Sue Sue's TCM Film Festival Tidbit Travel Blog

[knitwit45]

You guys remind me of that great scene in Sabrina , when Bogie's father is complaining about the chauffeur's daughter's name, Sabrina. Bogie replies, "what do YOU suggest.....ETHEL????"

[Sue Sue Applegate]

Funny... Jackie, Knitty, and King!

More Style update for the 2012 TCM Festival focusing on fashion...


June Alyson, Joan Collins, Dolores Gray, Ann Sheridan, Ann Miller, and Joan Blondell sporting those delightful Helen Rose creations....

Helen knew how to drape the divas! I especially enjoy all those costumes from The Opposite Sex. It would be abfab to have Joan Collins introduce the restored print of that film at TCM Festival 2012 with Robert Osborne. Can anyone arrange that for me?

I just have to know more about Dolores Gray's three-tiered bouffant number with the sparkly azure clutch, Joan Collins' sunrise strapless in tulle with appliqued white poppies, Ann Sheridan's deep v-neck plunge with white satin gloves, Joan Blondell's off-the-shoulder satin number, and Ann Miller's strapless, flowered mermaid...

[Sue Sue Applegate]

Just received this official update, and it looks like it will be another exciting year at the TCM Festival 2012 :

In celebration of the central theme of the 2012 TCM Classic Film Festival, we are excited to announce that we will be including programming tracks that put a spotlight on the style of Film Noir, the Art Deco movement, the legendary costumes of Travis Banton, and the illustrious 100 year history of Paramount Studios with a special focus on the Robert Evans era. Additional programming tracks will be announced in the coming weeks.

We are also thrilled to announce legendary producer Robert Evans, renowned film noir historian Eddie Muller and preservationist and producer Serge Bromberg will be in attendance.

Paramount Renaissance
The TCM Classic Film Festival will mark the 100th Anniversary of Paramount Pictures with screenings of five films from the studio's remarkable years under the leadership of Robert Evans.
LOVE STORY (1970) - Ali MacGraw and Ryan O'Neal star in the story of young love that helped save Paramount from bankruptcy.
•THE GODFATHER PART II (1974) - Winner of six Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Francis Ford Coppola directs a star-studded cast lead by Al Pacino, Robert De Niro, Diane Keaton and Robert Duvall.
•CHINATOWN (1974) - Jack Nicholson, Faye Dunaway and John Huston star in this neo-noir directed by Roman Polanski.
•MARATHON MAN (1976) - Dustin Hoffman, Laurence Olivier and Roy Scheider star in this thriller based on the book and screenplay by William Goldman and directed by John Schlesinger.
•BLACK SUNDAY (1977) - Director John Frankenheimer’s tale of terrorism at the Super Bowl stars Bruce Dern, Robert Shaw and Marthe Keller.

Style in the Movies – The Legendary Costumes of Travis Banton
Travis Banton dressed the likes of Mae West, Claudette Colbert, Carole Lombard and a host of other glamorous stars—he also was the costume designer who trained Edith Head. Films will include:
•NOTHING SACRED (1937) - The first screwball comedy to be shot in color, William Wellman directs Fredric March as a newspaper man who turns a dying woman, played by Carole Lombard, in to a media sensation.

Style in the Movies – The Noir Style
This collection explores the unique style of film noir, known for its often-shadowy black-and-white photography and stylistic set design. Films will include:
•GUN CRAZY (1950) - John Dall and Peggy Cummins star as lovesick sharpshooters on a crime spree in this Joseph H. Lewis directed classic.
•CRY DANGER (1951) - Dick Powell stars as an ex-con out to find the culprits who framed him for a crime he didn’t commit.

Style in the Movies – Deco Design
In addition to previously announced screening of SWING TIME (1936), the lineup will include:
•OUR DANCING DAUGHTERS (1928) - A new print of director Harry Beaumont’s Jazz-age silent melodrama starring Joan Crawford.

Additional Events & Screenings•GIRL SHY (1924) - Composer Robert Israel will be on hand to conduct his original score to Harold Lloyd's delightful comedy.

Rarities and Shorts – Presented by Serge Bromberg
As only he can, Bromberg will share a special presentation of rarities and rarely seen shorts from the earliest days of film.

For more information, go to the Festival Website: http://www.tcm.com/festival/

[Sue Sue Applegate]

From the Huffington Post on 12/1/2011:

Debbie Reynolds has endured a notoriously difficult personal life. The actress' first marriage to Eddie Fisher ended in 1959 -- after four years and two children -- when Fisher left her for a widowed Elizabeth Taylor, despite the fact that the two women were close friends. While Reynolds was understandably livid -- for a while, at least -- she later welcomed Taylor back into her life, and the two remained lifelong friends. So we wondered: how the heck does a friendship bounce back from a betrayal as significant as that?

