Elizabeth Taylor gown and hat designed by Walter Plunkett

 From the epic "Raintree County" made in 1957 

One of the great beauties of classic Hollywood, a truly great actress, and one of my all time favorites, Elizabeth Taylor had a remarkable career and life that still fascinates to this day. From her breakout starring role in "National Velvet" to her 1950's classics like "Father of the Bride" and "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof" to her Oscar winning roles in "Butterfield 8," and "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf," she played almost every kind of part over the years in her storied career. Her private life at times eclipsed her professional life, even overshadowing some of her great performances. Personally I've always felt she was probably the most beautiful woman that ever lived. No wonder she played Cleopatra, she'd give the real Cleopatra a run for her money! Taylor remains one of the biggest and most famous stars of the classic era, or any era for that matter. 

 

The gown is grey silk with a black chiffon and lace overlay, and black silk waistband. The hat is grey silk over straw, with a black velvet band. Walter Plunkett was known for his period designs, most famously for "Gone With the Wind" which Raintree is similar to. He designed some lovely gowns for both Taylor and co-star Eva Marie Saint. 

Here's the original wardrobe test shot where she's posing with co-star Montgomery Clift. My thanks to the Academy Library for providing this rare image!

The gown was originally sold in the MGM auction, lot W-506, and over the years it was sold in a few other auctions at Christie's and elsewhere. It's nice to now have it in the archive, and the hat came along many years later surfacing in Debbie Reynolds' collection. It was for sale one day on her website as her son Todd was selling off more of the costumes and things that hadn't gone to auction. I was shocked when I saw it and so glad to be able to reunite it with the gown!

The image below shows it being worn in the movie, however the scene was cut from the version that can be seen today. Originally Raintree was over 3 hours long for the premiere roadshow engagement, but about 15 minutes were cut when it went into regular theaters. There has been talk over the years of restoring the movie to it's original length in HD, but nothing has happened yet. It can still be seen on TCM from time to time. At least there are the great images of her in it. 

Here's the label in the hat, and below that one of the labels in the gown

1692 is the production number for Raintree. MGM used a sequential numbering system starting with three numbers back in the early 1930's, so by 1957 they had progressed this far. Costumes were typically labeled with the movie's production number and the star's name.

This image (the same seen at the top) is pictured in a "making of" booklet that came out when the movie was released -

 

 Thank you for checking out Ms. Taylor and the site!

 

 

A beaded evening gown worn by Ginger Rogers to the 1965 Emmy Awards

 

A stunning black micro beaded evening gown trimmed in tulle that Ginger wore as a presenter

Ginger Rogers, undeniably one of the greatest stars of Hollywood's Golden Age. She could do it all, comedy, drama, sing, dance, and had a career lasting 6 decades, from the early 30's through the early 80's. 

Her greatest decade was the 30's, when she first burst on the scene singing "We're in the Money" in pig latin in Busby Berkeley's "Gold Diggers of 1933." It was not long after that she teamed up with Fred Astaire to create some of the most beloved musicals of all time. Their incredible dancing, on screen chemistry, and original songs by the likes of the Gershwins, Irving Berlin, Jerome Kern, Dorothy Fields, etc, made for movie magic, with the Art Deco gloss that was 30's Hollywood thrown in. To this day you can't watch one of those movies and not feel good. 

She also excelled at comedy, in movies like "Vivacious Lady," "Bachelor Mother," "Fifth Avenue Girl," and the classic comedy-drama "Stage Door" which has one of the greatest female casts ever assembled on screen.

In 1940 she won the Best Actress Oscar for her portrayal of a simple girl trying to navigate life in "Kitty Foyle." Another excellent drama from this time period is "Primrose Path" and the wartime drama "Tender Comrade."

Her career continued on a high note through the 40's, with the lavish "Lady in the Dark" as one of her best,  and in the 50's she excelled in the comedy "Monkey Business" and was truly sinister in the film noir "Black Widow."

