By the end of the war, Revlon was listed as one of America's top five cosmetic houses. Expanding its capabilities, the company bought Graef & Schmidt, a cutlery manufacturer seized by the government in 1943 because of German business ties. This acquisition made it possible for Revlon to produce its own manicure and pedicure instruments, instead of buying them from outside supply sources.
In November 1955, Revlon went public. The IPO price was $12 per share, but it reached $30 per share within 8 weeks.
In the 1960s, Revson segmented Revlon Inc into different divisions, each focusing on a different market. He borrowed this strategy from General Motors. Each division had its own target customer:
* Revlon, the largest and most popular-priced brand
In 1957, Revlon acquired Knomark, a shoe-polish company, and sold its shoe-polish line Esquire Shoe Polish in 1969. Other acquisitions, such as Ty-D-Bol, the maker of toiler cleansers, and a 27 percent interest in the Schick electric shaver company were soon discarded. Evan Picone, a women's sportswear manufacturer which came with a price tag of $12 million in 1962, was sold back to one of the original partners four years later for $1 million. However, the 1967 acquisition of U.S. Vitamin and Pharmaceutical Corporation made Revlon a leader in diabetes drugs.
The company began to market its products overseas at the end of the 1950s. By 1962, when Revlon debuted in Japan, there were subsidiaries in France, Italy, Argentina, Mexico, and Asia. Revlon's entrance into the Japanese market was typical of its international sales strategy. Instead of adapting its ads and using Japanese models, Revlon chose to use its basic U.S. advertising and models. Japanese women loved the American look, and the sales for 1962 came to almost $164 million.
In 1968, Revlon introduced Eterna27, the first cosmetic cream with an estrogen precursor called Progenitin (pregenolone acetate), as well as introducing the world's first American fashion designer fragrance, Norman Norell. Later, Revlon launched Braggi and Pub for men, and a line of wig maintenance products called Wig Wonder.
In 1970 Revlon acquired the Mitchum line of deodorants.
In 1973, Revlon introduced Charlie. Geared to the under-30 market, Charlie model Shelley Hack in Ralph Lauren clothes, personified the independent woman of the 1970s. This was the first perfume ad to feature a woman wearing pants. Charlie raised Revlon's net sales figures to $506 million for 1973 and almost $606 million the following year. Shelley Hack appeared on Oprah in 2007 to talk about the power of these Charlie print and commercial ads. Their follow-up fragrance, Jontue, became the number two best seller.
In 1973, model Lauren Hutton signed an exclusive modeling contact, agreeing to pose for Revlon's Ultima line for $400,000 for two years. She was featured on the cover of Newsweek for this ground-breaking cosmetics contract. Additionally, famed photographer Richard Avedon was signed on as the exclusive photographer for the brand - another cosmetics industry first.
In 1975, Charles Revson died. Michel Bergerac, who Revson had hired as President of the company, continued to expand the company holdings. Revlon acquired Coburn Optical Industries, an Oklahoma-based manufacturer of ophthalmic and optical processing equipment and supplies. Barnes-Hind, the largest U.S. marketer of hard contact lens solutions, was bought in 1976 and strengthened Revlon's share of the eye-care market. Revlon purchased Armour Pharmaceutical Company, a division of Armour and Company, from The Greyhound Corporation in 1977. Other acquisitions included the Lewis-Howe Company, makers of Tums antacid in 1978. These health-care operations helped sales figures to pass the $1 billion mark in 1977, bringing total sales to $1.7 billion in 1979.
In the mid-1980s, Revlon lost ground to Estée Lauder. Estee Lauder spent millions of dollars on numerous magazine ads featuring Czech supermodel Paulina Porizkova, shot by famed Chicago fashion photograhper Victor Skrebneski. Revlon's share dropped from 20 percent to 10 percent of department store cosmetics sales. Sales at the drugstore also declined as Revlon lost shares to Noxell's Cover Girl brand. Revlon compensated with more acquisitions; Max Factor, Ellen Betrix, Charles of the Ritz, Germaine Monteil, Almay, Fermodyl, Lancaster, Aziza, and Halston. The 1977 acquisition of Carlos Colomer, a Spanish professional beauty supply distributor, brought Fermodyl and Roux and helped introduce Revlon to the world of ethnic care: Creme of Nature, Realistic, Lovely Color and Milk and Honey. In 1983 the company attempted an unsuccessful hostile takeover of Gillette.
On November 5, 1985, at a price of $58 per share, totaling $2.7 billion, Revlon was sold to Pantry Pride (later renamed to Revlon Group, Inc.), a subsidiary of Ronald Perelman's MacAndrews & Forbes Holdings. The buyout--engineered with the help of junk bond king Michael P. Milken--saddled Revlon with a huge $2.9 billion debt load, which became an albatross around the company's neck for years to come. Pantry Pride Inc. offered to buy any or all of Revlon's 38.2 million outstanding shares for $47.5 a share when its street price stood at $45 a share. Initially rejected, he repeatedly raised his offer until it reached $53 a share while fighting Revlon's management every step of the way. Forstmann Little & Company swooped in at $56 a share, a brief public bidding war ensued, and Perelman triumphed with an offer of $58 a share. Perelman paid $1.8 billion to Revlon's shareholders, but he also paid $900 million of other costs associated with the purchase. Perelman had Revlon sell four divisions: two for $1 billion, the vision care division for $574 million, and the National Health Laboratories division which became a publicly owned corporation in 1988. Additional make-up lines were purchased for Revlon: Max Factor in 1987 and Betrix in 1989, later sold to Procter & Gamble in 1991.
