Harold Stanley Marcus"Personal" (column), The Dallas Morning News, November 9, 1905, page 5. (April 20, 1905 – January 22, 2002) was president (1950–1972) and later chairman of the board (1972–1976) of the luxury retailer Neiman Marcus in Dallas, Texas, which his father and aunt had founded in 1907. During his tenure at the company, he also became a published author, writing his memoir Minding the Store and also a regular column in The Dallas Morning News. After Neiman Marcus was sold to Carter Hawley Hale Stores, Marcus initially remained in an advisory capacity to that company, but later began his own consulting business, which continued until his death. He served his local community as an avid patron of the fine arts and as a civic leader. In a chapter titled "Mr. Stanley"—the name by which Marcus was known locally for decades—in his 1953 work Neiman-Marcus, Texas, Frank X. Tolbert called him "Dallas's most internationally famous citizen" and worthy of being called "the Southwest's No. 1 businessman-intellectual."Frank X. Tolbert. Neiman-Marcus, Texas, New York: Henry Holt and Company, 1953, page 19.
Marcus introduced many of the innovations for which Neiman-Marcus became known, creating a national award for service in fashion and hosting art exhibitions in the store itself, as well as weekly fashion shows and an annual Fortnight event highlighting a different foreign country for two weeks each year. He established the Neiman-Marcus Christmas Catalogue, which became famous for extravagant "His and Hers" gifts such as airplanes and camels. Marcus prided himself on his staff's ability to provide service and value for each client, often citing his father's dictum, "There is never a good sale for Neiman Marcus unless it's a good buy for the customer."
He received the Chevalier Award from the French Legion of Honor,"The furrowed brow," TIME Magazine, April 4, 1949. Retrieved 2008-05-22. was listed in the Houston Chronicle's list of the 100 most important Texans,The Tallest Texans, Houston Chronicle. Retrieved 2008-05-23. and was named by Harvard Business School among the greatest American Business Leaders of the 20th century. The Advertising Hall of Fame notes: "Stanley Marcus was among the most important figures in the history of American retail merchandising and marketing. Through his many innovations, he transformed a local Dallas clothing store into an international brand synonymous with high style, fashion and gracious service." he died in Dallas Texas on January 22 2002 age 96
Personal life and retail career Marcus was born in The Cedars, Dallas, Texas, the son of Herbert Marcus Sr., who later became a co-founder of the original Neiman-Marcus store with his sister Carrie and her husband, Abraham Lincoln "Al" Neiman. Stanley was the first of four sons born to Herbert Sr., and his wife, the former Minnie Lichtenstein. The pregnancy indirectly led to the eventual founding of Neiman-Marcus, as Herbert Sr. decided to leave Sanger's, where he was a buyer of boys' clothing, when he deemed his raise insufficient to support a family.Rose G. Biderman. They Came to Stay: The Story of the Jews of Dallas 1870–1997. 2002, Eakin Press. () Returning from two years spent in Atlanta, Georgia, establishing a successful sales-promotion business, the Marcuses and Neimans used the $25,000 made in the sale of that business to establish their store at the corner of Elm and Murphy. Given that the family's other option for the money was to invest in the then-unknown Coca-Cola Company, Marcus loved to say that Neiman-Marcus was established "as a result of the bad judgment of its founders."Stanley Marcus (1974). Minding the Store: A Memoir, 1993 Plume edition, p. 1. In his memoir, Marcus recalled his father as "affectionate" and his mother as even-handed in her attention to each of their children, making sure even into their adulthood to give them equivalent gifts and make sure they were praised equally.Minding the Store, p. 17.
One of Stanley Marcus's first jobs was as a 10-year-old salesman of Saturday Evening Post, bringing him into the family's business tradition from a young age.Minding the Store, p. 26. He attended Forest Avenue High School (now James Madison High School), where he studied debate as well as English with teacher Myra Brown, whom he later credited with much of his early interest in books.Farmer, p. 3. He began his university studies at Amherst College, but when traditions preventing Jews from joining clubs or fraternities drastically curtailed his social life, he transferred to Harvard College after the first year.Richard Reeves, "Stanley Marcus Was a Great American" (column), Universal Press Syndicate, January 24, 2002. Retrieved Nov. 6, 2006. At his new school, he became a member of the historically Jewish fraternity Zeta Beta Tau, later rising to become the group's president.
While living in Boston and pursuing his chosen major, English literature,Minding the Store, p. 35. Marcus began a lifelong hobby of collecting rare and antique books. To finance his pursuits, he began The Book Collector's Service Bureau, a mail-order book service, beginning with a letter of introduction sent to 100 homes. The venture proved so successful that for a time Marcus considered entering that line of work full time, concerned that entering the retail business might curtail his freedom of expression in politics and other areas of interest; his father persuaded him that he would always be granted the liberty of his own views, and pointed out that retailing was more profitable and thus would allow him to amass a large book collection that much sooner.Minding the Store, pp. 25–29. Marcus also collected vinyl records. He donated his collection of 78s to record-store owner Bill Wisener, a friend and fellow Texan.
