My love for all things dance

I first witnessed ballet was when I was seven years old. My mother had taken me to see the Sadlers Wells Ballet perform Les Sylphides in London, and I was instantly mesmerized! Little did I know at the time that I would become a professional dancer, and then later transition to a costume designer.

That's not me in the photo. I just like the picture!

I never lost my love of dance and dancers. I know how hard it is to train, to become really good, and how short a ballet career will most likely be. Dancers of any age speak a common language, a language of sore muscles, intense and disciplined training, and the pure joy of artistic expression through movement.

In fact, it was my experience as a dancer that got me my first costuming job. I met one of the producers of Ann-Margret's lavish Las Vegas act, who was looking for someone to co-ordinate the 12 dancers' and 6 singers' costumes for her show. I thought I didn't know anything about costumes, only having worn them, never having made them, but the brilliant producer said I must understand what dancers need, and so gave me the job! That was what started it all.

Through Ann-Margret, I met Bob Mackie and became his assistant for the lavish Las Vegas show "Jubilee," and once again found myself costuming dancers. During rehearsals, I even took class with them from time to time if I wasn't busy downstairs in the wardrobe department. 

Leigh Taylor Young in Passions"

Many years later, while designing the show Passions, I had an unusual experience with actress Leigh Taylor Young. It turned out we had a unique connection from the past. She asked me, "Were you ever a student at the National Ballet School in Toronto?" I was surprised at the question, as that wasn't something that was in my bio. It turns out that she was also a ballet student there, a couple of years younger, and "looked up" to me, one of the "older" students at age fourteen!

From ballet to Broadway to ball gowns in Hollywood. Who would have thought!

Santa Barbara 1992 Costume Sketches

Amazing time on the Santa Barbara Reunion Cruise. Cast and fans both so gracious and kind! These are a unique and wonderful group of people and I'm so glad I came. I will be writing more about the trip in a day or two when I am home.

An exciting week, with more to come!

This past week has been full of activity and progress on my book "Stars in Their Underwear!" The manuscript is now in the hands of an agent who represents a best selling author who was one of my teachers at the International Women's Writers Guild Summer Conference last July. And the book is also in the hands of an editor who has edited many books, including those of my former co-author. So now it's wait and see!
It was difficult sending the manuscript after all the hard work as I couldn't help but want to go through it one more time and polish it some more! But that is a continual process, and I am sure once it has been read by the professionals, there will be changes and updates suggested.

Today I have been preparing for my Santa Barbara Reunion Cruise, and can't wait to see my former colleagues, actors Nic Coster, Judith McConnell, and A Martinez. All of them are truly delightful human beings and ones I couldn't be happier to be seeing again. I am also excited to meet the fans as I know how loyal a following the show had and still has.  For the fans, I have printed out 4 x 6 prints of a dozen of my Sant Barbara sketches and put each one in a little folder.  I have also created a four-minute mini-movie of the sketches interspersed with actual footage of the actors in the costumes! I will save showing it for the first time to the fans, but then upload it to YouTube for all to enjoy.

And then there was Halloween! It's never been my favorite holiday. I'm a bit of a wuss when it comes to scary things, not to mention skulls, blood and gore, and all versions of evil creatures. However, I got in the spirit enough to make myself a costume - a clear vinyl coat to which I added 3 dozen pockets made out of ziplock bags in which were all the items I would need for "Surviving a Disaster". I had miniatures of my favorite vodka and Roses lime, a sewing kit, toilet paper, cat food for Nala, a can opener, a screwdriver, an extra pair of underwear (red satin!), a deck of cards, soap, and all sorts of other things I thought were amusing. When I was growing up, Halloween costumes were never bought. One had to be clever and create something fun out of whatever you could find, so that's what I did.

So, two days from now I will be aboard the Navigator of the Seas and heading to the Bahamas. I am sure I will be writing about the experience, so stay tuned!

Here is what makes me happy this week:

• A brilliant series on Netflix called "Unbelievable" with three gifted actresses in the leading roles: Toni Collette, Merritt Wever, and Kaitlyn Dever. It blew me away! It's based on a true story and was written and directed with such subtlety and authenticity that I couldn't stop watching. 
• The anticipation of going to see Swan Lake at the Smith Center on Saturday, yes, the full-length version, performed by the Nevada Ballet Company. I haven't seen the classic in many years, but it played a critical role in my early life. I made my professional ballet debut in Act 4 of Swan Lake at the age of 15, with the National Ballet Company of Canada.
• The nearly perfect Las Vegas October weather. I do love our sunshine! Never too much for me.
• Chatting with my former co-author, Gloria Lintermans, after a long spell of not being in touch. We wrote a book called Retro Chic in 2003 and had a great time doing it.
• Getting two more chapters edited and added to the master manuscript of my upcoming book, and the expectation of finishing the last two chapters by the weekend. Then it's off to an agent who has expressed interest in reading it.
• And of course, ice cream. Always ice cream.

What is my favorite color?

People often ask me what my favorite color is. That’s a tough one. It reminds me of when I asked my mother, who was the favorite of her children, my brother, my sister or me? Of course, I was hoping it would be me! But she said, “I love you all very much, but I love you each differently.” And so it is with color.

If I’m in the Caribbean looking out at the crystal clear water, I am sure my favorite color is aqua. But then in the spring, when I look at my Palo Verde tree covered in bright yellow blossoms, I think it must be yellow.

But I must say I am partial to a red dress!

There are a couple of iconic red dresses that are burned vividly and indelibly into my brain, never to fade. One was designed by the wonderful Aggie Guerard Rodgers for “The Color Purple” (for which she was nominated for an Oscar Award). It was worn by Whoopi Goldberg as “Celie,” and in the scene, she was running along the road towards her house. An ominous gray sky was behind her, which made the dark red dress become so much more intense as it swirled around her, and the whole mood felt intense and slightly dangerous.

The very first costume I designed for a major client was red and was for Ann-Margret. It was for a disco number (yes, disco..... this was a while back!) for her big nightclub act at Caesars Palace, and later the number was used on a TV special. I had already designed the outfits for the male dancers, and now I got to create a dress for the star. The first time she emerged on stage wearing my red dress was a moment I will never forget!