HuffPost Divorce had a chance to ask the iconic entertainer just that question Thursday at the Paley Center for Media in Beverly Hills, following a tour she hosted of never-before-displayed treasures from her massive collection of film memorabilia, set to go up for auction Saturday (Reynolds was in attendance as part of the day-long TedxWomen conference organized in conjunction with the Paley). Below, her candid comments:

Elizabeth Taylor ran off with your husband. You later became friends with her. You even have memorabilia from her films in your collection. How did you move past her betrayal?

Elizabeth and I were good friends when we were young -- 17. And then when we got older and Eddie Fisher left with Elizabeth, things changed, of course. But we wound up to be very good friends again, and laughed about it. Elizabeth was a very strong, powerful woman. When she saw something that she wanted, she got it. And that just happened to be my husband.

How do you get to that positive point with a friend after a situation like that? Did it have anything to do with the fact that you married and divorced twice more after splitting from Fisher?

You have to look at what life is all about, and is it worth it? And, is he worth it? The friendship was perhaps worth more. Divorce and marriage are very close. You read about it every day. Somebody splits up and they stay friends. Someone else splits up and they're terrible enemies and they kill each other. Well, that didn't happen in my life -- it was just a split -- and I was bright enough to know that I respected my friendship with Liz, and I felt that we both had something more to do with it other than being angry with each other.

Was there one moment you remember where you said, 'OK, we're over this?'

Yes. We got on the same boat to go to Europe -- the Queen Elizabeth. I sent a note to her and she sent a note to me in passing, and then we had dinner together. She was married to Richard Burton by then. I had been remarried at that point. And we just said, 'let's call it a day.' And we got smashed. And we had a great evening, and stayed friends since then

[Sue Sue Applegate]

Some of those Travis Banton fashions that might be discussed at TCM FEST 2012:

Marlene in Desire...




Claudette Colbert's 1934 Cleopatra spectacular, a lame and emerald boudoir gown

From "No Man of Her Own" with Carole Lombard...

[moira finnie]

I know that you're too nice to crow about it, but Christy--doesn't it make you kind of proud as a Texan to realize that all that great style and dazzling glamour in Mr. Banton started out in Waco?

The accent on style at this year's festival sounds like a great hook for all the diverse films being featured (Gun Crazy in particular really has an extraordinary visual look, right from the first frame to the last. If only Joseph Lewis were around to be feted).

[Sue Sue Applegate]

Claudette Colbert wore this lovely lame lounger in Cleopatra.


Another lovely outfit, and Claudette is actually wearing this one!

Look what I found in the Texas State Historical Association's Handbook of Texas online:

BANTON, TRAVIS (1894–1958). Travis Banton, Hollywood costume designer known for the "Paramount Look," the son of Rennie B. and Maggie (Jones) Banton, was born at Waco, Texas, on August 18, 1894. When he was two the family moved to New York. Banton's parents later joined him in Hollywood. During his early years in New York his talents developed in art, theater, and custom fashion design. He served in the navy during World War I, enrolled at Columbia University to please his parents, and studied at the Art Students League and the New York School of Fine and Applied Art. He worked on his own as a dress designer and at the fashion house of Lucile. While he was an apprentice with Madame Francis (or Frances) his designs were selected by Mary Pickford for her wedding to Douglas Fairbanks. After designing for Norma Talmadge in the East Coast film Poppy (1917), he soon distinguished himself with costumes for the Ziegfeld Follies and other stage productions, an interest he resumed at the end of his life by dressing Rosalind Russell in the 1956 Broadway production of Auntie Mame. At the time of his death, Banton was designing for Dinah Shore's television show.


He won accolades for dressing some of the world's most popular and glamorous actresses during Hollywood's golden era. His best work was executed before the establishment in 1948 of the now-coveted Academy Award for costume design. In 1924 Walter Wanger brought Banton to Hollywood, where he was contracted by Paramount studios as an assistant to Howard Greer. Banton garnered instant acclaim for dressing star Leatrice Joy and mannequins in the style show for The Dressmaker from Paris (1925). As Paramount's chief designer between 1929 and 1938, followed by freelance film and TV work as part of his couture business, Banton dressed more than 160 films. He played a major role in creating images for movie greats Marlene Dietrich, Carole Lombard, Claudette Colbert, and Mae West. The essence of film-costume elegance appears in the visual classics of Dietrich vehicles such as The Scarlet Empress (1934) and Angel (1937). For the latter, Banton's staff labored weeks; one hand-sewn garment was a Fabergé-inspired gown of chiffon lavished with beading and bordered with Russian sable at a reported cost of $8,000.

