{{Short description|American model (1903–1969)}} {{Infobox person | name = Baron George Wrangell | image = Baron George Wrangell (Hathaway eypatch guy).jpg | caption = Wrangell's first appearance as The Man in the Hathaway Shirt, 1951 | birth_date = September 1, 1903 | birth_place = Russian Empire | death_date = June 8, 1969 | death_place = New York City, US | occupation = Advertising model | family = Wrangel family }}

Baron '''George Wrangell''' (September 1, 1903, Russian Empire - June 8, 1969, New York City) was a Russian-American advertising model, noted as originating the role of "The Man in the Hathaway Shirt" in a long-running advertising campaign, one of America's most recognizable.<ref name=Museum/> ==Family== Wrangell was a Baltic German baron, a member of the noble Wrangel family, and a White Russian émigré after the fall of the Russian Empire. His parents were general Baron Nikolai Alexandrovitch Von Wrangel of Terpelitzy and Maria Vladmirovna. From 1916 his stepmother was Baroness Elizabeth Hoyningen-Huene. He was the nephew of Pyotr Wrangel, last commander of the white forces in the Russian south. He had two brothers, Vladimir and Nikolaus. He had three sisters, Maria, Vera, and Xenia.<ref name=Time/><!-- and brother to film director Basil Wrangell.--><ref>Presidential Library archive of Baron Nikolai Alexandrovitch Wrangel accessed 17 Oct 2024</ref>

==Life== Wrangell settled in New York, where he served as a society columnist for the ''New York Journal-American''.<ref name=Time2/>

Wrangell's "Man in the Hathway Shirt" character, who always sported an eyepatch, was created in 1951 by David Oglivy.<ref name=Time/> Ogilvy explained that the eyepatch was intended to turn the image from an ordinary product photo shoot into a story, leading readers to wonder who the man was and how he lost an eye,<ref name=Sitepoint/> drawing the reader into the rest of the story:<ref name=Swiped/> the typical Oglivy extensive ad copy. Oglivy, inspired by a photo of Ambassador Lewis Douglas,<ref name=Time/><ref name=Cracknell/> by serendipitous chance saw a pirate costume eyepatch in a store on the way to the first shoot, and elected to have Wrangell wear it for the ad.<ref name=BehindTheClouds/><ref name=Adland/> (Wrangell himself had full vision in both eyes.)

The eyepatch – never explained – gave Wrangell's character an air of mystery, allure, and intrigue. Wrangell's character – a worldly, distinguished-looking gentleman – displayed an aristocratic aura, and was shown in settings typical of a debonair man of leisure: composing music, playing chess, drinking wine, stepping off a plane, playing the cello, sailing, fencing, buying a Renoir, and so forth.<ref name=Museum/><ref name=Sitepoint/><ref name=IconicPhotos/><ref name=Swiped/><ref name=Adland/><ref name=Hatch/>

The campaign debuted in the September 22, 1951, issue<ref name=Cracknell/> of the literary, upmarket ''The New Yorker''<ref name=Adland/> and ran into the 1980s.<ref name=Museum/> Wrangell himself retired in 1961, and was replaced by other models.

The campaign was very successful, boosting the Hathaway shirt company's profile and sales to a considerable degree (sales increased more than 65% over the next four years)<ref name=Time3/> and influenced the future direction of the advertising industry itself and made Ogilvy's reputation.<ref name=Time3/><ref name=Sitepoint/><ref name=IconicPhotos/><ref name=BehindTheClouds/> Bob Garfield, writing in ''Advertising Age'', ranked the campaign at #22 on his list of 100 top advertising campaigns of the 20th century.<ref>{{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110511185517/http://adage.com/century/campaigns.html|date=May 11, 2011|title=TOP 100 ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS}}</ref>

==Death== Wrangell died in Manhattan of a heart attack in 1969.<ref name=Time2/>

==See also== *Commander Whitehead, a similarly debonair advertising character *The Most Interesting Man in the World, a similarly debonair advertising character

