Vintage actress auctions clothes for charity-designer on Titanic

Clara Kimball Young donates Lucile gown off her back
Lady Duff Gordon, Mme Lucile, Titanic Survivor 

Clara Kimball Young
Shirley Kate 1918

"Clara Kimball Young with the aid of her manager Harry Garson put the punch into the big bazaar at the Lasky Studio Hollywood, Cal, Saturday night for the benefit of soldiers families by auctioning off her clothes each piece that she wore one thing at a time to the highest bidder. 

"Miss Young disrobed on a platform in a crowd of several thousand people behind a large screen. Her novel and original method of creating renewed stimulus toward large monetary returns for the benefit caused the keenest interest and highest bidding. 

"Never before in the history of Los Angeles has any one sold the clothes they were wearing for a benefit and onlookers were quick to recognize and appreciate the spirit of true American patriotism. 

Photographic Print of Gowns That Express Poetic Ideas Costumes from the house of Madame Lucile, reviving the idea that the hair should accord with the colour-schemes of modern dress. 1920s fashion, hair styles and colors.

"Miss Young's dress, an exquisite Lucile gown was the first article sold. It was bought by Mr. Tally or Tally's Theatre, Los Angeles. Cecil De Mille after much spirited bidding, received her stockings and garters. Elliot Dexter, her corsets; William S. Hart her slippers and Douglas Fairbanks a most sheer and shimmery

Clara Kimball Young
1917 Kromo Gravure
Movie Star Trading Card

bit of negligee.

"The last garment which was auctioned off caused most spirited bidding between De Mille, Fairbanks, Charlie Chaplin and Hart. Chaplin got them for one hundred and eighty five dollars.

"Miss Young's royal contribution to the bazaar was heartily applauded and more especially as it has been announced that she will return East in a few weeks immediately after the completion of her new picture The Savage Woman upon which she is now spending her entire time and energy."

The above is text of a 1918 press release sent out by the manager of actress/producer Clara Kimball Young. It was published in magazines of the time. I couldn't find the price paid for the Lucile gown.

The editor of one magazine added this note at the end:

"The fact that no riot was reported following the completion of the auction is a tribute to the efficiency of Hollywood's police department. Just what Chaplin got for his $185 is left to the imagination by the wily press agent."

The best I can come up with with the help of online converters is that $185 would be worth about $3,400 today but do not quote me on this. Maybe there are some blinged out undies, diamonds of course that are pretty expensive these days?



Poet Alex Gildzen reads Charlie Chaplin Purchases Clara Kimball Young's Undies in Cleveland.

Despite this patriotic scene, something was brewing in Hollywood, changes were happening to the motion picture industry. Certain folks didn't care for this sort of behavior by movie people on or off the screen. Hmmmmm.  

James Bond/Daniel Craig's Swim Trunks
You may remember a Christie's James Bond themed charity auction from October 2012. Actress Judi Dench played the character of M in 007 Bond films including Casino Royale alongside Daniel Craig. She was there to introduce and help auction off a famous pair of sexy blue swim trunks that Craig wore when he played James Bond in that movie. 

"All I’m going to tell you is they’re unwashed," she joked.  At the auction in London, the trunks sold for nearly $72,000, according to the BBC.

Dame Judi Dench also appeared with Daniel Craig as his boss, M, in Quantum of Solace and most recently, Skyfall. She appeared in GoldenEye, Die Another Day, The World is Not Enough and Tomorrow Never Dies with Pierce Brosnan. 

~o~o~o~      ~o~o~o~     ~o~o~o~

Dress designer and British couturier Madame Lucile made glorious costumes and gowns for the Ziegfeld Follies, Hollywood stars and films in the early days. They were said to be quite expensive but worth it. If her gowns were used in a picture the fact may be advertised as well as being credited on screen.

She had been one of the passengers on the Titanic April 1912. Lucile, Lady Duff Gordon was traveling to do business in America. 

She described the panic breaking out by the time her lifeboat was lowered. "Everyone seemed to be rushing for that boat. A few men who crowded in were turned back at the point of Captain Smith’s revolver and several of them were felled before order was restored. I recall being pushed towards one of the boats and being helped in." From The Mirror. 

In 1932, she wrote her autobiography Discretions & Indiscretions under the name, Lucy Duff Gordon. It has been reissued with a new title, A Woman of Temperament with the centenary of the Titanic disaster in 2012. She's billed as a Single mother, Fashion pioneer and Titanic survivor.  

In the 1997 film Titanic, Rosalind Ayres played what was called a "dramatized version" of Lady Duff-Gordon.

