London 1990

Everyone walks and everyone talks and sometimes their teeth look bad.

But I was made for London - It's the only home I've had.

Biscuits and tea and cards at three. Or is it four? Who cares.

I bought the store.

Harvey & Hudson. Poulsen & Skone. Steel Burrill Jones.
Make mine a G&T, Tony and ring the bell...when you're about to close.

To Roof Gardens for champers, Silk Cuts and dancing totty.

I was last to know that Sturge went in the potty.

Mixed grill next morning. Back bacon to boot.

Skip the beans but try the blood sausage

and pay for it with a game of spoof.

Twenty years since that job

that was a holiday.

But it stays with me always

while I look for a way...

To go back. To return. On BA to the place I love.

It won't be better than yesterday -

but at least I will have matured.

A Man's Movie: Reggie Perrin

Actually a BBC television series from the 70's. This entire series was sent to me by my father on VHS sometime in the early 90's. And like the old man it's a little outta the box. But to see a man (Reggie) lose all regard for his position and tell the world what he really thinks... it reminds me of my father and how his honesty means more to me with every passing year.

The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrine is an intelligent comedy about the BS of corporate life. The frustration of a daily commute. And a fatigue with what we have. Until we lose it. And fight to get it all back. I suggest a good viewing if you're thinking of divorce.

Off My Back: The Club Collar

The Club or Golf Collar

Split Yoke Two Button Cuff - A little too ADG for me

Sleeve to Yoke

The shirt was seen at the outset of the week. A simple club collar (also called golf collar) done up in a 1930's stripe dug out of the Brook's Brothers fabric archives (what a great idea). Well made and fairly expensive until they went on sale for $45.

The sleeve cuff is adorned by an affected (to me) double button cuff but it's passable. Perhaps I'll leave one unbuttoned. No pattern matching at sleeve to yoke but what do want for $45? There is a split yoke in the back that you see on finer English shirts. I've always liked the detail and it's rarely seen on shirts in the states.

The narrow collar opening demands a smaller knot tie but this adds to the whole 1920's echo. A contrasting bow tie in a yellow foulard picks up on the primary colors. A natural linen sport jacket with patch pockets is my favorite pairing. I wore a DB navy blazer and white ducks and Bucks with this shirt and tie in Bermuda at a film festival dinner. A reporter from Switzerland asked me how long I had lived on the island. I was so happy.

Keep an eye out for unusual shirt colors and collars. Often they'll wind up on the sale table. Greens, yellows, purples. Club, tab and spread collars. They're fun to experiment with and the cover charge is affordable. A man can handle only so much blue oxford.

"Your" Caswell - Massey

Script from 1873

Chloroform?

This chest found in wall of Lexingon Store

An Army Jock Strap

Poison found in chest

A possible replica but still beautiful

Not a replica

Casma is a scent coming back in limited release for this Mother's Day

I have no idea

My favorite red head

Toilet Powder - Sounds better than Talc

I have no idea

A shaving mug

First off, and let me just say this, I love learning about companies and what they make. It's a big part of my other job that pays me. I always run into two types of companies. Those whose employees call what they make, "product." And those who call what they make by "name." At no time did anyone at Caswell - Massey refer to a soap or cologne by that horrid MBA speak, "product."

That's my first clue that the people I'm talking to are passionate about what they're doing. I guess it's easy to be passionate about working for a company that precedes the founding of our country by 25 years. 31 years if you only recognise the 1783 Treaty of Paris. Talk about your reputation preceding you.

History is a wonderful thing in anything. It gives us some soul in a world chock full of things that are never what they appear to be. And when you find something that's authentic - hold on to it. Doesn't matter whether it's stuff or people. Either is hard to come by.

Caswell - Massey's landlord, the Intercontinental Hotel, doesn't know much about soul. Check out time for the 84 year old tenant is April 3rd. I swear, I thought only Chicago was this cold when it came to real estate. The store at Lex is offering 25% off (excluding luxury items) if you leave them your email address.

