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| Fabulous sailing-themed 1960s Wickly Associates mice bag. The designer's son tells us that nautical motifs were very popular with the Ft. Lauderdale, Florida crowd. From the collection of The Vintage Purse Museum. |
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| Closeup of the detail on the Wickly Associates nautical motif basket bag. The rope surrounds a real working compass. |
Special post: The Story of the Unsinkable Mildred Siswick Reilly and Wickly Handbags and Apparel
Creative, artistic handbags can come from any era, and one’s favorite style is certainly in the eye of the beholder. For The Vintage Purse Museum, the 1960s brought about a decade of whimsy like no other. Exemplifying this are handbags with anthropomorphic mice scenes—yes, mice!—with the little fellows playing golf, tennis and even sailing a ship! Intrigued, we were determined to figure out who was responsible for the concept.
Among these *makers were “Madame Souris,” which we found to be the pseudonym of California residents Keith and Helen Parker, who owned a “mouseum” featuring dioramas with mice doing everyday human activities. Another was Jerry McMillan, who also made mice-themed home décor items and had a line of acrylic (Lucite), non-mouse-related handbags. As of the posting date of this article, we are seeking more information about these makers.
The third name—and possibly the very first to come up with the idea—is Wickly Associates.
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| Wickly Associates label inside a bag from the collection of The vintage Purse Museum. |
As with much of our research, we started by scouring a newspaper archive to which we subscribe. For years, we didn’t have any luck. However, the archive routinely adds newspapers, so this year we discovered the unsinkable Mildred Siswick Reilly.
Photo below is Mildred (top row, next to the team's coach) and her 1925 champion high school basketball team. Years later, Mildred would tell a newspaper reporter she'd wanted to be a dancer. 
Mildred Siswick was born in 1907 in Connecticut to George and Edith Siswick. Mildred had four siblings. She married James Clifford “Cliff” Reilly (b. Missouri, 1908-d. Florida, 1975); date of marriage unknown, probably sometime in the 1930s. According to the 1940 US Census, the Reillys lived in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, where they owned a retail clothing store.
We reached out to Mildred’s son, 85-year-old Captain David “Dave” Reilly, a former Marine whose own rich history includes stints as an instructor at the Marine Corps Institute in Washington, DC, and Presidential Guard for President Dwight Eisenhower (b. 1890-d. 1969, president from 1953-1961).
Captain Reilly shared fond memories of his mother, as well as numerous hardships she encountered while building a business. Throughout it all, she managed to “roll with it,” her motto and a favorite phrase of hers that she was quoted as saying in one newspaper article about her and her work.
Mildred's beloved son Dave, who kindly shared his mother's story with The Vintage Purse Museum.
The Reillys lived in Ft. Lauderdale throughout most of WWII. Mildred owned a building and dress store on Las Olas Blvd. called the Sea Chest, which had a motif of whaling ships and an authentic sea chest in its front window. Captain Reilly and his wife Mozelle still have the chest in their home.
1946 article about a fashion show at the Sea Chest, Mildred's first store at 1512 E. Las Olas Blvd.
“Mom was loved by all and through this love made valuable contacts in the garment industry,” Captain Reilly wrote to us in an email. “These contacts allowed her to purchase stockings and silk products no one else could find. Mom did very well in her store selling all her merchandise during the war.”
Her son told us she eventually began designing clothes, showing a unique talent for it. In fact, says Captain Reilly, she was the originator of the early 1960s “Peter Pan” collar, which has been credited to dress and sportswear designer McMullen.
In the 1940s, Mildred’s then-husband Cliff Reilly purchased a pig and pole-bean farm. Around this time, Dave and his brother Jim went to live with the Reillys as part of a state-run program for foster children. This program allowed minors to work on farms while paying foster families a fee to house them. (Note from The Vintage Purse Museum: We were appalled when we learned this from Captain Reilly during a phone call. He answered us with the grace and good nature of someone who has been through a lot, but used his experiences for the betterment of himself and others.)
“Mom was not our official Mom at this time but treated us like she was. She took care of Jim and I while running the dress store,” wrote Captain Reilly. “Mom owned the building that the dress store was in and it had living quarters connected to it. We lived in this during our first tenure in Ft. Lauderdale. We lived a short time in Coconut Grove on the bay where the TBFs (torpedo bomber fighters) trained for war.”
Captain Reilly explained to us that his mother’s husband wanted to be a gentleman farmer, so Mildred indulged him by moving with him and the boys to their Harvard, Massachusetts farm for three years. They also raised boxer dogs for the Ft. Devens Army base in Ayers, Massachusetts. The military had been using German shepherds, but the dogs had developed health problems due to inbreeding, so the Army decided to use a different breed. Among the boxers were two of Mildred’s favorites, Duchess and Wicky.
The Reilly’s marriage eventually failed, so in 1951, Mildred signed over nearly everything she had to her soon to be ex-husband in exchange for being allowed to formally adopt her foster sons. She then packed up the children in her 1946 Ford and moved back to Florida. There was little to no contact with Cliff Reilly after that.
Starting from scratch, Mildred began working as manager and purchasing agent for a dress store on Las Olas Blvd.