Passengers on RMS Titanic
Buy posters framed, unframed, choice of sizes

Includes Madame Lucile, The Personal Side of the Titanic Disaster


Related Pages, Books of Interest:

10 Woman Film Producers of the 1910s

Movie Censorship around the world, Japan 1920s, France & US 1950s, Monty Python, Cary Grant...

Dirty Business, Film Censorship in the 1900s, 1910s, 1920s

There's a skeleton in my love story: silent movies, later screwball comedies, Adam's Rib 1923, Elliot Dexter, Pauline Garon; Bringing Up Baby 1938, Cary Grant, Katharine Hepburn 

Killer Shoes to Wing Shoes, Gadgets, TV Shoes James Bond Dagger Shoes, Maxwell Smart ... 

Academy Awards, Hollywood Memorabilia, Auctioning, Buying, Selling, Returning

Hollywood Before Glamour: Fashion in American Silent Film Popular book paper and digital; Includes styles for many types of characters, costumes and gowns, WWI and American design in fashion/film, The Birth of Hollywood Glamour

It's All A Movie by Alex Gildzen. The Arrow That is Hollywood Pierces the Soul That is Me was completed and you may be able to find it.

Old Hollywood stars homes your home Personality

Personalities: The homes of Old Hollywood Stars
Put personality in your home

Carole Lombard at home

Bill Haines helped Carole Lombard decorate her house. He said, "If you are considering doing a house or room to fit your personality, it is advisable to look at yourself in the mirror and see what colors become you, your eyes, your mouth, your lipstick. Try different colors behind you and see what shows you to the best advantage. .... 

"Wealthy Romans had special rooms in their palaces which were done in backgrounds to make women stand out effectively and be more attractive. The backgrounds were planned to frame a woman's beauty rather

Class Act: William Haines
Legendary Hollywood Decorator

than to dominate the room."

William Haines was an actor in Hollywood. He had a talent for decorating and put that talent to use when he had fewer roles in movies. After opening an interior design shop in Hollywood he was decorating the homes of some of the biggest film stars.

Think about how easy or difficult your idea would be to change. Kids' rooms are maybe the most apt to change as our children grow up and their taste changes. How expensive is your idea? Chandeliers are popular now, jewelry for your room. 

They can be really old Hollywood or shabby chic, even designed for a coastal room since there are so many different light fixtures out there. Home decorating is something you can always change to suit your mood, the seasons or changes happening in your circumstances. 

Haines knew about glamorous lighting. He designed the original Ice Crystals sconces for the May house in 1953. They look like something frozen, art deco in feel, geometric bling. The house belonged to Tom and Anita May of the May Company, the department store chain. The Mays were big fans of Bill Haines' work.

I'm seeing people take found objects and unusual finds at flea markets then repurpose them. Try LED lights. You can make something one-of-a-kind. Turn one thing into something entirely different. It looks expensive. It can look old Hollywood. Make it for a party or make it a permanent fixture for your home.

Her dressing room employs colors to match her personality
pale blue walls, white furnishings, lemon yellow upholstery -- Picture Play Fall 1935
Reading about her dressing room's being remodeled was common.

Carole's bedroom is described as being directly above her living room, the same

size, with a lower ceiling. "I found a fireplace on the long side of the wall and opposite the bed, which looked like an enormous Empire couch in faded plum

Currey and Company
Round Pendant, Silver Leaf
Company makes some of the best,
safest light fixtures out there

color.

"The walls were of a color unknown to me. Carole told me it was puce, and then laughed as I looked very blank. If you are as much in the dark as I was, I'll confess: it is flea color or pinkish beige! ..."

"Carole you see frankly admits that she's just a leetle bit insane. But divinely so, her friends insist. Remember originality is the keynote of this beautiful girl's personality. 

"Adapt yourself to the circumstances or you'll be the victim. Probably you'll find Carole in her playroom, which itself expresses her craving for the unusual. The bar and piano are done in blue and pink plaid." 

She also had a wide assortment of pets, dogs and cats (some of them rescues), chickens and ducks. 

Interior Design for Blue Ladies

Color is so important. Carole Lombard has a Blue Room. It is "designed so that Carole looks her best and every other woman (with different coloring) looks her worst."

Joan Crawford loves all colors but won't let Bill Haines use anything but blue and white and more blue until he's been put to it to invent new shades of blue for her. He only recently achieved a lovely greenish-blue which he calls the Crawford color. 


Joan Crawford made a public service announcement for a children's charity. It was shown in theaters

They say that the blue-eyed Crawford, a lover of star sapphires, had dresses made in a new shade of blue, that was dubbed Joan Blue. Lombard also had blue eyes.

