Travis Banton- The Golden Age of Design-Paramount Studios



Edith Head



Travis Banton (August 18, 1894 – February 2, 1958) was the chief designer at Paramount Pictures. He is considered one of the most important Hollywood costume designers of the 1930s.

He was born in Waco, Texas. Travis moved to New York City as a child. Banton was educated at Columbia University and at the Art Students League where he studied art and fashion design.

An early apprenticeship with a high-society costume dressmaker earned him fame. When Mary Pickford selected one of his dresses for her wedding to Douglas Fairbanks, his reputation was established.

He opened his own dressmaking salon in New York City, and soon was asked to create costumes for the Ziegfeld Follies. In 1924, Travis Banton moved to Hollywood when Paramount contracted with him to create costumes for his first film, The Dressmaker From Paris.                                                                             
Beginning with Norma Talmadge in "Poppy," Banton designed clothing for Pola Negri and Clara Bow in the 1920s. In the '30s and '40s Banton designed for such stars as Kay Francis, Lilyan Tashman, Sylvia Sidney, Gail Patrick, Helen Vinson, and Claudette Colbert. Ultimately, Travis Banton may be best remembered for forging the style of such Hollywood icons as Carole Lombard, Marlene Dietrich, and the inimitable Mae West.
Glamour, understated elegance, and exquisite fabrics endeared Travis Banton to the most celebrated of Hollywood's beauties and made him one of the most sought-after costume designer of his era. As a viewing of such films as The Gilded Lily (1935) and Desire (1936)reveals, his clothes were marked by simple but stylish cuts (often on the bias), rich fabrics (such as satin and lame), and extravagant decoration (beads, fur, and feathers).
When Designer Howard Greer left Paramount, Banton was promoted to Head Designer and was responsible for dressing the studio's most illustrious stars. Because of his alcoholism and reputedly also at the instigation of his subordinate Edith Head, Banton was forced to leave Paramount. He started his own business and also designed for Twentieth Century-Fox from 1939-1941 and Universal from 1945-1948.

 Actresses he designed for

Clara Bow in It, 1927

• Mae West in I'm No Angel, 1933 and Belle of the Nineties, 1934
• Claudette Colbert in Cleopatra, 1934
• Loretta Young in The Crusades, 1935
• Marlene Dietrich in Shanghai Express, 1932, The Scarlet Empress, 1934 and The Devil is a Woman, 1935
• Carole Lombard in My Man Godfrey, 1936 and Nothing Sacred, 1937
• Alice Faye in Lillian Russell, 1940
• Linda Darnell in The Mark of Zorro, 1940
• Linda Darnell and Rita Hayworth in Blood and Sand, 1941
• Betty Grable in Moon Over Miami, 1941
• Rita Hayworth in Cover Girl, 1944
• Joan Bennett in Scarlet Street, 1945
• Merle Oberon in A Song to Remember, 1945
• Joan Fontaine in Letter from an Unknown Woman, 1948

The Golden Age -Howard Greer

1. Howard Greer (16 April 1896 – April 1974, Los Angeles^[1]) was a Hollywood fashion designer and a costume designer in the Golden Age of American cinema.

Greer began his fashion career at Lucile in 1916, working in both her New York and Chicago branches before serving in France in World War I. After the war, he remained in Europe, working for Lucille, Paul Poiret, and Molyneux, and designing for the theatre. He returned to America in 1921, and through his theatre work was hired as chief designer for Famous Players-Lasky studios,^[2] which was later to emerge from several reorganizations and mergers as Paramount Pictures.

Greer left his post at Paramount and opened his own couture operation in Hollywood in December 1927,^[2] where he designed custom clothing for the stars until his retirement in 1962. He also continued to create costumes for films into the 1950s, and designed mass-market clothing.

His best known film work includes the Katharine Hepburn films Christopher Strong (1933) and Bringing Up Baby (1938), and the gowns for 1940's My Favorite Wife.                                                                   

Greer published an autobiography, Designing Male, in 1951.



