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4711

Coordinates: 50°56′18″N 6°57′08″E / 50.93833°N 6.95222°E / 50.93833; 6.95222
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4711 Eau de Cologne

4711 (pronounced "forty-seven eleven", "four-seven-eleven" or "siebenundvierzig elf") is a brand of Eau de Cologne by Mäurer & Wirtz, a subsidiary of the Dalli Group owned by the Wirtz family. It is produced in Stolberg near Aachen, Germany.

History

Farina's bulletin concerning Mülhens, Frankfurter Nachrichtsblätter, 20 September 1805

At the outset of the 18th century, Italian expatriate Johann Maria Farina (1685–1766) created a new fragrance and named it Eau de Cologne ("water from Cologne"), after his new residence, Cologne. Over the course of the century, the fragrance became increasingly popular.

In 1803, Wilhelm Mülhens bought license and company rights from a person named Carlo Francesco Farina, unrelated to the Farina family of the perfume business. Mülhens resold this licence to more than twenty individual people; however, in 1835 these transactions were voided and judged as invalid by a court and the illegitimate 'Farina' companies were liquidated. Nevertheless, the son of Wilhelm Mülhens set out to find another unaffiliated Farina in Italy, making him a business partner instead of merely buying rights to his name. Another company by the name of Farina was established.

In 1881, a court ruled that Ferdinand Mühlens, grandson of Wilhelm Mülhens, was not allowed to ever again use the company name of Farina. He then chose his office's former house number, 4711, as a name for his brand and company. This number had been in effect between 1797 and 1811, as Cologne had switched from the city-wide numbering system (implemented during the occupation by French troops) to the more common street-wide house numbering in 1811, so the house was in fact No. 12 at this time.

The company name was Eau de Cologne & Parfümerie Fabrik Glockengasse No. 4711 gegenüber der Pferdepost von Ferd. Mülhens in Köln am Rhein until 1990, but was then renamed Mülhens GmbH & Co. KG.

In 1994, the company of the Mülhens family was bought by Wella AG, Darmstadt, Germany. Since 1997, Wella operated its cosmetic activities under the name Cosmopolitan Cosmetics GmbH, although the name Mülhens GmbH & Co. KG has still been in use. In 2003, Wella AG was taken over by American competitor Procter & Gamble.

In the summer of 2006, Procter & Gamble announced its intention of selling the "local" 4711 brand, along with three other former Mühlens brands, in an effort to focus its portfolio on "global" brands. Several interested parties competed over a period of several months until it was announced in December 2006 that the brand rights <--! There is no previous introduction of this building; readers without sufficient background information might be confused: "and the famous Glockengasse building" --> had been sold to the perfume company Mäurer & Wirtz of Aachen, a subsidiary of the Dalli Group.

House number 4711

Glockengasse 4 in Cologne, the headquarter of 4711
Third address book of Cologne, 1797, page 179
4711 advertisement at Cologne Central Station, which has covered the station's western facade for several decades as of 2010

On October 3, 1794, in view of the French troops standing just outside of Cologne, the city council approved of the plan the guard-committee proposed to number all houses in the city without exception and to install what would be considered appropriate lighting depending on the location. Order was given to install the lighting immediately, while the numbering was left to fate.[1]

On October 6, 1794, French troops occupied the city. On October 7, 1794, the city council decided that every local government official had to hand in an inventory of all citizens and non-citizens in his district within 48 hours. Furthermore, the guard-committee recieved the autorisation to number the houses accordingly.[2]

On October 20, 1794, senator Gottfried von Gall noted in his diary that the numbering and the written documentation of the houses which started eight days earlier is being continued.[3]

The printer Heinrich Josef Metternich (a council member) applied for the permission to publish an address calendar. The calendar was supposed to, amongst other things, include the house numbers, which had recently been assigned. He also seeks permission to collect all relevant details.[4]

In the second address book of Cologne (1797), the widow of Wilhelm von Lemmen seel. was still listed as the tenant of the Klöckergasse house which had been given number 4711.[5]

Wilhelm Mülhens is listed as the tenant of the house no sooner than in the third edition of the address book of Cologne; his occupation is listed as "in Speculationsgeschaeften" (which translates to speculator). He is not yet listed under the manufacturers of Eau de Cologne in the mercantile directory.[6]

In 1811, the continuous house numbering is changed into the system of numbering streets separately, as it is common today.