Remember though, there is a rule that kitchens and dining rooms do not look good in blue. It is the least appetizing color. Mr. Alfred Hitchcock knew this.

Joan Crawford 8x10" Photo

Joan Crawford Entertains
1935 Magazine Clipping
orig 2pg

Binnie Barnes had a house that was all white with touches of pink and gray. It was designed to show off her red hair and light complexion. 

Barnes began making movies in the 1930s and appeared in the movie 40 Carats in 1973 with Liv Ullman, Edward Albert and Gene Kelly.

Jean Harlow said her favorite 'color' is white. Much of her home and her dressing room was white. 

William Powell Carole Lombard 8x10"
Publicity Photo taken when they were married early 1930s

A lot of William Powell's house was operated by push-buttons and other gadgets of the day. Walls opened and closed making rooms bigger or smaller. They said that tables and chairs appeared and disappeared. He also was known for having a very large bed.

When Powell was older and retired from acting, he was still interested in modifying his home. He told an interviewer that he was an 'amateur architect.' 

In 1935 some said they could see a neon illuminated harp in the bay window of the home of Harpo Marx. It was formerly Polly Frederick's home, later Norma Shearer and Irving Thalberg lived there while their Santa Monica home was being built.
-- Silver Screen 1935

I remember reading that Harpo had said he wanted enough children so there'd be a child's face in every window of his home when he returned from work in the evening. He had several kids and pets.

"When Gary Cooper first returned from Africa and had for the first time in his life a house to himself I went to lunch with him in it. It was designed he told me, for entertaining. 

"There were a great many heads of stuffed animals hanging on the walls. But the divans were wide and comfortable and Gary explained that it wouldn't matter if anyone spilled something on one of them." 

-- Picture Play 1936 
  
Create what you've always dreamed about....

"What would seem utterly mad in the city or town becomes charming at the shore. You might want and entire white and blue home with a star spangled living room! Joan Bennett always did and now it really exists!" 

She used to dream of such a place when she was a little girl looking up at the blue ceiling of her nursery, a ceiling that had sparkly stars. 

Joan Bennett planned her dining room in blue and white. It's "planned so that the one large room gives the effect of two separate rooms. 

"She let her fancy run free in the living-dining room of her Malibu beach home." In the living room end- star-spangled and all done in blue and white. Stars are features on the curtains and on the walls.
-- Movie Classic Summer 1935

Joan Bennett has the living room of her Malibu beach home "about a huge portrait of her father, Richard Bennett, arranging all the furniture and the colors of the room to emphasize the picture."

Joan Bennett is famous as being a film noir femme fatale. She's known for her roles in director Fritz Lang movies The Woman in the Window (1944) and Scarlet Street (1945). In 1966, she played Elizabeth Collins Stoddard on the TV show Dark Shadows.




There's a very brief 1914 video of the famous Broadway actor Richard Bennett, with his wife, actress Mabel Adrienne Morrison with daughters Constance Bennett, Barbara Bennett and Joan Bennett. Joan Bennett had a portrait of her father in her living room.

Light thru old windows CA cottage Pendant Hanging Lamp or Table Lamp 
Browse Windows Lamp-In-A-Box Lamp

William Haines vintage 1930 portrait Tees by Jakestuff
Create a tee shirt at zazzle.com.

Actress Wearing a Flower Poster by hermoines
Browse other Clara Bow vamp Posters

Norma Shearer had a large home dressing room just off her bedroom. "The curtains?

Norma Shearer 8x10 photo

You'll love 'em if you have a flare for the modern. They are of hand-blocked linen of a citron color with the design blocked on in white, the design being an incredible blue and green leaf pattern."

Seeing and reading about Bill Haines work suggests that he may have been involved in the design of her dressing room, but that wasn't suggested in the article.

Over at MGM, Ms. Shearer aka Mrs. Irving Thalberg has "a suite finished in chartreuse green and topaz with a background of beige which it is explained is a reflection of Norma's personality." This is from a newspaper article on the luxurious dressing rooms of the stars. More on their dressing rooms in a future article.
-- The Wilmington Delaware Star, 1935

Virginia Bruce's sitting room-bedroom
in the home of her parents 1936

Virginia Bruce wanted a rocking chair in her room. "It is white, upholstered in blue Chinese cloth. This with the little rosebuds and Dresden ashtrays that Virginia likes around, give it an old fashioned air. 

"You can see that although the room is quite modern, it has this old-fashioned girl touch." 

She was the last wife of actor John Gilbert. They had a daughter born in 1933.