But if I am to define red, in a perfect world, it would be a beaded gown by Giorgio Armani on exhibit in Rome at a retrospective of the fashion designer’s work. I was in Rome on holiday and read about the Armani exhibit mounted at the ancient Roman Baths of Diocletian.

We entered the exhibit, and the first cavernous room was exceedingly dark. I wondered who would be so perverse as to not light an exhibit so one could see it! But as our eyes gradually adjusted, we could begin to see display cases of the designer’s subtly colored and understated daywear emerging from the shadows. The shapes were uncluttered, slightly androgynous, and executed in his “greige” palette. But then we entered the next room, also dark. A single spotlight mounted up high shone onto a red beaded gown, and I gasped. The way our eyes had adjusted to the dim light in the previous room must have accentuated the brilliance of this dress. To me, it was the essence of red. The ultimate red. I shall never forget it.

Las Vegas, my kind of town!

It's hard to believe that when I first stayed at Caesar's Palace (working with Ann-Margret), it looked pretty much like this! Well, in 1974, there had been one extension of the original tower, but I stayed in the round building in the center.

My connection with Las Vegas started in 1961, with a 30-minute stopover in the downtown train station on Main Street at 2 am. I was a very young dancer with the "My Fair Lady" National Company, and we were traveling from Salt Lake City to Los Angeles. The 1970s, when I frequently visited for work with Ann-Margret, Raquel Welch, and Diana Ross, introduced me to the then-small town of Las Vegas in a proper fashion, and in 1980 and 1981, I spent a great deal of time here preparing the costumes for "Jubilee."

At that time, Las Vegas was still small. You could cross Las Vegas Boulevard directly; there were no overpasses. There was no 10 lane freeway running by it. The desert was a few blocks away. The airport was small. I don't even remember noticing the mountains all around...the focus was all on The Strip.

I wasn't prepared for the change when I returned in the late '80s. The airport had exploded! By this time, I was working full time as a costume designer for TV series and films in Hollywood and occasionally came up to Las Vegas to shoot on location. Las Vegas already felt somewhat like home.

And now it is home! As I was driving to the airport early this morning to drop off some friends, I admired the clear blue skies and the mountains on all four sides again. Do I pine for the old days? Absolutely not! So, there may be more cars. Still, my city is continually re-inventing itself with new hotels, stadiums, entertainment venues, and university buildings. And as I chronicle in my upcoming book, I too have had to re-invent myself several times….from ballet dancer to Broadway dancer to actress to costume designer. And now, author. Please watch for my book, coming out in the spring.

Women in TV, Film, and (why not) everywhere!

As I work on my book (and yes, I have only 7 more chapters on which to do a substantial re-write and edit!), I think how lucky I have been to be able to pursue a career that I wanted. It wasn’t always so easy for women to choose anything that excited them and go for it.

I have been lucky in my life that I was born into a family where I had many strong women as role models. My paternal step-grandmother was a judge, a mayor, and was, in general, a no-nonsense kind of woman! My great aunt was an obstetrician, one of the first females to graduate in the early 1900’s with a medical degree. There was also a distant cousin who was an Arctic explorer in the early 1900s! So it never occurred to me that I couldn’t do whatever I wanted because I was a woman. It just never entered my mind.

 In high school, most of my classmates were going on to be either nurses or teachers. It seemed a pretty limited selection to me, but I already knew I was going to be a dancer, so what did I care?

 By the early 1970’s I was living in Los Angeles, and it’s not to say that there weren’t obstacles to overcome as a woman. It was difficult at that time, if not downright impossible, for a woman to buy a house without a father or husband to co-sign. Can you imagine! Do you remember Edith Bunker trying to get a loan at the bank? The 1970s were a tumultuous time with all sorts of reexamination of women’s rights going on, and women such as Gertrude Stein, and Erica Jong and Germaine Greer drawing attention. And of course, the demand for equal rights and the sexual revolution changed so much in how we could lead our lives. It was an intoxicating period, with the promise of greater freedom and power!

 And as I started my transition to my career in costume design, many of the top television producers, stars, designers were women. Think Murphy Brown, Designing Women, and Gilmore Girls. The very first producer who took a chance on me, hiring me for The Facts of Life, was a woman, and many of the producers (and a few directors) I worked for in television subsequently were women, including Penny Marshall, Yvette Lee Bowser, Irma Kalish, and Lisa De Cazotte.

 I still believe that it’s important not to feel that you are coming from behind, but that you are starting from the same start line, and that excellence in what you do is the thing that will propel you forward. Not nepotism, not cronyism, not anything but commitment and talent and passion. Call me naive or an optimist, but I’d like to think even men wouldn’t be dumb enough to ignore someone who is really really really good at what they do!

I'm back!

Hello Everyone, I've been "gone" for a while - gone from blogging, that is.

But I have been busy writing a book about the wonderful people I have worked with as a professional costume designer and I am nearing the finish of the Second Draft!

Today I have been on the phone with the organizers of the Santa Barbara Reunion Cruise which is just over a month away! The reunion event will feature six of Sant Barbara's top stars: the beloved Nic Coster, the divine Lane Davies, beautiful Judith McConnell, the soulful A Martinez, and more.
It will be on the Royal Caribbean Navigator of the Seas and will sail out of Miami.

I am so excited to be going! I will be taking part in some of the events, talking about the costumes I designed for the last year of the show's run, in 1992, and bringing along some photos and sketches.
There is an entire chapter in my book about my year designing the show in which I talk about what it was like costuming so many actors every day, mostly in beautiful clothes that reflected the sunny California lifestyle.

I also got to design a number of wedding gowns, such as the one for Nancy Grahn playing Julia, for her wedding to Mason, and another one for Sydney Penny for the final episode of the series. We shot that on location in Laguna Niguel in late December. It was a beautiful day with glorious sunshine, only it was cold, cold, cold, and all the poor actors were shivering in their gowns inbetween takes!

