Luis Marcus; Invented Bobby Pin
Luis Marcus, inventor of the bobby pin, died at a Menlo Park, Calif., convalescent hospital at the age of 102. Marcus was a San Francisco cosmetics manufacturer when he designed the bobby pin to hold in place the bobbed hair of the flapper era after World War I, selling the original handmade ones for two for 35 cents. “There was talk of naming it the Marcus pin,” a daughter, Elaine Marcus of Santa Barbara, said. “But he named it for bobbed hair.” Marcus, a native of Winnipeg, Mannitoba, died at the University Convalescent Hospital in Menlo Park on Jan. 26.
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