Edith Rosenbaum
| Edith Rosenbaum Russell | |
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Edith Rosenbaum (later Russell), shortly after her rescue from the Titanic, carrying the toy pig with which she escaped the ship
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| Born |
12 June 1879 Cincinnati, Ohio, U.S. |
| Died | 4 April 1975 (aged 95) London, England, UK |
| Occupation | Fashion journalist, stylist and buyer |
| Known for | surviving the sinking of the Titanic |
Edith Louise (Rosenbaum) Russell (June 12, 1879 – April 4, 1975) was an American fashion buyer, stylist and correspondent for Women's Wear Daily, best remembered for surviving the 1912 sinking of the RMS Titanic with a music box in the shape of a pig. The paper mache toy, covered in pigskin and playing a tune known as "The Maxixe" when its tail was twisted, was used by Edith Russell to calm frightened children in the lifeboat in which she escaped. Her story became widely known in the press at the time and was later included in the best-selling account of the disaster A Night to Remember by Walter Lord. Russell was also portrayed in the award-winning British docudrama produced by William MacQuitty that was based on Lord's book.
Edith Louise Rosenbaum was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, into a wealthy Jewish family in 1879. Her father was Harry Rosenbaum, who rose to prominence in the dry goods field as a director of Louis Stix & Co. in Cincinnati. He was later influential as a cloak and suit manufacturer in his own right and an investor in garment industry real estate in New York, where he moved with his wife, the former Sophia Hollstein, and daughter Edith in 1902. Edith was educated in Cincinnati public schools and a succession of finishing schools, including the Mt. Auburn Young Ladies Institute (later called the H. Thane Miller School) in Cincinnati and Miss Annabel's in Philadelphia. At age 16 in 1895 she attended the Misses Shipley's at Bryn Mawr and later Bryn Mawr College.
Edith's career in fashion began in 1908, when she moved to Paris to become a saleswoman for the haute couture house of Chéruit in the Place Vendôme. Shortly thereafter, she joined the Paris office of La dernière heure à Paris, an in-house fashion journal for the Philadelphia department store Wanamaker's. She also provided fashion sketches for the Butterick Pattern Service and to a number of American clothing stores and textile suppliers.
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