Lester Gaba

Lester Gaba (1907 – 12 August 1987) was an American sculptor, writer and retail display designer.

Gaba wrote the seminal text "The Art Of Window Display" in 1952, one of the first serious books on the topic in the marketplace.

In December 1942, Gaba was inducted into the army. Cynthia was retired, and it wasn't until 1953 that she came back to appear in public on a TV show. But the magic was over, and Cynthia was soon retired for good, but Lester Gaba continued to do retail fashion display work.

From 1941 to 1967, Mr. Gaba contributed the weekly column "Lester Gaba Looks at Display" to Women's Wear Daily, commenting on aspects and trends of window display design as marketing for retail clothing. In the 1940s and 1950s, Gaba began staging elaborate and theatrical fashion shows for the Coty Awards, the March of Dimes, and for fashion trade groups; the creative shows involved various highlights, such as marionettes, and/or and props such as the Hope Diamond and the Star of the East.

In cooperation with the National Soap Sculpture Committee, he wrote a book on the technique of Soap Carving called .mw-parser-output cite.citation{font-style:inherit;word-wrap:break-word}.mw-parser-output .citation q{quotes:"\"""\"""'""'"}.mw-parser-output .citation:target{background-color:rgba(0,127,255,0.133)}.mw-parser-output .id-lock-free a,.mw-parser-output .citation .cs1-lock-free a{background:linear-gradient(transparent,transparent),url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/65/Lock-green.svg")right 0.1em center/9px no-repeat}.mw-parser-output .id-lock-limited a,.mw-parser-output .id-lock-registration a,.mw-parser-output .citation .cs1-lock-limited a,.mw-parser-output .citation .cs1-lock-registration a{background:linear-gradient(transparent,transparent),url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d6/Lock-gray-alt-2.svg")right 0.1em center/9px no-repeat}.mw-parser-output .id-lock-subscription a,.mw-parser-output .citation .cs1-lock-subscription a{background:linear-gradient(transparent,transparent),url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/aa/Lock-red-alt-2.svg")right 0.1em center/9px no-repeat}.mw-parser-output .cs1-ws-icon a{background:linear-gradient(transparent,transparent),url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4c/Wikisource-logo.svg")right 0.1em center/12px no-repeat}.mw-parser-output .cs1-code{color:inherit;background:inherit;border:none;padding:inherit}.mw-parser-output .cs1-hidden-error{display:none;color:#d33}.mw-parser-output .cs1-visible-error{color:#d33}.mw-parser-output .cs1-maint{display:none;color:#3a3;margin-left:0.3em}.mw-parser-output .cs1-format{font-size:95%}.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-left{padding-left:0.2em}.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-right{padding-right:0.2em}.mw-parser-output .citation .mw-selflink{font-weight:inherit}Gaba, Lester (1940). Soap Carving, Cinderella of sculpture (Hardcover). The Studio Publications. p. 80. ISBN 0670655007. ISBN 978-0670655007.

Meanwhile, Cynthia's fame grew and grew. She was given a credit card from Saks Fifth Avenue, a box seat subscription to the Metropolitan Opera House and even made the cover of Life Magazine. Cynthia also had her own newspaper column, and a successful radio show. Cynthia went to Hollywood to appear in Artists and Models Abroad (1938) with Jack Benny. She received huge amounts of fan mail. Cynthia was photographed by Alfred Eisenstaedt. Cynthia went to the Broadhurst Theater in New York, to see the notorious play 'Madame Bovary', in 1939. Gaba insisted that Cynthia had laryngitis, to account for her lack of speech. Gaba, reminded pesky writers that Cynthia was a lady, and therefore a good listener. But the beautiful Cynthia met her demise when she slipped from a chair in a beauty salon, and shattered into a thousand pieces. The press reported her death, and Gaba appeared distraught, but since Cynthia's mold was very much intact, she was to live again.

By 1932 Gaba had moved to New York, where he designed a lifelike mannequin known as Cynthia that was created for Saks Fifth Avenue. Cynthia was a 100-pound model who had realistic imperfections like freckles, pigeon toes, and even different sized feet. Gaba posed with Cynthia around New York City for a Life Magazine shoot that humorously demonstrates how lifelike the mannequins had become. Cartier and Tiffany sent her jewelry, Lilly Daché designed hats for her, and couturiers sent her their latest fashions, furrieries sent minks. Soon a whole host of ‘Gaba Girls’ followed.