She made fewer movies in the 60's and focused on stage, nightclub, and television work which she continued to do right through the 80's. She brought "Mame" to the London stage to great success and also toured with "Hello Dolly." Her nightclub act in the 70's and 80's played all of the major U.S. showrooms and even Radio City Music Hall. 

In the early 90's she released her autobiography, and continued to do book signings and appearances before her passing in 1995. 

 

 

Ginger has always been one of my all time favorites since I was a kid. I fell in love with the Astaire/Rogers movies and continued to watch Ginger in just about everything she ever did. I'm fortunate to have a few things from her in the collection, and my favorite is probably this gown since it's just so stunning, and she looks so radiant in it. 

Ginger gave out the award for best actor and actress, which went to Alfred Lunt and Lynne Fontanne for their performances in Hallmark Hall of Fame's production of "The Magnificent Yankee" which was based on the life of Supreme Court justice Oliver Wendell Holmes. Joan Crawford and Melvyn Douglas collected the awards for the Lunts. It's great to see these Hollywood legends all together at the ceremony.

Here's a closer up image of the beadwork. All done in a stripe pattern, it's just so well made. I wish I knew who the designer is. It's unlabeled and she most likely had it custom made by one of the designers of that time. I'm thinking maybe Donfeld? It's a little early to be Mackie. And I'm just assuming it's a Hollywood designer. 

Thanks for checking out my small tribute to the great Ginger Rogers. Amazing how it's 2022 and she's still such a beloved star of Hollywood's classic era, and deservedly so.

Veronica Lake costume from Paramount Studios designed by Edith Head

This Veronica Lake costume was designed by Edith Head for the movie "Saigon" made in 1948

"Saigon" is a tale of espionage and romance set in the Far East, and Lake co-stars with her frequent leading man, Alan Ladd. They became a popular on screen couple after their breakout roles in "This Gun For Hire" one of the more famous film noirs of the 40's. Their on screen chemistry was so intense that Paramount decided to team them up three more times, with "Saigon" being their last outing together. 

Veronica Lake found stardom practically overnight after playing a sexy nightclub singer in "I Wanted Wings," and her next film, Preston Sturges' "Sullivans Travels" co-starring Joel McCrea, made her an 'A' list leading lady at Paramount. During the 1940's she starred in many top movies at the studio before her career waned by the early 50's. She was also one of the pinup girls of WWII, and her famous "peek-a-boo" hairstyle of her bangs hanging down over one eye became a rage in 1941 and was widely copied by women who wanted the same sexy look. With that hairstyle and her smoldering beauty she became one of the sex symbols of the 1940's and was regarded as one of the most beautiful women in film.

For about 10 years she was a top star, but it all ended very suddenly and she practically fell into oblivion. There's the famous story of her living in a hotel in NYC and waiting tables there just to get by. However she did continue to act on stage and TV and also wrote an autobiography. Her life is one of those Hollywood stories that is almost folklore, of how it can give you fame and fortune and then it all disappears. Regardless of that, she does leave a lasting legacy of beauty on the screen, and is probably the most legendary actress of the 'film noir' genre. 

In "Saigon" she wears the costume for a long portion, as they are traveling to Saigon on a boat, and then arriving and checking into a hotel. It's a good 15 minutes of the movie and it's nice to see a costume on screen for that long. 

Designed by Edith Head, who ran the Paramount wardrobe department for decades, the costume is a cream silk crepe tunic with a brown paisley design, with side slits and raised buttons down one side, and matching cream silk wide leg pants. Both pieces have Paramount labels with "Lake" written on each, as well as Paramount Ladies Wardrobe stamps. 

 A view of the back...

