Thursday, February 12, 2015

I. MILLER | PREDOMINANTLY DOMINANT

A snippet of I.Miller history as told by Diane Arbus biographer Patricia Bosworth.

Cast of characters:

The Nemerov's: Mr.David Nemerov and Gertrude Russek (Diane Arbus'parents)

Jerrold (Jerry) Miller: I.Miller family/Margaret Jerrold cofounder


1961 | Eddie Carmel - The gentle Jewish giant in Manhattan
I.Miller store in the background

At least once a week an extra maid would be hired to help serve a dinner party of twelve which invariably included the Millers, who were still the Nemerovs’ closest friends (when you asked Miller how his shoe business compared with other shoe businesses, he’d always answer, “We’re predominantly dominant”). 

Patricia Bosworth
Diane Arbus A Biography (W. W. Norton & Company, 1984)


1973 | Jerrold (Jerry) Miller
Press photo by Greg Gilbert
Source: Spring Essential/ebay

David Nemerov listened to his son’s plans in silence; there was no question now that Howard would ever take over Russeks, so he didn’t bring up the subject, but he was bitterly disappointed. Supposedly he confided his disappointment to his close friend I. Miller, whose son Jerry had followed his father into their shoe empire. Jerry recalls, “If you didn’t make a career out of the family business, it was like deserting the Armed Forces or something. You could redeem yourself by being very successful in another field—but to be a writer, to be a poet, well, it was considered a terrible failure, particularly if you were the only son.”

Patricia Bosworth
Diane Arbus A Biography (W. W. Norton & Company, 1984)


I.MILLER
DeLuxe Shoe
I N D E X


FOOTNOTE

Eddie Carmel, the gentle Jewish giant (8'9") was going to became even more famous after the Diane Arbus portrait in 1970 (last photograph).

1961 | Eddie Carmel polishing his shoes
Source: Bettman/Corbis
1970 | Diane Arbus (b. 1923, New York; d. 1971, New York)
A Jewish giant at home with his parents in the Bronx, N.Y.C., 1970
Source: The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles