Edith Head Tribute

 

 

 

Preface: Much of the information I used in this piece came courtesy of a phenomenal book: Edith Head: The Fifty-Year Career of Hollywood's Greatest Costume Designer by Jay Jorgensen.

 

Edith and the "men" in her life

In the mid-90's I was going to a church, and the Sunday School class I was involved with at that church had a get together often, where we would eat and fellowship and play games.  I remember on one occasion we split up into two groups to play Trivial Pursuit.  One of the categories which my team came up with on one of our turns during that game was Entertainment.  The opposing team pulled the card and immediately concurred that our team would "never guess" the answer.  Even my team was for the most part in a spirit of resignation (before the question was even read, by the way...) 

But being the avid optimist when it came to the subject of movies and TV, I was, like, "oh, we'll get it..."  The question, as I remember, was "Who has won the most Academy Awards for Costume Design?"  Without even a pause to confer with my teammates, I blurted out "Edith Head!"  The whole room was astounded that I got it right and thought I was some sort of genius... 

However, truth be told, I had no idea at the time it would be the right answer.  I was never much for paying attention to what I would refer to as "lower tier awards" during the yearly Oscars ceremonies, so I had never even noticed who won many of those awards.  It was simply the fact that the only name I knew in the realm of costume design was Edith Head.

The artist in action

The reason why I knew her name was due to the fact that I had been (and still AM) an avid reader of the credits during movies I watch, and remembered that Edith was noted in the credits to Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid. The film was her last, and it was dedicated to her memory.  

 

Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid

The fact that Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid was a parody/homage to the great film noir movies of the 50's, and Ms. Head had been the costume designer for quite a few of the better original film noir movies led me to note more of her credits during the opening sequences.  Some of  her credits include such great classics of the film noir genre as Double Indemnity, The Blue Dahlia, Notorious and Sunset Boulevard.  

 

Double Indemnity

Not only does Edith hold the record for Oscar wins in the category; a total of 8, but those 8 Oscars are also a record for most wins by a female in any category. (Katherine Hepburn's 4 wins as an actress is a distant second). She also holds the record for most nominations for an Oscar in the costume design category; a total of 35, which is also a record for nominations for any female in any category. (Again, Meryl Streep, with 21 nominations as an actress is a distant second in that regard). 

She even holds the record for most consecutive years in getting nominations for Oscars. Between 1948, which was the first year the award was given for the category, and 1966, Edith was either nominated for, or in some cases, actually won Oscars in Best Costume Design -Color and/or Best Costume Design - Black and White, an astounding run of 19 years. (AI incorrectly lists Walt Disney as the record holder with a paltry 8 year run, but in his defense he was the sole name as the nominee, and Ms. Head shared credits in some of those years in which she was named as a candidate for her contributions).  

She was also nominated five more times in the 70's, winning her 8th and final Oscar for The Sting. At 432 credits over her career, she is also holds the record for having the most credits in film in the costume design category.

 

The designs for The Sting

In 1950 Edith managed to win the Oscar in both categories. For Best Costume Design- Color she was given a statuette for Samson and Delilah, and for Best Costume Design - Black and White, she got it for her work on All About Eve. 

Samson and Delilah

All About Eve

She appeared on screen a handful of times too, almost always as herself.  She was a guest contestant on the TV version of Groucho Marx's game show You Bet Your Life. She had a cameo in the film The Oscar, a movie for which she was also the costume designer. That film, by the way, was also one for which she received one of her Oscar nominations (for costume design, not for acting...) One of my favorite TV shows is Columbo and, in one episode of that series, "Requiem for A Falling Star", she meets the titular Columbo. And no, she isn't the murderer (or the victim), she just has a brief cameo, as Columbo comes to the studio of his suspect (whom we already know is the murderer. if you are familiar with the format of that show.)

Edith in "Columbo"

Edith Head began her career in the late 20's a studio sketch artist. She admits that, when she was first hired, her only experience was doing landscapes. She took some drawings from fellow students in her university class to the interview, which she said was with their permission, by the way. She owned up to the ruse pretty much right away after her hire, but they decided to keep her anyway. One of her first jobs was doing some uncredited work on the Academy Award winning movie Wings. Her first credited work was on the dresses worn by Mae West in She Done Him Wrong.

 

She Done Him Wrong

She started getting recognition for her work, and indeed, she was nominated for the first ever Academy Award Oscar for Costume Design, created in 1948, for The Emperor Waltz. She lost that award to her only competitor that year, Dorothy Jeakins, who won it for her work on Joan of Arc, but Ms. Head came back in spades the next year, winning the award for The Heiress in 1949, and as stated above, in 1950 for both categories.

