Hazel Bishop, 1906-1998

Hazel Gladys Bishop was born in Hoboken, New Jersey, in 1906, the daughter of Henry and Mabel (Billington) Bishop. After attending Bergen School for Girls in Jersey City, she enrolled in Barnard College, graduating with a B.A. in chemistry in 1929. Bishop originally hoped to become a doctor, but financial considerations required that she give up medical school, and she began her career in bio-chemical research as a chemical technician at the New York State Psychiatric Hospital and Institute (1930-1935), while taking night school classes in biochemistry at the College of Physicians & Surgeons at Columbia University. She then became a research assistant to dermatologist A. Benson Cannon (1935-1942). During the war she was an organic chemist for the Standard Oil Development Company (1942-1945), working on the development of aviation fluids for jet engines; she continued her work in petroleum research until 1950 with the Socony Vacuum Oil Company. (Standard Oil and Socony were the chief predecessors of Exxon and Mobil.)

From early on, Bishop's mother told her, "Open your own business, even if it's only a peanut stand," and Bishop took this advice to heart. Her goal was to create a new cosmetic formulation and during the 1930s she developed two products, a pimple concealer and mentholated tissues. Neither of these was marketed, but she continued to experiment. Concluding that her previous projects had appealed to a limited market--people with colds and pimples--she determined to develop a product with a broader appeal. Upon reading that 98% of women wore lipstick every day, she began work on a nondrying, nonirritating, long-wearing lipstick, using her home kitchen as a laboratory.

Through her mother she met Alfred Berg, who hoped to market a French indelible lipstick called "Rouge Baiser." Bishop did not admire this product, but they agreed to join forces: Bishop would be in charge of production of the lipstick she had developed after 309 experiments, and Berg would provide venture capital. Thus, in late 1948, Hazel Bishop, Inc. was formed. In September of 1949, the first commercial run of the lipstick was produced, and it debuted at a fashion show given by the Barnard College Club of New York on November 4, 1949, appearing in stores the following January. The product was a success, with as many as 600 lipsticks sold in a single day. Later in 1950, Berg and Bishop hired Raymond Spector's advertising agency to help market the lipstick, giving Spector shares in the company rather than a specified budget commitment. On his advice they purchased the back page of a national newspaper, placing on it their "success" ad, featuring a hot embrace and the line "Stays on you, not on him." Sales continued to soar, with Bishop, in 1951, becoming the first woman to appear solo on the cover of Business Week . However, friction developed between Spector, who had bought out other shareholders, including Berg, to become the company's majority stockholder, and Bishop, and he was able to wrest control of the company from her. In November 1951, Bishop resigned as president of the company, and on March 28, 1952, she filed suit against Hazel Bishop, Inc., the Raymond Spector Company, and six individuals, including Spector, charging mismanagement of the company and diversion of assets. The case was settled on February 17, 1954, with the company (of which Spector was chairman and holder of 92% of the stock) purchasing Bishop's 8% of company stock, with the stipulation that she refrain from selling products under her own name and that she make clear in future ventures that she was no longer associated with Hazel Bishop, Inc.

Bishop did continue to develop products and found companies. After leaving Hazel Bishop, Inc. she became a consultant to the National Association of Leather Glove Manufacturers and developed "Leather Lav," a leather glove cleaner, which was endorsed by the association in 1955. She founded H.B. Laboratories, Inc., to produce additional leather cleaners. She also developed a foot care product, marketed by H.G.B. Products Corporation, and in 1957 created a solid perfume stick called Perfemme. In the 1960s, Bishop began a career as a stockbroker and financial analyst, working with Bache and Co. (1962-1968), for Hornblower & Weeks-Hemphill Noyes in 1967, and finally for Evans & Co. (1968-1981). As stocks of cosmetics companies soared, her advice and expertise were much sought after. She was also in demand as a lecturer on the cosmetics industry, speaking at the annual technical meeting of the Society of Cosmetic Chemists in 1953, the Columbus Section of the American Chemical Society in 1956, the Fragrance Foundation in 1975, and American Society of Perfumers' Annual Symposium in 1986, among others. In 1978, she began her final career, teaching in the cosmetics, fragrances, and toiletries department of the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York City. She was appointed to the Revlon chair in cosmetics marketing in 1980, and, making use of her knowledge of the cosmetics industry, helped develop a curriculum whose focus included marketing and merchandising principles, advertising, promotion, and publicity campaign concepts, and product knowledge. She stopped teaching in 1986, though she remained involved with the Fashion Institute as a consultant. (The Fashion Institute's Special Collections Department contains the transcript of a 1981 interview of Bishop.)

In 1990 Bishop moved to a retirement community in Rye, New York, and she died there on December 5, 1998.