The new store opens up in the old Limelight (6th Ave & 20th St) Club on April 23rd. I don't have fond memories of that club nor do I think it the appropriate place for Caswell - Massey. But unless the store receives National Landmark Status between now and April 3rd...there's not a whole lot that can be done except to exhale a deep sigh, shake our heads and wish for the financial collapse of a certain hotel chain.

These photos were taken at the Edison, NJ warehouse. Everything you see came out of the Lexington store. I'll post other pictures that will follow this post of the Lex location in case you can't make it to NY before the closing.

Checking Out

'Their' Caswell - Massey

At the corner of 48th and Lexington Ave since 1926.

Started in Newport, Rhode Island in 1752 by Scottish pharmacist, Dr. William Hunter. Now this isn't some company that went outta business in 1857 and was started back up in 1976 by some cretin Wall Streeter who was marketing ersatz heritage. Caswell - Massey has been going non stop since 1752.

Hunter sold drugs and imported perfume to the 18th century version of today's high-net-worth. He also mixed his own scents and numbered them one to twenty which is where the No. 6 comes from. I tried to draw a cartoon of me asking George Washington for a bar of soap in an army barracks shower but it didn't turn out so hot.

Washington was a fan of No. 6 but I don't know if he knew Dr Hunter was loyalist. Not that it made much difference. Hunter died in 1777 while treating British soldiers. After the end of the war Hunter's wife transferred ownership of the shop to an employee and the loyalist connection was lost to history.

Caswell - Massey opened their first NYC store in 1833 and operated as a pharmacy as late as 1990 in their current location. Sadly, they are departing the current location after 84 years. Word is a bank is going in their old space. Well, NYC certainly needs more banks and the Intercontinental Hotel needs more rent dollars. If you want to see this remarkable space you better hurry.

The soda fountain removed sometime in the 1950's.

Upon entering the store, you can still see a discoloration of the tile floor where the stools were. This is where a 19 year old Lauren Bacall insisted upon meeting Humphrey Bogart (45) for the first time before they made the 1945 picture, 'To Have and Have Not.' Apparently Bacall felt safer in a soda fountain with Bogart. Soon you'll be able to use an ATM on this very spot.

I swear the man behind the counter looks like Leonard Rossiter.

These B&W photos are from the archives of Caswell - Massey. I'll go into further detail about my visit there tomorrow but wonderful people. You'd have thought they'd throw me a sample or two. But who needs samples at these prices?

Caswell - Massey was never much for advertising. The marketing was mostly word of mouth and some very famous folks enjoyed just stopping in. Of course, I always enjoy just stopping into a bank.

It is nice to know I share the "I didn't buy anything" guilt trait with Greta Garbo. Every time she stopped in Caswell - Massey on one of her long walks she felt guilty if she didn't buy anything and would always purchase a tortoise shell comb. I know just how she felt.

Store window from extinct clothier, F.R. Tripler

John F. Kennedy's favorite cologne was Jockey Club. It's an intense scent that's very masculine. Both Canoe (1935) and Old Spice (1938) were originally formulated for women with Old Spice being tweaked for men by some added citrus - - but you could learn that at any bank.

Tomorrow: Your Caswell - Massey - New Stuff & New Digs

Erin Go Beau

Isn't that the holy all of it. Ken Bruen

'My' Caswell - Massey

I came to Caswell - Massey via J. Press. I don't know how much of it Press sells but they hooked me on Greenbriar. You pay a little extra for the packaging but I figure Press deserves it. The word perfume comes from the Latin, per, "through," and fumum, "smoke." An interesting etymological discovery since my father shared David Hackworth's affection for calling Pentagon brass, "Perfumed Princes." If anyone can blow smoke it's Pentagon brass.