Legion of Decency- 1934

The birth of censorship, and do take the time to look at the list at the lower end of page you might be surprised at the Films listed

The National Legion of Decency was an organization dedicated to identifying and combating objectionable content, from the point of view of the Roman Catholic Church in the United States, in motion pictures. For the first quarter-century or so of its existence, the legion wielded great power in the American motion picture industry.
The Legion was founded in 1933 by Archbishop of Cincinnati John T. McNicholas as the Catholic Legion of Decency (CLOD) in response to an address given by apostolic delegate Archbishop Amleto Giovanni Cicognani at the Catholic Charities Convention in New York City. Cicognani warned against the "massacre of innocence of youth" and urged a campaign for "the purification of the cinema."
An important aspect of the studio system was the Production Code, which was implemented in 1934 in response to pressure from the Legion of Decency and public protest against the graphic violence and sexual suggestiveness of some sound films (the urban gangster films, for example, and the films of Mae West). The Legion had been established in 1933 by the American bishops of the Roman Catholic.
The Legion's ratings were applied to movies made in the United States (which were subject to the Production Code until 1967) as well as those imported from other countries. Beginning in 1968, the ratings were applied in addition to any rating assigned by the MPAA film rating system.
Legion-organized boycotts made a C rating harmful to a film's distribution and profitability. Accordingly, for the majority of years that the rating was applied, most condemned films were made outside of the United States, where their producers didn't have as much to fear from the condemnation. Of the 53 movies the Legion had placed on its condemned list by 1943, only Howard Hughes' The Outlaw came from a major US studio, and it had not been approved by the Production Code or distributed widely.1933
Blood Money
Design for Living
Extase -- One of the first foreign films to be condemned.
Grandeur and Decadence -- One of the first foreign films to be condemned.
Queen Christina
The Worst Woman in Paris

 1934

Finishing School
The Life of Vergie Winters
Madame DuBarry
Men in White
One More River
Riptide
The Scarlet Empress

 1937

Damaged Goods 1940
Strange Cargo -- Initially condemned, the studio released a cut version.
This Thing Called Love

 1941

No Greater Sin -- Not approved by the Production Code.
Two-Faced Woman
Volpone

1942

White Cargo

 1943

The Outlaw

 1945

Mom and Dad
 1947
Black Narcissus
Forever Amber 
 1948
Three Daring Daughters

1950

Bitter Rice (initial American release^[1])

1951

M
The M
1953
The Moon is Blue -- The first studio-produced film to deliberately bypass Production Code approval. Also the first condemned studio film to turn a PROFIT]
1954 The French Line

 1955
Rififi -- Initially condemned, was re-released with changes for B rating.
I Am A Camera

1956

And God Created Woman
Baby Doll -- The first film to be approved by the Production Code but condemned by the Legion of Decency.
The Seven Year Itch -- Had to cut scenes from the original play to be approved by Legion of Decency 1957
Love in the Afternoon -- Initially condemned, the studio changed the ending.

 1959

Some Like it Hot-  Shakespeare-Wow

 1960
Breathless
Never on Sunday
Psycho- Duh
Spartacus- what naked men

 1961

A Cold Wind in August
Jules and Jim
Viridiana

 1962

Boccaccio '70

 1963

8½

 1964

Kiss Me, Stupid
From Russia With Love- A bond Film
Of Human Bondage

 1965

The Pawnbroker

 1966

Blowup
Masculin, féminin
Torn Curtain

 1967

Hurry Sundown
A Fistful of Dollars-Clint Eastwood
Reflections in a Golden Eye

 1968
Rosemary's Baby- Duh
The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
The Odd Couple- wonder what that was about

1969

I Am Curious (Yellow)

