Ruth Brandon.
RUTH BRANDON: EUGENE SCHUELLER BIOGRAPHY
UGLY BEAUTy: the ugly face of the beauty business (2011)
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Helena Rubenstein was a poor Polish Jewish immigrant to Australia. She opened her first salon in Melbourne, By 1907 she had become a millionaire, was ready to take on the world and moved into Europe and America. Brandon weaves her story into that of Eugene Schueller, the Parisian founder of the L’Oreal hair dye company, which in due course took over the Helena Rubenstein business later growing into one of the largest companies in France. Schueller developed an interest in politics - of a very right wing kind. He believed that a country should be run like a business, with top-down rather t han demoratic leadership. He also believed women should stay at home, looking after their many children. He welcomed the Nazi invasion of France in the Second World War, and when the war ended he was tried as a collaborator. But like many others he escaped punishment and L’Oreal flourished in the post war boom.
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Ruth Brandon started her career as a trainee producer with the BBC , where she worked on the Tonight current affairs programme. She then became a professional author, and has published numerous non-fiction and fiction books. Several are biographies, the subjects including the magician Henry Houdini the chef Alexis Soyer, and the sewing machine entrepreneur Isaac Singer.
