A Study Guide by Marguerite O'hara

Home , Ann Roth, Colleen Atwood, Dark Victory, Gillian Armstrong, Kay Francis, Scotty Bowers

http://www.metromagazine.com.au

ISBN: 978-1-74295-566-7 http://www.theeducationshop.com.au Orry-Kelly with Kay Francis (photo courtesy of Scotty Bowers).

A celebration of the colourful life of Australia’s great Oscar winner, costume designer Orry-Kelly, played out during the Golden Years of Hollywood

»»INTRODUCTION motion pictures. He designed for stars period of American film history between like Marilyn Monroe, Bette Davis, 1932 and 1944, the establishment of Women He’s Undressed is a 95 minute Humphrey Bogart, Rosalind Russell, the ‘dream factory’ and a key influence documentary that explores the life Errol Flynn and many more of the on mass culture through his costume of Australia’s most prolific costume immortals. His films included Some patents and radio shows. designer, Orry-Kelly. Until now, he has Like It Hot (1959), Casablanca (1942), been unacknowledged in his country An American in Paris (1951) and Now, He was outrageous, witty, outspoken, of birth, a footnote in the world of Voyager (1942). a drinker, and uncompromising in his fashion design and pretty well for- sexuality at a time when Hollywood SCREEN EDUCATION © ATOM 2015 gotten in the adopted country of his Orry-Kelly (Jack to his friends) won was deeply conservative. He survived greatest successes. three Academy Awards and was nomi- partially due to the protection provided nated for a fourth. by his friendship with Jack and Ann But during the boom years of Warner and gossip columnist Hedda Hollywood, Orry-Kelly was Costume He was head of Warner Brothers Hopper - but ultimately due to his Designer on an astonishing 282 Costume Department during the richest extraordinary talent.

2 under-appreciated elements of cinema, though the au- »»CURRICULUM GUIDELINES thentic look and period feel a costume designer gives to a film are crucial elements in its success and appeal. This film covers the life of an artist over the first 65 years of the 20th century when cinema (the movies, the motion Today, another Australian designer, Catherine Martin, is picture industry) was rapidly developing into the most pre-eminent in the world of costume design, having won popular form of mass entertainment, offering opportuni- two Oscars in 2002 for her design work on Moulin Rouge! ties for creative artists to contribute their skills to this new (Luhrmann, 2001) and two in 2014 for The Great Gatsby and glamorous industry. (Luhrmann, 2014). Both Martin and Michael Wilkinson, 2014 Academy Award Nominee for American Hustle, are Women He’s Undressed would be enjoyed by secondary NIDA graduates. But before NIDA, there was Orry-Kelly. and tertiary students of Theatre and Costume Design, Film Studies, Media Studies, Australian Biography, Biographical films can really bring a character to life, and SOSE/HSIE and Gender Studies. It offers fascinating this is something director Gillian Armstrong does very insights into the world of cinema and costume design. well. Her 2006 documentary drama Unfolding Florence There are a number of courses offered in Australia in – The Many Lives of Florence Broadhurst did just that, design studies with a specific focus on costume design, unfolded Florence Broadhurst through exploring her life including one at the National Institute of Dramatic Art. and work as a designer and entrepreneur, showing how Watch a video presentation at https://www.nida.edu.au/ life experiences influenced the development of her style courses/undergraduate/costume where NIDA’s Head of and work. Women He’s Undressed (this title is a play Costume, Fiona Reilly, explains the process for applying on Orry-Kelly’s soon to be published autobiography, for a place on this course. Women I’ve Undressed) tells of Orry-Kelly’s extraordinary life with wit and style, candour and sympathy. It offers NIDA’s Bachelor of Fine Arts (Costume) is an intense insights into the ways in which many homosexuals felt practice-based course offering education and training in constrained by prevailing social mores to conceal their costume construction, management and related period sexual preferences to retain their positions and in some and social research. cases to ‘live a lie’.

