Designer of colorful shower curtains appeared on What’s My Line? Fund at The Trust supports a variety of New York City nonprofits.
Elliot Westin (1903-2005)
Florence Israel (Isles) Westin (1909-2010)
From an early age, Florence Israel loved to draw. And her passion not only brought success but the proverbial 15 minutes of fame–on the popular 1950s-’60s game show What’s My Line?
One panelist guessed she was a professional golfer. Nope. Another thought she might be a creative artist. Closer, but no.
“Who would know this determined and talented woman has made a unique career of designing bathroom curtains! And has been showered with success!” Chicago Daily Tribune writer Ruth MacKay wrote in her column.
Florence was born August 18, 1909, to Joseph Israel and the former Dora Feltenstein, Russian Jewish immigrants. She was raised in the Bronx and Brooklyn. After Florence won a medal for her artwork at age 7, her parents encouraged her to keep drawing. As a teenager, she enrolled in the New York Academy of Fine and Applied Arts (now Parsons School of Design), graduating in 1929. She then began working as a secretary and department store salesperson while taking design classes at Hunter College and Cornell University.
One day, a buyer for the store urged her to see their main stylist. The office was filled with colorful fabrics, and her interest was piqued. A week later, she heard of an opening: A dress house was seeking someone to sketch for them. She took the job, even though it didn’t pay much.
Florence was at a fabric and design trade show in Chicago when she met Joseph A. Kaplan, a Russian Jewish immigrant and entrepreneur. Kaplan had been selling bathroom accessories in the 1920s when he came up with the idea of replacing the ubiquitous white duck cloth shower curtains with bright colors and bold designs. To produce them, he founded Joseph A. Kaplan & Sons, or JAKSON, and built a factory in Yonkers.
Kaplan asked Florence if she could draw patterns, and she said she could. Soon she was planning the entire line of JAKSON curtains, setting the price range, materials, colors, and patterns. As he bought different materials, she experimented. Because bathrooms were small, her designs were intended to give an illusion of light and space. She suggested painting floors and walls white, and bringing in splashes of color with towels, bathmats, rugs, and shower curtains, which could be changed inexpensively.
In 1945, Florence married Elliot Westin in Stamford, Connecticut.
Elliot was a son of Morris and Fannie Westin. He was born November 6, 1903, and grew up in the Bronx. After high school, he worked at Paradise Baking Corporation on Norman Avenue in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, which became the California Pie Company. He married Harriet Radin in 1927, and two years later, they had a son they named Avram. Elliot and Harriet’s marriage ended in divorce. Their son, who was known as Av, became a television news producer, eventually creating and producing “CBS Morning News” with Mike Wallace.
Elliot and Florence had a long—both were centenarians—and happy marriage, though she used the name Florence Isles professionally.
In the early 1950s, B.F. Goodrich launched a fabricated polymer called Koroseal, and Joseph A. Kaplan & Sons bought the exclusive rights to distribute it. The company used the new material for plastic shower curtains and, later, vinyl curtains. By the mid-1950s, JAKSON was a leader in the shower curtain industry, with sales of about $2.5 million annually.
In early 1955, Florence appeared on What’s My Line? After the show, she told the Daily Tribune columnist that her own shower curtain, in the Manhattan apartment she shared with Elliot, featured a gold and white spatter pattern.
Elliot Westin was warm, witty, and generous. He was 101 when he died on May 29, 2005.
Florence died in 2010 at age 100.
Their unrestricted fund at The Trust has supported nonprofits such as Bronx Defenders, Fund for Modern Courts, JASA, God’s Love We Deliver, and Solar One.