Every
now and then I asked my Darling Daughter Alicia to order my
favorite cologne, Cabochard by Gres. As I thought about
how I learned about this particular perfume, I started remembering my
beginnings as a married lady in Westchester, an elegant suburb of NY.
One day my cousin Salo Wolf (born in Vienna and escaped in time before
WWII to Israel to become one of the most prominent lawyers in 7 languages in
Tel Aviv) visited us after not seeing each other since I was 15, in
1935, when had I lived for a year in his parents’ palatial home, as
I was recuperating from surgery for a broken hip.
As
we were reminiscing about all the surviving family members and where
they were now living, suddenly Salo told me that I have to meet our cousin who
lived in Scarsdale, very close to our home in White Plains. He was Ernest Shiftan, a
famous perfumer. Well, it did not take me long to connect with
my Berlin-born talented cousin, and my life was never the same since.
I
studied painting in the Art Students League in New York City, commuting from
White Plains to NYC, dragging all my paints, brushes, and canvases. Imagine me as a 30+ year-old married woman
with 2 children, while most of the other students were 18 years old. I was the old lady!
A whole
new world opened up for me. I had originally decided
to be a fashion designer. Xavier Gonzalez, a great painter and
teacher whom I met in Wellfleet, our summer vacation place on
Cape Cod, Massachusetts, had asked me, “Do you need money?” I answered
“No, I am a kept woman… I am married.”
He
laughed and decided, “You should become a painter. “ Xavier had a fine
school for studying painting right there in Wellfleet, a town of many art galleries.
Just
for fun to find out if I ever had a chance as a designer, I took my portfolio to
Madison Ave. in NY to a very prestigious agency to show my
designs, and got some good advice. The man in charge looked carefully, and said,
“You will be very successful, I think, but it is a cut-throat business. With a husband who works long hours in the
City, and your two little children you will
need a nanny to take care of them, is it worth it to you?”
I
called next day and thanked him for saving my marriage and enabling
me to be a mother to my adorable Alicia and Willy, and decided to
become a painter, which can be done in my home.
When
my daughter arrived once in school with green hair, the 4th grade
art teacher guessed, “Your mom is painting?” My paints were right next
to Alicia's hair brush on my bedroom bureau where I fixed her hair every morning.
That is when Fredziu decided it was time to build a
studio in the back of our home, so now most children of the
neighborhood came to admire the freedom of creating
anything they like without worry. I
also got a kiln when my husband’s friends heard that I also do
small sculptures and ceramics. That was my birthday present: I could
fire my creations at home and not wait for weeks to get it in a
professional kiln.
Once
in a while when I was already in the city, I met my cousin Ernest on
57th St. in NY, at the Russian Tea Room which was very close to
the IFF International Flavor and Fragrances Corp. on 57th
St. where he was Senior Vice President. Once I was invited to see
how perfume of the world is created by him.
It was fascinating watching big bins of all kinds of smelly
substances, excuse me, fragrances, from all over the world assembled on the bottom
floor of the IFF building. The next three floors were
to manufacture the products ordered by different firms of
the world, and the top floor looked to me like an insane asylum --men in
white passing each other quietly on the long corridor holding strips
of paper like a fan and sniffing each fragrance separately. To my
amazement I learned that most of the well-known perfumes and colognes were
created there at their factory on 57th St, and then sent to
France to get a stamp, and voila: French perfume!
From
then on I got at Christmas samples of all known new colognes, among
them one about which my cousin said, “This is you: Cabochard.”
I
still use it now. However, young
people like new things all the time, so Alicia had to search the internet and
order several bottles for me, as it is no longer sold in stores.
 |
| Ernest Shiftan, known as "The Nose" - a developer of perfume for IFF |
The Russian
Tea Room was filled at the time with artists and all kinds of well-known business
people and I was sitting in the best round red loge.
My
cousin gave waitresses cologne as gifts so they always found the best seat for him. Ernest sat like
a king receiving underlings, and introduced me as his cousin - which was the
truth. I saw men winking
one eye - you know how it looks - they did not believe it. They thought
maybe I am a girlfriend. His wife
heard about it and distrusted me ever since. Ouch! I was so innocent
then. Old stories make me laugh today. What fun my beginning as a
young wife and mother and budding artist was, tasting the delights of freedom so
appreciated and valued after surviving such a horrible war.
I THANK every day for my good
luck.
PS. Daughter Alicia adds, Because there are so
many people who are sensitive to perfumes and scent, it is a rule at the synagogue
and many places in Sedona that one should NOT wear scented products. I have to remind my mother NOT to put on her
favorite Cabochard when she comes to services and events, although I have to
admit it is a delightful scent on her.
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