Stay tuned for updates!
Diana Eden Entertainment Author

OUT OF MY COMFORT ZONE!

A few weeks ago I was asked if I could make a costume for a skit that was to be a key part of a showbiz roast for Frank Marino in Las Vegas. Anyone who knows me knows I LOVE to design/make costumes and I LOVE to make money, so anytime I can do  the two things at once, I’m one happy camper! But I turned this one down. It was SOOO out of my comfort zone. It was to be a large, and I do mean large, tiger costume, Montecore of Seigfried and Roy fame to be exact, with certain elements of puppetry.  I don’t do animals. I do glamor, glitz, beautiful elegant and classy costumers. I haven’t ever worked with foam, never wielded a knife in the cause of a costume, seldom use a glue gun, am not particularly “crafty”, and know absolutely nothing about how to make the apendages of said animal move.

I thought that was that, but the producer could not find anyone else to do the costume and offered me double what I would have asked, so I weakened and said yes!

The cool thing about being out of your comfort zone is that you are forced to expand your capabilities and do things you thought you had no aptitude for. This was NOT an easy job. The animal has to be big, almost as long as I am tall (5’8”!), and somewhat life like. The legs have to move. It can’t topple over. So off I went to the fabric store and bought lots of fake fur. OMG this is the first time I have worked with fake fur.... it is all over my workroom, in the carpet, in my eyes, certainly up my nose. I had to vacuum every day after working, and I’m still finding fur tufts everywhere.

Thankfully, my husband is very resourceful (and a good sport!) and helped me immensely by building a skeleton of bits and pieces of things we had in our garage and at our neighborhood Lowes. Then I bought foam and started to figure out how to create the shape of this animal.  First fitting did not go well. The producer thought it too small. Back to square one. More fur needed. More vacuuming needed. More patience with myself needed.

Second fittng went pretty well, though the mechanics still weren’t working. Back to Lowes for more supplies.

But in the end, I was amazed that I was able to pull it off! It’s not a glamorous gown, like I enjoy doing, nor is it on the level of a Lion King or War Horse puppet. But it got  huge laughs at the event when it appeared and now it’s all over Twitter!

I’m so glad I wasn’t comfortable for a few weeks - such a sense of accomplishment when it all ends well!

COMING FULL CIRCLE, BACK TO MY SEWING ROOTS!

During my costume designing career, often I have been asked if I sew all my costumes. It always bothered me a bit, because it assumed that a designer has to sit at the sewing machine turning out hundreds of costumes a show might need as well as designing them, meeting with the actors, going to production meetings etc. It is like asking an architect if he constructs all his own buildings!

However, I am now in the process of making a number of costumes for a musical groups’s new show, and to my surprise, I am loving it! I have put in far more hours than my fee would suggest but I don’t mind in this instance, because I am having so much fun! I sit up in my second floor office, which has windows on two sides and a view of Mt Charleston to the west, and sew away on my sturdy little workhorse Singer sewing machine. In the evening I sit downstairs on the sofa and hand sew, trying not to leave the tell-tale sequins scattered on the floor. (Sticky rollers are brilliant for getting up sequins!)

For thirty odd years working as a costume designer for stage, film and TV, I have sewn little more than a few throw pillows and hems and minor alterations on my own clothes. I have relied on the fully professional and divinely talented people in my costume workrooms who look at my sketches and miraculously turn them into fully realized costumes. They make the patterns, turn out a “muslin” sample for my approval, cut the fabric, assemble it, and put in those pesky zippers. Then, once the fitting is done, they make the adjustments, and add the beading or trim, and do the final hand finishing. One of the great joys of costume design is seeing one’s creation go from my imagination to sketch to finished product on the actor!

I started hand sewing at an early age, growing up in England. All little girls were taught to sew, and we had a class where the teacher would read to us while we did our embroidery. When I was 8 years old I won my first prize for embroidery!

Later, during my teen years in Canada, I went to a summer course at the Singer Sewing Machine center, realizing that I could get more clothes to wear if I learned to make them myself.

During my Broadway career (as a dancer and actress) I used to sew many of my own clothes, inspiring my friends to ask me to make clothing for them. I even had a line of dresses that I took around to the various theaters on Broadway for the dancers and singers to look at and buy. 

Once relocated to Los Angeles to pursue my acting career, I supported myself in-between gigs with making patchwork dresses and skirts, also quilts and pillows which I sold to interior decorators, private clients, and at outdoor craft shows.

Eventually my career morphed from performing to costuming. My first job was co-ordinating the costumes for Ann-Margret’s nightclub act, dealing with the many costumes for the dancers and singers. When I worked up the nerve to ask if I could design a dress for Ann-Margret herself, guess who sewed it....ME!  I remember many a night struggling away to make it fit, make it perfect, even adding the rhinestones myself.

So, flash forward to my professional costume design career for TV series and films....no sewing! I remember fondly the many wonderful women and men who made my designs come to life. And now, I am happy sitting upstairs sewing away, trying to do as good a job as they did.

A SALUTE TO FILM COSTUMERS!

For thirty plus years I have been a costume designer for TV and film, and have loved every minute of it. It has been hard work, demanding work, requiring interacting with producers and their budgets, crews large and small, and actors with all their needs. 

But recently I returned to the trenches! I went to work as a set costumer on a feature film that has been designed by a former colleague Salvador Pérez, and has been filming here in Las Vegas for 5 weeks. What an education! I now have an even greater admiration for how hard the set costumers work, how long they work, and how physically demanding the job is. The job is neither glamorous or for the faint of heart!

On one hand, the Costume Designers are “on call” which means they are wherever they need to be, whenever they need to be, and do not clock in and out. Often they work very long hours too, and work weekends if they need to. They are responsible for not only the creative aspect of the costumes on film, but the budget, and the operation of their costume department throughout the process. They are at the head of the department and get the credit or the blame for how the film’s costumes look. 