 1971

A Clockwork Orange -wow
The Last Picture Show
Billy Jack- why
\

1973
Last Tango in Paris- what didn't like the dancing
The Wicker Man- pagan film
High Plains Drifter-  Clint Eastwood

 1975

Rocky Horror Picture Show- Gee this is a surprise
Lemora

 1976

The Outlaw Josey Wales- Clint Eastwood
Carrie
The Omen- Gee

 1978

Grease- John Travolta
Dawn of the Dead

 1979

All That Jazz-Really

 1980

American Gigolo- Gee
Dressed to Kill
Friday the 13th
Little Darlings
Used Cars

Orry-Kelly Designer for Film

Orry-Kelly One Of the Fabulously Film Designers of  Hollywoods Hey Day
 

Orry-Kelly studied art in Australia but came to New York as an actor. Between stints as a song-and-dance man, he designed for vaudeville and Broadway productions. After arriving in Hollywood, Jack Warner promised him a job in the costume department if he could please leading ladies Kay Francis and Ruth Chatterton. It was money in the bank for Orry-Kelly.

His style differed from those of other Hollywood designers. He avoided Adrian's black-and-white contrasts in favor of a wide range of grays. His fabrics were of as high quality as Travis Banton's, but he disdained the Paramount "shimmer." Nonetheless, costumes by Orry-Kelly were never dull. He cut with style and enhanced with intricate details. Tiny pleats and piping created subtle surface shadows, as did the textured embroideries, open work, crocheted lace, and trapunto. Appreciating skilled handiwork, he even included handpainted fabrics for some of his designs. As more daring decoration, he might add polka dots or punctuate with rows of buttons.

However, decoration was not his aim when working with Bette Davis. As a former actor, he understood the necessity of depicting a character's depth. Davis demanded that each role have a life of its own, with costumes playing a significant part in defining each character's image. At times, Orry-Kelly virtually resculpted her body to achieve a desired effect, and their successes included Jezebel , Dark Victory , The Little Foxes , Now, Voyager , and many others. One of Davis's earliest and least favorite films, Fashions of 1934 , which stars some of Orry-Kelly's more imaginative creations, stands out as a delightful spoof of the fashion world.

Orry-Kelly's unpretentious style well served Warner Bros. He peopled its gritty gangster features with many a well-heeled moll. He'd take the kind of girl that "a man's man" could "go for," and wrap her in wools as beautiful as chinchilla. His costumes for The Maltese Falcon and Casablanca spoke with the rich spareness of Hemingway.

But the Orry-Kelly style hardly suited everyone. The studio delegated Busby Berkeley production numbers to Milo Anderson, who also designed most of the Olivia de Havilland pictures. And when Orry-Kelly worked at Fox in the 1940s, he was never quite comfortable with those glitzy Betty Grable extravaganzas.

Freelancing in the 1950s widened Orry-Kelly's range. He put Katharine Hepburn in sportswear for Pat and Mike , Shirley Jones in gingham for Oklahoma! , Rosalind Russell in everything for Auntie Mame , and Marilyn Monroe in barely anything for Some Like It Hot . The early 1960s assigned lly to several adult dramas, including Sweet Bird of Youth and Five Finger Exercise .

—Edith C. Lee

 

Costume Designer. Nationality: American. Born: John Orry Kelly in Kiama, New South Wales, 31 December 1897; emigrated to the United States, 1923. Education: Studied singing and art in Sydney. Career: Worked as mural painter in Sydney before emigrating, then worked as waiter, clerk, actor, decorative painter for shops and theater productions, and for Fox silent film titles, and costume designer for vaudeville shows at the Palace Theater, New York; 1931—moved to Hollywood, then chief designer for Warner Bros., 1932–43, 20th Century-Fox, 1943–47, Universal, 1947–50, and then freelance. Awards: Academy Award for An American in Paris , 1951; Les Girls , 1957; Some Like It Hot , 1959. Died: Hollywood, California, 26 February 1964.

