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!