However, the set costumers are among the first to arrive, even before “crew call”. Their call might be at 2 in the morning or 5 am in the morning, or 7 pm at night. They need to get to the wardrobe trailer, set up and be ready to set the costumes in each actors’s dressing room before the actors arrive. They check the background actors’ wardrobe, getting them dressed as cops, waiters, club patrons, sometimes hundreds of them. Then they go to set, lugging their set racks and kits. If location is outdoors, they work in whatever conditions exist, which in the case of the recent feature, was over 100 degree temperature, day after day (record breaking heat waves for Las Vegas!). Umbrellas, fans, portable a/c is provided for princple actors and the director and DP, but the set costumers sweat it out. They are there every moment to keep the actors comfortable, dressed correctly, holding their set slippers and robes for them, or their cell phones and other paraphernalia. They must stay focused through hours and tedious hours of shooting, watching their actors to make sure a collar doesn’t flip up or a bra strap show.  Often there is nowhere for them to sit.

At the end of 12 hours of filming, everyone is exhausted and rushing to go home. The transportation department picks up the actors and takes them back to their dressing room and/or their hotels. The background actors are in a rush to check out and go home too. After most performers are headed “home”, the set costumers THEN have to pick up all the actors clothes, often strewn on the floor in a hurry, pick up the damp socks and under shirts, and get everything back to the trailer. Then they sort and organize. Put things away. Write up the dry cleaning or do a laundry in the portable washing machine on board. Set up tomorrow’s costumes so that 10 hours later when they return for the next day’s shooting, everything is ready to go.

So my hat is off to set costumers! One week I did five 14 hour days in a row, and was happy that I survived! Yes, the money is excellent, and I am glad of the paycheck. But as I approach teaching my classes  to film costumers of the future I now have a much greater insight into what they need to know.... from my view from the trenches!

DREAM BIG, FORGET THE SAFE LIFE!

In two weeks I will be going to the airport to pick up a young lady I have never met, a young woman who sought me out via email a couple of years ago. She grew up in Turkey, and now lives and works in Germany. She told me about her dreams of designing costumes, even though she is highly educated and accomplished in the field of politics and international relations. I do not know her design talents, but I do know that if she wants a costume career as badly as she seems to, I should encourage her to give it a try. So I did.

She has saved up enough money,taken some classes, got her visa, and is coming to intern with me for a couple of weeks and look into further longer lasting internship possibilities.

She has said in her emails that no-one else has encouraged her but me, so when I read Xazmin Garza’s column in todays Las Vegas Review Journal, I thought of her. Below is an excerpt of Garza's column:

Everyone has a dream somewhere along the line. Dreamers just dare to keep having them well after society expects them to stop. There’s a reason the question “what do you want to be” always ends with “when you grow up.” We equate dreaming with immaturity. 

......To go after something beyond standard goals — 10 fingers and 10 toes, a corner office, the lifestyle that comes with the Champagne that comes with the car — requires bravery. Not just for what might be sacrificed to do it, but for all the naysayers who will inevitably be encountered along the way.

It’s also Father’s Day today, so I am grateful to both my parents (both long gone) for allowing me to dream big. It wasn’t always easy for them, I don’t think, as my dreams of a showbusiness career did not guarantee me a nice stable and possibly affluent lifestyle in the city where I grew up, surrounded by family and friends. But they didn’t stop me when I flew off to Boston the day after I wrote my last exam for my BA, to audition as a dancer for the “My Fair Lady” National Company and, as it turns out, never to live at home again.

So Mum and Dad, thanks so much for letting me go, letting me dream. And I’ll write more about my intern in a few weeks. I hope to be part of her realizing her dreams.

The Far Reaching Arms of the Show Business Family

An interesting thing happened to me this week. In my Yahoo inbox was an email from a total stranger who gently enquired if I would be willing to share my impressions of a mutual friend for an article he was writing. Within 24 hours it seemed I had time-travelled back to the mid 1960’s, and shared stories, memories, and bittersweet reflections with this well-known writer about our friend. More of this experience shortly.

This led me to all sorts of musings. With the 315 million people who live in the United States and the 35 million who live in my former country of Canada, it astounds me how often paths of certain people cross, nearly cross, and re-cross, mostly within the theater, film, and show-business community. The entertainment business is truly a family, an extended dysfunctional family at worst, a close family at best. Sooner or later we all meet each other! The cliche “small world isn't’ it?” might be apt, but hardly explains the remarkable and unexpected connections we often discover by chance.

A couple of years ago I was visiting with fellow Costume Designer Albert Wolsky and we were talking about his early career when he was assisting famed designer Ann Roth. We realized he had outfitted ME for my role as Gwendolyn PIgeon in the National Company of The Odd Couple many years ago. We did not remember each other.

My sense of family has always come from the work I do, the performing companies and film communities I have been part of.  I grew up in England with virtually no cousins and no family other than parents near by. My English grandmother died before I was born. My Canadian grandparents were an ocean away, and I did not meet them until I was six. 

Dancers, in particular, have a strong bond. We all know how hard it is to train to become really good at what we do, and how short our careers will most likely be. Dancers of any age speak a common language, a language of sore muscles, intense and disciplined training, and the pure joy of artistic expression through dance.

A few years ago I was in the fitting room of my costume department at CBS Radford Studios with actress Leigh Taylor-Young, ready to fit her for her costume in the NBC daytime drama Passions. She looked at me strangely and said “were you ever a dancer at the National Ballet School in Toronto?” I was, in fact, at about age 14 and Leigh, a younger dance student, remembered me! How extraordinary! And I thought I was so dull and invisible at that age.

My closest friend as an adult was a dancer I met at Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival when we were both still teenagers. We went on to perform together, room together, and go to each other’s weddings. I am still in touch with two other dancers from my earliest days of professional dancing in My Fair Lady. One is now a licensed family therapist living in Pasadena, another is retired and living in North Carolina, but we still email and check on each other frequently, some 50 years later.

Dancers Over 40 is a group in New York, formed to provide a community to support the needs of “mature” dancers and choreographers. I know board member Harvey Evans from when we were both performers on the road in Chicago in the 60’s.  In Los Angeles I am a member of the Professional Dancers Society which keeps us, haha, on our toes!  

