THE STEVE MAYHAM I KNOW 123 And because of this love we want this industry of ours to grow and to prosper. We want it to have the deep, spontaneous respect of the people we do business with--the retailer, and the American public, and all others. It is a wonderful thing that our industry has this professional Society of yours. In your hands lies the industry's future for the integrity of its prod- ucts as well as the promise of finer things to come. The very fact that you exist as a professional society and have grown so strong is clear evidence everywhere of that promise. And now, in bestowing this honorary mem- bership on Steve Mayham, you are, in this one instance, fulfilling this promise of recognizing and honoring integrity. That is why I said at the beginning that it seemed to me a singularly appropriate thing for you people to do when you selected Steve Mayham to receive this honor from the Society of Cosmetic Chemists. THE STEVE MAYHAM I KNOW By M^•soN G. DEN^v^RRE Fice-President in Charge of Manufacturing and Research, Cosmetic Labora- tories, Inc. (Div. of Beauty Counselors, oenc.), Detroit 2, Mich. IT •S FITTING that we honor Steve Mayham, for in doing so we honor the toilet goods industry as well as ourselves. The countless things Steve did for me are no different than what he did, or would do, for others. In my own case I feel I owe Steve much and I am grateful for the chance to say so before my colleagues in the industry. I first came in touch with Steve Mayham about 1932. He was editor of the Alinerican Perruiner at the time. He had just rejected my first writing effort. After a couple of rewrites on my part, Steve finally had to rewrite the whole article--then published it in the •lmerican Perfumer. He flatly rejected my next article, telling me to forget my big words and technical language--to learn to talk and write so anyone could understand me. This seemed insulting, but later I appreciated it as constructive criticism. Thus started an honest and frank association that lasts to this day. We met for the first time nineteen years ago, after the bank holiday, on the occasion of my first trip to New York City. I wasn't sure of what I expected to see when we met, but I remember so well what I did see. Steve had the same bushy eyebrows--just as much hair--but no gray ones then... if now... his eyes had the same set expression but a kind of distant l ook...the same determined jaws. He wore a bow tie... as he does now. I couldn't tell if he scowled at me... was trying to scare me... or just keep

124 JOURNAL OF THE SOCIETY OF COSMETIC CHEMISTS me in my place. He was slight of build--what you'd expect of an editor-- he still looks undernourished but maybe the raise he got from T. G. A. will help that. Well, I was in New York City for almost a week that time and spent a couple of nights at the Mayhams. We talked of many things--as we always did on subsequent trips. ! met Steve's family, including all the cats. I was to know the Mayhams better in later years, including the cats. I remember the family car--it was a Pierce Arrow. I learned that Brooklyn was not in a distant state--it just took a long time to get there by subway, especially during rush hours. Steve taught me that New Yorkers lived by the clock--by their position on the subway platform--that the ages it took to get to work, and back home were used to read, cover to cover, one or more newspapers. It was during these years when I was fresh from college, that Steve-- more than anyone--molded the foundation of my career in the Toilet Goods Industry. Whether he did it knowingly or not I cannot say, but he did. I found myself thinking and acting like he did. We didn't always agree--and still don't. Perhaps the reason is that we are two people of the same pattern, the one cut from, and by, the other. For at least the next ten years Steve did his best to keep me headed in the right direction. When I got anxious to move ahead a little faster, Steve would pull on the reins saying, "Take it slower, Ed, you'll last longer." As a youngster then, I didn't like to hear him say that, but I knew he was so right. During this time, Steve helped me start my monthly column, Desiderata, which is over fifteen years old. His suggestions in handling this feature have been the basis of its existence. As early as 1935 we talked about a Society of Cosmetic Chemists. Steve cautioned me that the project would fail... for good reasons then. And Steve was usually right. It did... in 1935, but in 1945 this very group came to life. About the same time we talked about standards for cosmetic materials along the line of a Cosmeticopoeia. Again Steve shook his head in the negative. But if my memory serves me correctly, Steve started this very thing in his T. G. A. about 1940. Now it is part of a permanent service of the T. G. A. to the Toilet Goods Industry. About 1936 Steve paved the way for a contract between the D. Van Nostrand Company and me, resulting in 1941, in my book--"The Chemis- try and Manufacture of Cosmetics." Seventeen years before I was born, Steve was delivered in Schoharie, N. ¾. Some years later, he graduated from Union College. After a bit of law he married in 1917, did a two-year stint in the army during World War I and became a father in 1923. For three years he was Associate Editor of the yourhal of Commerce then in 1926, and for the next twelve years, he