==References== <references>

<ref name=Time>{{cite magazine |url=https://time.com/archive/6797296/advertising-one-eyed-flattery/ |title=ADVERTISING: One-Eyed Flattery |date=June 23, 1952 |magazine=Time |accessdate=August 10, 2024}}</ref>

<ref name=Time2>{{cite magazine |url=https://content.time.com/time/magazine/0,9263,7601690620,00.html |title=Milestones|date=June 20, 1969 |magazine=Time |volume=93 |issue=26 |accessdate=August 11, 2024}}</ref>

<ref name=Time3>{{cite magazine |url=https://content.time.com/time/magazine/0,9263,7601560903,00.html |title=The Sophisticated Sell |date=September 3, 1965 |volume=68 |issue=10 |magazine=Time |accessdate=August 11, 2024}}</ref>

<ref name=Museum>{{cite web |url=https://mainestatemuseum.org/man-with-the-eyepatch/ |title=Remembering the C. F. Hathaway Company, Waterville Maine |date=3 June 2024 |publisher=Maine State Museum |accessdate=August 10, 2024}}</ref>

<ref name=Sitepoint>{{cite web |url=https://www.sitepoint.com/50-cent-eye-patch-created-million-dollar-story/ |title=How a 5-cent Eye-Patch Created a Million Dollar Story |author=Alex Walker |date=November 11, 2015 |publisher=Sitepoint |accessdate=August 10, 2024}}{{better source needed|date=August 2024}}</ref>

<ref name=IconicPhotos>{{cite web |url=https://iconicphotos.wordpress.com/tag/george-wrangell/ |title=The Man in the Hathaway Shirt |author= |date=October 16, 2015 |work=Iconic Photos |accessdate=August 10, 2024}}{{better source needed|date=August 2024}}</ref>

<ref name=BehindTheClouds>{{cite web |url=https://dietrolenuvole.com/2021/01/07/historyad-the-man-in-the-hathaway-shirt/ |title=#HistoryAd: The Man in the Hathaway Shirt |author=Alessandro Diele |date=January 7, 2021 |work=Dietro le Nuvole |accessdate=August 10, 2024 |language=Italian}}{{better source needed|date=August 2024}}</ref>

<ref name=Swiped>{{cite web |url=https://swiped.co/file/man-hathaway-shirt-ad-david-ogilvy/ |title="The Man In The Hathaway Shirt" Ad by David Ogilvy |author=Mike Schauer |work=Swiped |accessdate=August 10, 2024}}</ref>

<ref name=Adland>{{cite book |last=Tungate |first=Mark |title=Adland: A Global History of Advertising |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yzNacuCWL8UC&dq=ogilvy+hathaway+wrangell+eyepatch&pg=PA42 |accessdate=August 11, 2024 |year=2013 |publisher=Kogan Page |isbn=978-0749464318 |page=42}}</ref>

<ref name=Hatch>{{cite book |last1=Hatch |first1=Steve |last2=Taylor |first2=Jim |title=Rigorous Magic: Communication Ideas and their Application |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Cc8NBNQq_3wC&pg=PT36 |accessdate=August 11, 2024 |year=2007 |publisher=Wiley |isbn=978-0470026014 |pages=36–37}}</ref>

<ref name=Cracknell>{{cite book |last=Cracknell |first=Andrew |title=The Real Mad Men: The Renegades of Madison Avenue and the Golden Age of Advertising |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yYxXDgAAQBAJ&dq=ogilvy+hathaway+wrangell+eyepatch&pg=PT35 |accessdate=August 11, 2024 |year=2012 |publisher=Runnng Press |isbn=978-0762440900 |page=35}}</ref>

</references>

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wrangell, George}} Category:1903 births Category:1969 deaths Category:Baltic-German people from the Russian Empire Category:Barons of the Russian Empire George Category:Russian exiles Category:White Russian emigrants to the United States Category:Models from the Russian Empire Category:Russian male models Category:Expatriate models Category:Male models from New York (state) Category:Models from New York City Category:Male characters in advertising Category:Clothing advertising characters