Some companies, like the aforementioned My Fair Lady, form strong “families”. Others not so much. Ann-Margret to this day surrounds herself with her dancers and friends from her days of performing live; many still walk together on Saturdays for exercise. The soap opera Passions has a core group that still stays in touch, and Facebook has certainly facilitated that. I used to suffer terribly at the end of a show, as I was constantly losing my families and having to find new ones. We are all scattered and have to go on to other cities and other shows, hopefully to still feel part of a larger community.

Another interesting story (which I have written about before) concerns a young girl who lived in Belarus when Santa Barbara was the first US show to be shown on Russian television. It was an enormous hit, and the bright colors and somewhat unrealistic rich lifestyle was very appealing to those still barely out from the grayness of communism. This young lady, Antonina Grib, reached out to me via email and I responded. After getting a scholarship to study costumes in the US, she eventually came to intern with me on Passions and has since gone on to a very successful career in costuming, working on major TV and film projects. For all the negative things that are written about the internet, without it Antonina and I might never have connected, let alone formed a deep friendship and mentorship.

So back to my new journalist friend: it turns out that as a 17 year old he was a ticket-taker at the National Theater in Washington DC, his home town, and was “introduced not only to the backstage magic but to a real-life cast of charismatic and eccentric players who would become his mentors and friends”.  Though I can’t claim to have been either,  since we did not know each other, our paths crossed a number of times over the years. He saw me at the National Theater in My Fair Lady, later in the out of town try-out of the Broadway musical Hot Spot, and later at the Blackstone Theater in Chicago where we shared, unbeknownst to us, a friendship with a wonderful man, Clayton Coots, who was a mentor to young Frank, and a dear friend to me.  So Clayton was the catalyst, the internet the instrument of Frank finding me, and the telephone made possible our sharing so many of our stories about so many mutual friends.

Here is the link to Frank Rich’s touching article in The New York Magazine

http://nymag.com/news/frank-rich/gay-history-2013-6/

WOMEN IN FILM AND LIFE: SOME THOUGHTS

The other night I was one of four judges at the UNLV produced film festival called “Spring Flicks”. At the end of the three day event, awards were handed out for best film, best director, best editing, best cinematography, and so forth. And then, to my total and utter surprise, I was awarded a special “CInefemme of the Year” award for my support and encouragement of a group of young and mostly female film-makers during the year. I was touched beyond words, and still think I really didn’t do enough to really deserve this honor.

Cinefemmes was also awarding a screenwriter, either male or female, an award for the best female protagonist.  Yet here we are in 2013, and to my surprise and disappointment, even these energetic and creative young film-makers were still making films about females as strippers, hookers, victims, or nags! And this all got me to thinking about the continuing role of women in film, in life, and the world in general.

I have been lucky in my life for a couple of reasons, one being that I chose careers that are largely female driven, first ballet, and later costume design, which is pretty evenly divided between male and female. But secondly, I was born into a family where I had many strong women as role models. My paternal step-grandmother (my real grandmother died before I was born) was a judge, a mayor, received the MBE for her services to the community, and was in general a no nonsense kind of woman. My great aunt was an obstetrician, one of the first females to graduate in early 1900’s with a medical degree. There was also a distant cousin who  was an Arctic explorer in the early 1900’s!  So it never occurred to me that I couldn’t do whatever I wanted because I was a woman. It just never entered my mind.

In high school, most of my classmates were going on to be either nurses or teachers. It seemed a pretty limited selection to me, but I already knew I was going to be a dancer, so what did I care? Even in college it was a fairly common “joke” that women who went to college were not after a BA or MA, but a MRS! But me, I was headed to Broadway and a husband was the last thing on my mind.

By the early 1970’s I was living in Los Angeles, and it’s not to say that there weren’t obstacles to overcome as a woman. It was difficult at that time, if not downright impossible, for a woman to buy a house without a father or husband to co-sign. Can you imagine! Remember Edith Bunker trying to get a loan at the bank?  The 1970’s were a tumultuous time with all sorts of reexamination of women’s rights going on, and women such as Jane Fonda, Gertrude Stein, and Erica Jong and Germaine Greer drawing attention. And of course the demand for equal rights and the sexual revolution changed so much in how we could lead our lives. It was an intoxicating period, with promise of greater freedom and power!

And as I started my transition to my career in costume design, there were times I strived to be given my due worth. On one TV pilot, the DP kept referring to me as “the wardrobe girl” whereas in fact I was the Costume Designer. He seemed surprised when I called him on it. I told him if he didn’t stop, I would from here on in refer to him as “the lighting boy.” Of course he thought me uppity! But luckily, many of the top TV designers were women, and gradually we were recognized properly.  My very first producer who took a chance on me, hiring me for The Facts of Life, was a woman, and a darned wonderful woman and producer at that. Many of the producers (and a few directors) I worked with in television subsequently were women, including Penny Marshall, Yvette Lee Bowser,  Irma Kalish, and Lisa De Cazotte.

So are things any better? Oh yes, and oh no. Women still earn less on the dollar than men for the equivalent or same job, though in union work, salaries for the same work are equal. There are more females in Congress than there used to be, but not enough, and more females at the top of the corporate ladder, but not enough. Perhaps we finally might have a female president?

And in film, I always sit through the entire credits at the end of the film, and see more and more credits for female editors, production designers, directors, and so forth. So when I hear the young film-makers complain how rough a job they have completing for jobs in a man’s world, part of me wants to say “you have NO idea of how bad it used to be”! 

I still believe that it’s important not to feel that you are coming from behind, but that you are starting from the same start line, and that excellence in what you do is the thing that will propel you forward. Not nepotism, not cronyism, not anything but commitment and talent and passion. Call me naive or an optimist, but I’d like to think even men wouldn’t be dumb enough to ignore someone who is really really really good at what they do!

Costume design for Sci Fi, who knew!

I am currently spending many hours at my desk preparing for my first ever three hour seminar on Costuming for Film and TV, which is being presented on April 13th at UNLV. (see link at bottom for more information).