                

                Orry with Edith Head>

Films as Costume Designer:

1932

The Rich Are Always with Us (Green) (co); So Big (Wellman); You Said a Mouthful (Bacon); I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang (LeRoy); The Crash (Dieterle); The Match King (Bretherton and Keighley); One Way Passage (Garnett); Week-End Marriage (Freeland); Winner Takes All (Del Ruth); Crooner (Bacon); Tiger Shark (Hawks); Two against the World (Mayo) (co); Cabin in the Cotton (Curtiz); Three on a Match (LeRoy); Scarlet Dawn (Dieterle); Lawyer Man (Dieterle); Employees Entrance (Del Ruth); Frisco Jenny (Wellman); Twenty Thousand Years in Sing Sing (Curtiz); Ladies They Talk About (Bretherton)

1933

Captured (Del Ruth); Central Airport (Wellman); Convention City (Mayo); Ex-Lady (Florey); Female (Curtiz); 42nd Street (Bacon) (co); Hard to Handle (LeRoy); The House on 56th Street (Florey) (co); The Narrow Corner (Green); The Picture Snatcher (Bacon); Private Detective 62 (Curtiz); The Working Man (Adolfi); The Mystery of the Wax Museum

 

Orry-Kelly with Kay Francis

(Curtiz); Voltaire (Adolfi); The Little Giant (Del Ruth); The Mind Reader (Del Ruth); The King's Vacation (Adolfi); Parachute Jumper (Green); Grand Slam (Dieterle); Blondie Johnson (Enright); Gold Diggers of 1933 (LeRoy); Baby Face (Green); The Life of Jimmy Dolan ( The Kid's Last Fight ) (Mayo); Lilly Turner (Wellman); Heroes for Sale (Wellman); The Mayor of Hell (Mayo); The Silk Express (Enright); Mary Stevens M.D. (Bacon); The Kennel Murder Case (Curtiz); She Had to Say Yes (Berkeley and Amy); College Coach (Wellman); The World Changes (LeRoy); Son of a Sailor (Bacon); Massacre (Crosland); Journal of a Crime (Keighley); Harold Teen ( The Dancing Foot ) (Roth)

1934

As the Earth Turns (Green); British Agent (Curtiz); The Circus Clown (Enright); Dames (Enright); Dark Hazard (Green); Desirable (Mayo); Dr. Monica (Keighley); The Dragon Murder Case (Humberstone); Easy to Love (Keighley); Fashions of 1934 (Dieterle); The Firebird (Dieterle); Flirtation Walk (Borzage); Happiness Ahead (LeRoy); Hi, Nellie (LeRoy); Housewife (Green); I Am a Thief (Florey); Kansas City Princess (Keighley); The Key (Curtiz); Madame Du Barry (Dieterle); The Merry Frinks (Green); Merry Wives of Reno (Humberstone); Midnight Alibi (Crosland); Murder in the Clouds (Lederman); The Personality Kid (Crosland); Return of the Terror (Bretherton); Wonder Bar (Bacon); Babbitt (Keighley); I've Got Your Number (Enright); Gambling Lady (Mayo); Heat Lightning (LeRoy); Jimmy the Gent (Curtiz); Bedside (Flrey); A Modern Hero (Pabst); Twenty Million Sweethearts (Enright); Smarty ( Hit Me Again ) (Florey); He Was Her Man (Bacon); Underworld (Del Ruth); A Very Honorable Guy (Bacon); Fog over Frisco (Dieterle); Here Comes the Navy (Bacon); Registered Nurse (Florey); Friends of Mr. Sweeney (Ludwig); Side Street (Green); The Case of the Howling Dog (Crosland); A Lost Lady (Green); Big Hearted Herbert (Keighley); Gentlemen Are Born (Green); The St. Louis Kid ( A Perfect Weekend ) (Enright); I Sell Anything (Florey); Maybe It's Love (McG ann); The Secret Bride ( Concealment ) (Dieterle); Gold Diggers of 1935 (Berkeley)

