On March 1, 1932, brothers Charles and Joseph Revson, along with chemist Charles Lachman, established a nail polish company they named
Revlon (the “
l” in Revlon came from
Lachman).
In his book
Fire and Ice: The Story of Charles Revson – the Man Who Built the Revlon Empire (William Morrow and Company, 1976), Andrew Tobias chronicled the career of the man “who started with one bottle of nail polish and a fine ear for female fantasy and built an empire – The Revlon Company – worth millions from them”:
A special album has been created for this book in the
60s Ad Campaigns Album: Revlon Album (1940s-1950s):
http://www.minimadmod60s.com/gallery2/main.php?g2_itemId=88141
To read this out-of-print book online, go to Andrew Tobias’ web site:
http://www.andrewtobias.com/fireandice.html
“
Dorian Leigh was already a top model when she did
Fatal Apple, her first Revlon spread, in 1945”:
http://www.minimadmod60s.com/gallery2/main.php?g2_itemId=88186
“From then on Revson considered her ‘lucky’ and used her in shade promotion after shade promotion”:
194519461947“The shade promotion to end all others was Revlon’s
Fire and Ice, in the fall of 1952.” It won Advertising Age’s prestigious “Magazine Advertisement of the Year” award:
Costume: Bove of Rose Schogel
Ring: John P. John
Photographer: Richard Avedon
“The two-page spread consisted of a dazzling model, Dorian Leigh, in an icy silver-sequin dress with a fiery scarlet cape; and on the facing page, the headline,
ARE YOU MADE FOR FIRE AND ICE? You were, the ad stated, if you could answer eight of the following fifteen questions in the affirmative:
Have you ever danced with your shoes off?
Did you ever wish on a new moon?
Do you blush when you find yourself flirting?
When a recipe calls for one dash of bitters, do you think it's better with two?
Do you secretly hope the next man you meet will be a psychiatrist?
Do you sometimes feel that other women resent you?
Have you ever wanted to wear an ankle bracelet?
Do sables excite you, even on other women?
Do you love to look up at a man?
Do you face crowded parties with panic -- then wind up having a wonderful time?
Does gypsy music make you sad?
Do you think any man really understands you?
Would you streak your hair with platinum without consulting your husband?
If tourist flights were running, would you take a trip to Mars?
Do you close your eyes when you're kissed?”This ad was used as the back cover photo for Dorian Leigh’s autobiography,
The Girl Who Had Everything…The Story of the “Fire and Ice Girl" (Doubleday & Co., 1980):
http://www.minimadmod60s.com/gallery2/main.php?g2_itemId=40885
Dorian Leigh was also featured in the famous 1953 shade promotion for
Cherries in the Snow:
Photographer: Richard Avedon
Contributed by bonniepix
Susan Camp
Senior Editor & Archivist
Fri Dec 17, 2010 8:15 am by MMM60s-LM