Wednesday, May 02, 2007

Buying the New Yorker 1976 - page 5

I'm not certain, but I think this is Lauren Hutton.



Charles Revson was the founder of Revlon. "CHR" are Revson's initials and "Ultima II" was the name of his 257-foot yacht. At first, one might suspect Revson of being a bit egotistical, but, as this ad appears one year after Revson's death, one infers that the self reference is a sort of homage.

Revson's biography is sadly out of print, but the author has very kindly posted what seems like a healthy chunk of it online here. Enjoy a sample paragraph:
Revson bought the Ultima II in the summer of 1967 from D. K. Ludwig, the secretive billionaire shipbuilder, and then went about a major overhaul and total redecoration. The Burma teak decking alone, hand-laid in Naples, cost $125,000. Also: three new electric generators; two new evaporators (to desalinate 10,000 tons of water a day); radar with a fifty-mile range; forty- eight sterling silver place settings from England, forty-eight gold-plated settings from France; two movie projectors for nightly movies; engraved, gold- lettered Cartier stationery, with the blue, green, and white "R" flag flowing in the wind, at $1.75 or so for each sheet and envelope (about what it costs to manufacture a 750-page telephone book), fine wood paneled walls . . . Ask for a typewriter at the Mayflower Hotel in Washington and the front desk will not even be able to arrange to have one rented to you. Ask for it aboard the Ultima II and the response was, simply, "Will you require carbon paper, sir?" Sniffle imperceptibly at lunch and Kleenex would be waiting by your deck chair when you went to take the afternoon sun. You wish pizza? Sweet and sour pork? Lobster Newburg? Filet mignon? Fresh-squeezed juice in your Dom Perignon? Chief steward Wu would positively run to bring what you desired. And not out of fear, either, but pride. He would watch you take your first cup of coffee and, if it met with your pleasure, deliver every cup that followed precisely that way.
Revson was obviously just plain folk.

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