“Mom had become friends with a gentleman and his wife; his name was Greg McIntosh. Greg’s wife and friends loved Mom and her touch with clothing,” wrote Captain Reilly. “Greg offered to build a store for mom and give her a long-term lease on the property. “Thus, the Carriage Trade was established.
Photo taken in 1955 in Mildred's "penthouse apartment" above the store. Dave remembers being there when this was taken. Mr. and Mrs. Greg McIntosh were the couple that helped Mildred establish her new store after she returned to Florida from Massachusetts.
Captain Reilly tells us the name Carriage Trade came from the farm, where, in the barn, there had been three things of great value and in like-new condition: A Model T Ford, a Model A Ford truck, and a mail carriage with secret compartments. When Mildred opened her store, she set up the carriage as a prop in the window, much as she had years earlier with her sea chest.
She had an apartment above the store (one newspaper article referred to this as a “penthouse apartment”) and a design studio, which started out as a shoe store. According to Captain Reilly, Mildred, who was quite active in the community, met the man who owned Elnita Fashions and began designing dresses for him. (The Vintage Purse Museum did some digging and found that this man was longtime clothing manufacturer Sol Meyerson, b. 1916-d.2007.)
Several other Carriage Trade stores were opened, including one in Naples, Florida in 1957, Boca Raton, Florida in 1959 and Charlevoix, Michigan, 1954. (Dates approximate; The Vintage Purse Museum found a 1954 article mentioning the Charlevoix Carriage Trade.)
Mildred organized wonderful, innovative fashion shows, which were often held at restaurants so patrons could have lunch while viewing the wares for sale. In a 1969 article, Mildred Reilly regales the reporter with the story of the time she decided to borrow a baby lamb for a shepherdess-style dress she was showing. The woman modeling the dress was carrying a bottle of milk to feed it in case it got hungry, and the lamb ended up chasing the poor model all around the room. Mildred said, “It broke the audience up!”
Mildred started her own clothing line in 1959 and named it Wickly, Inc., as homage to their beloved dog, Wicky, and with a twist on her maiden and married names. She had a manufacturing plant in Miami. Employees included pattern-maker Joseph Corea (1900-1981), and vice president Gertrude Jeffrey (1898-1977). Within one year, she was making a reported 500 dresses per day. The Wickly line was eventually acquired and sold by Elnita Fashions.
The photos of dresses in the articles found by The Vintage Purse Museum show her flair for the whimsical. But what about those amazing mouse bags?
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| Wickly Associates celebrating mice handbag. From the collection of The Vintage Purse Museum. |
“Mom kept having people ask for different accessories for the dresses she was making and selling,” wrote Captain Reilly. “Everything Mom designed seemed to have a theme to it. In those days for example, boating and tennis was big-time for the wealthier in Lauderdale. Mom could not find any unique custom handbags women wanted. She decided to embark on a new idea, making custom handbags. She spent hours upon hours cutting ribbons (and) putting different things on this little wicker basket. How she came up with the little mice I am not sure. She made nautical and tennis themes which people loved. I can remember tables in the design studio lined with these baskets. Our daughter along with myself and wife were gluing, tying ribbons, etc. Mom had a super hard time finding the baskets and the mice etc. She had used Haiti for a lot of her fabric purchases and might have gotten the baskets from there. She also traveled to different countries where she found items she could use.”
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| Closeup of celebrating mice Wickly basket bag. Note the tiny cigarettes and ashtrays! |
Captain Reilly recalls that the garment industry learned about these bags and some sellers wanted to purchase them wholesale so they could put their own labels inside. Specialty items, he tells us, were often on an exclusive basis. (Note from The Vintage Purse Museum: A common practice for some handbag manufacturers and importers was allowing retail stores or boutiques to remove the maker labels, then glue or sew in their own. Sometimes you will find a vintage bag with two labels—one by the maker and one with the label of the store that retailed it.)
He couldn’t remember when she stopped making the Wickly line, but recalls the factory caught fire at some point and she did not have insurance. But Mildred being Mildred, she rolled with it!
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| This handbag also has a "Holly Hice" label as part of its decorations. Holly Hice was a Ft. Lauderdale Florida-based fashion designer and shop owner. |
Captain Reilly worked for Carriage Trade for a year or so after completing his duties with the military, then was employed for a time by Elnita Fashions, and eventually became an entrepreneur in a different industry. His brother Jim took over Carriage Trade around 1966 and the business was closed for good by the early 1970s.
The Vintage Purse Museum asked Captain Reilly if there was anything personal he wished to share about his mother, Mildred Siswick Reilly. He wrote: “I feel very strongly Mom gave me the drive, love of life, the need to respect and keep your honor needed to be a good American citizen. Mom always said, ‘Dave you have to roll with the punches life gives you.’ Truer words have never been spoken. Mom was a great lady with a heart of gold. She left her mark in this world with honesty, integrity, respect and a great mind for the unusual.”
This article c2022 by Wendy Dager/The Vintage Purse Museum. We are extremely grateful to Captain Dave Reilly for his help with this article. Other resources used were paid subscriptions to Newspapers.com and Myheritage.com. Please do not use any photos or information without requesting permission, info@vintagepursemuseum.com. *One of our social media followers sent us a photo of a bag labeled “From The Mouse Factory,” which we haven’t yet identified as a maker or a boutique. We will update this post if we obtain more info about the other makers of anthropomorphic mice bags.
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