Edith Rosenbaum

Edith Rosenbaum 1911

Edith Louise Rosenbaum (born June 12, 1879 in Cincinnati , Hamilton County , Ohio , † April 4, 1975 in London , England ) was an American fashion journalist , fashion designer and a recognized figure in the international fashion industry of the first half of the 20th century . She was also known as a war correspondent in World War I and as a survivor of the sinking of the Titanic .

Career

Rosenbaum came from a wealthy Jewish family from Cincinnati. Her father, Harry Rosenbaum, was the director of the clothing manufacturer Louis Stix & Company. Her mother was Sophia Rosenbaum (née Hollstein). In 1902 the family moved to New York . Edith Rosenbaum became interested in fashion and journalism very early on . Her career as a fashion journalist began in 1908 when she went to Paris to initially work as a buyer and consultant for the Maison Cheruit fashion company on Place Vendôme . At the same time, she wrote for the fashion magazine La dernière Heure á Paris , which was published by the Paris department of Wanamaker's Department Store . She also worked as a columnist for the Butterick Pattern Service.

From 1910 onwards, Rosenbaum made a name for herself primarily as a correspondent for the then popular women's fashion magazine Women's Wear Daily . In this role she reported on the current French fashion trend and wrote essays and columns on fashion shows and presentations. Her articles about the new products appeared weekly, plus regular reports about the coming season .

In 1912 Rosenbaum ran a retail business as a consultant and buyer in Paris and advised well-known personalities such as the Broadway actress Ina Claire and the opera singer Geraldine Farrar . At the same time she brought out her first own clothing line called "Esrole" for the New York department store Lord & Taylor . Between 1914 and 1919 she was press officer and PR manager for the fashion association Chambre Syndicale de la Couture Française .

During the First World War, Rosenbaum made a name for herself as one of the first female war correspondents. From 1916 she wrote directly from the front for the New York Herald and even went into the trenches . Due to the intense anti-German climate during the war, she appeared under the pseudonym "Edith Russell" from 1918 , as she feared being taken for a German because of her actual name Rosenbaum. The boycott attempts by the French fashion industry against German or German-sounding retailers also contributed to this decision.

In 1923 she was honored for her services by the Associated Dress Industries of America and two years later by the International Ladies' Garment Workers Union for her work during the war. In the 1920s, Rosenbaum also wrote for Cassell’s magazines in London and Moda in Rome. From 1934 she slowly withdrew from the fashion industry.

Titanic

On April 5, 1912, Rosenbaum, in her capacity as reporter for Women's Wear Daily , submitted her report on the fashion worn at the Auteuil horse races . Two days later, on Easter Sunday , she wanted to leave for New York on board the German passenger ship George Washington , in order to bring the Parisian spring fashion she had bought to America. At the last minute, however, she received a telegram from her editor instructing her to also cover the horse race in Paris-Roubaix on Easter Sunday . She postponed her crossing by three days and went on Wednesday, April 10, 1912 in Cherbourg in northern France on board the new RMS Titanic .

She occupied the first-class cabin A-11. She had also booked cabin E-63 to accommodate her 19 trunk. When she applied for damage insurance for her large amount of luggage in advance of the trip , she was told that this was not necessary as the ship was " unsinkable ". On the night of the downfall, she locked all trunks and tried to hand over the keys to safekeeping to her cabin attendant Robert Wareham. Wareham replied: “You'd rather kiss these suitcases goodbye.” Irritated, Rosenbaum then went to the boat deck, but made no attempt to get into one of the lifeboats . She carried a music box in the shape of a pig, which played the melody of the maxixes when the tail was turned . She had received this music box from her mother last year as a good luck charm after a serious car accident in France .

Possibly because they thought it was a baby, crew members took the can from her hand and placed it on the starboard side of lifeboat No. 11, which left the Titanic at around 1:35 a.m. with 70 people on board. Because of her tight, ankle-length skirt, she had to be hooked under and lifted over the railing by two men . In the course of the night she aroused the displeasure of the other passengers in the boat, as she kept playing the music box to cheer up the children in the boat. Upon arriving in New York on April 19, she reported to Women's Wear Daily what the better-known Titanic passengers had been wearing during the evacuation of the ship.

Rosenbaum then sued the White Star Line for loss of their luggage and personal inconvenience. It was one of the highest lawsuits brought against the shipping company in the context of the Titanic accident. She tried herself as an author and wrote an experience report about the downfall. Since she could not find a publisher, it was never published.

Rosenbaum with the famous music box (1912).

In later years Rosenbaum was a guest of honor at numerous events related to the Titanic , for example the New York premiere of the 1953 film Downfall of the Titanic with Barbara Stanwyck . She gave numerous television and newspaper interviews, such as Life magazine or the author Walter Lord , who used her story for his book The Last Night of the Titanic (original title: A Night To Remember). When the book was made into a film by Roy Ward Baker in 1958 , Rosenbaum was asked to act as a consultant as she was portrayed in the film. In her TV appearances, she often showed the famous toy pig, with which she made headlines in 1912. In 1963 she was made an honorary member of the Titanic Historical Society .

Private life

In 1911 Edith Rosenbaum survived a serious car accident in France in which her fiance, the wealthy German arms manufacturer Ludwig Loewe, was killed. She had been with friends on the way to the horse races in the northern French seaside resort of Deauville in the Calvados department .

After she retired from active professional life in the mid-1930s, Rosenbaum mainly spent her time on extensive trips and stays abroad. She was a popular hostess who frequently gave matinees and dinners for friends, relatives, and business associates. She was also known to many personalities from politics and show business. While in Rome, she danced at a dinner party with Benito Mussolini , and she also bred dogs for the French singer Maurice Chevalier . In addition, Rosenbaum maintained a close friendship with the actor Peter Lawford and his wife Patricia Kennedy , whom they made a godmother for their children.

After commuting between New York and Paris for years, Rosenbaum settled in the Claridge's Hotel in London in the mid-1940s. Then she moved into a permanent suite in the posh Embassy House Hotel. Rosenbaum spent her final years in London and was described as eccentric in later years. Rosenbaum died in 1975 after a brief illness at St Mary Abbot's Hospital in London at the age of 95. Having never married or had children, she left only a few distant cousins. Your music box is now in the National Maritime Museum in London.

Web links

• Entry in encyclopedia-titanica