1935

Bordertown (Mayo); Broadway Gondolier (Bacon); Broadway Hostess (McDonald); Dangerous (Green); The Frisco Kid (Bacon); G-Men (Keighley); I Found Stella Parish (LeRoy); In Caliente (Bacon); Living on Velvet (Borzage); Miss Pacific Fleet (Enright); Page Miss Glory (LeRoy) (co); The Payoff (Florey); Shipmates Forever (Borzage); Stars over Broadway (Keighley); Sweet Adeline (LeRoy); The Widow from Monte Carlo (Collins); The Woman in Red (Florey); Front Page Woman (Curtiz); The Goose and the Gander (Green); Special Agent (Keighley); Stranded (Borzage); The Petrified Forest (Mayo); The Case of the Curious Bride (Curtiz); The Florentine Dagger (Florey); Going Highbrow (Florey); The Girl from Tenth Avenue ( Men on Her Mind ) (Green); Bright Lights ( Funny Face ) (Berkeley); The Irish in Us (Bacon); I Live for Love ( I Live for You ) (Berkeley); Little Big Shot (Curtiz); Ceiling Zero (Hawks); Freshman Love ( Rhythm on the River ) (McGann)

1936

China Clipper (Enright); Colleen (Green); Gold Diggers of 1937 (Bacon); The Golden Arrow (Green); Hearts Divided (Borzage); I Married a Doctor (Mayo); Isle of Fury (McDonald); Jailbreak (Grinde); The Law in Her Hands (Clemens); Murder by an Aristocrat (McDonald); Polo Joe (McGann); Satan Met a Lady (Dieterle); The Singing Kid (Keighley); Snowed Under (Enright); Stage Struck (Berkeley); Stolen Holiday (Curtiz); Times Square Playboy (McGann); The White Angel (Dieterle); Cain and Mabel (Bacon); The Walking Dead (Curtiz); Three Men on a Horse (LeRoy); Jailbreak ( Murder in the Big House ) (Grinde); Give Me Your Heart ( Sweet Aloes ) (Mayo); Here Comes Carter ( Voice of Scandal ) (Clemens)

1937

Another Dawn (Dieterle); Call It a Day (Mayo); First Lady (Hogan); The Go-Getter (Berkeley); Green Light (Borzage); Hollywood Hotel (Berkeley); It's Love I'm After (Mayo); Kid Galahad (Curtiz); Marked Woman (Bacon); That Certain Woman (Goulding); Ever Since Eve (Bacon); The King and the Chorus Girl ( Romance Is Sacred ) (LeRoy); The Singing Marine (Enright); Tovarich (Litvak) (co)

1938

Confession (May); Angels with Dirty Faces (Curtiz); Four Daughters (Curtiz) (co); Four's a Crowd (Curtiz); Jezebel (Wyler); My Bill (Farrow); Secrets of an Actress (Keighley); The Sisters (Litvak); Comet over Broadway (Berkeley); Women Are Like That (Logan)

1939

Dark Victory (Goulding); Juarez (Dieterle); King of the Underworld (Seiler); The Oklahoma Kid (Bacon); The Old Maid (Goulding); Women in the Wind (Farrow); The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex (Curtiz); On Your Toes (Enright); Wings of the Navy (Bacon); When Tomorrow Comes (Stahl); Indianapolis Speedway ( Devil on Wheels ) (Bacon)

1940

All This, and Heaven Too (Litvak); The Letter (Wyler); The Sea Hawk (Curtiz); 'Til We Meet Again (Goulding); My Love Comes Back (Bernhardt); A Dispatch from Reuters ( This Man Reuter ) (Dieterle); No Time for Comedy (Keighley)

1941

The Bride Came C.O.D. (Keighley); The Great Lie (Goulding); Kings Row (Wood); The Little Foxes (Wyler); The Maltese Falcon (Huston); The Man Who Came to Dinner (Keighley); The Strawberry Blonde (Walsh); Affectionately Yours (Bacon); Million Dollar Baby (Bernhardt); They Died with Their Boots On (Walsh)

1942

Casablanca (Curtiz); In This Our Life (Huston); Now, Voyager (Rapper); The Hard Way (V. Sherman); George Washington Slept Here (Keighley)

1943

Old Acquaintance (V. Sherman); This Is the Army (Curtiz); Mission to Moscow (Curtiz); Edge of Darkness (Milestone); Watch on the Rhine (Shumlin); Princess O'Rourke (Krasna)

