Jane Hushea won't call herself a trailblazer. Nor will she call herself a woman ahead of the times. Her humility, however, doesn't negate the fact that she was-in the 1950s-both of those things when it came to optical design and display. Hushea, now long retired and living in Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., made quite a splash some 40 years ago by doing what very few dispensers were doing-making a big deal out of promotional displays. Hushea was a society reporter for a Canton, Ohio newspaper before marrying Fred Hushea, a Canton optician. She then became his dispensary's window dresser and chief promotions officer, and quickly set about turning the heads of passersby and capturing the attention of the local press and national trade publications.

Hushea's philosophy was a simple one: Create window displays that get attention and educate people about the importance-and fashion-of eyewear. Her ever-changing window displays touted such concepts as "wardrobes for the eyes," (sound familiar?), protecting the eyes from the sun's glare, back-to-school frame promotion, and the importance of taking care of your eyes.

"We try to convey to the patient that our dispensing store is alert to new merchandise and that we are bringing the best of all types of optical merchandise to the people," Hushea says in an article she wrote in the January, 1957 issue of the Dispensing Optician about advertising and promotion. That magazine also ran a profile on Hushea, as did Display World magazine (1959) and Visual Merchandising and Display magazine, as recently as 1999.

"Display need not be expensive, but common sense helps," Hushea tells Eyecare Business. In fact, she got most of the materials she used right from her local five-and-dime store. A little creativity goes a long way. She explains that when designing her windows, the vendors were helpful in loaning items that added to the displays- something that's common merchandising practice these days.

Hushea apparently embraced the idea of "less is more" with her displays, since several of them included very few, if any, frames. A "Glare is Everywhere" window promoting sunwear incorporated a photo of a motorist, a cardboard sun, and cut-outs of license plates, but not one pair of sunwear. In fact, most of her windows were big on message, and small on product. The product is there, but is not the main focus of the windows.

As a retired display artist, Hushea says she enjoys seeing the importance that is now placed on promotion and display design...a concept she embraced long ago, and believes all successful dispensers should embrace today. EB