I came to acquire the costume in a roundabout sort of way. It was originally sold in the 1990 Christies sale of selected costumes from the Paramount archives. It was bought by Debbie Reynolds in that sale, and then the tunic turned up at auction about 10 years ago when she sold a few things from her collection. At the time I didn't know about the pants, I assumed they were long gone. Then I stumbled upon the Christies catalog and saw the pants listed with the tunic, and thought that perhaps Debbie might still have them. As it turns out, the two pieces had gotten split up in her extensive collection over the years, and thankfully I was able to purchase the pants directly to put the costume back together. It's great that she bought it and preserved it in the incredible archive that she amassed, saving so many costumes and Hollywood artifacts, and I'm happy to now own it and hope to exhibit it someday. 

 

"Saigon" was recently released on blu-ray by Kino Lorber, and I highly recommend it. The movie has never been available in any type of home media format, so it's nice to finally be able to watch it, and not from a grainy bootleg. The story is actually quite good, more melodramatic than their other noirs but well worth watching for any Lake/Ladd fan.

Billie Burke movie costume from 1938

Legendary actress Billie Burke wore this hat in the 1938 comedy "The Young In Heart". It co-starred Janet Gaynor, Douglas Fairbanks Jr, Roland Young, Paulette Goddard and was produced by David O. Selznick.

Billie Burke will forever be remembered as Glinda the Good Witch in what is arguably the most famous movie of all time "The Wizard of Oz." But she had a lengthy career in motion pictures, playing character parts in dozens of movies throughout. She was also married to the great Broadway impresario Florenz Ziegfeld of "Ziegfeld Follies" and "Show Boat" fame, who is still renowned as one of the greatest producers in the history of the theater.

She began her career on Broadway during the early 1900's, and segued into motion pictures during the earliest days of the silent era. She was very successful, and continued to work steadily in the industry until 1960. Her heyday was the 1930's and 40's where she played in such memorable classics as "Dinner at Eight" as Lionel Barrymore's wealthy, flighty wife, in "The Man Who Came To Dinner" as a long suffering host to Monty Wooley, and in the series of popular "Topper" movies, the best being 1941's "Topper Returns." In 1938 she was nominated for a Best Supporting Actress Oscar for "Merrily We Live" her only nomination.

She had a unique career in that she worked freelance in the movies during a time when most actors were under contract to one particular studio. It was probably due to the fact that she was already well established as a personality in the business when she started making movie after movie during the 30's and 40's. She had perfected the role of the elegant, flighty, comedic wife or mother and was sought out for those types of roles. And although excellent in them, she could handle drama as well. She's revelatory as Bette Davis' depressed mother in "In This Our Life" or as Katharine Hepburn's mother in "A Bill of Divorcement," dealing with the strain of estranged husband John Barrymore's return.

In "The Young In Heart" she plays the matriarch of a family of con-artists, with frequent co-star Roland Young as her husband and Janet Gaynor and Douglas Fairbanks Jr. as their children. The story revolves around them trying to swindle a wealthy old woman (played by Minnie Dupree) out of her fortune, but as good things start happening in their lives and as kind as the old woman is to them, they begin to think of her as family. When she becomes ill they are genuinely concerned and help her get back on her feet. It has a happy ending with both children marrying their significant others - Fairbanks to Paulette Goddard and Gaynor to Richard Carlson.

She wears the hat when they first arrive at the wealthy old woman's house in London ...

The hat is labeled with a Selznick Studios label with her name and production/inventory number. It's kind of remarkable that the hat survives, since very few Selznick labeled pieces have ever surfaced. Most of the ones that have are ladies costumes from "Gone With the Wind" that still exist, and they too are predominantly hats and bonnets. (And a handful of Vivien Leigh's gowns are in various archives).

The hat also bears a Nicole de Paris label, the French milliner who originally made it, and labels from 20th Century Fox and Western Costume. It seems to have been re-used a lot over the years from the other labels being in it, which is probably why it's survived. Costume design for the movie was by Omar Kiam, but obviously the hat was bought for the production.

I hope you've enjoyed this tribute to Billie Burke, one of my favorite character actresses, and please stay tuned for more...