19 Facts About Richard Hudnut

Richard Alexander Hudnut was an American businessman recognized as the first American to achieve international success in cosmetics manufacturing.

Richard Hudnut once maintained separate US and European headquarters on Fifth Avenue in New York City and on the Rue de la Paix in Paris, respectively.

Richard Hudnut began by transforming the family drugstore into an elegant showroom.

In time, Richard Hudnut's products became so widely known that he closed the retail store and focused on marketing his product lines through wholesale distributors.

One of the keys to Richard Hudnut's success was that he sold his less expensive fragrances "on approval".

Early Richard Hudnut fragrances included Queen Anne Cologne, Violet Sec, Aimee, DuBarry, Vanity, and Three Flowers.

In 1901, the US Customs Service sent an officer to his house to inquire about certain imports that Richard Hudnut was receiving at a particularly low cost, as no duty was being paid.

Richard Hudnut had had the solicitor file a patent application for him but when he didn't receive it from the patent office, he demanded his money back from Michel.

In 1902, Richard Hudnut was exonerated on smuggling charges alleged to have been conducted by a steamship steward.

In March 1903, Richard Hudnut bought a suite of Louis Quinze chairs for $220 at an auction of actress Ada Rehan's personal property.

In 1905, upon returning from vacation at his Adirondacks camp, Richard Hudnut discovered that his New York apartment had been burglarized; even his grand piano was gone.

In 1909, Richard Hudnut applied for a tax refund on alcohol which had been used in cosmetics which were to be exported.

The court ruled in favor of the plaintiff, in spite of the fact that Richard Hudnut had registered his trademark earlier than Swift.

The grounds were that Richard Hudnut had used the name "Vanity" only once, and that use had not been public; it had been used on an invoice only.

In 1920, in another trade-mark dispute over the name "Nara" which Hudnut had registered and which was disputed by plaintiff Phillips who had registered the trade-mark "Nyra", Hudnut prevailed on appeal on the same legal principle that had found against him in Swift v Hudnut.

Richard Hudnut was the president of the Hudnut Realty Co.

Richard Hudnut was a member of several professional organizations including the American Pharmaceutical Association, the Manufacturing Perfumers' Association of the United States of which he had been variously, chairman, vice-president and treasurer, the American Geographical Society, the Metropolitan Museum and the Republican Club of New York.

Richard Hudnut died in 1928, at the age of 73, at Juan-les-Pins, France, where he owned a chateau.

Richard Hudnut is buried in Woodlawn Cemetery in The Bronx, New York City.