Bruce played a Ziegfeld showgirl in The Great Ziegfeld. She also appeared in movies such as Yellow Jack with Robert Montgomery, Escapade with William Powell and The Invisible Woman with John Barrymore.

Hiding a feature or sectioning a room. You might want to do this if you're having a party. Maybe you have storage or the cat box in a small space. You want to break a larger room into smaller sections. Have a work space or play area for your kids?

Billie Burke said she hates to look at her fireplace in the summertime. She hides it with a decorative screen. In front of the screen she might have a low table and on that a large bowl of flowers. 

The article suggested buying a cheap wooden fireplace screen. Paint or cover it with wallpaper in a pattern that you like. "Brass nails studding it at the edge are extremely good if you care to add them." 
--Movie Classic summer 1935

Recent Auction of William Haines items

In August 2014 there was an auction of over 30 custom William Haines designs commissioned for homes in 1960. "He did the entire interior, which has never been published,' said Peter Loughrey, director of the auction house [Los Angeles Modern Auctions]. 'It's also an intact commission, with the original finishes, upholstery fabrics and lampshades, which is very rare. For people who care about seeing exactly how it was made in 1960 this is how Haines wanted it all to look.'"
 
Among the pieces: a fern print-covered sofa (estimated at $4,000 to $6,000) and a matching piece with a backless, armless section (estimated at $5,000 to $7,000), two lacquer-topped coffee tables with walnut legs (estimated at $5,000 to $7,000 each), three swivel stools (estimated at $1,500 to $2,000 each) and a yellow Chinese pottery table lamp (estimated at $1,200 to $2,000).

A Tang-style horse lamp, estimated at $7,000 to $9,000, is bolted on a triangular side table with planter ($1,500-$2,000). A Seniah (Haines' name spelled backward) chair is valued at $3,000 to $5,000. That chair sold for $6,875.
 
Although the article says the Tang-style horse lamp was bolted to the William "Billy" Haines, designer table with inset planter, the items sold separately.

According to the auction house prices realized page, the table went for $1875 and the lamp for $46,250. While all of the Haines pieces did well, the Tang style lamps and those with his fern print sold particularly well, going above and beyond their high estimated prices.
-- Los Angeles Times May 14, 2014 and Los Angeles Modern Auction: prices realized pages 

** This is the first in a recurring theme of articles that will appear. When there are new posts, links to others will be added.

Norma Shearer in a Kimono Posters pre-code
Choose size, paper type, framed or unframed by hermoines
Browse more Talkies Posters at Zazzle

Bebe Daniels 1926 silent movie exhibitor ad Mirror For Makeup by Jakestuff
Check out another Vanity Mirror

Marion Davies 1919 vintage portrait Clock by Jakestuff
Look at other Marion Davies Wall Clocks at zazzle.com

 

Books and Links to Related Pages of Interest

Sapphires, Gem Symbolism Old Hollywood Carole Lombard Joan Crawford, Joan Blue Mae West

Carole Lombard and her chickens

Wisecracker: The Life and Times of William Haines, Hollywood's First Openly Gay Star by William J. Mann 

William Powell and Carole Lombard

Lon Chaney Johnny Depp Knives Hands and Love: Knives, Hands and Unrequited Love Alonzo and Nanon, Edward and Kim, The Unknown, Edward Scissorhands

Jan Brady helps welcome in The Year of the Horse, Celebrities born in the Year of the Horse. Props we see in multiple TV shows and films. How about The Brady Bunch horse statue?

Alfred Hitchcock's Blue Food dinner parties, the practical joke so nice he played it twice

Knit with Joan Crawford

For the bride, birthday girl or business woman wanting buzz: Decorate your car with bling, perfect gifts

Quotes and photos not otherwise credited from Silver Screen 1936

Magazine & newspaper articles were often as much for publicity as information. But here they're also for your enjoyment and you can get some info about decorating and about our favorite stars.  

Winning Oscars buying selling auctioning Academy Awards

Auctioning Academy Awards, Buying and Selling

Those who collect them
Those who buy them just to return them to
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences

In December 2002, Steven Spielberg paid $180,000, not including fees and

Steven Spielberg
Autographed Oscar
8x10 Color Photo

taxes, for Bette Davis' Best Actress Oscar for the 1935 movie Dangerous. It was auctioned by Sotheby's in New York. 

In 2001, Spielberg had paid $578,000 for the Oscar Davis won for the 1938 movie Jezebel. The director/producer is one of a handful of people who are buying up Oscars and giving them to the academy.

In 1996 Clark Gable's Best Actor Oscar for 1934's It Happened One Night sold for $607,500.

