The picture shows Syma Cohen-Busiel and Wayne King in around the mid thirties at Pal-Waukee airfield, north of Chicago.
Syma
Cohen-Busiel (1891-1990) was the founder of Lady Esther Cosmetics. She had registered the trade mark in her name
in 1913 (trading as Lady Esther). Later she ran the business with her younger brother Alfred (1900-1951). After his
early death the company was sold and went through many hands. Trade mark owners in the US are now a pharmaceutical wholesale
company with no own production facilities and no roots back to Syma Cohen and the early history of this once very famous brand.
Our
German company is now the trade mark owner elsewhere in the world. We have in our archive some old merchandise material
connected with Wayne King, If you are interested, I can scan them for you. On the other hand I should be very grateful, if
we could learn more about the co-operation between Wayne King and Lady Esther.
Unfortunately, our history related pages
on the website are in German only.
Kind regards,
Thilo Figaj LADY ESTHER KOSMETIK GMBH BENSHEIM GERMANY
Courtesy of Director Thilo Figaj of Lady Esther Kosmetic, Germany GMBH
Lady Esther Ltd used to advertise to write to them to receive free samples, try them out and give a feedback. People
received goodies in return, such as this print of Wayne King. The mailing is undated, but should also be from 1933 / 34.
In
laters years they used cinema stars for their promotion. In 1943 Lady Esther Ltd sponsored the movie "Casablanca", the radio
version, respectively. Ingrid Bergman can be heard in it speaking the promotion for Lady Esther after the radio show. Its
on the bonus DVD of Warner's.
All the best with your project. Kind regards from Germany & Happy Easter!
Thilo
Figaj, Director LADY ESTHER KOSMETIK GMBH Robert-Bosch-Strasse 26 64625 Bensheim - Germany
In 1951 Wayne King visited his city of birth, Savanna, Illinois. His visit was to honor Doctor Schreiter who delivered
America's future Waltz King at 600 Bowen Street on February 16 or 18, 1901. The visit was part of the festivities surrounding
Doctor Schreiter being named the doctor of the year in the State of Illinois in 1951.
This photo was snapped by the Homedew family. It's Wayne KIng and Adana L'homideu (some of the family use the old
country spelling). Adana is one more of the nieces of Wayne's childhood friend Harold Homedew as mentioned below.
In the spring of 2005, the nieces of Harold Homedew, Vernetta Homedew Near and Janis Homedew Wilt of Savanna, discovered
a remarkable photo negative in their father's records. The negative, circa 1918-1920, revealed a portrait
of Wayne King with his very close family and childhood friend Harold Homedew. Harold, a really smooth
dancer who won several dance contests, was featured at dances organized by Wayne King before he left Savanna for
Chicago in 1921 to become nationally known as the Waltz King in 1927.
In September 2008, the Savanna Historical Society, NFP received these 3 saxophone mutes and stands in their
original case for the Wayne King Collection.
Wendy Baldridge of Savanna donated the instruments in memory of her father, the late Walt Baldridge. Walt
Baldridge was a well-known businessman and auctioner in Savanna for nearly 60 years.
The December 14, 1939 dance card was inside the saxophone mute case when it was donated by Wendy Balridge which led she
and I to think the mutes and case once belonged to Wayne King. Since, it's become apparent that it belonged to the Ralph
Slade Orchestra of Savanna as seen in the February 19, 1938 photo. We may never know for sure if Ralph Slade or one
of his sidemen purchased the case and mutes new or if they obtained them used. We're pleased to be able to showcase
these and other instruments and memorabilia at the Savanna Museum and Cultural Center at 406 Main Street in Savanna, Illinois...
