Ellis, Estelle (1919-2012)

Scope and Contents In this interview, Alan Reyburn talks about restuaranteuring in the context of the retail world. Reyburn ran all food operations at Bloomingdale's during the 1980s, including staff restuarants. After briefly describing his past hospitality job working for a cruise line, Reyburn explains that New York City is a restaurant city and the Bloomingdale's client is someone who considers food and dining to be part of the fashionable lifestyle. Reyburn attributes Bloomingdale's Marvin S. Traub for...

Scope and Contents From the sub-sub-sub-series:

The Oral History Project of the Fashion Industries began informally in the late 1970s, and was officially funded by a grant from the Educational Foundation for the Fashion Industries beginning in 1981. The project was guided by an industry advisory committee chaired by Mrs. William Randolph Hearst, Jr., and was largely guided by then director of the Gladys Marcus Library at FIT, John Touhey.

Scope and Contents This interview covers broad subjects including women in the retail industry, family work balance, and the evolving role of the department store. The majority of the conversation concerns Bloomingdale's CEO at the time, Marvin S. Traub, with whom Barbara Bass worked closely. Bass talk about Traub's strong relationship with his wife, his high energy, his excellent listening skills, and his long-range style of thinking. Bass describes Traub as being pragmatic, and credits this as the reason why...

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This interview discusses Barbara D'Arcy's experiences working at Bloomingdale's as the designer of the model rooms from 1958 to 1973. A large part of the conversation focuses on D'Arcy's professional relationship with Marvin Traub, Chief Excecutive of Bloomingdale's and his role in the development of the aesthetic identity of Bloomingdale's. D'Arcy also discusses her transition from model room designer to her role as head of store design.

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This series consists of oral history interviews that discuss the history of Bergdorf Goodman, as well as the store's status and future plans as they stood at the time. Interviews were conducted first in December 1977 by Robert Riley, and subsequently in July 1994 by Valerie Steele and Estelle Ellis with Stephen Elkin, Chairman, Berdorf Goodman, Dawn Mello, President, Bergdorf Goodman, Nena Goodman, widow of Andrew Goodman, Edwin Goodman, son of Andrew Goodman.

Scope and Contents Carl Levine describes his early years in the home furnishings business working for his small family business before talking about his start at Bloomingdale's. The Sr. VP of Home Furnishings at the time of this interview, Levine traces the major developments of the Home Furnishings department at Bloomingdale's throughout his 30 years at the department store. Describing the department as "having trouble" when he arrived in 1955, Levine speaks at length about Bloomingdale's decision to...

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Interview with Dawn Mello about her relationship and history with the Bergdorf Goodman store.

Scope and Contents This interview first discusses Dennis Garro's work experience leading up to his move from Macy's to Bloomingdale's in 1986. Garro briefly presents some of the main cultural differences between Macy's and Bloomingdale's as being inherenet within the California culture of Macy's and the New York City culture of Bloomingdale's. Garro shies from comparing Phil Schann (head of Macy's at the time) and Marvin S. Traub (head of Bloomingdale's at the time) other than to say that they were similar...

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Interview with Dr. Fernando Aleu, President of Compar, about Annette Green, the Fragrance Foundation, his own career, and his business.

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Interview with Edwin Goodman about his relationship and history with the Bergdorf Goodman store.