HELENA RUBINSTEIN
Name: Helena Rubinstein
Born: December 25, 1870, 1871 or 1872
Died: April 1, 1965
Helena Rubinstein (b. Chaja Rubinstein, December 25, 1870, 1871 or 1872,
Austria-Hungary . April 1, 1965, New York, USA) was a Polish-American
cosmetics industrialist, founder and eponym of Helena Rubinstein, Incorporated,
which made her one of the world's richest women.
Rubinstein, the eldest of eight children, was born of Augusta Gitte (Gitel)
Scheindel Silberfeld Rubinstein and Naftali Herz Horace Rubinstein; he was a
shopkeeper in Kraków. For a short time, she studied medicine in Switzerland. In
1902, she moved to Australia, opened a shop there a year later, and changed her
forename to Helena. She mixed so-called medical formulas and ointments that she
claimed were imported from the Carpathian Mountains. They were, in truth,
concocted from sheep oil whose odor was disguised with scents of lavender, pine
bark and water lilies.
In 1908,her sister Ceska assumed the Melbourne shop's operation, when, with $100,000,
Helena moved to London and began what was to become an international enterprise.
(Women at this time could not obtain bank loans, so the money was her own.)
In 1908 in London, she married American journalist Edward William Titus. They
had two sons, Roy Valentine Titus (London, December 12, 1909-New York, June 18,
1989) and Horace Titus (London, April 23, 1912-New York, May 18, 1958).
Eventually, they lived in Paris, where she opened a salon in 1912. Her husband
helped with writing the publicity and set up a small publishing house, published
Lady Chatterley's Lover and hired Samuel Putnam to translate Kiki's memoirs. She
threw lavish dinner parties and became known for apocryphal quips, such as when
an intoxicated French ambassador expressed vitriol toward Edith Sitwell and her
brother Sacheverell.
Name: Helena Rubinstein
Born: December 25, 1870, 1871 or 1872
Died: April 1, 1965
Helena Rubinstein (b. Chaja Rubinstein, December 25, 1870, 1871 or 1872,
Austria-Hungary . April 1, 1965, New York, USA) was a Polish-American
cosmetics industrialist, founder and eponym of Helena Rubinstein, Incorporated,
which made her one of the world's richest women.
Rubinstein, the eldest of eight children, was born of Augusta Gitte (Gitel)
Scheindel Silberfeld Rubinstein and Naftali Herz Horace Rubinstein; he was a
shopkeeper in Kraków. For a short time, she studied medicine in Switzerland. In
1902, she moved to Australia, opened a shop there a year later, and changed her
forename to Helena. She mixed so-called medical formulas and ointments that she
claimed were imported from the Carpathian Mountains. They were, in truth,
concocted from sheep oil whose odor was disguised with scents of lavender, pine
bark and water lilies.
In 1908,her sister Ceska assumed the Melbourne shop's operation, when, with $100,000,
Helena moved to London and began what was to become an international enterprise.
(Women at this time could not obtain bank loans, so the money was her own.)
In 1908 in London, she married American journalist Edward William Titus. They
had two sons, Roy Valentine Titus (London, December 12, 1909-New York, June 18,
1989) and Horace Titus (London, April 23, 1912-New York, May 18, 1958).
Eventually, they lived in Paris, where she opened a salon in 1912. Her husband
helped with writing the publicity and set up a small publishing house, published
Lady Chatterley's Lover and hired Samuel Putnam to translate Kiki's memoirs. She
threw lavish dinner parties and became known for apocryphal quips, such as when
an intoxicated French ambassador expressed vitriol toward Edith Sitwell and her
brother Sacheverell.