Smithsonian_03_2020

(Ann) #1

prologue


12 SMITHSONIAN | March 2020

N AN APRIL AFTERNOON in 1897,
thousands of women packed the
Boston Theatre to see the nation’s
most beguiling female entrepreneur,
a 45-year-old former homemaker
whose talent for personal branding
would rival that of any Instagram ce-
lebrity today. She called herself Madame Yale. Over the
course of several hours and multiple outfi t changes, she
preached her “Religion of Beauty,” regaling the audience
with tales of history’s most beautiful women, a group

O


By
Emmeline Clein

HA

TH

I^ T

RU

ST

Beauty and


the Brand


A century before today’s
celebrity health gurus , an
American businesswoman made
a fortune marketing herself

Maude
Mayberg,
a.k.a.
Madame
Yale, as she
presented
herself in her
1909 product
catalog.

WELLNESS
Free download pdf