Students are introduced to the techniques required to While access to Orry-Kelly’s recently discovered auto- produce creative works integral to becoming a costume biography provided the filmmakers with an important professional, including costume construction, tailor- resource, biographers, whether of a filmed story or a ing, pattern making, period cutting, draping, costume written work, are always only able to offer ‘a version’ of management, millinery and leatherwork and specialist a life that illuminates important aspects of that person’s costumes. As they progress to making fully tailored and life and times, but can never be a definitive account. more advanced garments for full-scale productions, Autobiography is always an individual’s account of their students expand the depth of their collaboration with the life and times and is often best read as but one part of designer and performer, applying their skills in increas- the complex story that reveals truths about an individual. ingly complex situations including practical workshops, We see and hear several varied accounts of Orry-Kelly’s exhibitions, installations and research projects. New and life from people who knew him, met him and even non-traditional materials and techniques are explored, worked with him. A life has to be re-imagined after the and students gain experience of how to manage budgets subject has died. and how to supervise a costume department. This is entertainment of the best kind — engaging, While the course is focused primarily around costume informative and educational, offering insights into the in the context of theatre, there are classes, projects and people behind the camera and how they worked. Like industry placements which offer learning and opportuni- Armstrong’s documentary about Florence Broadhurst, ties related to the wider arts and entertainment industries, we are introduced to a character we are unlikely to have including opera, dance, film and television, exhibitions heard of and offered insights into his life and work. and events. All students spend time in an industry place- Attitudes to homosexuality and Hollywood’s ambivalent ment with professional companies or individuals. embrace of talented gay men such as Orry-Kelly is sensi- tively explored in the film. The course prepares students for careers as a costume maker, costume supervisor, assistant costume supervisor, Women He’s Undressed was shot in Los Angeles, New SCREEN EDUCATION © ATOM 2015 costume cutter, theatrical tailor, buyer, finisher or milliner York and Kiama, NSW. The film runs for approximately 95 in the arts and entertainment industries. minutes. https://www.nida.edu.au/courses/undergraduate/ The Australian Centre for the Moving Image (ACMI) in costume Melbourne is staging an exhibition of Orry-Kelly’s costumes, drawings, paintings and props from the film in The role of costume designer is one of the more 2015. 3 1: Orry-Kelly’s three oscars; 2: Orry-Kelly played by Darren Gilshenan; 3: Orry-Kelly design; 4: Gillian Armstrong with actor Jane Fonda. (All photos Anna Howard.)

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»»SYNOPSIS

Orry-Kelly, the boy from the small New South Wales coastal fishing village of Kiama, ran from the sheltered shores of Australia to chance his luck in the anything goes world of New York, but town’s best kept secrets and bring Kennedy as his mother. he would soon find himself seduced home the story of the boy from Kiama • Interviews with Hollywood icons by the bright lights and big dreams of - friend and confidante to the screen Jane Fonda and Angela Lansbury, Hollywood, where his unbounded wit greats of Hollywood’s golden age and Australian costume design- and talent would lead him to design a designer whose costumes created ers Catherine Martin, Michael gowns that lit up the golden age of some of the most magical moments in Wilkinson and Kym Barrett interna- cinema. His journey is finally brought cinema history. tional costume designers Colleen to life in Gillian Armstrong’s Women Atwood, Ann Roth and Deborah He’s Undressed. Australian actor Darren Gilshenan plays Nadoolman Landis and film histo- Orry-Kelly in the dramatised reconstruc- rians Leonard Maltin, Marc Eliot, An up close and personal look at the tions of some parts of his life. He is also David Chierichetti and William J life of one of the silver screen’s most brought vividly to life through the cos- Mann. talented costume designers, Orry was tumes he designed for many famous • The golden years of Hollywood as big a legend behind the scenes as films and most of all, through the recol- with a whiff of scandal and a cart- the on-screen legends he adoringly lections of colleagues and those who load of secrets. dressed. But who was Orry-Kelly? either knew Orry- Kelly or knew about • Beautiful elegant gowns worn by Talented, daring, brash, bold, the him and his life and admired his work. the major stars. toast of Hollywood yet the thorn in the • Intimate details of the world’s most side of many a studio head and the Women He’s Undressed includes- famous movie stars. first Australian to win three Academy • Segments from famous films • The gay underworld of the USA SCREEN EDUCATION © ATOM 2015 Awards – how could he be so un- including Some Like It Hot, and Hollywood. known in his homeland? Now Gillian Casablanca, 42nd Street and Les • Academy Awards and the glamour Armstrong is taking us behind the Girls. associated with them. scenes of Hollywood, with a little help • Dramatised scenes from Orry- • Exploration of the magical world from some of Orry’s long-time friends Kelly’s life starring Darren of costume design from fabric and and colleagues, to reveal one of tinsel Gilshenan as Orry and Deborah padding to romance and illusion.

