Fashion Friday: Adrian at FIDM, Pt. 1

One of my destinations for my recent LA trip was the Adrian exhibit at FIDM, which stands for Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising. Phew…my fingers are tired. I think I'll stick with FIDM. Adrian (Adrian Adolph Greenburg) was a costume and fashion designer, mainly remembered for his incredible work at MGM during the golden age of Hollywood where he was head costume designer from 1928-1941. “The Wizard of Oz,” “The Women,” and “Dinner at Eight” all benefitted from his genius. The outfit below was worn by Jean Harlow at Grauman’s Chinese Theatre. It’s survival is a miracle!



Edited from the accompanying info:

Adrian’s slinky, silk charmeuse evening gown defined the sex appeal of bias-cut clothing of the 1930s. Popular because of its unencumbered stretch around the female body, the rich, creamy color of the reflective material likewise highlighted every bare anatomical curve beneath. Adrian observed this effect on Harlow. “Even her clothes show emotion. They move and breathe with her.” Harlow wores this gown twice: once in her hugely popular romantic-comedy “Bombshell” (1933) and again, when writing her name in the forecourt of Grauman’s Chinese Theater on Hollywood Boulevard. However, that momentous occasion did not go as planned, due to the original slab of cement breaking in half. Harlow returned four days later to repeat her performance, but this time wearing a different dress.



The 18th-century Style Court Gown was worn by Dorothy Christy as Lady in Waiting to Madame du Barry in “Marie Antoinette” (1938):



Edited from the accompanying exhibit info:

For “Marie Antoinette,” Adrian created more than 1,200 individual women’s costumes, all designed by himself. Research trips to France and Austria uncovered antique velvets and brocades, and braids and lace that were incorporated into the extravagant creations constructed entirely in MGM’s workshops: “I worked with people who did not hold tightly to the purse strings. I never had to make pennies count. This was unusual, even in Hollywood. I had complete creative freedom. I went after perfection, especially in detail, since I had to satisfy the discerning eye of the camera, which magnifies everything eight times.”



The fact that this was producer Irving Thalberg’s last greenlit project for his wife, Norma Shearer, didn’t hurt the budget, either! Below is a metal birdcage headpiece worn by Shearer in the same film. It has paste diamonds and features a stuffed finch resting on the perch inside. It includes an internal mechanical automaton trigger that allowed the bird to turn its head an dopen and close its beak while Shearer wore is in the film.



Another Shearer project was “The Women” (1939), directed by George Cukor. The exhibit has a premiere booklet from the film as well as the two glove ornaments sitting in front that were part of the Technicolor fashion sequence.



A closer look:



Adrian designed these ornaments and Joseff of Hollywood was the maker. These gilt metal and glass ornaments were originally attached to turquoise gloves as seen in the accompanying image below:



Garbo was another famous actress who frequently collaborated with Adrian in her movies. For “Queen Christina” (1933), the below 17th-century Style Court suit designed by Adrian was worn by John Gilbert:



…and this 17th-century Style Court Ensemble was worn by Garbo in the same film:




Edited from the accompanying info:

“Each picture I designed for her [Garbo] involved extraordinary precision. My imagination was never quiet when I approached her pictures. Ideas poured into my head with a liquid easy. I soared, because I knew she would be equal to anything I could conceive and that she would more than do it justice. This she did. No one on the screen has worn regal costumes with more authority or evening gowns with more ease. To put her into the costumes with the madness of my “Mata Hari,” the grandness of “Queen Christina,” or the elegance of “Camille” was a stimulating experience.”



 Still more Adrian to come!

See more Los Angeles photos at my main website.

Temple Tuesday: The Blue Bird at The Metro Theatre

In the 1930s and 40s, my father was living in a small bungalow in the Hillcrest neighborhood of San Diego, cramped with his Italian immigrant family. To escape that existence, he often spent his time in a darkened theater, watching “Flash Gordon” serials, Charlie Chaplin, The Marx Brothers, or other popular fare. Years later, I remember his astonishment when he was perusing his Time-Life 1930s/40s volume of their This Fabulous Century series. There was a photo of the movie theatre he attended as a tot, with a crowd of excited kids holding up their free prizes and the owner whom he identified as Mr. Fink. Dad’s memory was spot-on; I looked up Fink’s name and came up with this info from the Chicano Park Museum website:

Prior to the toxic-air pollution and mixed land-use patterns, Barrio Logan, once known as Logan Heights, stood strong as a healthy and thriving neighborhood. During World War II the Coronet Theater opened in the heart of the community at 1796 Logan Avenue, along with Metro Theatre (located at 25 and Imperial Avenue) & Victory Theatre. A man by the name of Mr. Fink owned all three. These three theatres became extremely popular- especially amongst the community.…Metro was great for the community because for those that did not understand English there were not many theatres for them to go to and understand, Metro Theatre was completely in Spanish. There was little money available for entertainment. Movie theaters were one of the few affordable diversions. However, these theaters also sponsored events like a dish night or a grocery night. This was in the 1930s and families welcomed the opportunity to win a bag of groceries or some dishes. The Metro Theatre Building is located in Barrio Logan, near Galleries such as La Bodega Gallery & Creative Studios, Cafes like Cafe Moto & many more. The Metro Theatre itself was built in 1915. Today however it is currently being renovated into apartments with a lower level gallery for local artists.

