Charlotte Rampling & Eau d'Hermes

EdH and Charlotte's Riding Jacket


"Cumin in a bottle"

For Mature Audiences

It's been called sex in a bottle. Animalic. Classic. Leather. Astoundingly real. Cumin done right. Balls in a bottle and my favorite, "Grace Kelly's handbag stuffed with Robert Mitchum's jockstrap." I think it smells like Monkey Bread. Naked Monkey Bread.

Created by Edmond Roudnitska in 1951, this is a unisex scent that has always appealed to me. While I love Caswell Massey Lime... it's a little like comparing junior high school necking in a church basement to a long weekend in the 16 Arrondissment with Charlotte Rampling clad only in a riding jacket.

I've had that bottle since 2002. I use it sparingly because it's expensive. And it lasts. My nephew is a scent hound. I once caught him opening my EdH and had to peel him off the ceiling when I said in my best Alec Baldwin bass, "Put. That. Bottle. Down." No 15 year old has the right to wear this. He's gonna have to do time in that church basement for a few more years.

"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.

'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

'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.

The Most Fun You Can Have With Your Smoking Jacket On

I've smoked everything. Lucky and Camel cigarettes. 1Q pipe tobacco by Lane. The Cuban Punch Punch and the 1926 Padron. No more. The consumption of tobacco came to a screeching halt when the Doc found something on the lip. All is well but for a few months there was a great deal of reflection on the leaf and nothing has ever had the effect on me like a doctor saying, "...it may be cancerous." It wasn't but it was enough to quit. All of it.

So in smoking's place -- I've consumed myself with something else to do in a smoking jacket. Shaving. So far I've tried razor blades made by Astra, Feather, Shark, 7A.M., Sharp, Merkur and Derby. They're cheap. No more than $2 for five and they come in the most amazing and colorful packaging. Just like European cigarettes.

I was happy to use my Santa Maria shaving cream in a can ($25) and even happier to buy it from Phoebe Cates at Blue Tree. Her shop's web site is here and be sure to watch the film clip on the home page. Funny stuff with Kevin Kline. I had been to the shop a couple of times without a Phoebe sighting. My luck, the one time she was there I had Kim Chi for lunch.

While Santa Maria is good stuff and lasts for donkey years...I swear I get a year out of a can...it doesn't come close to lather spread on with a badger brush. The luxury of this is hard to describe. Let me try. While I was in the Army, I spent a week in the jungles of Panama without a shower save getting rained on almost every day. I had an itching jungle 'crud' everywhere and I wanted two things. A woman with very long finger nails to scratch my feet and a hot shower. Back at Ft Sherman, I did get a hot shower and I'll never forget that feeling of being reborn as hot water washed off seven days of jungle funk. Slathering warm lather on your face with a badger brush comes very close to that -- without having to endure the jungle part.

I strongly advise against slapping cologne on after shaving. The slow and careful shave with a heavy safety razor is a radical difference from the plastic Quarto razor that vibrates and the blue - green gel that smells like a J Crew store in an outlet mall (what is that smell?). I like to use what's known as skin food. Trumper's makes a nice lime and coral skin food I've tried but I really like the glass bottle D.R. Harris comes in. It's also cheaper.

After skin food comes cologne. I want to explain how I feel about men who smell like a perfume counter on the street. It's not attractive and I associate it with men who wear lots of Gucci, a black t shirt with a closed vent sport coat and affect an Italian accent even though they're from Ft Wayne, Indiana. I'm not saying you can't. I'm saying you shouldn't. For me, cologne that wears off quickly is A-Okay in my book. The scent is just for me. Perhaps the last bit of pleasure I treat myself to before going out into the world of pissed off clients, homicidal bus drivers and odors wafting through the 59th Street subway station. Odors so bad --I don't even want to know where they come from.

By the way, Herzfeld cognoscenti may be smiling at the label with the old 509 Madison Avenue address. That's where the shop opened in 1949. It moved to 507 Madison in 1984 and then to 118 E 57th in 2005. Great history, a wonderful staff and a beautiful tailor's ruler they refuse to sell me.