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!

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.

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.

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.

THE VALUE OF HAVING A MENTOR

When I was starting my costume design career many years ago, I was very grateful for the guidance and encouragement I received from several “mentors”. Back then, the word “mentor” was not in common use as it is now, but I realize in retrospect that several key people played a very important role in my life.

Bob Mackie is obviously one of THE most important mentors in my life. When I met him, I had already transitioned from my career as a dancer and actress and started my costume career  co-ordinating the dancers and singers wardrobe for Ann-Margret’s big Las Vegas nightclub act in Las Vegas. For you younger readers, she was a huge star at the time, and had all the best musicians, writers, set designers, and of course, famed costume designer Bob Mackie to do all her fabulous costumes and beaded gowns. 

I remember the first time I met Ann-Margret and Roger Smith, her husband and manager. I had been taken to their house in Beverly Hills, up a dirt road off Benedict Canyon where once Lauren Bacall and Humphrey Bogart lived. It was about ten am, but Ann-Margret had slept late. Eventually she came out of her bedroom, hair tousled, no make-up, but warm and gracious. She hugged me and I was astonished at how petite she was. She asked me if I would put a heavy metal zipper in the back of one of her stage beaded gowns so it would be easier in a quick change. Imagine me, replacing the exquisitely hand sewn zipper in a $10,000 Bob Mackie beaded gown with a big metal zipper! What would he Bob Mackie think?

It wasn’t long after that I met him and I guess something about me struck him as, a year or two later he asked me to be his assistant for the Oscar Awards Show 1980, and then Jubilee, opening at the MGM Grand in 1980. This started a life-long connection with one of the best designers in the business, and with a kind and generous man. I did not call him a mentor, I was just his assistant, but I had the opportunity to watch him work at every level of the process - greeting a star when they arrived for a meeting, sketching, designing, choosing fabrics, choosing the best pattern-maker and team of sewers and tailors to execute the design, and most importantly, fitting it on the performer, usually many times. I watched perfectionism at its best.

There simply was no better training ground for me. I watched everything, asked many many questions, and for many years during my career, called for guidance and advice when I got stuck. Even last year, when I requested an hour out of his busy schedule for an interview for a book I am writing, he willingly gave me his time.

I would be remiss not to mention my other mentors, two designers who worked in Bob Mackie’s company, Peter Menefee, whom I assisted for several years, and Ret Turner, who is known and loved by every designing and costumer in Hollywood. 

So why would someone like me be willing to mentor someone at the beginning of their career? Well, one of the obvious answers is that others helped me so much along the way, and it is my turn to help others. 

I had started this blog with the intention of discussing how to find a good mentor and why it is important, and why I like to mentor talented young designers and costumers, but this is running on too long, and I will have to save it for my next post.

In the meantime, you can find out more about my mentoring and training course at my website www.hollywoodmentors.co

BROADWAY AND DANCERS, I LOVE THEM ALL!

Last night I watched “SMASH” on TV and it reminded me how much I love Broadway performers, singers and dancers. Well yes, I was one once, and I treasure every moment I spent performing on several Broadway stages.

I remember those auditions - terrifying! If I got to audition first as a dancer, even in those huge cattle calls (as they were called) on stage where 400 dancers got whittled down to 30 or so for callbacks, I knew I had a very good chance. If then I got to audition as an actress, I knew I had a good chance.  But as a singer? No, no, no. 

I would have worked on a song or two with my coach in preparation, it would go somewhat OK, but the moment I was standing in front of that table of producers and directors, I knew I really sucked. And I knew it after the first few lines of the song, knew the directors wanted to cut me off and were being polite. I would feel so humiliated, and would usually hail a cab and cry in the back seat all the way home to my fourth floor walk-up apaprtment just down the street from Lincoln Center!

But dancing, yes, I usually made it to call-backs, and made it into four different Broadway Shows!

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 made them, but the man said I must know what dancers need, and so gave me the job. That was what started it all!

I certainly made some mistakes along the way, especially in the beginning. In one of my early jobs actually creating costumes, I asked to be allowed to make the dancers jumpsuits for a dance number to “Car Wash”. Believe it or not, two way stretch material was not yet on the market, but I was able to find a ski pant fabric that did stretch one way. Thinking the guys would need it to stretch sidesways to allow for their chest expansion, I cut the jumpsuits in the wrong direction. I got that call from Roger Smith that no-one just starting their career wants to get....”your costumes are all ripping at the waist when the boys do the dance number”. A good friend gave me some excellent advice. He said, the best way to deal with a big error like this is to offer several choices of solutions, so I got up my courage to call Roger back and suggest that I come to Las Vegas, and spend the day inserting a stretchy band at the waist so the guys could move. It was a LONG day, as I had 8 jumpsuits to fix in time for them to be worn that night in the show, but there seemed to be no hard feelings. And I NEVER cut stretchy costumes the wrong way again!

