Contributions of Henry Dreyfuss

The Robert Jones Essay of May 7 brought back a lot of memories. In the early 1950s, I went to school with Anne, the younger daughter of Henry and Doris Dreyfuss. We were always welcomed in their beautiful home. I can still close my eyes and see the very contemporary lines of the rooms, the huge fireplace, and the wonderful gardens with pool and pool house. I vaguely knew that he had something to do with inventing and remember seeing the first Princess phone at that house. He also designed a new toilet with a curved lid, so that when you sat down, it fit the curve of your lower back. They had a jukebox in their den and we young teenagers thought it was really funny for an “old couple” like that to own a jukebox!

Somewhere over the years, I bought a book that was written by Henry Dreyfuss with his clever drawings. While on a tour in Pasadena sponsored by the Alliance for the Mentally Ill, I met a professor from Cal Poly Pomona who was putting together an exhibit of industrial designs, including several of those by Dreyfuss. He had a very dog-eared copy of this book, and talked me into donating my copy to the exhibit. Hopefully that tribute to the influence and intelligence of Henry and Doris Dreyfuss still exists at Cal Poly, and will someday be available to all of us to see and admire.

JEAN B. SHINER

Pasadena