Published: May 09, 2009 06:14 pm      

Logansport roots

Founder of cosmetic empire born locally

Merle Norman.

When people hear the name of the cosmetic company founder, the last thing they associate her name with is Logansport.

What few people may realize is Norman was born at 8 a.m. Jan. 15, 1887, in Logansport as Merle Mozelle Nethercutt.

Susan Bray, independent owner and manager of Merle Norman Cosmetics in Peru, was intrigued when she found out the history of Norman.

“I think it is really interesting and neat that such a phenomenal woman came from such a small town, especially in Indiana,” she said. “Some of the best and most amazing people come from small towns.”

Merle Norman Cosmetics has been an established and well-known developer, manufacturer and distributor of its own products. The business offers woman skin care products and color cosmetic products, originally created by Norman in her home.

Judy Nelson, Merle Norman Cosmetics corporate historian and executive assistant to the CEO, said the businesswoman lived in Logansport until she was 15 years old. In 1902, Norman moved to South Bend, where she attended high school and eventually left to study at the University of Chicago and became a teacher.

According to Nelson, Norman taught school for a few years, but decided she didn’t like it. She eventually went into medicine and chemistry.

In 1912, she met Andrew Norman and they married May 20, 1913.

Making cosmetics and skin care products wasn’t something Norman initially aimed to do.

After the couple moved to Pensacola, Fla., and then to Phoenix, they made their way to Santa Monica, Calif., in 1919.

During the 1920s, Norman started working on developing her powder-base formula.

“When she was doing the chemistry work and medical work in the lab, she worked in the hospital and was concerned with the babies born with sores and were miserable,” Nelson said. “She wanted to develop healing salve.”

Nelson said her neighbor ran over after she burned her cheek with a curling iron. Norman applied what she called “number two” on her neighbor, which prevented any scars from appearing. Her mother and sister starting using it as a powder base and the business was born.

She began mixing the ingredients on her Roper stove in a coffeepot with a sawed-off broom handle, Nelson said.

At the age of 44, Norman opened her first studio and a small laboratory in 1931 in a garage across the street from her Ocean Park, Calif., home, according to the company.

Now headquartered in Los Angeles, approximately 2,000 independently owned and operated Merle Norman stores exist in the United States and Canada.

Norman also started the “try before you buy” concept, according to Nelson.

“She had so much confidence in what her products could do for people,” Nelson said. “She would do a demonstration so people could feel what the products were like before they bought any.”

On June 2,1932, Norman’s nephew, J.B. Nethercutt, became an official employee and eventually joined the manufacturing side. Norman remained focused on selling the product and helping women.

“Merle just loved people,” Nelson said. “She helped people and tried to make ladies feel pretty. She referred to her studio owners as guys and gals. She had a genuine love for these people and that is what helped the business grow so fast.”

According to Bray, Merle Norman Cosmetic studio owners work well with one another and still depend on each other for educational purposes.

Norman believed in her products, which is one way current studio owners have followed in her footsteps. Bray feels it is still an important part of the business.

“Like me, when you believe in it you can sell it easily,” she said.

Norman ended up selling the company to Nethercutt in 1963, according to Nelson. She passed away in 1972.

After J.B. passed away in 2001, his son, Jack, took over the business.

According to Bray, she believes Norman would be pleased with the business she started more than 70 years ago.

“I think she would be amazed with what happened to it and what her great-nephew has done with it,” she said. “I think she would be speechless.”