Early years at Neiman-Marcus After receiving an A.B. degree from Harvard College in 1925, he began his career at the retailer that same year as a simple stockboy organizing inventory, but upon beginning in sales, quickly outstripped other sales staff."The Man Who Sells Everything", TIME, December 26, 1960. Retrieved 2008-05-22. He went back to study at Harvard Business School in 1926, leaving after one year to participate in a massive expansion of the retail operation in Dallas.
He married the former Mary "Billie" Cantrell in 1932; she initially worked in the Neiman-Marcus Sports Shop department until she retired in 1936 after the birth of their first child, Jerrie, followed two years later by twins Richard and Wendy. (One year after his wife's 1978 death, he married Linda Robinson, a longtime librarian at the Dallas Public Library, in a marriage that lasted until Stanley Marcus's own death in 2002.) In 1935 the Marcuses commissioned Frank Lloyd Wright to design a home for them on Nonesuch Road, but rejected the eventual design, which included cantilevered steel beams and terraces swathed in mosquito netting,Stephen Fox. "Dallas Modern: A Perspective on the Modern Movement in Dallas", Architecturally Significant Homes Online. Retrieved 2008-05-23.Dallas County Historical Commission. Dallas County Historical Markers , retrieved 2008-05-23: "After dismissing Frank Lloyd Wright for his failure to produce a suitable design, Stanley Marcus commissioned Dallas architect Roscoe Dewitt to design this International style residence. ... Completed in 1938 and home to the Marcus family until 1994, the house is a notable example of its style in Texas. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark – 2001." but no closets, which the clothing retailer found an unthinkable omission.Instead, the couple chose a design by local firm DeWitt & Washburn, whose creation became a Texas Historic Landmark. As of 1937, Marcus was one of only 22 Texans to earn a salary of $50,000 or more, according to the House Ways and Means Committee; his father, Herbert, was another, earning $75,000 as company president while vice president Stanley drew an even $50,000."22 Texans received salaries of $50,000 or more during year 1937", The Port Arthur News, April 7, 1939, page 5.
Marcus was responsible for a number of innovations at the Dallas retailer. He created the annual Neiman-Marcus Award for Distinguished Service in Fashion, beginning in 1938, which led to the Neiman-Marcus Exposition, a fall fashion show held annually from 1938 to 1970, then periodically thereafter.Biderman, p. 59 His department store was the first American haute couture boutique to introduce weekly fashion shows,"Stanley Marcus Timeline", Texas Monthly, March 2002 and the first to host concurrent art exhibitions at the store itself.William Schack, "Neiman-Marcus of Texas" (article), Commentary magazine, 24:3, 212-222, September 1957. In 1939, he established the annual Christmas Catalogue, which in 1951 offered the first of its extravagant "His & Hers Gifts," starting with a matching pair of vicuña coats, and going on to include matching bathtubs, a pair of Beechcraft airplanes, "Noah's Ark" (including pairs of animals), camels, and live tigers.Neiman Marcus, Historical Timeline. Retrieved 2008-05-23.
The war years For all his professional emphasis on glitz and glamour, he made another, very different mark on the American fashion industry when he was asked to join the War Production Board in Washington, D.C., on December 27, 1941, less than three weeks after the United States entered World War II. Ineligible for military service due to his age, he instead helped the war effort by championing the conservation of scarce resources normally devoted to fashion trends. He encouraged men to wear drooping socks (to save much-needed rubber that would normally be used for elastic) and devised regulations for the manufacture of women's and children's clothing that would enable the nation to divert more textile resources to uniforms and other war-related needs:
In addition to these restrictions, Marcus recommended to the WPB that coats, suits, jackets and dresses be sold separately "to make them go further."(No author.) "In the Stretch," TIME, April 20, 1942. Retrieved August 6, 2007. The changes were expected to create a total savings of of fabric to be used in the war effort.
Conscious of the role of the media in fashion promotion, Marcus prompted the members of the National Retail Dry Goods Association to convince their local press outlets to treat women's fashions as a serious subject rather than as an object of ridicule. He solicited nationally famous women to proclaim their support of the new standards; TIME's report on the WPB quoted author Adela Rogers St. Johns predicting, "The overdressed woman will be as unpatriotically conspicuous as though she wore a Japanese kimono."
Marcus addressed the fashion press in national meetings, encouraging editors to reassure women that stores would carry adequate supply of attractive styles, in order to prevent shoppers from flooding the stores or hoarding stock. TIME reported on meetings of "70 fantastic hats," representing the presence of national magazine editors from Ladies' Home Journal and Harper's Bazaar, as well as from newspapers in the urban centers of New York, Boston, and Philadelphia, all complying with the WPB's instructions for their coverage of women's and children's fashions.
His work promoting cooperation with the WPB's mandates did not still Marcus's competitive instincts. With the fall of Paris, the traditional fashion capital, New York mayor Fiorello LaGuardia began to declare his city the new leader at every opportunity. To this claim, Marcus retorted in the international press, "New York is finished as a manufacturing center. ... They're making clothes in Kansas, Philadelphia and Texas now and they won't give it up. The day is gone when only a New York dress is a good dress."(No author.) "New York? Bah!" TIME, Oct. 25, 1943. Retrieved 2007-08-06.