The first hour will be film clips from some of my favorite films from various genres, starting with period (Marie Antoinette), then moving to more recent periods such as the 1940’s (42, the movie about Jackie Robinson) and the 70’s (Argo). We’ll also look at a number of contemporary films such as Silver Linings Playbook, and The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.

Then I am turning to Sci Fi and fantasy films, and oh what a revelation for me! Confession alert: I am so not a fan of sci fi and rarely see those films. I love films rooted in reality, so even if a movie starts off looking “real”, the moment weird creatures start flying in, I’m out!

No judgement here. It’s just my taste, my preference. So I have surprised myself in discovering how fascinated and impressed I am with the work of sci fi costume designers. As I research films like Tron, Prometheus, After Earth, and more, I realize how much goes into coming up with the looks. As one costume designer I saw interviewed said: “sci fi is the last place where you completely rely on your imagination. Period films can be largely rented, contemporary films can be largely shopped, but in sci fi you create a costume from scratch.”

I am learning that these costumes more than many others require extensive collaboration with the director, production designer and art department, props, lighting, and special effects, as everyone together tries to create a brand new world. Sci fi designers have to deal far more with technology, and can discover and use materials that you don’t usually think of as materials for a costume. 

One designer commented that in over 60 years of Oscar Awards, less than 10% of Best Costume Design nominations have been for futuristic costumes. John Mollo’s designs for Star Wars won one back in 1977, but normally the heavily ornamented period costumes of “corset dramas” usually garner not only the nominations, but also the wins. This year Jacqueline Durran won for Anna Karenina, last year the 1920’s costumes of The Artist, and Elizabeth The Golden Age, The Duchess, and The Young Victoria, all won in the recent past.

So I have a renewed respect for the imaginative and innovative work of the sci fi costume designers. Bravo!

https://connect2.unlv.edu/costuming

www.dianaedendesigns.com

Then and now: Jason Bateman, Debra Messing, so many more

I know this is going to make me sound (but not feel) frightfully old......but I can’t help but take pleasure in seeing so many actors I have worked with in the past working in today’s TV and films. Not a day goes by when I don’t spot a former “costumee” of mine on the tube or silver screen.  

Case in point: yesterday my husband and I saw the film “Identity Thief”, starring two of “my actors”. Jason Bateman guest starred on the TV series “Ned and Stacey” in the ’90’s, and he seems exactly the same as I remember him. Nice. Unassuming, Gently funny. Gorgeous green eyes. I have a photo of him somewhere on set.

Another actor I actually didn’t recognize in the film at first was Robert Patrick.  I went on IMDB and saw this quote "I think 90% of acting is makeup and wardrobe. The other 10% is what I do here in my office, bouncing off the walls."  Haha, I know actors won't agree (and neither do I completely) but I love the shout-out to make-up and costumes! It actually reminded me of Robert, who showed up late to his fitting for a TV one hour pilot  I was designing called “Snitch”. The next day he showed up to his second fitting on time and said “my wife told me I have to apologize for yesterday and that I was being an ass-hole”! He made me laugh, and we got along great.

I love the TV show “Smash” and watch it religiously every time it is on. It takes me right back to my own Broadway days as a dancer. I’m sure lots of things have changed since then, but it still feels very familiar. And there is fabulous Debra Messing, whom I costumed for two years on the aforementioned Ned and Stacey! Debra was a handful, but I adored her. She refused to allow the producers to coerce me into putting her into padded bras (typical sitcom-think!) and had her own ideas for the bohemian Stacey. We had great fun defining her look. Of course, Thomas Haden Church was even more of a handful, but in a completely different way - droll, stubborn, with that incredible voice. But his wardrobe is one of the looks I created (with his input of course) that I am most proud of. The Atlanta Journal Constitution said “ Thomas Haden Church is one of the best dressed men on TV”.

Then there’s “The Big Bang Theory”, a hit TV comedy. I have two of my former “kids” on it. Mayim Bialek was 12 or 13 when I first costumed her for a pilot spin-off of “The Facts of Life”. She was very funny. She had a scene where she wanted to be more grown up and stuffed socks in her chest. And the self assured young woman who is today Kaley Cuoco was 15 wen I first worked with her on a TV movie with Tony Danza, shot in Vancouver. 

Another successful young woman is Alyson Hannigan, I’m sure known to everyone under 35 for many successful series, now in “How I Met Your Mother”. She was also around 15 when I costumed her in one of her first TV shows, which was cancelled after 12 episodes. She wailed ”I’ll never work again”, which is what we all think when a show is cancelled.

Then there’s Dennis Haysbert, the tall actor with the deep voice who is seen in all the Allstate commercials and played the President in the series “24”. He had a bit part in “The Facts of Life” as a cop. I don’t even remember him. And the high school Principal  Figgins, in “Glee”, Iqbal Theba - he played a bit part on one of my sitcoms.

And of course, my biggest star, George Clooney! We all know what happened to him!

P.S. Don't forget to check me out on www.HollywoodMentors.co

THE COSTUMES OF DOWNTON ABBEY

A few weeks ago I was asked to give a presentation on the costumes of the hit British TV series, “Downton Abbey” to a group of about 100 guests. This was for a PBS fundraiser at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel in Las Vegas.

I immediately said yes, and then realized that I had not been watching the entire series and that I needed to do some quick catching up. And what a pleasure that turned out to be! The Season 1 and 2 episodes told such a wonderful story, and are set in the magnificent Highclere Castle, which stands in for Downton Abbey. It is really a visual treat, with lavish and richly saturated colors in both sets and costumes. A sumptuous feast for the eyes!

The story starts in 1912 with news of the sinking of The Titanic  and continues through World War One. We see the last vestiges of the aristocratic country life in England, then the dramatic cultural changes that the war created. Men went to war, women had to fill in and do things they had never done before, such as nursing or helping on the farms. Their clothing became looser, hems shorter, and  the War Office asked them not to buy corsets, as the steel in the eyelets was needed to build battleships.  Season three is about to start, and takes us through the 1920’s. Clothing becomes shorter yet, and once released from the bondage of corseting, the waists disappear, busts are flattened, and the emphasis is on the hip, a totally different silhouette.

