Photo Credit: Google Images
Like America’s Martha Stewart, Frances Habrat, came from humble beginnings, was of Polish extraction, and would also make a name for herself simply by exploring her own creativity and ingenuity. She was a dress designer/maker, homemaker, and artist during a time in which many women did not work outside of their homes. Fran, not only dared to work, but created her own company during the 1930s. Frances Habrat Burn Taylor was an innovative spirit, trail blazer, and domestic diva long before it was ever in vogue. It was Fran’s aim to create beautiful and elegant items for the everyday housewife to use to entertain her guests minus the expensive price tags. Her items were pretty, sometimes elegant, sometimes kitsch, one of a kind, and always in demand. She made ordinary beautiful and turned living into an art. This is her story.
Frances Flora Habrat, President and founder of Gay Fad Productions, was born 1 3 Dec. 1915 to Polish immigrant(1904) Andrew Joseph Habrat and Agnes Teresa Lopusnak, who was born in the United States to Polish parents. She was born in Westmoreland PA. and was the oldest of five children: Frances F., Joseph A., Thomas V., Robert F., and Raymond. Life in Pennsylvania was hard . Andrew worked in one of the various coal mines in the region before relocating to Michigan with his young family and his in-laws. Once in Michigan, Andrew then secured employment as a laborer in an auto plant and was able to own his Detroit home.
Frances had an appreciation for art and attended art school in Detroit Michigan in 1938. She was first interested in fashion and had a small dressmaking business. At some point, she began interested in painting and figured out a way in which she could make a living by simply being creative. She began to test her skills as an entrepreneur by purchasing twelve dozen tin wastepaper baskets for the $30.0o. She purchased the dustbins, hand-painted them with oil paints and sold them. It was a great success! Her art was very much in demand. She then changed mediums and began to paint on glassware. Gay Fad was alas born!
While pursuing her art career, she married Charles W. Burn 8 May 1944 in Angola, Indiana. As her business improved, in 1945, Charles and Fran moved to Lancaster, Ohio in order to be closer to her suppliers. She obtained glassware from various manufacturers which she referred to as “blanks.” Blanks were simply plain, undecorated pieces of glassware which could be hand-painted with her own brand of design motifs and sold for a handsome profit. She purchased her blank glassware from Hazel Atlas Glass in Zanesville, Federal Glass of Columbus, Ohio, and of course…Anchor Hocking of Lancaster, Ohio. Anchor was just a few doors down from her Pierce Ave. business.
Fran Taylor, President of Gay Fad Productions - Photo courtesy of jean Steel Venrick
In 1947, Frances and Charles were divorced. They divorced in Lancaster, Ohio. Gay Fad Productions, Inc. was located at 210/220 Pierce Ave. Shortly after, Fran married her second husband, Bruce Taylor, who served as General Manager of the company. Fran and Bruce had a daughter together and resided in Lancaster, Ohio. The company was in existence for eighteen years and operated until 1963.
Fran prided herself on the artistic side of glass production. She even had a special secret for mass producing her art, but would continue to do some of the hand painted work which set her business apart from mass producing glass factories.
This portion of my blog is from my dear friend, Jean Steel Venrick. Bill and Jean Venrick are great lovers of history and wonderful friends. She supplied me with the following information . She advised me that she only worked at Gay Fad for a total of three of four months, but is able to recall a little of what day to day operations were in the factory itself. Her description is priceless since the company is no longer in existence. Jean’s recollections illustrate the balance between art and mass production at Gay Fad. These are her words:
“Inside we sat at round tables with moving tops, like lazy susans, and each of us girls painted a different (one) COLOR on the glass after they had been silk-screened by a machine. In the case of the Currier & Ives glasses I have, it was a brown colored “stenciled” image. Before I left there they had gone to a conveyor belt that moved along (past the girls) and as the glasses came by you dabbed (your) one color on the painted (base) image. That was stressful work to try to keep up with that conveyor belt.”
‘They still had the tables for more skilled painters who did such things as paint flowers — they were people who had good control of a brush. I have a set of glasses with flowers on them.. I also have a party set of plates, cups and saucers with ivy on them and a salt &pepper set with leaves on them.”
“As I remember, women did all the painting. There were some men who probably worked in the shipping department.”
“I don’t ever remember seeing Fran Taylor when I worked there. There was a woman floor supervisor whose name I can’t remember, maybe it was Lou. ”
Interior of Gay Fad Studios Photo Courtesy of Jean Venrick
While composing this blog, I earned a lot about Fran Taylor’s amazing life and came to admire her greatly. She had very humble beginnings from an economic standpoint, but she refused to live poorly. She rose above poverty and had a wonderful appreciation and enthusiasm for life that few could match. She was an unstoppable force who refused to give up her dream of being an artist during a time when many women did not venture out of their homes and embark on a career. She was…simply amazing. While Gay Fad was only one of the many glass production companies in this area of Ohio, it was the only one headed by an enterprising young woman. She was truly ahead of her time. Fran Taylor teaches us that through a little creativity and passion, anything is possible. Sadly, Fran Taylor died 14 August 1996 in San Jose, Santa Clara, California at the age of 81. She was truly an inspiration to all women and left us with a legacy of beautiful artistic glass which will continue to make an impact on generations to come. Thank you Fran for giving us beauty and teaching us to take pleasure in the little things.
Diary of a Rural Ohio Nomad 