Consequently, the old man is not a fan of colognes. Of any sort. I have been since my first bottle of Canoe at 13 and my addiction to Old Spice cologne and talc in the army. Nothing seemed to smell better at the time than freshly starched fatigues and Old Spice. The smell still takes me back to Ft Bragg. And for me, that's one of the special qualities of scent. How something so invisible can take you back decades to another time and all in a split second.

I'm not interested in wearing Jovan musk and hitting Bennigan's on a Friday night. I'm interested in adding some luxury to the morning's three "S's" and being grateful for that moment. Caswell - Massey has a history that goes back to 1752. When you sniff their No. 6, you're smelling what George Washington wore, and gave to Lafayette as a gift, turning him into a life long customer. According to the company, No. 6 is their costliest scent but sells for $30 a three ounce bottle. It reminds me of the more expensive and very classic, Eau D'Hermes.

I like Greenbriar and have mixed it with Ylang Ylang for a scent the Golf Foxtrot is fond of. It's citrus but the Ylang gives it a deeper earthiness. The soaps are a good value at three for $24 and since they're triple milled you can use them to scent your sock drawer without fear of losing any of the scent. In fact, according to the company, this will dry the soap out and increase its life in the shower.

The Lime is my favorite. I give it to people all the time. Just ask ADG. It's clean and reminds me of a Gin and Tonic after a set of tennis near the beach south of St Augustine, FL. I can almost feel the powder of the har tru courts. Since cologne is made with alcohol, I'm pretty sure the Caswell - Massey Lime scent isn't that far removed from a G&T.

Colognes for $10 an ounce. Soaps (and drawer sachets) for $8 a bar. One of the oldest companies in the United States. Made in the US. Trad as Trad can be... Who cares about George Washington - - It is the scent of J. Press for God's sake. And you'd be surprised how many people don't even know about it. Instead, we're spritzed with Sean Combs and Elizabeth Taylor as we defend ourselves from the department store infantry shoving scented cannon fodder at us with some slick marketing promise of celebrity. Now that smells bad.

Tomorrow: 'Their' Caswell - Massey - The history and the customers.

Trad Plays Paninaro

Trad

Paninaro

Paninaro was the Italian Ameri-Phile. A look in the 80's that centered on baggy shirts, tight jeans, Henri Lloyd jackets and Vespa scooters. That's an Italian made Brook's Brother's shirt from a few years ago. Can Brook's Brothers sell Italy back to the Italians? Buena fortuna.

Off My Back: Mercer & Sons

Brook's Brothers Catalog - Christmas 1983

Mercer & Sons - Young Putz Designers Need Not Apply

The 80's Weave

Soft is key

Unlined Collar

When I started working for Brook's Brothers sometime in the mid-80's, I had only been a customer since the early 80's. There were few stores and since my father wore an army uniform to work every day... Well, lets put it this way, there was no passing down of the Golden Fleece.

As an employee of Brooks, I had plenty of their button down oxfords. And without getting too sentimental, they are today only a whisper thin cotton strand of what they once were. This decline, according to many including long time Brook's employee, Tom Davis, started shortly after I became a customer. The unlined collar became lined because someone at Brooks thought it 'looked better' according to Tom.

Mercer & Sons went to work in 1982 to correct the changes being made to the Brook's oxford and they do the shirt better than anyone I've come across. Not that I've stopped looking. The shirt weighs in at a thumping 13 ounces. And the weave is a dead ringer for the old Brooks oxford. The collar is perfect. Unlined and easy in appearance. That was the whole point of the collar before some git at Brooks decided it needed to be lined. Most likely a Californian.

The shirt's made in Maine. Score 1 point. The shirt's authentic to it's history and hasn't been screwed with by some putz designer. Score 2 points. The quality of the manufacture is top of class. Score 3 points. The shirt is not a good value. Score 0 points. Three outta four ain't bad. These are expensive. $90 and up. But they're the best out there and compared to what some designers are getting, $150 and up, they may indeed qualify as a damn good value.