Seraphic Secret

Robert J. Avrech: Emmy Award winning screenwriter. Movie fanatic. Helplessly and hopelessly in love with my wife since age nine.

Friday Fashion: The Female Animal

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Joan Blondell as leopard woman with the real thing, 1930's Warner Bros. publicity still.

For as long as fashion has existed, animal metaphors have been an indispensible part of the designers language. Hollywood, during its golden age, a leading arbiter of taste, heightened and refined the animal metaphor with brilliant costume designers turning ravishing movie stars into expressions of animal desire.

Theda Bara, born Theodosia Goodman, holds a peacock feather in a still from “Cleopatra” (1917). Bara is wearing a costume consisting of a bustier and sarong with a long peacock feather train and headdress. Only ten seconds of this elaborate film have survived and we have no idea who designed the costumes but still photos testify to one ravishing costume after another.

 

In Greta Garbo's, born Greta Lovisa Gustafsson, first American movie, “The Torrent” (1926) she plays a gingham clad peasant who goes on to become a glamorous opera star. Wrapped in a gigantic fur Garbo seems like she's about to leap from hibernation.

 

Director Josef von Sternberg, born Jonas Sternberg, obsessively costumed his leading ladies in feathers, like birds of prey. Evelyn Brent, born Mary Elizabeth Riggs, a sultry leading lady of the 20's and 30's, was the first movie star to get the von Sternberg treatment. This is a still from “Underworld” (1927) where Brent plays a gun moll named Feathers McCoy. Costumes by Travis Banton.

 

In Marlene Dietrich von Sternberg found and costumed his ultimate muse and tragic obsession. Her costume for “Shanghai Express” (1932) perfects the bird of prey metaphor. Costumes by Travis Banton.

 

We don't think of Myrna Loy, born Myrna Adele Williams, as a star possessed of animal magnetism. That's because we view her as the well-bred but plucky Nora Charles. But early in her career Loy was typecast as an oriental vamp. In this feathered costume Loy projects as a dangerous seductress.

 

This is a still from the brilliant screwball comedy “Twentieth Century” (1934) in which Carole Lombard, born Jane Alice Peters , plays a spoiled actress. Her leopard accented costume, and especially the fur muff, underline her sensual narcissism. Costumes by Robert Kalloch, uncredited.

 

Joan Crawford, born Lucille Fay LeSueur, swathed in a world of furs, like a lioness ready to pounce, gives full expression to woman as animal. Still from “Letty Lynton” (1932). Costumes by Adrian, born Adrian Adolph Greenberg.

 

Last week, right before Shabbat, Offspring #3, born REDACTED, went shopping, for shoes. These leopard print heels by Aqua will never go out of style.

Karen and I wish all our friends and relatives a lovely and inspirational Shabbat.

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    • Squander:

      LB Mayer felt that LeSueur sounded too much like sewer. In general, unless the actor was an exotic foreign import such as Garbo or Dietrich, the studios preferred strong all-American, non-ethnic names that could easily fit on a marquee.

  4. Carole is my favorite –  both in looks and temperament. A sultry tomboy? No wonder Gable never got over her.
     
    Just finished the von Sternberg book. I didn’t realize that before Marlene Dietrich the name “Marlene” wasn’t in the Lexicon. It is a contraction of Marie Magdalene – which is of course Marlene’s real name. 

      • No one can ever prove or disprove this but I think Gable volunteered to be a door gunner in England in the 8th AAF – was to kill himself. Your odds were 1 in 3 of dying or being seriously injured before your 21 missions were up. 
         
        And Carole’s decision to take that plane ride – instead of driving – was based on the flip of a coin?
         
        To cheat on her – to have it all – and throw it away –

        • Bill:

          After Lombard died Gable took to drink in a big way and his friends were really worried about him. His enlistment as a door gunner was relatively brief and yes, many thought he wanted to be killed. In fact, he spent most of his time working in a film unit. The USAF felt that Gable was simply too old to be a gunner—he was—and they were terrified that the Germans might capture him. Hitler put a 1 million dollar bounty on Gable.

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