Alfred Hitchcock and Dorothy Lamour
I’m calling this one half full because when I went to Neiman Marcus to sample the new version they were out. All was not in vain since I did pick up a lovely Moulton Brown bath goo in Rhubarb.
So the reason for this post was that I was watching “All About Eve” for the 347th (or so) time and noticed in the scene where they are supposed to be at The Stork Club a box on the table with the art deco lettering spelling out “Sortilege”. I’d seen similar ones and wondered what they were. I thought they were likely cigarettes or something- it was a nightclub in the 40’s and smoking was, I believe, compulsory. I did a cursory amount of research to find that, no, it was perfume. Apparently La Gallion came up with the idea that the best way to market their fragrance was to have teensy little bottles in not so teensy boxes planted at every table. That way any picture of anyone even semi-famous would hit the papers with their product front-and-center. Smart move, and one that I don’t think they could get away with today.
Lucky Balloons
The Stork Club, for those of you who don’t know was to the 40’s what I suppose the Roxbury was to the 90’s or Studio 54 was in the 70’s. A club where the young, beautiful, rich, and famous (or some combination of those) went to see and be seen. Unlike Studio or the Roxbury, the Stork Club lasted over 30 years in New York. It was known for it’s main floor where guest vied for “Lucky Balloons” released on Sunday at Midnight, which could contain a rolled up $100 bill or a number which could get them anything from a tube of lipstick to an automobile. Upstairs was the exclusive “Cub Room” (Where Bette bites the head off some celery at George Sanders) and where legend has it Grace Kelly announced her engagement to Prince Ranier, and the owner of the Hope Diamond briefly lost, then found, the gem she had decided to wear out. On every table was the camera-ready sample box of Sortilege.
“All About Eve” Celery anyone?
Of course this led me to eBay and a small bottle of my own. I am not at all sure of the vintage or the care it has received so take this “review” with a grain of sat the size of the box on the table. It seems to me to be a pretty little thing- I can’t see Lauren Bacall or Bette Davis being bowled over by it- its all fresh aldehydes and white flowers with just the tiniest hint of musk. It seems to me like a Shirley Temple (the cocktail, not the actress) kind of scent- something for the teen who is out with her parents, wearing her white gloves and the Tangee lipstick she smuggled past her mom. She can wear it while grabbing for her lucky balloons, feeling like Brenda Frazier.
I thoroughly enjoyed it. I’ll be going back to N-M when they get the new version back in to see how that is. I have a feeling that it’s been “adulted” a bit- I hope not too much. Have you smelled either iterations? Discuss in the comments.
I purchased my bottle on eBay.
Photos are mine and Wikimedia Commons.
Vintage Sortilege is my style of perfume, very much Chanel No 5 style. I have a few of the small vintage bottles in the very large box. Thank you Tom for the history lesson, I had no idea of the marketing and why the box so large. Super interesting and fun post!
Thanks- I appreciate that! I am looking forward to try the new one as well.
Oddly enough… I think I have! In fact, I think I have (or had) a mini of it from some time back….. I’ll have to go look.
Whilst rarely in the rarified confines of a swingin’ club I was, nevertheless, a Clubber – and I miss those days. My parents frequented clubs, too, back in the day – my mother famously got put out of a Club in Chicago for dancing on a table – and even more famously (and drunkenly) said ‘ I’ll have you know I’ve been put out of better places than this!’
btw – the club was Club DeLisa. Pretty famous for its incredible lineup of musical artists
… and drunken table-dancing patrons
I wish I’d been able to use your mom’s line.
I was at Area for the 1984 elections. I had been invited by a very handsome male model, tanned, with beautiful cobalt blue eyes. They had a TV set up in the front and I was going back and forth to the bartenders and giving them updates. As Reagan swept the country (I couldn’t even dust off my parent’s “Don’t Blame Me I’m from Massachusetts” bumper sticker) we got more and more depressed. Finally around 12:30 the model was a no show and I’d had enough condolence cocktails from the staff and I went home.
Two days later I saw the model. Tan gone, not wearing the blue contacts. He asked me what happened to me that night and I told him: he said he was a republican and voted for Reagan! I could take the spray tan and turning his brown eyes blue, but THAT?!?
LOL
At the time it was crushing..
That type of thing always hurts but I think it’s especially painful and disillusioning when we’re young.
The election hurt. People were starting to get sick and I knew that it wasn’t going to be good under Reagan. It wasn’t.
No it wasn’t. I have wondered if that was/is the foundation of what we have going on now.
I’ve often wondered that myself.
Around here, I find it best to Not Ask (and for Floyd’s sake, please don’t tell me)
Some truly beeeyouteeful mens – no contacts and certainly no spray tan. You get what you get – and that’s that.
Oh! I forgot. NO TALKING! (I’m big on No Talking right now)
I remember that living in the Midwest. Plus side was that I felt tiny and sylphlike.
I actually used to be a club kid back when I was a kid. Area usually. We’d go to the Bar on second ave and fortify ourselves with cheapo drinks so we wouldn’t have to buy expensive ones there.
I don’t think I’ve ever sniffed Sortilege, old or new, Tom, but the notes sound great. I love the story about the lucky balloons at the Stork Club. It sounds like a game on The Price is Right!
I think it kind of was!
I enjoy your posts so much, Tom. All About Eve is one of my favorite movies which I have watched many times but I never noticed the Sortilege box on the table. It sounds unlike me but the new one might be updated.
Your mention of Tangee lipstick brings back memories of my grandma, who always had a tube on her awesome 1920’s vanity, right beside her Hobnail powder box. I have the powder box, no idea what happened to the vanity.
I just love that name “Tangee” The stuff is still sold at the Vermont Country Store but I have no use for it (and this isn’t a makeup bag) but I’d love to see how well it does creating your own unique color. I doubt that something tangerine colored would magically become the bluish pink that would favor me.
Adore your esoteric history lessons. Ah, the days when you got gifts. Now, I don’t even get samples with most perfume or skincare orders. What has happened to all those little vials and pouches? I’m not feeling aldehydes currently. But, I’ll certainly have a go with this if it presents itself.
Normally I’m not a big aldehyde fan unless it’s somewhat dirty like the Le Labo Texas one (do they still make that one?) but this is so blamelessly pretty I give it a pass.
I love the old photos that you added to your post. I always see old photos as a form of time travel. Sortilege was a vintage perfume that I wanted to try but it never seemed to happen. There were other vintage perfumes that regularly jumped to the head of the line.
I can’t say this one should jump right to the head of the line but it’s nice.
I love old photos. I wish my family had taken and kept more. We sadly did not.
Heya Tom,
LOVE the old Le Galion fragrances, and the men who recreated the brand for the 21st century. Did you know Le Galion created and manufactured DIOR scents for decades?
I think you’ll like what they did to update Sortilege. It’s less of the CHANEL No 5 style that I got from the original.
Portia xx
Oooh now I’m really looking forward to smelling it.