CELEBRITIES BEHAVING BADLY

So, this past week actor Alec Baldwin was in the headlines again for “behaving badly” on an airplane, and in general making an ass of himself. Actors and celebrities are just as likely to act like idiots as any other group of people, but regular folk don’t make it into the headlines. It really bothered me that Alec felt so entitled to be exempt from both courtesy and FAA rules.

I have worked with a LOT of celebrities (if you doubt me, check out my celebrity page on my website at http://hollywoodmentors.co/HM/celebrities.html,) and I have come to the conclusion that if someone is by nature and upbringing kind, considerate, appreciative, and well balanced, they will remain so if they become famous. If they are basically shallow, insecure, self involved, with a strong sense of entitlement, these traits will only be exacerbated with the addition of fame.

Stars do not have the right to think the rules do not apply to them, that common manners are not necessary, that respecting one’s assistants, co-workers, and colleagues is of no importance. What they DO have the right to, in my humble opinion, is enough “space” to prepare for a big performance. When I worked with Diana Ross, she needed a quiet dressing room for at least an hour before going out and singing for 30,000 people, and it was not a time to engage her in petty conversation. She had her diva moments, but she was respectful and generous to her cast and crew. The one time she snapped at me about some minor thing, she later apologized.

Stars also deserve to be left alone in restaurants while enjoying a night out. I was out with Larry Hagman (in a group!) when filming “Staying Afloat”, and he could barely finish his dinner without fans coming up and expecting him to lay down his knife and fork and have their photo taken with him. He also told me that he used to wear a huge baseball cap when flying as people would sneak up and take photos of him sleeping!

Some of the really wonderful actors I have worked with are:

Ann-Margret; if you work in her company, you are “family” for life. The dancers and singers that traveled with her when she had her nightclub act were definitely her family and she would do ANYTHING for them . After she heard that I was in the MGM fire with other members of the Bob Mackie group, she called all over town to trying to find me and see what she could do to help and if I was OK.

Betty White: she NEVER expects any special treatment, NO concessions to her age or celebrity. 

Tony Danza: on the first day of filming he would go around the set with his assistant memorizing his crew’s names. He would point to a gaffer or grip or prop master, and his assistant would whisper their name in his ear. He does have a hot temper, but also has an Italian heart of gold. 

The late Gregory Hines would not only greet every cast and crew member, but would go up and say hello to the stand-ins and background actors, often treated like “outsiders” and considered invisible until needed.

George Clooney was an unknown when I worked with him back in the 1980’s, but I cannot imagine in my wildest dreams him putting on airs.

Tom Hanks, who directed an episode of the TV series “A League of Their Own” that I costumed, said that sometimes the yes-men unwittingly encourage the bad behavior. They try and satisfy every demand, not wanting to be the first to say no, and so the scope of the requests gets more and more extreme, until you tempted, Hanks said, to ask for the impossible and unreasonable, just to see at what point someone would say no.

Its always a tough place to be, especially for a young designer or film-maker, to know at what point one can draw the line and not go along with unreasonable requests. The producers just want their stars to be happy and don’t want any of the crew standing up to an unruly actor and making waves. So there are times when you have to suck it up and go along, but there are also times an experienced designer will know that a star is testing you, pushing you, and sometimes it seems they relish being told, sorry, I can’t do that.

One star I worked with recently wanted a particular kind of socks. I searched and searched and bought every possibly variation of what he was looking for. None of them were right. On the first day of shooting I presented him with 6 different pairs of socks. He said these aren’t the ones. So I said, I’m sorry, but these are the choices, pick one. And he was fine with it!

I love working with actors - their needs, their peculiarities, their insecurities, their creative instincts. So as long as they respect me as their equal in all things except perhaps income and notoriety,  I’m in. 

THE POWER OF RED!

When I was watching the Emmy Awards recently,  every time a gown made an impression on me, it was a red dress! See Kerry Washington, Lea Michele, Sofia Vergara, and  Kate Winslet. I guess I just love red dresses.

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 grey 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.  I’ve often wondered if Aggie just got lucky that day with the weather - would it have been as dramatic on a day with blue sky and sunshine?

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 design a dress for the star. The first time she emerged on stage wearing my 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.

Most of the time, especially in film, costume designers’ clothing for the actor should be so organic to the actors character that you are unaware of it. But once in a while, a costume is so dynamic to the moment that it lives in one’s memory forever.

For online costume training, visit me at http://hollywoodmentors.co