Consolidated Novelty
CONSOLIDATED NOVELTY
50 Spruce St.
Paterson NJ
and
11 Willow St
Amsterdam NY
Celebrated for bottle-brush trees, wreaths and novelties, the Consolidated Novelty Company introduced a limited line of aluminum Christmas trees during the peak of the era. Silver is the only color noted by The Aluminum Forest, but we would ADORE hearing from you if you have something more interesting!
Consolidated Novelty used the dreaded and ill-conceived honeycomb storage systems. To make a bad design worse, the honeycomb is permanently affixed inside the box. If you are fortunate enough to obtain an elusive aluminum tree by Consolidated, it is advisable to store the branches in an aftermarket storage system.
The company began at 50 Spruce St. in Paterson, New Jersey. Later, Consolidated expanded to Amsterdam, NY. Henry Adelman was company owner and president and employed his son-in-law, Jerome Mittelberg, as vice-president. This company is another example of a tightly-knit operation of trusted family members. Although not much has been discovered yet about the aluminum tree aspect of their company, Consolidated Novelty was a big player in the Christmas market, and thus deserves to be squarely placed in the pantheon of The First Families of Aluminum Trees.
It is not known what patent, if any, covered Consolidated Novelty.
The Aluminum Forest tried in earnest to contact descendants of Henry Adelman and wife Rose, as well as descendants of company vice-president, Jerome Mittelberg. Though some were found, they did not respond.
Considering the lack of information on the aluminum trees of Consolidated Novelty, here we simply share some newsy tidbits that were uncovered while researching:
- 1956: While closed for Decoration Day, burglars cracked a safe at Consolidated and stole $1,000. (The News, Peterson, NJ, 5/31/1956)
- 1961: Burglary reported. A soda machine was forced open and soda taken. Female employee also said a pair of shoes was also stolen. (The News, Paterson, NJ 4/25/1961)
- 1966: Firefighters responded to a 2-alarm fire on July 18. An electrical spark caused the blaze, which was exacerbated by stored paper. The blaze was contained in short order and damage to the brick building was considered moderate. (The Morning Call, Paterson, NJ, 7/19/1966)
- 1969: An inside job of theft of Yule lights was reported on Sept 24. According to the arresting officer, a juvenile female employee put the lights in a box on the fire escape for accomplice Thomas Bannister to take.
Now you know all that is known in The Aluminum Forest regarding Consolidated Novelty.
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