Banton also designed for Tallulah Bankhead, Clara Bow, Kitty Carlisle, Ruth Chatterton, Kay Francis, Miriam Hopkins, Ida Lupino, Pola Negri (see CHALUPEC, BARBARA A.), Merle Oberon, Gail Patrick, Sylvia Sidney, Lilyan Tashman, and Florence A. Vidor. Of the films he dressed, many are recognized as classics–1927: Wings; 1928: The Wild Party; 1930: Morocco; 1931: Dishonoured, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde; 1932: Shanghai Express, Blonde Venus, Night After Night, Trouble In Paradise, A Farewell to Arms, No Man of Her Own, The Sign of the Cross, Sinners In the Sun; 1933: Design for Living, I'm No Angel, Death Takes A Holiday, Bolero; 1934: We're Not Dressing, Rumba, Belle of the Nineties, Ruggles of Red Gap, The Gilded Lily; 1935: The Devil is A Woman, The Crusades, Goin' to Town, So Red the Rose, Anything Goes; 1936: Desire, My Man Godfrey, The Big Broadcast of 1937, Love Before Breakfast; 1937: Maid of Salem, I Met Him in Paris, Nothing Sacred; 1938: Made for Each Other, Fools for Scandal; 1939: Intermezzo, A Love Story; 1941: Charley's Aunt; 1946: Sister Kenny; 1947: Mourning Becomes Electra; 1948: Letters From An Unknown Woman; and 1950: Valentino.

Praising Banton's inspiration, imagination, and intensity, distinguished designers have acknowledged his influence. Edith Head, former Banton assistant at Paramount who went on to win a record number of Oscars, declared: "He was a god there...nobody [would] dare oppose him about anything, including the budgets...Travis was a marvelous designer. Any talent I might have would have lain undiscovered if he hadn't lighted the way for me. In my opinion, he was the greatest." In explaining his adaptations of two Banton dresses, Norman Norell observed that Banton "has been underrated and that his talent surpassed Adrian's, since Banton's costumes were timeless and established many famous images, as with the Mae West look." Two decades after the designer's death, Cecil Beaton praised the Angel creations and judged Banton "one of the most important of the golden years of Hollywood."

Though Banton has been lauded through the years for the originality, fine workmanship, and understated elegance of his costumes, scholars have neglected his genius as an image maker, both on and off screen, for celebrated women such as Marlene Dietrich. Banton's ability paralleled Adrian's acknowledged role as creator of the Greta Garbo and Joan Crawford (Lucille Fay Leseurqv) image. Banton helped invent the Dietrich look along with a unique apparel style that included male attire, like the tuxedo in Morocco (1930), the leather flight suit in Dishonored (1931), and the military uniform in The Scarlet Empress (1934). On her arrival in Hollywood, Dietrich's new svelte and chic silhouette was engineered by Banton. This contrasted with her pudgy appearance as star of The Blue Angel, a 1930 landmark film produced by UFA in Germany. Often credited, however, for the Dietrich look are director Josef von Sternberg and, to a lesser extent, Marlene Dietrich's lighting director, cinematographer, and stills and portrait photographer. This evaluation has relegated Banton to the pages of glossy coffee-table books. Yet Banton acted like a sculptor of cloth and flesh, influencing Dietrich's regimen of weight loss, massage, and exercise. In addition he advised her on demeanor, attitude, and body presentation. Banton's sketch pad and valued counsel likewise transformed Carole Lombard into a new persona of taste and class, reminiscent of Parisian haute couture, a world that he admired and emulated in private life. For the Mae West image, he produced a shapelier and more sexually explicit silhouette with a touch of parody that has been labeled high camp. Though he preferred sophisticated modern dress, his skill in interpreting historical periods inspired such trend-setting consumer adaptations as Claudette Colbert's garb in Cleopatra (1934).