One movie that my dad recalled vividly was Shirley Temple’s “The Blue Bird,” released in early 1940. Specifically, he would talk about the scene set in the Land of the Unborn Children. Frank Dawson played the Roll Caller, reading off the names to the children waiting with great anticipation:



Below, Shirley poses with Thurston Hall, who portrayed Father Time:



NOBODY would want to mess around with Father Time. He made sure the children made it to the ship with silver sails that would take them down to earth to be born. No dilly-dallying, kids!



The set was impressive, as was the large ship. Shirley is at left, with Johnny Russell who portrayed her brother and Helen Ericson, who played their ethereal guide, Light.



The ship ready for departure:



Zooming in, a tall Gene Reynolds is at back and child star Dickie Moore, noted for his earlier appearances in the Our Gang comedies.



Reynolds portrayed  Studious Boy, a thinly veiled character meant to represent President Abraham Lincoln. Fox producer Darryl Zanuck had no problem inserting a few political messages into his movies, and this scene with Reynolds predicting his own death is a bit chilling.



Russell and Temple as their characters survey all that’s going on in the Land of the Unborn Children:



This detailed view of the teenage couple at right shows what really yanked at my dad’s heartstrings:



PLOT SPOILERS! The young couple is separated by Father Time, who tells them that they will not be born at the same time and therefore will not be able to continue their love for each other.



Despite their tearful pleadings, Father Time turns a deaf ear and forces the young boy to join the ship.



The little girl dramatically falls to the floor, as her golden hair manages to land perfectly on the gleaming marble. I wonder how many takes this shot required?



We see both lovers, tears streaming down their faces as they imagine a life without each other.



Some thirty years after he first saw this movie, my dad would tell me about how deeply this scene affected him.



Although I have no concrete proof, this little vignette was probably inspired by the popular 1935 Mildred Cram novel Forever. Irving Thalberg at MGM purchased the rights to it for wife Norma Shearer, but died before it got off the ground.



Tyrone Power gave Judy Garland the 60-page novella as a gift; she devoured the book and hoped that she could make the film version with Power, with whom she had a huge crush. Next, it was to be a project for Power and Lana Turner, who had an intense love affair. Turner’s daughter, Cheryl Crane, later recalled:

No book ever affected Mother as much as ‘Forever’ by Mildred Cram. It’s the book she wanted to make into a movie more than any other in the world, co-starring Tyrone Power. It would have been no small miracle if a loan-out for either of these two stars to rival studios could have been arranged. Short but powerful, ‘Forever’ is a story about a love longer than life & stronger than death. In the story, Julie & Colin meet in some otherworldly land before they are born but in their adult forms. They fall in love & vow to reunite in the next world, in exactly 27 years. Memories of this magic time before they are called to life are wiped from Julie and Colin’s minds upon birth & they grow up leading very different lives; she growing up & marrying well in Philadelphia; he living a quiet life in England, going to war, & then returning to his fiancée. Drawn together by some mysterious force, Julie & Colin’s paths converge on a fateful trip to the French Alps where love, tragedy, & a haunting recollection alter the course of their lives.

See more “The Blue Bird” photos at my main website.

Amtrak Journey: Solana Beach to Los Angeles

Last weekend, a one-day trip to Los Angeles found me back on a train to avoid the stress of driving and  traffic. The Solana Beach station has a large parking lot which (so far) is still free. Just as I got in the car to drive to the station, Amtrak started blowing up my cellphone with delay alerts. My stomach dropped as a result of my previous Amtrak experience when the train was delayed by almost an hour. Fortunately, the delay was only about five minutes this time. Phew!



Designed by architect Rob Wellington Quigley, the Solana Beach station was built in 1994. The trip was fairly uneventful, other than two Spicoli kids who were yapping the entire time. Between the “dudes” and the “bros,” the departure at Fullerton couldn’t have come quickly enough!



Arriving at LA’s Union Station is almost like Dorothy entering Oz. Designed by the father-and-son architect team of John and Donald Parkinson, it is an impressive melding of Spanish Colonial, Mission Revival, and Art Deco architecture. The station still looks fantastic and appeared to be fairly well-monitored to keep it safe for the passengers.











When one exits the station, the fantasy begins to crumble as the smell of weed, urine, and the shouting of crackheads encourage one to keep moving briskly to avoid any trouble



On this visit, I checked out the Imperial Western Beer Company at the South Patio, formerly the Fred Harvey House restaurant, which was designed by Mary Elizabeth Jane Colter, who served as the Fred Harvey Company’s interior designer and architect. The tile floor is meant to look like a Navajo rug.



The Harvey restaurant closed in 1967 and became an event space/filming location.





And then it was time for me to make my way to my appointment, so I began hoofing it to downtown LA.



I’m not sure when this was installed, but this time I noticed this little plaque in the sidewalk about Union Station:



See more LA Union Station photos at my main website.