In 1950, Revlon introduced a red lipstick and nail enamel called "Where's the Fire?" Revlon used the word "fire" again later in their "Fire and Ice" ads. One of the world's first supermodels, Dorian Leigh, starred in some of Revlon's most memorable advertisements of all time. In 1946, Dorian was covered in purple flowers and wrapped in a pale purple sheet for "Ultra Violet." In 1947, Dorian appeared in "Fashion Plate." In 1953, at the age of 36, she appeared in "Cherries in the Snow." Later that year she appeared in the legendary "Fire and Ice" ad shot by Richard Avedon. Originally, Dorian appeared in a tight, silver-beaded dress with an enormous red wrap. Her black hair had a silver swirl in it and she had her hands, with long red nails, positioned in front of her breasts. Charles Revson rejected Avedon's original ad as "too sexual." They re-shot the ad, this time with her open hand in front of one hip, the other in front of her cheek. The advertisement became Madison Avenue legend because of the full-page quiz next to the sensual ad. Almost 50 years later, in November 2010, Revlon re-created 1953's "Fire and Ice" magazine ad, this time with actress Jessica Biel. With this ad, Revlon announced they were issuing a limited edition Fire and Ice lipstick and nail color calling this campaign, "lips and tips."
Dorian Leigh's 15-years-younger red-headed sister, Suzy Parker, also shot numerous Revlon magazine ads in the 1950s. Charles Revson, who wanted to marry Dorian at some point, despised Suzy, and vice-versa. At one point, he refused to hire her anymore because Suzy complained about the "peanut" paycheck she received from Revlon. Richard Avedon, however, after photographing other models for a particular Revlon ad, would call in Suzy last minute, sometimes late at night, to do re-takes with him. This happened with "Stormy Pink," an ad Suzy shot very late at night with a wild white horse in the ocean. Avedon would then told Revson that it was not Suzy in the ad, but a model named "Bubbles" or another made-up name.
Despite the successful campaigns of the 1980s and 1990s featuring models, Revlon decided to drop fashion models and focus on movie stars, among them Kate Bosworth, Jaime King, Halle Berry Susan Sarandon, Melanie Griffith, Julianne Moore, Eva Mendes, Jessica Alba, Jennifer Connelly, Beau Garrett,Jessica Biel ,Bond girls. In 2009, Australian supermodel Elle MacPherson became a new spokesmodel for the company.Category:Companies established in 1932 Category:Cosmetics companies of the United States Category:Companies based in New York City Category:History of cosmetics Category:Perfume houses Category:Personal care brands Category:Private equity portfolio companies
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| Name | Bobby Short |
|---|---|
| Background | solo_singer |
| Birth name | Robert Waltrip Short |
| Born | September 15, 1924 Danville, Illinois, U.S. |
| Died | March 21, 2005 New York City, New York, U.S. |
| Genre | Swing, traditional pop, vocal jazz |
| Occupation | Vocalist, Pianist |
| Label | Atlantic Records |
He also championed African-American composers of the same period such as Eubie Blake, James P. Johnson, Andy Razaf, Fats Waller, Duke Ellington and Billy Strayhorn, presenting their work not in a polemical way, but as simply the obvious equal of that of their white contemporaries.
His dedication to his great love – what he called the "Great American Song" – left him equally adept at performing the witty lyrics of Bessie Smith's "Gimme a Pigfoot" or Gershwin and Duke's "I Can't Get Started."
Short always said his favorite songwriters were Ellington, Arlen and Kern, and he was instrumental in spearheading the construction of the Ellington Memorial in his beloved New York City.
He was born in Danville, Illinois, where one of his school classmates was Dick Van Dyke. He began performing as a busker after leaving home at the age of eleven for Chicago, with his mother's permission.
He started working in clubs in the 1940s. In 1968 he was offered a two-week stint at the Café Carlyle in New York City, to fill in for George Feyer. Short (accompanied by Beverly Peer on bass and Dick Sheridan on drums) became an institution at the Carlyle, as Feyer had been before him, and remained there as a featured performer for over 35 years. There, a combination of traits – his seemingly effortless elegance; his vocal phrasing (perfected, as was that of Frank Sinatra, at the feet of Miss Mabel Mercer, with perhaps also some help from Ethel Waters); his talent for presenting unknown songs worth knowing while keeping well known songs fresh; his infectious good cheer; and his resolute, self-disciplined professionalism – earned him great respect and made him tremendously popular. Bobby Short was generous with his impromptu all-night performances at his various favorite cafes and restaurants. He was a regular patron at Ted Hook's Backstage, located at Eight Avenue and Forty-Fifth Street.
* 1972: Short sings theme song in James Ivory's film "Savages".
Category:1924 births Category:2005 deaths Category:African American singers Category:American buskers Category:American male singers Category:Cabaret singers Category:Deaths from leukemia Category:New York City nightlife Category:People from Danville, Illinois Category:Traditional pop music singers Category:Jazz-blues pianists Category:Cancer deaths in New York
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![Actress Jessica Alba poses during a photo session in New York, Sept. 6, 2007. Alba stars in the new film "Good Luck Chuck." (AP Photo/Richard Drew) nf2](http://web.archive.org./web/20110319090458im_/http://cdn.wn.com/ph/img/20/b8/3356b20896833a3034e0c33e60f2-medium.jpg "Actress Jessica Alba poses during a photo session in New York, Sept. 6, 2007. Alba stars in the new film "Good Luck Chuck." (AP Photo/Richard Drew) nf2")
