SUMMER AT TIFFANY is a memoir of the summer of 1945, when Marjorie Jacobson and her best friend Marty travelled from the Kappa House at the University of Iowa to New York City, hoping to land sales jobs at Lord and Taylor or Sak's Fifth Avenue. Turned away from the top department stores, they made their way to 57th Street where refusing to be deterred, Marty lead Marjorie into the legendary Tiffany store, and somehow these best friends talked their way into positions as pagesandndash;the first women to ever work on the sales floor. Their salary left them penniless and pondering the "Wheaties and Celery Diet," but their diamond filled dayandndash;job was the envy of other romantic minded girls who had flocked to New York City that steamy June. Their dream was made complete by their Manhattan apartmentandndash;conveniently close to the dashing Navy Midshipmen at Columbia University, and their college friends summering on Long Island.

Their workdays found the girls dazzled by the likes of honeymooners Judy Garland and Vincent Minnelli, Marlene Dietrich in her USO uniform, and legendary playboy Jimmy Donohue. They delivered and modelled priceless jewels, nearly lost precious pearls, and encountered Old Man Tiffany himself during a rare visit. In between getting lost in Harlem , witnessing the Eisenhower Parade, VJ Day in Times Square, and mingling with the Cafe Societyandndash;Marjorie Hart fell in love, learned lessons and made decisions that would impact the rest of her life.

"At the age of 82, Hart, a professional cellist, recalls 1945, when she and her best friend, Marty, students at the University of Iowa, spent the summer in Manhattan, in this pleasant but slight memoir. Failing to obtain work at Lord & Taylor, the pair, self-described as long-limbed, blue-eyed blondes, were hired at Tiffany's — the first female floor sales pages, delivering packages to the repair and shipping department, for $20 a week. Hart details their stringent budget ('1. Two nickels for subway. 2. Sandwich at the Automat: 15 cents') and describes, somewhat breathlessly, what a thrill it was to see such luminaries as Marlene Dietrich and Judy Garland shop at the fabled store. Her romance with a midshipman, the combat death of her cousin, the news of the dropping of the first atomic bomb and a vivid account of the celebration in Times Square after Japan's surrender convey a sense of the WWII era, but without adding much illumination. She does, however, evoke New York City as seen through the eyes of two innocent smalltown girls. 16 pages of b&w photos and illus." Publishers Weekly (Copyright Reed Business Information, Inc.)

“A charming memoir. That Ms. Hart (82), is a first time author at the high end of life is an inspiration to all of us who feel creativity should bubble on productively no matter the age. If anybody imagines that all older people have memory problems, they should read Marjorie Hart!” Mel Walsh, author of Hot Granny: Fabulous at 50, 60 and Beyond!

“Remarkably, this winsome memoir was written 60 years after that giddy summer spent pinching pennies and dreaming of diamonds, yet Hart’s infectious vivacity resonates with a madcap immediacy, delectably capturing the city’s heady vibrancy and a young girl’s guileless enchantment.” Booklist

“This warm account of more innocent times makes an unspoken comparison with the way we live now. A fond backward glance.” Kirkus Reviews

"A charming story of a charmed summer in an era gone by. I didn't want Marjorie Hart's effervescent memoir to end." Emily Giffin, author of Baby Proof, Something Borrowed, and Something Blue

Do you remember the best summer of your life?

New York City, 1945. Marjorie Jacobson and her best friend, Marty Garrett, arrive fresh from the Kappa house at the University of Iowa hoping to find summer positions as shopgirls. Turned away from the top department stores, they miraculously find jobs as pages at Tiffany & Co., becoming the first women to ever work on the sales floor—a diamond-filled day job replete with Tiffany blue shirtwaist dresses from Bonwit Teller's—and the envy of all their friends.

Hart takes us back to the magical time when she and Marty rubbed elbows with the rich and famous; pinched pennies to eat at the Automat; experienced nightlife at La Martinique; and danced away their weekends with dashing midshipmen. Between being dazzled by Judy Garland's honeymoon visit to Tiffany, celebrating VJ Day in Times Square, and mingling with Café society, she fell in love, learned unforgettable lessons, made important decisions that would change her future, and created the remarkable memories she now shares with all of us.

While the boys were overseas, find out what the girls were doing in this charmingly delightful, wonderfully nostalgic memoir of one unforgettable summer in New York City during the waning days of World War II.

Marjorie Hart, now eighty-three, is the former chairman of the Fine Arts Department at the University of San Diego and a professional cellist. She lives in La Mesa, California.