While doing research for my presentation, I read a lot about the Downton Abbey designers (there have been several throughout the 3 seasons) and their approach, which I found fascinating. 

I always thought the British would be  sticklers for period accuracy, and was pleasantly surprised to find that they had no qualms about making adjustments in palette or detail to suit a viewing audience in the 21st century. Hardly one to diss my fellow American costume designers, however, I must say I find that the Brits seem to be able to make period clothes look like “real clothes”, not just “costumes”. There is a subtlety and ease about the look of the wardrobe that impresses me.

The designers have gathered the costumes, of which many are needed for the large cast, both upstairs and downstairs, from several sources. They rent, of course, though they call it “hiring” the costumes. There are many fine costume houses in Europe with an abundance of wonderful pieces, and Carolyn McCall, the current designer, readily admitted that one of the three dresses worn by the sisters had been worn before in the Merchant Ivory film “A Room with a View”. A few costumes are actual vintage pieces that she was able to find, though finding something that old is hard to find in good enough condition to hold up during filming. And lastly of course, costumes are made from scratch, in this case often incorporating some pieces salvaged from original vintage garments.

That must have been the most fun! Scouring the vintage stores, private collections, even flea markets for bits and pieces of lace, silk flowers, or trim that could be removed from a fading hat and given new life, or some antique beading that could be cut from is original dress and sewn onto or into a new gown - that’s such a pleasure for a costume designer. I’m jealous!

So hat’s off to you, British television, and British costume designers. I can’t wait for Season Three. I hate to admit it, but you really do good work!

REMEMBERING LARRY HAGMAN

I had the pleasure of designing costumes about 20 years ago for Larry Hagman in a TV movie called “Staying Afloat”, produced for NBC.

I first met Larry at the Culver Studios in Culver City, Ca, when I went for my interview. He was sitting in his office which he had draped all sorts of exotic middle eastern fabrics to cover every inch and ceiling, creating a tent like environment. I had never interviewed in quite such a place! I was eager to please, as this might be my very first TV Movie ( previously I had designed nothing by series), and it was to be filmed in Fort Lauderdale. I had dressed up in a smart suit, worn high heels,  and carried my large portfolio. Apparently Larry thought that the way I was dressed indicated that I might not be the kind of person who would get in there and work hard, so initially I did not get the job. However, I was lucky enough to have a producer who was rooting for me, so I went in again dressed more casually (I never was a jeans kind of girl), and he liked me better and I was hired!

My next meeting with him was at our first fitting, He was playing a rich man whose father had disowned him and who only possession of note was a 1930’s designer yacht, so I had brought in lots of beautiful clothing, nautically inspired. He liked some of the things, but rejected anything that had any brown/tan/beige in it (which was half of my selection), apologizing for not telling me he only liked blue!

Anyway, after that it was all “smooth sailing”, and I thoroughly enjoyed working with him. He was very funny, and enjoyed “holding court” and telling stories,  many of which were about his days on Dallas. He said he was so famous during that time that the extras would steal the powder puffs that had been used to mop his sweat, and that if he fell asleep on set or traveling on a train, people would snap his photo with his mouth open during a snore!

He had a mischievous side, a stubborn side, an eccentric side. One time I had placed some pastel plaid shirts in his trailed to be worn with his navy blazer and he told me point blank he didn’t like plaid. I sweetly said I didn’t have any other choice handy, and would he reconsider? About thirty minutes later he emerged completely dressed in the outfit, plaid shirt and all, winked at me and said “I like plaid now”. 

One custom he had established for himself which he would NOT under any circumstance break, was that he would not speak at all one day a week, on a Saturday I believe. No matter what. We could not shoot any scenes he was in that day. One day a reporter had been scheduled for an interview for a story on his silent day (by mistake) and though he didn’t cancel the interview, he only answered questions with facial expressions, hand gestures, and occasionally a note on a pad. It seems ironic now, as his death last week came from complications from throat cancer.

When we returned to Los Angeles, there was one last day of filming to be done, and he offered his gorgeous home in Ojai as a shooting location. He had told me that he was tired, after Dallas, of having all his money in the hands of agents, managers, and lawyers, and he wanted to put it instead into something he could physically see and enjoy. So after a big search, he found the perfect plot of land on top of a mountain above Ojai, with a view to the Pacific. The house was designed by him and his talented wife Maj and decorated to perfection. There was a pool in the central courtyard, streams flowing out of it into an infinity pool  off the cliff, as well as an indoor lap pool and deep jacuzzi. Hammocks were strung across the porch of the house that overlooked the valley and the ocean. Everything was in the most immaculate taste.

Larry gave me the gift of a book on needlecraft that his mother, Mary Martin, had written, since he knew I loved quilting and embroidery. 

I always smile when I think of him.

COSTUMES, HALLOWEEN, & COLORFUL CHARACTERS

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  Every once in a while I have several nights in a row when I awake around 4 am and can’t sleep. I think I am worried about the outcome of the presidential election. But no, this is not a political blog, so I will quickly move on!
  
  
  Here’s what made me happy this week:
  
  
  • The newest issue of Entertainment Weekly (which I subscribe to) features several articles under the banner ‘Hollywood Design Report”, chronicling costume, set, and prop designers for various films and TV series (Once Upon a Time, Les Miz, Boardwalk Empire and more”!  I'm happy also to see the wonderful work of my colleague Eduardo Castro featured so prominently on the cover and inside. I remember back 10 years ago or so when the Costume Designers Guild (on whose executive board I served for 3 terms, once as Vice-President) first searched for a PR firm to raise the profile of costume designer. All of the applicants made their case that it would be a very hard sell, as most publications were more interested in the stars, not designers. Thankfully that has really changed!
  