1944

Arsenic and Old Lace (Capra); Mr. Skeffington (V. Sherman)

1945

The Corn Is Green (Rapper); The Dolly Sisters (Cummings); Conflict (Bernhardt); London Town ( My Heart Goes Crazy ) (Ruggles); Temptation (Pichel)

1946

A Stolen Life (Bernhardt)

1947

The Shocking Miss Pilgrim (Seaton); Ivy (Wood); Something in the Wind (Pichel); Mother Wore Tights (W. Lang) (co); Night Song (Cromwell); A Woman's Vengeance (Z. Korda)

1948

For the Love of Mary (de Cordova); Larceny (G. Sherman) (co); One Touch of Venus (Seiter); Rogues' Regiment (Florey); Berlin Express (Tourneur) (co)

1949

Family Honeymoon (Binyon); The Lady Gambles (Gordon); South Sea Sinner ( East of Java ) (Humberstone); Undertow (Castle); Johnny Stool Pigeon (Castle); Woman in Hiding (Gordon); Take One False Step (Erskine); Once More My Darling (Montgomery)

1950

Deported (Siodmak); Under the Gun (Tetzlaff); Behave Yourself (Beck); One Way Street (Fregonese); Harvey (Koster)

1951

An American in Paris (Minnelli) (co); The Lady Says No! (Ross)

1953

I Confess (Hitchcock)

1954

She Couldn't Say No ( Beautiful but Dangerous ) (Bacon)

1955

Oklahoma! (Zinnemann) (co)

1957

Les Girls (Cukor)

1958

Auntie Mame (Da Costa)

1959

Too Much, Too Soon (Napoleon); The Hanging Tree (Daves) (co); Some Like It Hot (Wilder)

1962

The Chapman Report (Cukor); Five Finger Exercise (Daniel Mann); The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (Minnelli) (co); Gypsy (LeRoy); A Majority of One (LeRoy); Sweet Bird of Youth (Brooks); Two for the Seesaw (Wise)

1963

In the Cool of the Day (Stevens) (co); Irma La Douce (Wilder)

1964

Sunday in New York (Tewksbury)

1965

Lady L . (Ustinov)

Publications

On ORRY-KELLY: articles—

Chierichetti, David, in Hollywood Costume Design , New York, 1976.

Leese, Elizabeth, in Costume Design in the Movies , New York, 1976.

LaVine, Robert, in In a Glamorous Fashion , New York, 1980.

Gibb, Bill, in Films and Filming (London), December 1983.

Read more: Orry-Kelly - Writer - Films as Costume Designer:, Publications http://www.filmreference.com/Writers-and-Production-Artists-Ni-Po/Orry-Kelly.html#ixzz18tkEu8Pv

Thanks Google for info

Yule 2010

The disapearence of Paula

Okay So I fell off the world for the last week, I am buried in custom work, and have two school projects due before my first show of the year. It is amazing just how much sewing I have done in the last week and have 4 deadlines in 5 days, still have trims to do on some and hems always hems. The Great helper to all  is Morpheus which seems to have forgot to drop by and take me to take place of rest and dreams ,which hasn't helped me feel any better about my blessing. Then there is the clients who think all I have to do is wiggle my nose,and poof it is magically done. I wish I could make them understand I can't sew 12 hours a day every day. But Alas .......
So with that said, I have been knee deep in steel boning and busk, build a wonderful custom corset with a fantasy theme , and it is amazing, still have some finish work on that one. Then there is the 1893 Ladies walking coats 2 yes I said  2 and each is unique. Then we have the 1790's Lades gown with panniers and stomacher which has started to take shape quite nicely, it will be ready for the second fitting around the 27 or so. The fantasy bodice and velvet skirt are ready for their final on the 27th ,and then  a day off.  I will post pictures as I finish off the hems and such  but I still am on my sewing Island and will be until I am OK where I am on the list. I haven't forgot my friends, they just will have to be patience and wait until I feel like I can breathe, or feel my fingers. As ever sewing my way thur this world,one stitch at a time LPASF

Thursday's Thought...

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