The Bobby Pin was invented shortly after World War I by the cosmetics manufacturer Luis Marcus and became popular during the ensuing Flapper Era, when short “bob cut” or “bobbed hair” styles were all the rage. A similar hairpin was made by the English manufacturers Kirby, Beard & Co., Ltd. and trademarked as a “Kirbigrip.” Marcus considered likewise naming his invention after himself, but opted for dubbing it the “bobby pin” to reflect the hair style it was most frequently used to maintain. His handmade bobby pins originally sold in pairs for 35- cents, not a paltry sum in those days. The uses of the bobby pin quickly expanded to include being slipped over book pages as a bookmark, replacing a clothespin for drying lightweight articles, for closing a bread or snack bag between uses, to thread laces through heavy materials, and (as Emmer discovered) they can be straightened out and used to pick a lock.