Clark Gable's son and only heir, John Clark Gable put the Oscar up for auction at Christie’s in Los Angeles. 

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences had sued to keep Gable's Oscar off the auction block. Both Christie's and Gable's son were defendants in the case.

Apparently the academy claimed that, two years before his death in 1960, Gable signed a standard contract giving it first right to buy the statuette if it was ever sold. Christie's claimed the signature on the agreement was a fake.

In 1955 a magazine claimed that Gable had given the Oscar to the son of director, Walter Lang. Lang was married to former actress, Madalynne Field. Also known as Fieldsie, she was private secretary and good friend to Carole Lombard. Lang and Field met when he directed Lombard in the 1936 film, Love Before Breakfast.

1955 Clipping claiming Clark Gable had given his Oscar
to the son of director Walter Lang

  Turns out that this was, to my knowledge at least, the first Oscar purchased by Mr. Spielberg and returned to the academy.

"I could think of no better sanctuary for Gable's only Oscar than the Motion Picture Academy," Spielberg said in a statement. "The Oscar statuette is the most personal recognition of good work our industry can ever bestow, and it strikes me as a sad sign of our times that this icon could be confused with a commercial treasure."





September 2001, George Stoll's Best Score Oscar (received for the 1945 film Anchors Aweigh) was offered in an estate sale at the Butterfields auction house. The award brought seven times more than expected at $156,875.  The actor Kevin Spacey was revealed as the anonymous buyer. He subsequently returned it to the Academy. 

In 1992 Harold Russell sold his Best Supporting Actor statuette from The Best Years of Our Lives (1946) for $50,000. Not a professional actor, he was able to portray a version of his own story in the film, a World War II veteran who comes home a double amputee. After making the film, he got a business degree from Boston University and became an ardent advocate for the disabled.

Mr. Russell said he needed the money to pay his wife's medical bills and other expenses. He's quoted as saying, "I don't know why anybody would be critical. My wife's health is much more important than sentimental reasons. The movie will be here, even if Oscar isn't." 

Russell received an honorary Oscar as well for being an inspiration for disabled war veterans throughout the U.S. "To Harold Russell for bringing hope and courage to his fellow veterans through his appearance in "he Best Years of Our Lives." This made him the first (and only) actor to receive two Oscars for the same role.

It's reported that agent Lew Wasserman bought Russell's statuette and donated it back to the academy.

Take the case of the Joseph Schildkraut Best Supporting Actor Academy Award for The Life of Emile Zola, 1937. His Oscar was in the early days when supporting actor awards were still plaques. In a 2007 auction it failed to reach its minimum bid and didn't sell. But in 2013 the Oscar sold for $92,866.

This is the only instance I found where a performer or craftsperson sold his or her own award. There are instances where people have donated or said to have gifted them.




In December 1993, the Oscar won by actress Vivien Leigh for her performance as Scarlett O'Hara in Gone with the Wind was sold at auction for $510,000. The award was sold by her family. Ms. Leigh also won a Best Actress Oscar at the 24th Annual Academy Awards in 1952 for her portrayal of Blanche DuBois in A Streetcar Named Desire.

In 1970 Let It Be won the Oscar for Best Original Score presented to The Beatles (John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr). It's from their documentary film of the same name. 

In 1976, John Lennon donated his Oscar statuette to the Southbury Training School in Southbuy, CT for "a celebrity auction for retarded people," and it brought $600. It was sold again at a 1992 auction bringing $110,000 from an anonymous Beatles fan.

The best actress Oscar won by Joan Crawford for her role in classic film Mildred Pierce sold at auction on two occasions. Ms. Crawford's daughter Cathy sold it in 1993 at a Christie's auction for $68,500 to an anonymous bidder. In September 2012 it was sold at auction again for $426,732.

8 Academy Award Winners Signed 8x10 Photo (PSA/DNA) LOA- Audrey Hepburn, Denzel Washington, James Stewart, Gene Kelly, Sally Field +

Magician David Copperfield spent close to a quarter of a million dollars for Michael Curtiz's Best Director Oscar for Casablanca (1943). Copperfield was unsuccessful in securing Welles' Oscar as co-writer for Citizen Kane.

Michael Jackson paid $1.54m at auction in 1999 for the Best Film (then called Outstanding Production) Oscar awarded to producer David O Selznick for Gone With The Wind.

In February 2012 a record 15 Oscars were auctioned off just days after the Academy Awards took place. The statuettes were all awarded prior to 1950.

"The academy, its members and the many film artists and craftspeople who've won Academy Awards believe strongly that Oscars should be won, not purchased," said academy spokeswoman Janet Hill in a statement. "Unfortunately, because our winners agreement wasn't instituted until 1950, we don't have any legal means of stopping the commoditization of these particular statuettes."





