Inside a Charm School for “Elevator Girls” From the 1940s

In 1947, the Marshall Field & Co. department store in Chicago launched a highly publicized eight-week charm school training program for its female elevator operators. The program aimed to give these “elevator girls” the same glamorous, highly polished profile as the airline stewardesses of the era.

Twice a week, small groups of operators were taken away from their manual lifts and sent to a flossy charm school in the Chicago Loop to undergo rigorous refinement. Operators practiced voice modulation to announce floors in distinct, pleasant, and well-modulated tones. They were explicitly taught how to clearly enunciate luxury merchandise items like “lingerie, bric-a-brac, and budget millinery.”

The women learned the art of walking, sitting, and standing decorously. They rehearsed maintaining a perfectly straight, modest posture for hours while operating the elevator cars. Training included lessons on how to apply a proper makeup powder base seamlessly into the hairline and style their hair uniformly. To maintain a specific uniform aesthetic, the program included rigorous “reducing exercises” where the women were kneaded and pummeled to manage physical presentation.

The uniform-clad elevator girls grew incredibly famous, standing poised outside their elevator banks like a chorus line. While LIFE magazine noted that the “finished” ladies appeared happier and more beautiful, the program did not result in any measurable increase in store sales.

The program referenced a famous alumna, actress Dorothy Lamour (born Mary Leta Lambour), who had briefly worked as a Marshall Field’s elevator operator before her Hollywood career took off. LIFE photographer George Skadding was given a behind the scenes look at the training and the makeovers these operators received. His photo of women in their uniforms stationed outside elevator doors almost has the feel of a chorus line.

This hyper-focus on human-mediated politeness and gendered service rituals represented the absolute peak of manual elevator glamour. Shortly after this era, the rise of automated push-button elevators began making the specialized role obsolete in American retail.