  
  • I have been asked to give a presentation at a fundraiser for PBSVegas on the fashions of Downton Abbey. The event will take place at the Mandarin Oriental here in Las Vegas in December and will be an afternoon tea. I have a lot of research to do to come up with a worthy presentation which will honor the costumes, and also be interesting to a large group of PBS supporters.
  
  
  • I finished a little girl’s Halloween costume and had the delight of seeing the 2 1/2 year old twirl delightedly and gaze at herself in the mirror! I rarely make Halloween costumes (most professional costume designers don’t much care for Halloween!) but this seemed like a worthy project for an adorable toddler and a very nice client.
  
  
  • I received a phone call from one of my “students/mentees” to give me the good news that she is now Assistant Costume Designer for “Absynthe”, one of the big shows on the Strip, thanks (in a small part) to my recommendation. Nothing gives me more of a thrill than hearing that someone who sought me out for training, who put in the time and hard work, and has steadily worked on her career, is achieving success and accomplishments. I am so proud of her, and so grateful that she has kept in touch with me. In fact we are meeting for lunch in a week or so.
  
  
  • And lastly, I was watching The Today Show the other morning and saw a feature on three seriously senior women (80’s and 90’s) who have flamboyant and colorful personal style. I suppose the younger generation would look at them and think they are off their rockers, but then seniors often look at today’s teens and think THEY are off their rockers! But these seniors made me laugh and smile at the riotous colors they wore and the joy they took in their own unique sense of style. One said she calls herself “a geriatric starlet”, and another says “life is very grey when you dress up it makes you happy.” When I see older women, especially here where I live in Las Vegas, wearing baggy cotton crop pants, boxy t-shirts, and Birkenstocks, I despair, and think I’d rather be wildly eccentric and colorful as I approach senior style myself!. So, as the spriti moves me, so will I dress!
  
  
  
  
  
  

MY LAS VEGAS

I feel a real kinship with Las Vegas, my city of residence since 2008, as it has figured largely in my professional and personal life through 5 decades. 

My association with Las Vegas starts in the 1960's (yes, I was alive in the ‘60‘s!) when, as a very young dancer, I came through the town on the train with the My Fair Lady company, on our way to Los Angeles. It was 2 am and the train stopped on the tracks downtown. I don’t remember a station, though I know there was one.  From our part of the train, we descended into a dirt lot, which we ran across, then crossed a street, and into a casino, what must have been the Hotel California. We had 30 minutes to put our quarters in the slot machines, something I had never seen, before we had to run back across the dirt lot to the train! It all seemed very strange and exotic and somewhat wicked!

I didn't return until the early 1970's when I got my first job in costumes, hired to co-ordinate the dancers’ wardrobe for Ann-Margret's nightclub act at the Hilton International, and then at Caesars. It was one of the highly successful acts of the time with dancers, singers, scenery and costumes galore, a live 30 piece orchestra on stage, and the best production talent around. Elvis Presley used to send Ann-Margret flowers on opening night in the shape of a guitar!   My first professional design was a dress for Ann-Margret that she wore in the TV special "CInderella at the Palace". 

Through Ann-Margret I met Bob Mackie, and my costume career really got underway. In 1980 I returned to Las Vegas for a 2 month stint, staying at the MGM Grand, as assistant to Bob Mackie as we prepared to open Jubilee, (the same show currently running). I was on the eleventh floor when I was awakened by the sound of running feet in the hall and people calling out, and I emerged into the hall to find it full of smoke.  I grabbed my purse, pulled on a sweat suit, and hurried down 11 flights of fire escape stairs emerging into the street, and started to look for my colleagues. The smoke was black and racing up the side of the hotel. Huge helicopters from Nellis AFB were hovering, trying to blow the smoke away from the rescue teams. Police cars, fire engines, news media were starting to arrive amid the chaos. I was barefoot and my feet were freezing until a man stopped and offered me his sneakers, a size 13! I wore them the rest of that day.

There were 14 of us Jubliee costumers from Los Angeles staying at the MGM for the great fire. Sadly, only 13 of us survived. I will never forget that day, nor the kindness of strangers who tried to help us. 

I returned many times in 1981 as we pulled out the ruined costumes from under the stage, led by firemen with flashlights, as there was still no power. We rebuilt the show in Los Angeles, and returned in July to re-do all the fittings, staying at Maxims across the street. 

In the early 80’s, Las Vegas still was small. You could cross Las Vegas Boulevard directly (no overpasses), there was no freeway, we ate at a little dive called The Tower of Pizza. The desert was near. The airport was very small. I don’t even remember noticing the mountains all around...the focus was all on the Strip.

I returned during the 80's now and then to work on shows (such as Splash, at the Riviera) but I wasn't prepared for the change when I returned in the late 80's. The airport had exploded! By this time I was working full time as a costume designer for TV series and films in Hollywood, and occasionally came up to Las Vegas to shoot on location. In 2003 we bought our first house here, and so when my husband and I were ready to make a semi-retirement move, Las Vegas already felt like home.

Since moving here in 2008 I am experiencing Las Vegas in a whole new way. I love looking at the mountains on all four sides of the valley, and in winter I love observing  the snow capped peaks of Mt Charleston out my second floor office window. I hike with friends year round at Red Rock, Lake Mead, or Mt Charleston, and I have discovered all sorts of unique little neighborhoods. In the north part of town where we live, sometimes I come across a small ranch with barns and horses, completely surrounded by new housing developments. I even enjoy hearing the trains that still travel down that same track that I travelled so long ago. There is still a flavor here and there of the old West, ranch life, desert life, mixing with the sophisticated elements of the Strip restaurants, shops and shows.

I visit the Strip quite often (more often than many full-time residents) to attend events, shows, parties, and to work, shop or eat. It’s only 15 minutes away! As I exit the freeway at Flamingo I pass Caesars, where so much happened for me professionally 30 years ago, and the huge bill board for Jubilee, which played was such a pivotal role in my life. I even pass by the fire escape door where I exited the MGM into the cold daylight on Flamingo Blvd. that fateful morning.

Old Vegas, New Vegas, there’s a part of my in all its parts, and I am happy about that.