Of the 15 auctioned together, the Oscar bringing in the most money was $588,000 for Citizen Kane Best Original Screenplay Oscar received by Herman J. Mankiewicz which he shared with Orson Welles as co-writer.  

"Also up for grabs were How Green Was My Valley's best picture Oscar from 1941, which went for $274,520 and Cavalcade's 1933 gong for the same prize, which brought in $332,165. 

"The oldest of the Oscars on sale, Skippy's best picture statuette from 1931, fetched $301,973. 

"Two acting statuettes, Ronald Colman's 1947 best actor prize for A Double Life and Charles Coburn's historic supporting award for 1943's The More The Merrier – the first year that supporting actors were honored with their own prize – took $206,250 and $170,459 respectively."
-- The Guardian February 2012




Jaws was nominated for Best Picture. Watching the nomination, Spielberg is disappointed that he's not nominated for Best Directing. "The shark was an actress," he jokes, as if the shark might be eligible for that category. 

They note that Jaws is one of the few films to be nominated for Best Picture but not in other major categories of directing, acting, or writing. The 48th Academy Awards were presented March 29, 1976.

That year the winner was One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, Michael Douglas, Saul Zaentz. Other fantastic films in the category of Best Picture were Dog Day Afternoon, Jaws, Nashville and Barry Lyndon.

Some may remember the old Jack Benny radio show, It's still available in MP3 podcast form. Ronald Colman was one of Jack Benny's neighbors. A series of shows dealt with Benny's borrowing Colman's Oscar.

In 2002 Ronald Colman's Academy Award sold for $174,500. Also auctioned was a special brass Oscar box. It was inscribed, "To Ronald Colman/With The Affection and Esteem/Of His Fellow Actors/The Masquers/First Annual Dinner to the Winner/April 28, 1948," per Christie's Auction description of a Colman estate sale in 2002.

FYI: In the early years of the academy winners in the supporting acting categories were awarded plaques. After 1943, winners in the supporting acting categories were awarded Oscar statuettes similar to those awarded to winners in all other categories, including the leading acting categories. Have any of these fifteen Oscars been donated back to the academy? I haven't heard yet.

Mr. Copperfield is among a large group of fans who believe that the statuettes are to be respected as important pieces of movie memorabilia by collectors. This controversy is unlikely to end as the heirs of those who won the awards before 1950 are still legally allowed to do what they will with the statuettes. 

How do you feel about owning an Oscar or an Emmy Award as a piece of movie memorabilia like one of James Bond's cars or Dorothy's ruby slippers from The Wizard of Oz?

"Since the Academy Awards were first presented in 1929, there have been famous instances of lost or stolen Oscars. Margaret O'Brien's 1945 award for outstanding child acting disappeared from her home, only to be found 50 years later at a Pasadena flea market and returned to her."

The academy is in the process of building a museum. Some winners have their awards on display where fans can see them. I read that you can view movie memorabilia at the Francis Ford Coppola Winery Geyserville, CA, and that includes Mr. Coppola's Academy Awards. Similarly if you visit the Raymond Burr Vineyards in Healdsburg, CA you may be able to see his Emmy Awards.





In 1950, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences passed a rule prohibiting Academy Award winners or their heirs from selling a statue without first offering it back to the Academy for a price of $1.

"Award winners shall not sell or otherwise dispose of the Oscar statuette, nor permit it to be sold or disposed of by operation of law, without first offering to sell it to the Academy for the sum of $1.00. This provision shall apply also to the heirs and assigns of Academy Award winners who may acquire a statuette by gift or bequest."
-- excerpted from the Academy Rules and Regulations

Related Pages of Interest

The Travels of Orson Welles' Academy Award for Citizen Kane

Entertainment Memorabilia Auctioning, Collecting: Recent; Updates

Film characters with prosthetic hands: Character and Disability in film
Clark Gable marries Kay Williams July 1955

Carole Lombard and William Powell; mentions Lombard's secretary Fieldsie, Madalynne Field

Sources:

Los Angeles Times
New York Times
New York Daily News
The Victoria Advocate
NateSanders.com
Michael Jackson: The Magic, The Madness, The Whole Story, 1958-2009

All information is researched and deemed accurate. Please send corrections and updates if you have them with sources.

