IMMACULATELY Clean! COMPLETELY Feminine!

This Week:  40 Degrees Below Zero, But a Good, Clean Shave;  Fundamental Errors of Personal Finance; and I Never Thought I'd Say 'Thank Goodness For Pernell Roberts.'

Immaculately clean, completely feminine armpits, brought to you by Schick, the inventor of the original dry shaver, born in a filthy dirty, completely masculine Alaskan  hut.

Jacob Schick, career army officer and inventor, had his a-ha! moment while camping in Alaska.  Quoting from the 1937 obituary:  "With the weather hovering at 40 degrees below zero, Mr. Schick found it difficult to shave.  One day he sprained his ankle, and had to remain alone in camp for several months.  He killed a moose and lived on its meat during his forced imprisonment.  For weeks, he worked on his problem, and finally evolved a razor that could do the job without lather or the other traditional concomitants of shaving."

Several months and one moose?  And his problem was shaving?    Here's the patent.  No moose bones.

Jacob Schick

Last week, we started here with a cashmere sweater made by the Bernhard Altmann company, which produced mid-range cashmere from factories around the country, including San Antonio, of all places.

We ended up here

because Mr. Altmann's sister-in-law's aunt was the lady in the picture.  In 2000, Maria Altmann sued the Austrian government in the U.S. Supreme Court.  She won, got back the painting (and others), and sold them at auction.  The Klimt sold for $135,000,000.00.

And I pushed the Post Button.  But I knew I had just seen that Klimt. . . on a bookshelf.  I had saved the first section of the New York Times from November 27, 2011.    "But Nobody Pays That" was one of those articles I was really going to sit down and understand for once and for all.  I would learn a tax tip from Mr. Lauder.

Ronald Lauder and His $135,000,000.00 Purchase (AP Photo)

Mr. Lauder and I have something in common.  We like to go to auctions.  In fact, this very Vogue was bought at auction, one of several lots I bought in Oakland.  They had belonged to a lady who lived in Martinez and who worked at an insurance company.  That's all I know.  She had saved every issue from the late 1930's to 1970.  Boxes and boxes.   And, like the Klimt, the magazines went for way more than the estimates.  

I came away with 25 or so issues from the 1950s, and 35 or so from the 1960s.  I bought them to sell, and I sold all of the really good ones, all of the issues with the William Klein spreads . . . and when I broke even I stopped.   I think they should be seen, and I go to some trouble to show them to the public.  Just like Mr. Lauder and his German and Austrian paintings.  

William Klein, Vogue, 1957

 But unlike Mr. Lauder,  I was an idiot.  What I should have done was to create a private foundation:  The Voguerie.  I should have donated the Vogues to The Voguerie.  Then I could have taken a charitable donation.  That would have been a far larger charitable donation than I have ever made before.  That way I could have given myself a good discount on the Vogues.  

And The Voguerie could be quite close by.  Probably even in my living room.  Then I would still have them.   I could charge money for people to see them. But I don't.   This is an ad-free blog.  The Klimt is at the Neu Galerie, Mr. Lauder's private foundation.  Admission is not free.  

Not only can Mr. Lauder have his cake and eat it, too; the cake keeps on making  its own frosting.  

Don't you wish you could donate your eBay finds to yourself and get a tax break?

Let's Go to the Movies!

*  Another in the series of full-employment for aging male stars.  A comatose Randolph Scott leads a ragtag group to a hanging tree.

*  Thank goodness for Pernell Roberts!  James Coburn in his first role; also Lee Van Cleef and a very good James Best, who just completed Return of the Killer Shrews; a quite remarkable coincidence since The Killer Shrews is from 1959 - unavailable!

* Why does Karen Steele have 1950's hair and bodices?  Who wrote the original Indians-Appear-in-Distance music? How much more would I have liked this movie if I had seen it in the theater in Cinemascope, and not on a Mac?   A lot.  The horses are so small.

Next:  Chanel No. 5 vs. Shalimar - for real.