Morris Wilkins

Morris Benjamin Wilkins (March 21, 1925 – May 25, 2015) was the inventor of the heart-shaped bathtub and the champagne glass bathtub. He is credited for helping establish the Pocono Mountains in northeast Pennsylvania as the "honeymoon capital of the world."

Early years

The oldest of three children, Wilkins was born in Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania, to immigrants. His father, Benjamin Wilkins, was a tailor from Russia and his mother, the former Rose Katz, was from Hungary. At age 17, shortly after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Wilkins enlisted in the United States Navy. He served in the Pacific Theater on two submarines, USS Rasher and USS Gurnard, and was trained as an electrician. After his discharge from the Navy, Wilkins started an electrical contracting business, but it was destroyed by Hurricane Diane in 1955. Wilkins built the first six tubs himself, pouring concrete into a heart-shaped mold and covering them with red tile. In January 1971 Life magazine featured a two-page photograph of a couple smooching in one of the red-tiled "sweetheart tubs" at Cove Haven. They described it as "affluent vulgarity."

The heart-shaped tub became a symbol of the Pocono resort business. Rival resorts also installed heart-shaped tubs, as Wilkins had never secured a patent. According to Local Flair Magazine, "These iconic tubs symbolized romance and luxury for couples looking to retreat to a scenic and quiet getaway without having to travel far."

There were conflicting accounts as to how Wilkins came up with the idea for the tub.

Caesars World

In 1969 Wilkins and O'Brien sold Cove Haven to Caesars World of Las Vegas. Some of Wilkins's ideas, including mirrors on the ceilings, circular beds, and heart-shaped bathtubs, would appear at other Caesars resorts in Las Vegas and Tahoe. Wilkins said, "I went to a Caesars board meeting and there I was, sitting around the table with these high-powered guys from Las Vegas. I pulled out a picture of a champagne glass and they looked at me like I was nuts." He said that it cost about $150,000 to design and make the molds for the champagne glass tubs. Speck Plastics in Wind Gap, Pennsylvania, manufactured the tubs for about $15,000 each.

According to Wilkins, "We figured that we would have to build an extraordinary space to house this type of whirlpool, so we designed a four-level suite with a romantic spa-like environment." In 1988 Wilkins was granted a patent for the champagne glass bathtub (D294290). Sally Kilbridge, travel editor for Bride's magazine, wrote, "The champagne glass-that was a real engineering marvel." Another travel writer said that sitting in the champagne glass tub "made her feel like the olive in a martini."

After his wife Lois's death in 2002, Wilkins moved to Palm Springs, California, before finally settling in Las Vegas, Nevada. He died of heart failure on May 25, 2015, at the age of ninety, and his funeral was held at Congregation Beth Israel in Honesdale, Pennsylvania. He was buried in Honesdale. Carl Wilgus, President and CEO of the Pocono Mountains Visitors Bureau, credited Wilkins and other marketers for developing a "mystic, romantic view of the Pocono Mountains." Some sources erroneously state that Griffith played Morris Wilkins.