Paramount rewarded these Banton products with salary, publicity, a private domain of artisan workrooms, and a luxury office. Convinced of the commercial value of screen fashion, Adolph Zukor, a former furrier, demanded costume excellence and reveled in the Banton fashion gems. The highly charged position, however, proved bittersweet and gradually took a toll on Banton's life. One studio crisis requiring Zukor's negotiation focused on Claudette Colbert, a longtime Banton admirer, and the costuming for Cleopatra. After rejecting two sets of costume sketches, she streaked Banton's third set of beautifully painted drawings with blood deliberately drawn from her finger to emphasize her displeasure. Another conflict involved a fitting with an ungrateful Nancy Carroll, who slowly ripped an exquisitely crafted garment from her body while Banton and his staff stared in dismay. Frustration and wounded pride escalated with each clash of taste with executives and actresses who were prone to costuming that Banton judged tacky, gaudy, and vulgar. During his tenure at Twentieth Century-Fox (from 1939 to 1941), where he worked for Howard Greer, a feud began with Alice Faye, who resented Banton's references to Dietrich's good taste; Faye later acknowledged the successful costuming for Lillian Russell (1939). From 1945 to 1948 Banton worked as head stylist for Universal Studios. His erratic behavior involving absenteeism and alcohol shortened his life; in this he was not unlike other talented colleagues with emotional and alcohol-related problems, such as Orry-Kelly, Howard Greer, and Irene, who committed suicide at age sixty-one. Banton once quipped that he should have left movies when Adrian did in 1942. He agreed with fellow film and couture colleague Howard Greer that life amid all that world-famous glamour, luxury, and notoriety was not what it seemed and that he missed the theater, opera, ballet, shops, and cuisine of New York and Paris. Late in life he recalled that in Hollywood he had "loathed those endless barbecue things, deadly-dull afternoons spent staring at people wallowing in swimming pools...[in a place where] even the French champagne went flat as soon as it was poured." He admitted, however, to a certain ambivalence, for he needed the studio earnings that supplied the art, antiques, and extravagant lifestyle compatible with his tastes.

Throughout his troubled times women who were grateful for their metamorphosis remained loyal. Carole Lombard requested Banton's designs for her costumes at other studios, including her David O. Selznick pictures. Marlene Dietrich performed in the signature white top hat and tails until the end of her career. Merle Oberon summarized the feelings of this loyal following when she insisted that Banton dress her as George Sand in the 1945 film A Song to Remember. She explained that Banton "knew what the character ought to look like but also understood what an actress was happiest wearing, which is very rare for a costume designer. I never found it necessary to make a single change on any of his drawings." Banton died on February 2, 1958, in Los Angeles. He was buried on February 4 at the Little Church of the Flowers in Glendale, California. An extensive collection of Banton's drawings is housed in the Brooklyn Museum.

BIBLIOGRAPHY: W. Robert LaVine, In a Glamorous Fashion: The Fabulous Years of Hollywood Costume Design (New York: Scribner, 1980). Elizabeth Leese, Costume Design in the Movies (Bembridge, Isle of Wight: BCW, 1976). Los Angeles Times, February 3, 1958. Edward Maeder, ed., Hollywood and History: Costume Design in Film (London: Thames and Hudson, 1987). Vertical Files, Dolph Briscoe Center for American History, University of Texas at Austin.

Raye Virginia Allen

For more information about anything from that wonderful place, Texas, yawl, go to :
http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/onli ... cles/fbacl

[JackFavell]

That was really interesting, Sue Sue! I don't know how he managed not to kill Claudette Colbert or Nancy Carroll.

[Sue Sue Applegate]

Thanks, Jackie! Me, neither.

Claudette was definitely dramatique!

You're a love!

[feaito]

Great account of Banton's life and career Sue2 and a superbly interesting read. I'm no expert on fashion, but his designs for those Paramount ladies of the 1930s, IMO, epitomize what the Golden Era's Glamour was all about. He was the best among his peers.

[Sue Sue Applegate]

Lucille Ball knew every trick in the book. And she probably knew everybody. And she certainly did know Travis Banton….

Lovely Lucille Ball...


Evidently, Lucille Ball was no stranger to fashion do's and don'ts. Her brush with Banton fame occurred during the filming of Lover Come Back, (1946) with George Brent, Wallace Ford, Franklin Pangborn, and Vera Zorina, possibly retitled When Lovers Meet in reissue to avoid being confused with the more popular 1960's version with Doris Day and Rock Hudson.


Zowee, Lucille!


Ball strode the fifties fashion avenue like a colossus. Her clothing on the iconic I Love Lucy show set the trends for those little gals in Poughkeepsie, Ponca City, and Altoona.

Hausfrau in a house frock…


Remember how she helped to popularize slacks? Maybe even tuna fish?

Even her dishes, Ivy by Franciscan, were some of the most popular china patterns in America. Ever seen these in Grandmother's Cupboard?

Another Travis Banton Fashion Statement…

Contemplation…

A Sensuously Stylish Glam Shot

A truly stylish gal!

[Rita Hayworth]

Sue Sue ... the photos of Lucille Ball are fabulous! I loved every single one of them! Thanks for sharing them!

[feaito]

Ditto! Lucille ball looks gorgeous!

[JackFavell]

Oh my gosh, you've reminded me that Lucy may be back on TV now that the holidays are almost over. My daughter and I went through Lucy withdrawal when the 856 days of Christmas started on Hallmark Channel, pre-empting I Love Lucy every morning.

I was just starting to notice how stylish she was on the show, even when she wore some dresses in more than one episode, just like us real housewives.