Mother’s Day: Honoring Marcelle Cuillery Courtright+ Vintage Dior Diorling Giveaway

May 13, 2023May 13, 2023

Mother’s Day Tribute to Marcelle Cuillery Courtright 1923 – 1973 ©

“Mothers hold their children’s hands for a short while, but their hearts forever.” — Unknown

It’s been fifty years since my mother passed away. She was a few months short of fifty. She would have been one hundred. Those are large numbers. Hard to wrap my head around how much time has passed. I’m still dumbstruck. Marcelle was born in Mexico City. Her mother was Mexican, and her father was French. She lived there until attending McGill University in Montreal, Canada. Upon graduating she moved to New York to attend Columbia University. Soon after she served in the Mexican Foreign Office and as a technical assistant in bilingual conference reporting at the United Nations. She made Paris her home for a period of time before making the move to Los Angeles. It took no time before a mutual friend introduced her to Hernando Courtright, the Manager and Proprietor of the Beverly Hills Hotel. They were soon married there in 1955.

Marcelle with Hernando

“A mother’s arms are more comforting than anyone else’s.” – Princess Diana

This was Marcelle’s first marriage and Hernando’s third. In rapid succession, they had three children. Me the eldest, my brother DeVigne, and my sister Carina. We grew up in a house on the corner of the same block as the Beverly Hills Hotel. I just adored that house. Such wonderful memories! One of my earliest recollections was being in her bedroom watching a seamstress taking her dress measurements (possibly pregnant?) and with that, I fell asleep behind her chaise lounge. I was awoken by pandemonium because they couldn’t find me!

The Courtright Family

Mom was unconventional in many ways and ahead of her time. She was into juices, vitamins, organic brands, and products sans chemicals (if possible) long before they became in vogue. She adored indigenous cultures judging by her dress.

Hernando’s Mother and Dior’s Diorling (photograph by Eric Skipsey)

One of my most vivid scent memories was my parents getting dressed up to go out for the evening. The divine scent of Mom’s perfume coupled with Dad’s cigar and scotch was the pinnacle of being an adult. The glamour of it all. I could not wait!

Mom’s original signature scent was Dior’s Diorissimo by Master Perfumer Edmond Roudnitska. The fragrance was launched in 1956, the same year I was born! Later on, she wore Dior’s Diorling by Paul Vacher (1963). She was all Dior. I love the above photo of her wearing Dior with her bottle of Diorling taken by Eric Skipsey. Eric Skipsey was one of Hollywood’s most celebrated photographers. Among the film stars who have sat for him are such celebrated personalities as Marilyn Monroe, Elizabeth Taylor, Ava Gardner, Clark Gable, Gary Cooper, Spencer Tracy, Ingrid Bergman, Jayne Mansfield, and family friend Loretta Young.

I have wondered if her fragrance choices would have changed over the years and how it would have evolved. Would she have migrated to natural fragrances? Niche? Artisanal? I’ll never know, but it’s her Dior Diorling that I remember each Mother’s Day since her passing.

Mom and Dad at work

When you are a mother, you are never really alone in your thoughts. A mother always has to think twice, once for herself and once for her child – Sophia Loren

When my father purchased the Beverly Wilshire Hotel in 1961, he put Mom in charge of redecorating the hotel. Even though she had never decorated a hotel her style and eye for detail made it a success. They were a great team. Mom and Dad were known locally and internationally for their patronage of the arts and philanthropic and cultural projects. Mom was active in charitable circles. She was a member of the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulcher of Jerusalem, The Order of St. Brigitte in Naples, Confrerie des Chevaliers, and the Los Angeles Orphanage Guild, amongst others. That must have made an impression on me to follow in her footsteps with my many charitable endeavors.

Dior Eau Sauvage ad 1969 René Gruau

A lasting scent memory was shopping at Bonwit Teller to buy a pair of pants. Mom also decided to buy me a cologne, Eau Sauvage Dior by Master Perfumer Edmond Roudnitska (1966). I wore it throughout my sophomore year at Beverly Hills High School and I never smelled fresher. I fell down the rabbit hole of all things citrus. I wear it to this day.

