Edith Head: The Paramount Years

And now I'd like to Introduce to you our guest commentator for today,

the world-famous designer, Miss Edith Head.

The most famous designer In motion picture history

was the legendary Edith Head.

For over four decades of her 60-year career,

Edith brought magic to the silver screen

In her unforgettable costumes for Paramount Pictures.

Edith decided that Paramount

would be a good place for her to get a job

because she saw women working there.

But she couldn't draw at all.

Howard Greer was the costume designer at Paramount,

and he taught her how to draw like he drew.

But very quickly she star fed being very, very useful

all around the wardrobe department.

And In 1925, another eslgner named Travis Benton

came out from New York.

Eventually Howard Greer decided to leave

because all of the big stars were asking for Benton.

And Benton was enormously talented,

however, without Greer there, he star fed handing

some of the lesser assignments to Edith to do.

Benton dldn't get along too well with Clara Bow.

Clara Bow was Paramount's biggest star,

and the public adored her, but she had very poor taste In clothes.

She liked to wear bangle bracelets with all of her costumes.

She wanted to put belts on dresses that weren't supposed to have them.

She even wanted to wear high-heeled shoes with ankle socks.

And so Benton turned Ciara Bow over to Edith to dress,

and the most famous picture they did together was wings,

In which Clara Bow wore a uniform through most of the film.

In the middle '30s, when Travis Benton was still on hand

to do the really big stars,

Edith was assigned the starlets and the actresses who wore coming up.

And the head office told her that these young ladies

were to have absolutely nothing to say about the costumes they wore,

but nonetheless, Edith managed to talk to them.

She managed to get a sense of what they thought looked good on them,

what they liked,

and she would put those same kind of ideas into the drawings,

you know, so that the studio would think they wore hers

from start to finish.

And when these ladies became big stars, they remembered her.

And of course, they wore very loyal

and always wanted her for all their plctures.

Edith Head knew how to talk with the stars.

She knew how to make them feel very important,

how to give her attention only to them.

They always felt that they wore number one with her.

Edith was very, very bright about publicity.

Shews very bright about promoting herself.

But she was smart about what worked In a film and what dldn't.

She really knew.

You can spot an Edith Head film a mile away.

I mean, there is a style there that's definitely hers.

Edith was a very good people person. She worked very well with anybody.

Generally, on a picture,

you have a lot of people who have conflicting Ideas.

You have the star, who wants to look good no matter what.

You have the director, who wants the clothes to work

for the dramatic situation and not be too attention-grabbing.

You've got the producer, who doesn't want to spend too much money.

The art director, the cameramen. All these people have their input.

And Edith was very good about learning about all aspects of filmmaklng

so that she could discuss these things with everybody.

She knew what was safe, and she sometimes would play It safe

rather than get herself into, you know, a bad position.

Sometimes taking chances is great, but it doesn't work for every director.

You have to let...

The director has to ask for something special,

and she would give it to them.

But If she didn't, she played It pretty safe.

She wasn't shy.She was powerful. She was strong.

Shews demanding.

Shews tough.

In 1948, at the Insistence of Edith and other Hollywood designers,

an Academy Aw a for Best Costume Design

was finally established.

Two Oscars would be given,

one for black-and-white and one for color.

And Edith was nominated for the picture The Emperor Waltz,

but she dldn't wln and she was very disappointed.

But the next year she was nominated again

for best black-and-white for the movie The Heiress.

And she did win.

The Oscar for The Heiress would be the first of elght Academy Awards

Edith Head would win In her 60-year career.

Darling, let's never leave this place.

Let's just stay here alone.

Don't let Father upset you. I'm the one who counts.

1949 was when Edith began work on A Place in the Sun.

It was directed by George Stevens,

and Elizabeth Taylor was borrowed from MGM to play the leading role.

So that was the beginning of her long friendship with Elizabeth Taylor.

And of course, Stevens wanted her to look immaculate,

as a very high-society, kind of spoiled rich girl.

The Place in the Sun tulle evening gown

was cop led many, many times by the 7th Avenue designers

and department stores all across the country.

I'm just fooling around. Maybe you'd like to play.

Oh, no. I'll just watch you. Go ahead.

Edith later worked with Elizabeth Taylor

on a picture called EIephant Walk,

and throughout the years did a number of projects with her.

She always tried to emphasize Taylor's beautiful shoulders,

her bust and her small waist.

Edith's favorite director

and the one she worked with many times was Alfred Hitchcock.

Edith worked with Hitchcock and Grace Kelly

In To Catch a Thief, which became her all-time favorite film.

The first tlme Cary Grant sees Grace Kelt yin the movie,

she's wearing a very startling black and white outfit.

And the colors progress slowly.

At one point they go for a picnic

and she's wearing kind of a coral pink skirt.

And Grace Kelly said to Edith

that she didn't want to wear pants forth at scene.

She wanted to be very feminine.

So Edith made her a sporty our fit with a skirt and a blouse.

And there were two beautiful evening gowns.

One was draped white chiffon. The other was draped blue chiffon.

These sort of played up the cool aspect of Kelly's demeanor.

But at the very end of the film

she's wearing a fabulous gold lamé evening gown.