Here comes the bride wedding fashion museum shows

'Tis the Season... Wedding Dress Shows
at a Museum Near You

Or at least on a computer screen near you

Grace Kelly's bridal gown,
Her wedding in Monaco
April 19, 1956

 

Whether it's in honor of Valentine's Day, springtime or gearing up for Wedding season we're always in the mood to look at wedding dresses. With an interest in costume and a jewelry maker, I'm always on the lookout for shows to feature.

Check with your local museum, art gallery and library to see if a wedding themed show or exhibit is in the works. 

An auction house may have a wedding themed auction. More likely wedding items on display would be part of another auction. 

Here are three current museum exhibitions featuring wedding dress exhibitions. 

In this earth-friendly age of repurposing and recycling, artists are creating wedding gowns out of all sorts of materials. We're apt to see clever, thoughtful and whimsical ideas on display when least expected. Television challenge shows, especially fashion themes like Project Runway often will have a wedding theme of some kind.

Featured are other ideas to

Joan Crawford 8x10"
What era is your favorite?

 find some amazing wedding looks. 

The Jewish Museum in London has For Richer For Poorer: Weddings Unveiled February 13-May 31, 2015


Maybe you want ideas for your upcoming wedding or you're interested in history. Are you into fashion design, a romantic at heart, a film fan or a fashionista? Some may be custom made, some may be celebrity dresses, costumes, the chic, the outrageous, the iconic.



** BLISS: 19th-Century Wedding Gowns from The Helen Larson Historic Fashion Collection. February 11-April 26, 2014

This exhibit took place in the FIDM Museum & Galleries (Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising, Los Angeles campus). 

Ms. Larson was a fashion collector and historian. Also visit Bound to Impress: Corsets from The Helen Larson Historic Fashion Collection. The exhibit highlights unnatural fashions between the 1760s and the 1820s. What would Scarlett O'Hara say about this?

Listen to a 2012 Costume Cafe Podcast Kevin Jones FIDM Curator discuss The Helen Larson Historic Fashion Collection.

For film students and film lovers, a benefit of attending a show at the FIDM Museum & Galleries is that you may find a show with film and or television costume, particularly when it's the time for industry awards. 

What is your favorite wedding movie?

Father of the Bride Elizabeth Taylor, Spencer Tracy, Joan Bennett
Family wedding films that are bound to be remade

Their Annual Art of Motion Picture Costume Design Show ran through April 2014.


"Featuring over 100 costumes from more than 20 films, this annual exhibition celebrates the creative accomplishments of costume designers and offers visitors an up-close view of the costumer's art. 

"This year's exhibition includes all five 2014 Academy Award nominees for Best Costume: American Hustle (Michael Wilkinson), The Grandmaster (William Chang Suk Ping), The Great Gatsby (Catherine Martin), The Invisible Woman (Michael O’Connor) and 12 Years a Slave (Patricia Norris).

"It includes costumes from selected films of 2013 will be displayed in this annual exhibition of film costume design. Highlighted in the exhibition will be the previous year’s Academy Award® winner for Best Costume Design, Anna Karenina, designed by Jacqueline Durran."

Frankenstein 1931 BW Movie
Planing a theme wedding, Goth?

A family member of ours graduated from FIDM, and you may recognize that Tim Gunn's new Project Runway show, Under the Gunn takes place on a campus of FIDM.

** The Victoria and Albert Museum in London will host Wedding Dresses 1775-2014, exhibited May 3, 2014 through March 15, 2015. Learn about the history of fashion, the personal tradition of marriage and the couples themselves. 

What's involved in maintaining a garment that is hundreds of years old? What's involved in starting and maintaining a marriage, anyway?

"On display will be the most romantic, glamorous and extravagant wedding dresses from the V&A’s superb collection and will include some important new acquisitions as well as loans including the purple dress worn by Dita Von Teese for her marriage to Marilyn Manson and the outfits worn by Gwen Steffani and Gavin Rossdale on their wedding day."

The V&A Museum has one of my favorite web sites. Their thoughtful discussions on a variety of topics are often transcribed and uploaded. Those of us who can't visit in person can get a good sense of what it's like to visit an exhibit or participate in a discussion. The role of a museum has changed with the advent of the internet.
 
Prince William and Princess Catherine have celebrated the birth of baby Prince George. The final stop in the tour of Diana a Celebration was the Cincinnati Museum Center. The show ran February 14-August 17, 2014. 

Charles and Diana's wedding July 29, 1981 at  St Paul's Cathedral, London.

Princess Diana's wedding dress, complete with accessories and a little bridesmaid's dress are on display. 

Also in the exhibit are personal photographs and mementos, jewelry, some of her tiaras and other iconic dresses and gowns.

In 2012 and 2013 a traveling exhibit of Princess Grace Style Icon visited the US, Canada, Australia and, of course, Monaco. 