 

The Emperor Waltz

 

Although she had a great eye for contemporary style, I think Ms. Head's best stuff was when she was involved in period dramas. Whether it was ancient Egypt (The Ten Commandments), early American colonial times (The Buccaneer), the American Old West (The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance) or the Jazz Age mid-west (The Sting), Edith's eye for period pieces usually shined through. But in the case of three of the previously noted four movies, the Oscar that she was nominated for ended up in other hands. (The sole statuette in that quartet being for The Sting, by the way, which was well deserved...) 

I would like to point out that quite often the competition that Edith faced in her quest for Oscar recognition was often pretty stiff.  Take for instance the year of 1956-57, another year in which she was in the running for both categories.  I will concede the Oscar for Best Costume Design - Black and White to the winner, The Solid Gold Cadillac, since of the five nominated films in the category (The Proud and Profane {the one for which she was nominated}, along with the winner, The Solid Gold Cadillac, The Power and the Prize, Teenage Rebel and Seven Samurai), the only one I have seen was Seven Samurai. But look at the roster for Best Costume Design - Color that year: 

Ms. Head was nominated for her work on the set of The Ten Commandments.

 

Among her competitors that year were Maria de Matteis for War and Peace. 

 

Moss Mabry and Marjorie Best for Giant.

Irene Sharaff for The King and I.

And the ultimate winner of the award, Miles White for Around the World in 80 Days.

It's easy to see, just from those stills, that the Academy had their work cut out for them. On more than one occasion I have stated that I wish the voting tally was public knowledge. I am surely not the only one to wish to know how the rest of the movies fared in a particular tally at times. In this case, personally, I would have had an extremely hard time choosing between ATWI80D, The King and I and The Ten Commandments...

In 1975 not only did Ms. Head get a nomination of The Man Who Would Be King at that year's Oscars, she also got a nomination for the film in the same category with the British Acadamy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) . She lost both, however; the Oscar to Barry Lyndon and the BAFTA to The Day of the Locust. I can't say I begrudge the Academy for picking Barry Lyndon as that movie was a feast for the eyes, visually. But The Day of the Locust? Call me  an unsophisticated lout, but most films that depict the 1930's in retrospect don't really impress me, fashion wise. (I should note that as much as I love The Sting, it's the story and the acting and the music that draw me, not the costumes, although as stated above, I thought they were good).  One of these days I'm going to have to post a review of The Day Of The Locust...

The first on screen credit that Ms. Head received was for her work on the Mae West film She Done Him Wrong. Ms. West's instructions to Ms. Head in designing her clothes was "make the clothes loose enough to prove that I'm a lady, but tight enough to show 'em I'm a woman". And Ms. Head must've done a good enough job on the outfits. Just shortly after the film's release a Paris fashion designer, Elsa Schiaparelli, introduced new designs on the fashion industry based on those outfits.

She Done Him Wrong

 

Over her early years in the wardrobe department, Edith would develop a rapport with many current and soon-to-be female stars, some who would use their influence to demand that Edith would be the preferred designer of their outfits. Barbara Stanwyck in particular, after an encounter where she was mistaken for just an overly aggressive fan by security guards while accompanying her Stella Dallas co-star at a premiere, while wearing her usual clothes, decided that Ms. Head had a better eye for what women should wear, and began to request her regular wardrobe be designed by her. On the same note, there were a few actresses who weren't all that impressed with her, but maybe just a little of that animosity was due to a preference for her mentor. Claudette Colbert has been quoted as saying that she considered Ms. Head as nothing more than an "art student."

In 1938, when her mentor Travis Banton was fired from Paramount because of his unreliability due to his drinking, she was in line to be made the studio head of the design department. Even though the studio considered bringing in a big name, they eventually made her the studio head because she was cheaper than the alternative. 

The onset of World War II had some impact on the costume production for films made during the war years. The U.S. War Board issued what was called "Limitation Order l-85" which was designed to limit the use of fabric, materials and labor for non-essential apparel, both in public and in costumes for film. This caused the costume design departments of the studios to find ways to be creative without being too excessive on the demands of the material. But one only needs to see some of Dorothy Lamour's outfits in the Bob Hope / Bing Crosby Road pictures, or Barbara Stanwyck's dresses in Double Indemnity to know that Ms. Head knew how to make do.

 

The Road to Morocco

Double Indemnity

 

 

The post-war years saw Ms. Head becoming more prominent in the industry. She continued to be a requested designer. sometimes even having actresses who were on loan to other studios requesting that she also be loaned out to design for them. One in particular was Ingrid Bergman, who often would put in demands that such bonuses be added when she went to another studio to make a picture.

