Mary Chess
{{Short description|American perfumer}}
Mary Chess{{Cite web |url=http://www.aromastudio.com/womeninat.htm |title=The Aromatic Women's History Guide (AWHG) |access-date=2007-10-05 |archive-date=2021-02-11 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210211212801/http://www.aromastudio.com/womeninat.htm |url-status=dead }} (December 27, 1878 – January 12, 1964) was an American perfumer who made fragrances using all natural ingredients. Her company, the eponymous Mary Chess, was owned by Henri Garceau.
Biography
Mary Grace Chess was born in Louisville, Kentucky,{{cite web |title=United States Passport Applications, 1795-1925 |url=https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QVJP-Z3TY |website=FamilySearch |accessdate=3 February 2020}} the daughter of William E. Chess, who owned a local cordage mill. In 1907 she married Avery Robinson, also from Louisville and son of another Louisville mill owner, who had worked for her father after graduating from MIT. In 1920 Chess and Robinson left for London where Robinson was employed as treasurer to the Royal Philharmonic Society.{{Cite web
| last = Schmidtt
| first = Martin
| authorlink =
| title = Catalog of Manuscripts in the University of Oregon Library
| work = [908] Robinson, Avery, 1878-1965
| publisher = University of Oregon
| year = 2004
| url = http://purl.library.uoregon.edu/e-asia/ebooks/read/schmitt.pdf
| format =
| doi =
| accessdate = 2009-11-12
| archive-date = 2012-06-17
| archive-url = https://wayback.archive-it.org/all/20120617111745/http://purl.library.uoregon.edu/e-asia/ebooks/read/schmitt.pdf
| url-status = dead
}}
In London she became famous for her sculpted metal flowers which she sold to the Queen Mother. She founded the Mary Chess Company in 1932.[http://mummim.multiply.com/journal The Perfume Companion] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110714131957/http://mummim.multiply.com/journal |date=2011-07-14 }}
While in London Chess sent her daughter Carley to study with Nadia Boulanger, despite the composer's pessimistic assessment of the girl's aptitude for music.{{Cite book
| last = Rosenstiel
| first = Léonie
| authorlink =
| title = Nadia Boulanger: A Life in Music
| publisher = W. W. Norton & Company
| year = 1998
| location = New York
| pages = 209
| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=no59tOo0cxsC&pg=PA209
| doi =
| id =
| isbn = 0-393-31713-7
| accessdate = 2009-11-12
}}
In the end Carley did not pursue a musical career but instead became a writer of children's books.{{Cite web
| last = Dawson
| first = Carley
| authorlink =
| title = Headings List (Library of Congress Online Catalog)
| publisher = Library of Congress
| date =
| url = http://catalog.loc.gov/cgi-bin/Pwebrecon.cgi?SC=Author&SA=Dawson%2CCarley
| format =
| doi =
| accessdate = 2009-11-12
}}{{dead link|date=October 2015}}
Chess died in Pittsfield, Massachusetts on January 12, 1964, at the age of 85.{{cite news |title=Mary Chess Robinson |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/daily-news-obituary-for-mary-chess-robin/137064307/ |access-date=19 December 2023 |work=Daily News |date=12 January 1964}}
Perfumes
Mary Chess started making perfumes in New York in 1932 after she was disappointed by the insipid aroma of a bottle of toilet water.{{Cite book
| last = Lancaster
| first = Marie-Jaqueline
| title = Brian Howard: Portrait of a Failure
| publisher = Timewell Press
| year = 2005
| location = London
| pages = 218
| isbn = 978-1-85725-211-8
| accessdate = 2009-11-12
| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=7IVRYLb2wcAC&pg=PA218
}}
"She created all her perfumes herself, using natural ingredients."{{Cite book
| last = Groom
| first = Nigel
| title = The new perfume handbook
| publisher = Springer
| year = 1997
| location = New York
| pages = 205
| isbn = 978-0-7514-0403-6
| accessdate = 2009-11-12
| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=UYrDPqLVD-kC&pg=PA205
}}
By 1934 the Mary Chess name was becoming a proxy for fine women's perfume.{{Cite book
| last = Hughes
| first = Babette
| authorlink =
| title = One egg: a farce in one act
| publisher = Samuel French, Inc.
| year = 1934
| location = New York
| pages = 89
| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=VAGzHh4tPuQC&pg=PA89
| doi =
| id =
| isbn = 0-573-62376-7
}}
Mary created many perfumes, of which arguably the most famous is Tapestry.
- 1932 White Lilac
- 1932 Heliotrope
- 1932 Gardenia
- 1932 Desert Verbena
- 1933 Chessmen
- 1934 Tapestry
- 1934 Yram
- 1935 Floral Odeurs
- 1939 Carnation
- 1941 Elizabethan
- 1942 Strategy
- 1946 Song
- 1956 Souvenir D'un Soir
- 1958 Chivalry
- 1960 Tuileries
- Unknown - Chess D'or
Just after World War II and continuing into the 1960s, a selection of Mary Chess perfumes was sold in glass bottles shaped like chess pieces.{{cite web
|url=http://www.wheatonarts.org/museumamericanglass/exhibitions/pastexhibitions/2002forshownotplay/index_html
|title=For Show Not Play: Glass Chess Sets
|year=2002
|accessdate=2009-11-12
|publisher=wheatonarts.org
|url-status=dead
|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20110719040809/http://www.wheatonarts.org/museumamericanglass/exhibitions/pastexhibitions/2002forshownotplay/index_html
|archivedate=2011-07-19
}}
Though expensive,{{Cite journal
| last =
| first =
| authorlink =
| title = Chess Life
| journal = Chess Life
| volume = 19
| issue =
| pages = 59
| publisher = United States Chess Federation
| year = 1964
| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=t40qAAAAMAAJ&q=%22mary+chess%22
| issn =
| doi =
| id =
| accessdate = 2009-11-12
}}
these sets proved popular.{{Citation
| last =
| first =
| author-link =
| title = Modern Packaging
| journal = Modern Packaging
| volume = 23
| issue =
| pages = 113–115
| year = 1950
| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=NxMlAAAAMAAJ&q=%22mary+chess%22
| doi =
| id =
| accessdate = 2009-11-12
}}
The Wheaton Glass Company of Millville, New Jersey produced the glass bottles and pressed figural stoppers for Mary Chess from 1946 to 1948.