In the preface to the 1813 French edition of the address book, the editor <--! German Wikipedia claims publisher instead of editor --> Thiriart claims that there had not been any house numbering before the arrival of the French in the city ("inconnu á Cologne avant l´arrivée des armées françaises au bord du Rhin") and that the order to number the houses had been given in 1795.[7]

In 1854 Peter Joseph Mülhens moved from Glockengasse 12 into a newly constructed commercial building with a neo-gothic facade in Glockengasse 26-28. Glockengasse 12, which was assigned the number 4711 in 1794, remained vacant for a period of time and was torn down after it was sold. [8]

The depiction of a French military officer painting the house number 4711 on the facade of the house in the Glockengasse while sitting on his horse is a product of advertising. A piece of tapestry, a gobelin, which had been ordered and made in the 1920s, served as a model. The scenic version of it spread widely in the 1950s and the 1960s.[9]

Cultural references

The number 4711 is sometimes used by software engineers where an indeterminate, but specific, number is needed.[10]

In Finland the phonenumber (09) 4711 is a direct line to Poison Information Centre, that answers questions concerning the prevention and treatment of acute poisonings every day around the clock.[11]

In Yevgeny Zamyatin's novel We, the name of S-4711 is a reference to the Eau de Cologne.[12]

In The Rocky Horror Picture Show, 4711 is tattooed on Frank's upper thigh.[13]

Electronic musician Vladimir Ussachevsky composed a work called Improvisation on 4711 (1958).[14]

The German Navy during World War II issued vast amounts of 4711 perfume to the submariners of the U-Boat fleet. As there were limited facilities and few opportunities for bathing the perfume would be used in an attempt to improve the odour aboard the vessel. Crews typically didn't use much of the perfume and would take home bottles as presents for mothers, wives, or girlfriends.[15]

"4711 Kommando" was a slang term used in the Buchenwald Concentration Camp to refer to a latrine work detail[16]

Are You Being Served? - In Series 8, Episode 5 [Heir Apparent], Mr Humphries (playing the cross-dressing role of his mother) picks up a handkerchief allegedly belonging to her son (i.e. himself). She (he) sniffs it and says "So that's what happened to my 4711!". In Series 9, Episode 1 [The Sweet Smell of Success], Mr. Humphries answers the phone in menswear, identifying himself as 'Assistant 4711'.

Holly Golightly sprinkles her neck with this cologne in the novella Breakfast at Tiffany's.

Notes

  1. ^ HAStK, Bestand 10 (Ratsprotokolle) Nr. 241 Bl. 216v.
  2. ^ HAStK, Bestand 10 (Ratsprotokolle) Nr. 241 Bl. 225v.
  3. ^ HAStK, Bestand 7030 (Chron. u. Darst.) Nr. 175, Bl. 71v.
  4. ^ HAStK, Bestand 350 (Franz. Verw.) Nr. 306, Blatt 3-6
  5. ^ RWWA Abt.33, 2. Adreßbuch: Gemeinnütziger Addresse-Kalender der Stadt Köllen, Cologne 1797, page 103
  6. ^ RWWA Abt.33, 3. Adreßbuch: Verzeichnis der Stadt-Kölnischen Einwohner, Cologne 1797, page 179.
  7. ^ RWWA Abt.33, Itinéraire de Cologne, 1813, page 12.
  8. ^ RWWA Abt.33 Kölner Adressbücher.Economic Archive of Rhine Westphalia, section 33, Cologne Street Indexes
  9. ^ RWWA Abt.33, 160 Jahre N° 4711 1752-1952, Cologne 1952, o. S.
  10. ^ "Business entities like account 4711, customer Jones, account 007, customer Smith are located on the banking company server." Software Architectures: Advances and Applications.
    The point of the crash usually looks something like this "function+0x4711". MirOS Manual: crash(8).
    Also have a look at articles on Metasyntactic variable and Placeholder name.
  11. ^ Poison Information Centre Meilahti Hospital, Helsinki
  12. ^ Ermolaev, Herman; Edwards, T. R. N. (1982). "Review of Three Russian Writers and the Irrational: Zamyatin, Pil'nyak, and Bulgakov by T. R. N. Edwards". Russian Review. 41 (4): 531–532. doi:10.2307/129905. JSTOR 129905. {{cite journal}}: Cite has empty unknown parameters: |quotes= and |coauthors= (help); Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
  13. ^ Official RHPS FAQ Web Page (errors and trivia) What does 4711 mean?
  14. ^ Sitsky, Larry (2002), Music of the Twentieth-Century Avant-Garde: A Biocritical Sourcebook.
  15. ^ Taken from interview with Peter Peterson in the DVD documentary `U-Boat War Attack America´ Produced and directed by Nigel Turner 2004. ITN/Discovery Channel MCMXCVII. Peter Peterson served aboard a German Type IX submarine U-518 during the second world war.
  16. ^ Stein, Harry. Konzentrationslager Buchenwald, 1937-1945. [1].

References

  • Stiftung Rheinisch-Westfälisches Wirtschaftsarchiv (RWWA), Cologne: Genuine files 1803 u. Mülhens letters May 9, 1802 / June 22, 1819 / June 27, 1819 / October 31, 1824 / January 20, 1826 / February 3, 1826 / January 11, 1827
  • Abt.33, Stiftung Rheinisch-Westfälisches Wirtschaftsarchiv (RWWA), Cologne. [2]
  • Ulrich S. Soénius: Mülhens, Fabrikanten von Kölnisch Wasser. Familienartikel mit Einzelbiographien Wilhelm, Peter Joseph, Ferdinand und Peter Paul Mülhens. In: Neue Deutsche Biographie, Bd. 18, Berlin 1997, S. 299-303.
Wikimedia Commons has media related to 4711 (brand).

50°56′18″N 6°57′08″E / 50.93833°N 6.95222°E / 50.93833; 6.95222

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