 |
Belle Collis of Chicago seashell- and faux fruit-embellished pale pink basket bag. From the collection of The Vintage Purse Museum. 27 Nov 1953, Fri Chicago Tribune (Chicago, Illinois) Newspapers.com |
The Vintage Purse Museum is often asked about its “Holy Grail” handbag. While we do have an ever-changing list of bags we’d like to acquire for our extensive collection, we try not to use the word “rare,” as it makes them seem even more elusive.
However, we can say with certainty that Belle Collis of Chicago handbags are among those that aren’t easily obtainable, because—according to Belle’s son, Conway Collis—his mother was only in the bag business for about three years. Here's her story. Be sure to scroll all the way down for additional photos, ads and articles.
 |
| Back view of Belle Collis of Chicago basket bag shown at top of page. From the collection of The Vintage Purse Museum. |
Belle Edythe Schick (sometimes spelled Shick) was born Beila Schich in Romania in 1910 (although her birthdate varies in online documents). She had an older brother, Conway (b. Huna Schich, circa 1902-d. 1942) and an older sister, Anna Schick Goldstein (birth name unknown, b. circa 1898-1984). Belle and her brother arrived with their mother Ida aka Edith (birth first name Hara, maiden name unknown, b. circa 1872) in the US in 1920 on the French ship S.S. La Savoie. Belle’s father (birth name unknown) was already in Chicago. We’re not sure if sister Anna and her husband were there yet. This period of emigration is particularly notable for Romanian Jews, as approximately 145,000 left for the US between 1895 and 1920 due to escalating anti-Semitism. Belle became a naturalized US citizen in 1937.
Belle’s first husband, whom she married in 1931, was Rabbi S.D. Hurwitz (1901-1943). He died while serving as an army chaplain during WWII after a month-long illness in a hospital on a Texas military base.
The Vintage Purse Museum was told by Belle’s son Conway—named for Belle’s brother—that she worked for the Red Cross. We don’t know when she started with the Red Cross; however, we found several 1944 newspaper articles saying that she was the recreational director at the station hospital at the Sedalia, Missouri airfield. It is possible she began working for the Red Cross during WWII as her first husband was an army chaplain. It’s interesting to note that she went by both her maiden name and married name at a time when women would generally only use their husband’s surnames.
In about 1947, Belle married Edward “Eddie” Collis (1901-1976), who emigrated to the US from England in 1933. Eddie was a famous vocalist in Britain, known as “The Prince of Wales’ Favorite Singer,” and became popular in the US as a Vaudeville singer and entertainer. Listen to one of his songs here.
After he lost his singing voice due to health reasons, he and a business partner started a dental supply company. Conway believes his parents may have first met when they were both traveling on business.
Conway, who was their only child, shared the following information about Belle and her all-too-brief career in the handbag industry. His mother didn’t have any formal training in the apparel business, but she was very put-together, impeccably dressed and a natural at decorating. We told him that we’d found her patent for a basket bag that was covered in seashells—a very Florida-esque motif—and were wondering if the family, who resided in Chicago, ever vacationed in Florida.
 |
Belle Collis's handbag patent, screenshot from a Google search. 26 Mar 1954, Fri The Indianapolis Star (Indianapolis, Indiana) Newspapers.com |
He confirmed that they took annual vacations to Cocoa Beach, Florida, which was just 12 miles from Cape Canaveral, prior to it becoming the Kennedy Space Center. He said at that time it wasn’t very developed and it couldn’t have been a better place for a family vacation.
1951 Florida newspaper social column article which mentions the Collis family.
Conway told us in an email: “We used to drive down there every year and stay at the same cottages on the beach owned by the Johnson family, who got to be friends. I think it was actually called Johnson’s motel but they were individual small cottages. (It was a) small town of 5,000 or 10,000 with no large hotels or motels or anything like that. My mom collected seashells on the then virtually empty beach and pasted them onto burlap type bags. It grew from that.”
Belle’s seashell-embellished basket bags were so desirable that high-end retailers such as Saks, Neiman Marcus and Marshall Field had her under contract. She also had a line of mink handbags, and Conway recalls his parents visiting a mink farm outside of Chicago.
Belle and Eddie rented several rooms for their manufacturing facility in a downtown Chicago building. Conway, who was a child in the early 1950s, remembers that his parents had some discussion about expansion. At the time, they only had two full-time workers, including one who may have been the seamstress who also made his mother’s clothing. Taking on potential new wholesale clients would’ve required investment capital, coupled with the fact that Conway was very young, so the Collises decided to discontinue the business. This explains why the Belle Collis of Chicago handbag company only lasted about three years, 1953-1955, which coincides with the date range of old newspaper advertisements found by The Vintage Purse Museum.
.jpeg) |
| Label inside handbag pictured above. From the collection of The Vintage Purse Museum. |
Eddie passed away in 1976 after a long battle with the cancer that took his singing voice. Belle was married to Milton Altbach (1913-2010) until her death in 2002. The Vintage Purse Museum is delighted to have one confirmed Belle Collis of Chicago bag in its collection, and another that came to us with a store's label, although we’re reasonably sure it’s one of hers. Amazingly, it was gifted to us by our curator’s dear friend who had no idea we were working on this article at the same time we received it. We’d like to think that, like Belle and her life of service and creativity, it was meant to be cherished.
.jpeg) |
| Shell basket bag that we believe to be a Belle Collis, gifted to The Vintage Purse Museum by a generous friend. Tucked inside a fold of the quilted lining was a label from Henry Frank of Palm Springs, California, a gift shop and boutique. Belle Collis bags were also sold in boutiques, so it's possible this includes Henry Frank, which put in its own labels, a common practice. Interestingly, the wife of Henry Frank, Esther Liebling Frank, was from Chicago. We haven't found evidence that the Franks knew the Collises, but if we do, we'll update this post. |
The Vintage Purse Museum is grateful to Conway Collis. We also credit newspaper archive Newspapers.com, genealogy websites MyHeritage and Geni, and various Google searches. This article c2022 by Wendy Dager/The Vintage Purse Museum. Please do not use content or photos from our website without requesting permission, info@vintagepursemuseum.com
Cocoa Beach newspaper with a 1950 column about the joys of collecting seashells and making them into crafts.
23 Nov 1950, Thu Florida Today (Cocoa, Florida) Newspapers.com
05 Apr 1954, Mon St. Louis Post-Dispatch (St. Louis, Missouri) Newspapers.comExpanded version of Marshall Field ad in which two of Belle Collis's bags appear, one shell and one mink. Smaller ads above were clipped from this ad.
Comments
Post a Comment