SUSAN HAYWARD RED HEADED STAR

Here is an amazing full length period costume gown worn by Susan Hayward in her role as “Messalina” in the film “Demetrius and the Gladiators” and made at 20^th Century Fox in 1954.

The gown consists of a dark green jersey dress with flesh color satin and netting neckline and short sleeves decorated with very small dark gold metal discs. 

Here is the back of the gown.

The belt and neckline are accented with these amazing gold metal filigree, green faux stones , faux pearls and pink rhinestones.  Along the sides of the skirt are dark gold metal circles. Here is a great Fox close up of Hayward wearing the costume. 

Here is a close up of the bodice showing the intricate design to the costume.

The gown carries a handwritten internal bias label “1-25-1-4366 A-712-14 Susan Hayward”.  Hook & eye with snap side closure.  Here is a photo of the label that was the type used by Fox in their ladies pieces.

Charles Le Maire designed the costumes for this feature.

The belt is an amazing design as you can see below. And to have survived relatively intact with only one stone missing. 

Here is another close up of the design to the shoulder area, similar to the belt.

The gown can be seen when Susan Hayward as “Messalina” visits the Gladiator camp run by Ernest Borgnine and Victor Mature tries to escape during the visit.

Demetrius and the Gladiators was one of the many sword-and-sandal films made during the 50’s.  It also starred Victor Mature as Demetrius, a Christian slave made to fight in the Roman arena as a gladiator. The cast also features Ernest Borgnine, William Marshall, Michael Rennie, Jay Robinson as emperor Caligula, and Debra Paget. It also features a young Anne Bancroft in one of her earlier roles.

You can see from these from these photos below how amazing the film looks in not only Technicolor but also in Cinemascope.

The film was a sequel to “The Robe” and interestingly begins with a clip from that film showing the original stars, Richard Burton and Jean Simmons going to be martyred for their Christian beliefs on the order of Emperor Caligula.

Here is the scene in which the costume appears:

Here also is the original poster art for the film.

MITZI GAYNOR TRIPLE THREAT GLAMOUR GIRL

Mitzi Gaynor does it all, dance, act and sing.  A much loved performer, even now she continues to be a popular favourite.

This is a costume that Mitzi Gaynor wore in her role as “Lotta Crabtree” in the 20^th Century Fox film “Golden Girl” in 1951.

This amazing dance costume was designed by Charles Le Maire.

This was Mitzi’s fourth film and she was only 20 years old.

The gown is an Ivory chiffon dance dress accented with fuchsia and cobalt blue layers on sleeves and underskirt, adorned with gold braided rope and buttons along neckline. 

It comes with the matching ivory rayon cotton briefs accented with layers.   Ivory rayon gloves trimmed in chiffon with gold braid and button accent. 

Both pieces have handwritten label “1-25-1-4101 MITZI GAYNOR A638-55”.  Briefs have additional Mabs Hollywood label 80 M. 

The gloves have handwritten label “FOX A638-55”.

The most amazing part is the underskirt with the layers and layers of fuchsia and cobalt blue you can see more clearly in these photos.

The gown was worn by Mitzi Gaynor as “Lotta Crabtree” during the “When Johnny Comes Marching Home” number in Golden Girl.

Here is the gown in action.

Golden Girl tells the story of Lotta Crabtree who after seeing Lola Montez in a show, wants to become a singer and performer. Not surprisingly her parents don’t approve. There is a love interest along the way as well played by Dale Robertson.

This is just a wonderful costume from the golden years of the Fox Musicals.

Please check out my other Gaynor costume from “Les Girls”!

RISE STEVENS OPERATIC EXCELLENCE ADRIAN GLAMOUR

This is a ridiculously beautiful fully beaded gown worn by operatic mezzo-soprano Rise Stevens in the 1941 MGM musical “The Chocolate Soldier”. The gown was designed by the legendary Adrian.

Extraordinary workmanship went into creating this completely beaded gown.  The gown is made up of thousands of turquoise bugle beads cascading into shades of Caribbean blue.  

Beaded paisley design along neckline and cuffs outlined in silver bullion with lavender, green, pink, royal blue and faceted silver metallic beads in varying shapes and sizes.  Hook and eye front closure.  Zip wrist closures.  Internal bias label typed “2270

Worn by Rise Stevens as “Maria Lanyi” when she goes to dinner with Nelson Eddy and he impersonates a Russian in The Chocolate Soldier. 

MGM considered a great gown shouldn’t be wasted and it was also worn a few years later by Kay Aldridge as “Mrs. McGowan” when Zero Mostel tells her fortune in Du Barry Was a Lady (MGM, 1943).

You can see the intricacy of the bead work here even on the sleeve. Each bugle bead would have been hand placed and sewn onto the gown, line after line. It would literally have taken a number of MGM seamstresses hours upon hours to complete and all for the few minutes it appeared on screen.

This dress is a true masterpiece by Adrian.  The craft, workmanship and skill that went into creating it is just amazing.   Each bead was hand sewn and strategically placed.  Endless hours must have been spent by the skilled seamstresses at the studio. 

Today, it would cost a small fortune to purchase the vintage beads and silver bullion not to mention the labor to recreate it.  The weight alone is remarkable also, 12lb or 6 Kg. Imagine wearing that and having to walk around all night looking glamorous. The gown would certainly help!

Here also is a copy of the original Adrian sketch for the gown. Adrian's directions 'sparkling jewelled'. Well he certainly succeeded.

And how was a gown constructed to be able to retain such weight, here is the secret.

Worn by Rise Stevens during the song sung by Nelson Eddy ‘Song of the Flea’. You can see the gown as it appears on screen in the following clip

A number of major operatic performers tried their hand in films during the 40s. Rise Stevens was one of them and Hollywood produced several films for her, other than The Chocolate Soldier including Going My Way in 1944 with Bing Crosby.

Stevens sadly only recently died in her Manhattan home on March 20, 2013 at the age of 99.