Beginning in 1947, because her designs. as well as some other designers' fashions were garnering such attention, Photoplay Magazine began offering patterns for sale. The top seller for that first year happened to be a Head design worn by Lizabeth Scott in Desert Fury.  It was also in 1947 that the first Oscar was ever presented for Costume Design. Despite being instrumental in getting the award initiated, she did not win, and it is reported she was very disappointed. She only had one competitor that year, Dorothy Jeakins, who won it for Joan of Arc. Fortunately the Academy did show it's admiration during the next year's ceremony, however. 

The 1950's proved to be one of the most memorable in terms of Ms. Head's output. Along with The Ten Commandments, she was also the designer of note in such films as All About Eve, where she made Bette Davis look stunning, A Place in the Sun, where both Elizabeth Taylor and Shelley Winters showed off their charms, Roman Holiday and Sabrina, both of which had Audrey Hepburn lighting up the screen and To Catch a Thief, from which Grace Kelly benefited from her designs, all of which films were either nominated for or actually received Oscars for Ms. Head.

 

All About Eve

 

 

 

A Place in the Sun - Taylor

 

A Place in the sun- Winters

 

Roman Holiday

 

 

 

Sabrina

To Catch A Thief

 

 

One of the more interesting contributions of Edith involved her work with the production of The War of the Worlds. Not only did she design the look of Anne Robinson, but she also contributed to what the Martians would be wearing.   

 

The War of the Worlds-Anne Robinson

 

The War of the Worlds -Martian

 

One of the more interesting tidbits I came across while researching this entry involved the dress that Edith made for Bette Davis in All About Eve. Ms. Davis tried on the dress she was to use and it slipped down over her shoulders. Edith, thinking there was a problem with the fitting was all set to inform the producers that production would have to be delayed while she fixed the problem was told by Bette that it might be a good thing for her character if her shoulders were exposed in the scene.  

Even when Ms. Head's focal contributions were for men she had a good eye, especially when it came to period pieces. She got a nomination for her work on John Wayne in The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance. (Side note: I think it's a shame that that was the only Oscar nomination for that movie, but that's for another entry in this blog some day...)  She would follow up over the next few years by doing Wayne's outfits in Hatari!, The Sons of Katie Elder, Hellfighters  El Dorado, too.

 

The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance

El Dorado

She was also instrumental in making Elvis stand out in 9 of his films, including the iconic red and white cowboy suit that he wore when he sang "Teddy Bear" in Loving You.  

 

Elvis in Loving You

Ms. Head was a favorite of director Alfred Hitchcock. In 1946 she did her first film with him, Notorious, and although it would be another 8 years before she worked with him again, she came on board, beginning with Rear Window and was his go-to costume designer for much of the rest of his career. Of the last 14 movies he made during that time, Edith was the costume designer of note for 11 of them, with the exceptions being North by Northwest, Frenzy and Psycho.

 

Edith and Alfred

 

The 70's saw Ms. Head slowing down a bit. In previous decades she had averaged more than 70 movies a year, but through the 70's, her last decade in the industry, she only worked on 12. One of those was her work on The Sting, for which she received the 8th of her Oscars, but she was also designing for old friends, like Mae West, who used her services for what ended up being Mae's last two films, Myra Breckenridge and Sextette. (And there are two movies that have to be seen to be believed...) Also benefiting from her services during that decade were a couple of other old friends, Elizabeth Taylor (Ash Wednesday) and Katherine Hepburn (Rooster Cogburn). 

Besides The Sting, she also got recognized with a handful of Oscar nominations (none of which she won, but were well done nonetheless..) Those films were Sweet Charity, The Man Who Would Be King and both Airport and Airport '77. The competition for those was pretty stiff each time, however. As previously mentioned The Man Who Would Be King lost to Barry Lyndon and I don't begrudge that one. Nor do I have anything bad to say about her losing to Star Wars (What can I say? I LOVE Star Wars...) The other two lost to Anne of a Thousand Days and Cromwell.

Her last film was Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid,  and, as noted above, was the inspiration for writing up this blog entry. She was responsible for making Steve Martin look authentic while he "interacted" with some of the iconic men and women who made those earlier films. Credit, of course, is owed to the director, Carl Reiner, and Martin himself, but without a good costume designer to make it seem real, this one would have been seriously lacking. Edith passed away only a few short weeks after completing her work on this one. (I don't think she was around to see the final cut.) Her loss was felt throughout the industry.

Note: Ms. Head was not without her detractors. I read an article that was very disparaging about her talent and her contributions, but I avoided anything negative when writing this tribute. If you side with the detractors that's fine, but I choose to remember her in a more sympathetic light.

It was very insightful for me to delve into one of the more iconic people in the industry that was not in front  of the camera (actors and actresses) or behind it (directors). Hope you enjoyed this reminiscence. 

Drive safely folks.

Quiggy