How I Keep Young, at my grand old age (cover title)

Waukesha, Wisconsin: (Edna Wallace Hopper, Inc., ca. 1922-1923). Staplebound, 5 1/2 x 3 3/8 inches, 16pp. 6 photos of Hopper and two package illustrations. Light creasing and soil to wraps, internal age toning and some discoloration from staple corrosion. Newspaper archives show the title used for a string of appearances in 1922-1923; the company address moved to Chicago in early 1924. Not recorded in OCLC.

Edna Wallace Hopper (ca. 1874-1959) was an American stage and silent film actress, cosmetics entrepreneur, and businesswoman. Known as the "Eternal Flapper," she became as renowned for her uncanny youthfulness as for her theatrical success. By the 1920s, her career shifted to the booming beauty industry. While plastic surgery was becoming more common, especially amongst celebrity entertainers, she was among the first to promote it as a form of cosmetic maintenance, rather than a corrective procedure to be kept hush-hush.

She made headlines by filming her own facelift, then hosting ladies-only matinee screenings paired with talks about her beauty secrets. Contemporary newspapers show the present title used as the headline for some of her appearances in 1922-1923, although the booklet fails to mention the role of surgical intervention in maintaining her “perpetual youthfulness.” She does, however, give ample credit to genetics.

Edna Wallace Hopper, Inc. was founded in Waukesha, Wisc., in 1922, with Otis E. Glidden as the manufacturing partner. Offering "French discoveries" to the American woman at accessible prices. The initial line advertised here included Facial Youth, a cleanser; Youth Cream, a skin cream; and White Youth Clay, a complexion clay; Hair Youth, a hair tonic, and two face powders available in "white, flesh and brunette."

This is likely the earliest publication for the company, and includes her remarks about the origin of the endeavor: "This is not a pleasant undertaking. I am an artist, a singer, a stage star. Business is not to my liking. I do not like to see Edna Wallace Hopper's name and picture on cosmetic bottles... But there seems to be no other way. I am the example of results."

Ref. James Bennett, "Edna Wallace Hopper"; "Edna Wallace Hopper, Actress With Perpetual Youth, Is Dead," New York Times, 12/15/1959; Joan Renner, “Vintage Powder Room: Edna Wallace Hopper.” LA Magazine, 10/31/2013.