|
|
 Anna Leonowens, the British governess made famous in "The King and I," gave a Singer sewing machine to the King of Siam
Dom Pedro II, Brazil's last, most progressive Emperor, was enchanted by Singers at the Philadelphia Centennial Exposition in 1876, and brought a crate home for the ladies of the court who, he declared, did not have enough to do. The ladies were not amused
When Chinese Grand Secretary Li Hung Chang visited Great Britain in 1869, he brought back a gilded Singer as a gift for the Empress Dowager. The Birmingham Gazette celebrated this event with a poem:
Now every moon-eyed maiden
Will sigh for wardrobes laden
With machine-stitched cloth and seam
Like the happy Chinese Queen
When the Empress Dowager was later accused of inciting the Boxer Rebellion against the "foreign barbarians," her Grand Secretary said that was impossible. The queen was in her chambers, preoccupied with her sewing
Singer gave a machine exquisitely hand-painted with the Japanese Imperial symbol, the Chrysanthemum, to Emperor Hirohito's bride
Thereafter a Singer machine became an essential part of every Japanese bride's trousseau, whether she could sew or not
Singer had to overcome many local customs in order to promote the sewing machine. In Japan, salesmen had to persuade women to buy a chair. In Korea, where people used fish glue to fix their costumes, salesmen had to teach them about thread. In China, they had to overcome the social taboo against speaking to other men's wives
Singer's gorgeous Art Nouveau Russian headquarters, built in 1904 on the elegant boulevard Nevsky Prospekt in St. Petersburg is still standing
In 1906, Singer opened a factory in St. John's, Quebec, which became Singer's third largest plant when the Russian plant was confiscated by the Soviets
Singer also established a cabinet factory in Quebec, for which it purchased 500 square miles of forest, obtained timber rights, built a sawmill in nearby Thurso, and a company town, Singer, Quebec. The company soon built its own railroad, the Thurso & Nation Valley Railway, to deliver logs to its mill
|
|
|
The Singer building, the world's first skyscraper, dominated the New York skyline for many years. Singer President Lightner declared, "in my day, every young man knew where the Singer building was, and if he didn't, he made it his business to find out."
 Singer's presence was equally prominent in any city, anywhere in the world, within a decade of the machine's invention. The famous red S, emblazoned with the company name in the indigenous language - "Singer Sivaci Stroje" in Croatia, "Compania Fabril Singer" in Spain, "Original Singer Nahmaschinen" in Germany, "Macchine Singer per Cucire" in Italy - graced the sides of buildings, Singer vehicles and store awnings on every main street and on the grandest avenues, all over the world.
The Singer logo had to be modified in Russia because the letter S does not exist in the Cyrillic alphabet.
|
Singer capitalized on its ubiquitous presence in its playful international advertising, which often took local landmarks or historical and literary figures, and turned them into Singer icons.
The Singer Company rapidly became an integral part of every country, dramatically affecting, and being affected by, the local culture, economy and social fabric. The story of Singer's international reach and impact is a fascinating back door to history, and is at the heart of my forthcoming book, The Great Civilizer: The Singer Sewing Machine and the Modern World.
|
|
 |
|
top
Privacy Policy Site Map