Gamin by Carmel Myers c1958

 Gamin by Carmel Myers: launched in 1958 in association with Fragonard. The name Gamin translates to "mischievous".

Carmel Myers was a an early star of Hollywood, appearing in silent films and some of the first talkies alongside handsome icons such as Lionel Barrymore, Douglas Fairbanks and the sheik himself, Rudy Valentino. Her first role was at the tender age of 14, although she never would reveal exactly what year that was, secretly guarding her true age. Soon after appearing in film, her beauty worked in her favor and she began to get the most sought after roles, the seductive vamp. She later reminisced about the old days, "I suppose Theda Bara was the first 'vamp'. At first we were very obvious in our portrayals. Garbo was a new kind of vamp, because she acted in 'half-tones'."

Myers also revealed that in those early silent films, stars had to apply their own makeup as "there were no make-up men. We did our own, for better or worse. In those days, a movie queen had to be beautiful. She had to have good bone structure and be voluptuous to hold up, particularly under the harsh camera lights. She couldn't be heard, so her voice or singing ability didn't matter. We had no desire to look like anyone else, so we made up to emphasize our best points. Of course it wasn't a perfect makeup. Sometimes there was too much mascara or too much lipstick. But our faces looked like us."

She gave up movies and devoted much of her time to her personal life after her son was born in 1932. To help keep supporting her family, she went into business for herself. She had her own radio program, a television show, a film production company, real estate ventures and worked as an agent discovering and promoting new talent. After the death of her husband of 22 years, Ralph H. Blum, Myers went into a depression and needed something exciting to help fulfill the void in her life. 

She remarried in 1952 to Alfred W. Schwalberg, executive of the Paramount film distributing company and had various contacts from the entertainment world, many of which Myers maintained friendships with. While Myers was on a trip to Paris with her new husband she visited the perfume factory of Parfumerie Fragonard. There she discovered two fragrances that delighted her, Zizanie and Gamin, which she liked for her husband and herself. She decided right then and there that she wanted to buy the rights to distribute the fragrances in the United States. 

 She had asked the owner of the perfume company to let her purchase these rights, but he did not care to sell that part of his business and curtly refused to even discuss the matter as he did not wish to have any representation by American agents. As he was ushering her and her husband out of his office, he mentioned that she looked familiar to him. She took a chance and later said that she "pulled out one of my old movie publicity shots" of her portraying the Egyptian vamp Iras in 1925 She said to the business owner, "Perhaps you saw me in Ben Hur", she replied. He replied "You are not Carmel Myers of Ben Hur?" She quickly replied "Yes." After this confirmation, he decided to grant her request and sold her the rights to the Zizanie and Gamin fragrances.

"I went into the perfume business because I remembered how important it was in my era. I remember a movie I made with Rudolph Valentino, and how impressed I was with the fragrance about him. He always smelled beautiful in contrast to other perspiring men who couldn't take hot lights. Of course he was European and European men so often use a good scent. So I selected the rose as the scent of the perfume I wanted to do and called it Gamin."

She was in two movies with Rudy and worked with him before he became a well known movie star. "I told Universal Studios to put him under contract but they said they could get him anytime for what they were paying him - it was $50 or $75 a week. Then he suddenly became a star, so they never could get him."

Myers' first foray into the world of perfume was in 1925 when she was tapped as the endorsing symbol for the Ben Hur perfume, a tie-in to the spectacular film. The perfume was manufactured by the Andrew Jergens Company. Myers' beautiful image graced advertising campaigns in Photoplay magazine, dressed as the seductive temptress Iras in sumptuous Egyptian costume by the famed Erte. Scented blotters were handed out to movie goers as a souvenir and advertising gimmick.

 

 

Fragrance Composition:

The creation of Gamin reportedly took 18 months to develop and Myers described it "is like a thousand roses in bloom." Gamin was a floral oriental fragrance for women, with a dominant rose facet with additional notes of lemon and orange.

• Top notes: lemon oil, orange oil
• Middle notes: rose, jasmine
• Base notes: sandalwood, vanilla, amber, oakmoss, patchouli, musk

Bottles:

Carmel Myers claimed that all the packaging and creative ideas were her own. The perfume was housed inside of a gilded glass bottle and fitted snugly into satin-lined dressing table boxes. This was Fragonard's signature bottle featuring curved lines reminiscent of an ancient Roman urn and produced by the French firm, Verrières Brosse. The base of the bottle is molded with "Made in France".

The luxe presentation box has a drop front and is covered in white and gold embossed paper simulating plaster with gilded decor. The interior is was lined with cobalt blue satin with a well at the base for the perfume to rest in. The interior of the drop front says "Gamin" - "Carmel Myers" - "Paris France" in gold serigraphy. The interior of the lid is padded to help keep the stopper in place as well as to protectively cushion it.

 

The bottle was available in three sizes that I know of:

• The 0.25 oz bottle stands 2.75" tall.
• The 0.5 oz bottle stands 3" tall.
• The 1 oz bottle stands 3.75" tall.
• possible 2 oz bottle stands 4.5" tall

 

In 1959, Gamin perfume could also be had imprisoned in a charming French glass purse flacon accented with antiqued-silver filigree and bejeweled with a faux turquoise embedded in the top of the screw cap. This bottle was only 1 3/16" wide x 2 3/16" tall. The flacon was manufactured by Pochet et du Courval.

The aerosol eau de toilette was contained inside gilded aluminum bottles that resisted breakage, discoloration and light fading.   

She used "Hollywood and movie" methods to promote both fragrances. 

Fate of the Fragrance:

Gamin was probably discontinued around 1970.