In July 1972, Mom began to show signs of illness. And then she received a diagnosis of cancer. To this day it has been a question mark if it was ovarian or uterine cancer. No records are available to confirm that. I remember taking her on a couple of times for treatments. I had no clue what she was going through. After a lengthy illness, she passed away on July 26th, 1973. It was their wedding anniversary.

All I know is that she was taken too early and as a teenager, I found it hard to comprehend what just happened to our family. Our lives were irreparably changed after that. We never were the same. Within weeks of her death, I was sent off to a prep school in Connecticut to start my junior high school year. Clearly, I did not have the capacity to discuss or process it there. I did not return. I moved out of the house in September of 1974 and finished my senior year of high school living on my own. But before moving out I remember going into her bedroom, which would remain untouched until the sale of the house in 1975 and taking two small fragrance bottles from her vanity. I wore them during my senior year of high school. They were Dior but I can’t speak for certain which ones. I really wish I could remember. All I know was that they smelled gorgeous, and it kept me connected to her. Interesting tidbits about Mom, she was Marcela to her close friends, she was not a US citizen, she did not drive, she was fluent in five languages, Spanish, French, English, Portuguese, and Italian, and we found out many years later she was born in 1923 not 1925!

“No, I would not give you false hope

On this strange and mournful day

But the mother and child reunion

Is only a motion away

Oh, little darling of mine

I can’t for the life of me

Remember a sadder day

I know they say let it be

But it just don’t work out that way

And the course of a lifetime runs

Over and over again”- Mother and Child Reunion by Paul Simon

Marcelle and Hernando Courtright Sr. entertaining

Paul Simon’s ‘Mother and Child Reunion’ always touched me. Released in 1972, just as Mom took ill. Little did I know how the lyrics would take on a new meaning the following year. Over the years the song has become more poignant, giving me thoughts about my future reunion with my Mother. Time Doesn’t Make Mother’s Day Hurt Any Less. So many questions arise when I think about Mom on Mother’s Day. Many years ago, a dear friend once asked me if Mother’s Day caused me consternation. Yes, there will always be sadness. But when my wife became a mother, it was mitigated. For me, the most significant missed moments would have to be Mom never getting to know my wife Doreen, and her grandchildren, Hernando Myles and Victoria Jane. I know she would have loved them!

Curious about the origin of Mother’s Day I learned that it was started as a liturgical service by Anna Jarvis to honor her mother’s passing. She resented the later commercialization of the holiday. She believed companies were exploiting Mother’s Day with an emphasis on profit, not sentiment. How right she was! In 1914 President Woodrow Wilson designated it a national holiday.

In Mexico, Mother’s Day is called “Día de las Madres.” if I could say just one thing to Mom, what would it be? I love you? I miss you? I’d go with I love you. Today, I pay tribute to my Mother and all the Mothers. All Mothers matter. Happy Mother’s Day!

~Hernando Courtright, Senior Events Contributor and Brand Ambassador

wiki art

Thanks to the generosity of The Fragrance Vault, we have a draw for a VERY RARE .25 ml of 1963 Dior Diorling to celebrate Mother’s Day and the life of Marcelle Cuillery Courtright for one registered reader of the USA. To be eligible please leave a detailed comment about Hernando’s memories of his mother. What was the first perfume you can remember your mother wearing? Draw closes 5/17/2023

It is a tradition to honor the perfumes our mothers wore since our inception.

The first Mother’s Day Tribute was written in 2010 by Rodney Hughes of Therapeutate. One of the most memorable: Our Mothers, Ourselves- Scented Reflections to Mother’s Day included Ida Meister, Anya McCoy, Mark Behnke, Mary Beth Devine, Michelyn Camen and Gerald Ghislain of Histoires de Parfums in 2011.

Robert Herrmann (RIP) wrote a tribute to his mother in 2018.

Fumerie Parfumerie owner Tracy Tsefalas scent memory Mother’s Day 2019

Former Contributor Liza Wade’s tribute to the scents her mother wore Mother’s Day 2020

Helida Dodd of Marabella’s scent memory 2022 Mother’s Day

Mother’s Day is Sunday May 24, 2023

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