Along with outfits in Grace Kelly's personal collection and costumes she wore on screen, in her roles in Hitchcock and other film roles a replica of her famous wedding dress was included in the show.




Fans saw some resemblance between Princess Grace's dress and the gown worn by Princess Catherine when she married Prince William.




Just as you're apt to see a wedding dress in a fashion show, you may see at

MGM Designer Helen Rose
works on Grace Kelly's
wedding dress

least one in an exhibit of a designer's work or that of a style icon. 

If you were lucky enough to see In the Valentino: Master of Couture exhibition, included was the 1995 bridal gown created for Princess Marie Chantal of Greece. 

Twenty-five of Valentino's seamstresses worked on the dress, created with pearl-encrusted ivory silk, 12 kinds of lace and incorporating a half meter train.

Watch press releases from auction houses. There was an auction of the amazing dresses worn by stars such as Elizabeth Taylor. 

Even if you can't bid, some auction houses bring their collections to different parts of the country. You may be able to see the items in person. Sometimes an item's provenance is fascinating.

Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy
Wedding Poster Photo
Famous Americans Posters

The fashion worn by our political leaders is of historical significance, and wedding dresses would be of particular interest. At the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum, artist's reproduction of Jacqueline Kennedy's wedding gown done completely in paper. 

Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy’s gown was the work of Ann Lowe, an African-American dress-maker from Alabama.

Jacqueline Kennedy’s actual wedding gown, part of the Kennedy Library’s permanent collection, is now too fragile for display and was last featured in a 2003 exhibit marking the 50th wedding anniversary.

Belgian artist Isabelle de Borchgrave and collaborator Rita Brown created an exact paper replica after visiting the JFK Library. They made careful measurements and notes before production. The paper was manipulated, dyed with tea. The intent was to mimic the texture and color of the original silk. The paper dress was on display in Honor of the Kennedys' 60th Wedding Anniversary.

Similarly you may find specially made dolls in all price ranges who've been carefully crafted, the dolls themselves, the dresses and the details of their accessories to correspond with what famous brides wore on their wedding days.  




Just as some designers rush to knock off what's seen on the red carpet at events such as the Oscars, famous wedding gowns are often imitated as quickly as possible. These days, a studio may or may not work with outside designers to get a dress in stores for fans.

When The Twilight Saga Breaking Dawn, Part One was released, designer Alfred Angelo was prepared to give prospective brides the dress they'd seen in ads and trailers as soon as the film opened. Couples could have a wedding resembling that of Bella (Kristen Stewart) and Edward (Robert Pattinson). 

Angelo also offers a collection inspired by Disney characters. He, and others have created a copies of Kate Middleton's Alexander McQueen gown. When it is as iconic as Kate Middleton's gown, there are even Halloween costumes made.

One of the top stories in bridal film fashion is the semi-hush-hush situation where British designer Vivienne Westwood was commissioned to create a gown

Miss Piggy and Kermit
An earlier film, a different dress

for none other than Miss Piggy. It's for her new film, Muppets Most Wanted. The dress is described as an ivory couture gown that is not only stunning but environmentally sound. 

It was made from recycled plastic bottles, decorated in paillettes and is accessorized with a tulle veil. Westwood reportedly created other outfits for the star to wear in the film. 

Whether the wedding would really take place has not been confirmed and the groom, Kermit the Frog has been unavailable for comment.

How are weddings altered by traditions changing through the years, through families, cultures, simply by individual personality? Was the bride a traditionalist, a trailblazer, a bit of both? How can you tell? Are you like she was? 

Regardless of how times and tastes and traditions change, we can usually take something from those we admire and imbue them into our own look. Ever hallway a runway, never so much perhaps as when you're talking about the wedding aisle.


Exhibition Information, Related Pages of Interest:

For Richer, For Poorer Weddings Unveiled The Jewish Museum London 
February-May 2015

The Victoria and Albert Museum London Wedding Dresses 1775-2014; Through March 2015

Norma Talmadge Stretched Canvas Prints and posters by shelbysemail2
Look at more canvas art prints at zazzle

Tiaras turn you into a princess on your wedding day: tiaras and crystal headbands are so popular now more than ever between the influence of royalty, the celebration of handmade and artisan crafters, programs like Downton Abbey and films like The Great Gatsby. They are for all eras, all styles and budgets.

Paper Art version of Jacqueline Kennedy Wedding Gown information

Paper art replica of Jackie Kennedy bridal gown 


Grace Kelly Costume Barbie: To Catch a Prince, Bridal Doll

British Comedy Weddings on Film and Television

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