Strangely enough, not all my actors have been human. But if you are against putting dresses on dogs or costumes on animals in any way, this post is not for you.
The first non-human I costumed was a primate called “Bubbles”, owned by Michael Jackson. Bubbles was cast as the mascot for the Peaches team in “A League of Their Own” and had to have a Peaches uniform made for him. My assistant Kiki and I called the trainer and asked for his measurements! - chest, waist, shoulders? do they have shoulders? We just applied what we usually asked for when measuring humans. When Bubbles came for a fitting, he sat on the table as we tried the outfit on and looked at me with big brown eyes. The dress was a little big. “Can I pin it?” I asked the trainer. “Will he be OK with that?” “ Yes”, he replied, “as long as you don’t stick him”. Believe me, I was VERY careful.
But by far the most extensive and varied were my costumes for non-humans on NBC’s daytime drama “Passions”, a show that never vied far from the weird, exotic, magical, and unique. In one scene one of the characters has a bad date and turns her nasty suitor into a rat. To make the point, we had to make a little vest for the rat to match the one that the charactor was wearing, and figure out how to keep it on him. And yes, the rat was brought in for fittngs, three in fact.
But anyone who watched Passions for more than one episode knows of the character “Precious”, played by a young orangitang called Bam Bam (a male). Mrs Wallace, Beth’s mother, was so cantankerous that all her nurses had quit, so they finally hired Precious the nurse to take care of her! Then Precious got a crush on Luis, played by the soap opera-gorgeous Galen Gering, and began having daydreams about him! So I had to create outfits for these many fantasies! First I had to make him a wedding gown, then a Scarlet O’Hara “Gone With the Wind” outfit. Then a hot pink peignoir with boa trim. Then an Olympic skating dress in blue sequins. And many many more.
One of my favorites was a green velvet cape with white fur trim for a winter skating scene. I had spotted the cape at a well known vintage store, a child’s cape. I didn’t have the heart to tell the owner that I was putting the lovely vintage cape on an orangutang.
We all adored Bam Bam. On the days he was coming up to the wardrobe department for a fitting, all the wardrobe crew wanted to come and watch. He arrived piggyback on the back of his trainer (who had him since birth) and stood on our big cutting table. Out came the outfit, and on the direction of his trainer, he would lift first one leg and then the other to step into it. So cute. Once I apologized to his trainer for putting him a particularly frilly outfit, and he told me, “he’s an animal, he doesn’t know its pink and frilly”. Oops, of course not.
Not everyone liked seeing this character. There were protests from animal lovers who felt it was un-natural (which of course it was) and cruel. However, other than the fact that Bam Bam didn’t like wearing hats and got bored from too long a shooting shceudle (much like human actors) he never seemed unhappy. He loved getting picked up and posing for photos with his arms around his human friends.
Eventually, Bam Bam grew into a fully grown adult, meaning his acting career was coming to an end. It was a truly emotional day when he did his last scene and all the actors and crew gathered on stage to say goodbye. He seemed to sense that something emotional was happening as he looked at all of us sillies crying our eyes out.
Bam Bam went to a “retirement home for primates” in Florida. Honestly. Every once in a while we hear that someone has ben to see him and that he is healthy and happy and being very orangutangish.
Don't forget to visit me to find out more about online costume training at
http://hollywoodmentors.co
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