SUPERMODELS, N.Y.P.L. again



I went to the Barnes & Noble on East 54th and Third Avenue (Citicorp

Building) to buy MODEL: THE UGLY BUSINESS OF BEAUTIFUL WOMEN by Michael

Gross. The book came out in hardcover in 1995 and paperback in 1996. B&N,

however, has a six-month attention span.

The book was out of stock, but "there's a Barnes & Noble at Third and

47th Street." I walked to the Barnes & Noble at Third and East 47th Street.

The book was out of stock, but "there's a Barnes & Noble at Third and

54th Street..."

I JUST CAME FROM THE BARNES & NOBLE AT THIRD AND 54TH STREET!! I'M

NOT

GOING BACK THERE!!!!

(New word: BARNES & NOBHELL, cf. A-O-HELL. "To be caught in an

infinite, hellish loop of Barnes & Noble stores trying to get your damn

book.")

"...there's a Barnes & Noble at Fifth and 48th Street..."

I went to the Barnes & Noble at Fifth and 48th Street. It was out of

stock. I was told to check upstairs in the art section, and maybe there'd be

a copy.

There was. Only a three-store Barnes & Nobhell.

Gross has this on page 16:



So as (Cindy) Crawford sat around Demarchelier's studio that day, she

wasn't just a model but a supermodel. The term itself wasn't new (it had

first been used in the 1940s by Clyde Matthew Dessner, the owner of a small

model agency), but the phenomenon was.



This would put "supermodel" even closer to "Superman." However, "top

model" and "high fashion model" would be used until "supermodel's" rise in

the 1970s.

Gross gave no footnote, but Dessner wrote a 1948 book called SO YOU WANT

TO BE A MODEL!

I knew what would be next at the New York Public Library. Once upon a

time, you could actually go to the Annex and get your books the same day!

I handed in the call slips.

"You have to take this to Science and Business on 34th Street and

Madison...this is at the Schomburg Library on 135th Street...this is at the

Annex. Your book will come next week. Speak to a librarian."

Next week--if it's on the shelf!!