing equipment and business of Marinello, and Marinello acquires all the packaging business of Inecto.
Factories of Marinello, Inecto and Zotos Corporation move to Hoboken N.J. Executive offices and laboratory transferred to 33 West 46th Street where the offices of Inecto and Zotos have been for some time.
1936Marinello S.A. moves to 1 Boulevard Haussmann, Paris.
1944Marinello line repackaged.
New Products: Living Face Make-up.
1963Marinello Schools purchased by Scope Industries with headquarters located in Los Angeles.
1982Zotos bought by Conair Corporation from R. L. Evans, Jr.
1988Zotos International purchased by Shiseido Co. Ltd from Conair Corporation.
2004Marinello Schools owned by B&H Education, Inc., located in Beverly Hills, California.
2016Marinello Schools closed.

First Posted: 19th December 2013
Last Update: 25th February 2026

Sources

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