The name MARLICE came from the combination of two names Mario and Alice. Mario Almosnino (1908-1968) and Alice Benveniste (1912-1984) were both born in Salonica, Greece.
Their respective families came to France after the First World War.
In 1940, the couple, along with their daughter Tamar Almosnino (6 years old) and son Claude Almosnino (2 years old) went to Portugal to escape from the Nazis thanks to a Portuguese consul, possibly Aristides de Sousa Mendes.
Portugal was a welcome country for these people and also a way out for the ones who wanted to go to other countries and continents. Aristides de Sousa Mendes had helped more than 30,000 Jews to escape from France. By this noble act he was punished by the Portuguese government at that time.
These days we remember him proudly.
Mario, whose mother was from the Molho family (former Portuguese Jews), obtained Portuguese citizenship and became the representative of the Portuguese Red Cross in France to officially “visit the concentration camps”. In fact, he acted to save people from September 1941, despite the risks.
Once in Lisbon, Mario set up a perfume plant with a main office at Rua Rodrigues Sampaio, 59 and a factory at Rua Rodrigo da Fonseca,87 B.
Those two ads are from 1943 and the first ones to appear in Portuguese magazines. The left one says “The preferred lipstick of French Stars”.
The second one is very unusual by using Clark Gable and Vivien Leigh from the movie “Gone with the Wind”. Ads claimed the use of their products by very well-known actors of that time.
In 1943 the graphic used different colors and made appeals for the good quality of the products.
In a second step, Mario set up another plant in Porto. In that period Portugal was a country that suffered with the War in Europe and he remarked that most of his employees were not well nourished. For that reason he offered everyday meals to all his employees; something which was very innovative at that time. Mario used to take care of people that worked with him. Work for him was like having a second family.
In 1945 the company used a model to advertise different products such as: hair products, perfumes, lipsticks and rice powder. They never forgot their country which was systematically reminded in the ads.
In the ad from the center and right we can see MARLICE PARFUMEUR – PARIS.
This beautiful ad was on the cover of a Portuguese magazine named “VOGA” from 1946.
After Portugal, Mario set up Marlice in Madrid in 1942. Those two ads are from 1951 where we can see – Paris – Madrid – Lisboa.
Mario came back to France in 1948 where he established the headquarters of Marlice until he died in 1968. In Paris he became a very important businessman: real estate developer, fashion producer and perfumer. Among other things, he built a building on the Champs Élysées where there is now a Gaumont cinema and the famous “Terrasse Martini”.
Source: “Marlice = Mario + Alice” article by Afonso Oliveira in PBQ Winter 2013.
See Marlice items in our Virtual Museum.