4 1: Gillian Armstrong with production/costume designer Catherine Martin; 2–3: Darren Gilshenan playing Orry-Kelly with Nathaniel Middleton playing Archie Leach (photo Prudence Upton); 4: Deborah Kennedy playing Orry-Kelly’s mother at the clothes line with the film crew (photo Prudence Upton).

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Perhaps I like them talented and trou- bled. But so do audiences! I believed it could make a wonderfully unique movie, funny, rich, colourful, entertaining and ultimately quite moving. It needed a writer with a skill as a storyteller and a real touch of wit and humour.

I was delighted that the brilliant Key Crew Katherine Thomson (my co-conspira- Director: Gillian Armstrong tor on Unfolding Florence) was equally Writer: Katherine Thomson »»DIRECTOR inspired. We threw ourselves into many months of Orry research and Producers: Damien Parer and GILLIAN the period his life covers, from 1900s Gillian Armstrong ARMSTRONG’S Australia, New York in the 1920s and Executive Producers: Los Angeles in the 1930s until the Michael Wrenn, VISION 1960s. Marian Macgowan and All the best characters rock the boat! Graham Buckeridge Actually, almost the entire history Line Producer: Producer Damien Parer approached of the movies, from the beginning Cathy Flannery me with a documentary proposal, of sound, the development of col- Cinematographer: ‘Gowns by Orry-Kelly’ in June 2012. our, through to Wide Screen and Anna Howard I was hooked. Orry-Kelly’s story was Technicolour. So much that even I, SCREEN EDUCATION © ATOM 2015 Editor: Nicholas Beauman an immediately inspiring subject for as a filmmaker, had not known about. Composer: a documentary. And yes, I had never It was through this research that we Cezary Skubiszewski heard of him either. There is some- discovered that his journey is an even Costume Design: Edie Kurzer thing completely compelling about richer and more fascinating narra- Production Design: this very talented, very outlandish, tive, because it works on a number of Ross Wallace gay Australian rascal’s journey in deeper levels and themes. Hollywood. 5 »»WHO WAS ORRY-KELLY?

Orry Kelly — 1897- 1964.

He was christened Orry George Kelly and born in Kiama, New South Wales. The name Orry comes from an ancient king from the Isle of Man where his father William Kelly, a gentleman tailor, was born. Kiama is a coastal town 120 kilometres south of Sydney. In 1917 Orry moved to Sydney where he worked in a bank. He got his first break with a job in a theatrical revue. He soon found that the theatrical community and the underworld of Sydney was more his style than the bank and recorded the prostitutes and gangsters he was enchanted by in water colours.

He then escaped to New York where, at first he tried acting then survived selling hand painted ties and later in the 1920s designed theatre sets and costumes for the Schubert Theatre Company. He shared an apartment with Archie Leach who later changed his name to Cary Grant and became one of Hollywood’s leading stars. To survive they ran a speakeasy*. Orry and underworld gangster Belle Livingstone tried to set up a speakeasy in Reno with disastrous results.

*A speakeasy was an establishment Portrait of Orry-Kelly (courtesy of Barbara Warner Howard). that illegally sold alcohol. Such establishments came into Orry’s big break came when he in 1964. In 2000 he was inducted prominence in the United States moved to Hollywood and, after into the Costume Designer Guild during the Prohibition era between many tough months, became Awards Hall of Fame. 1920 and 1933, (longer in some a costume designer at Warner states). During that time, the sale, Brothers. He was quickly made head Orry-Kelly’s life spanned the manufacture, and transportation of the costume department. Over his introduction and development of SCREEN EDUCATION © ATOM 2015 (bootlegging) of alcoholic beverages lifetime he designed for more than the motion picture industry. He was illegal throughout the United 280 films, mainly for Warners. He was born in 1897 and died in 1964. States. Speakeasies largely won three Academy Awards for An During this period, the industry disappeared after Prohibition ended American in Paris (1951), Les Girls established itself as the most in 1933, and the term is now used (1957) and Some Like It Hot (1959). glamorous and popular form of to describe some increasingly He was nominated for Gypsy in entertainment in the world. fashionable retro style bars. 1962. Orry-Kelly died in Los Angeles 6 TABLE 1. CAST – ACTORS AND INTERVIEWEES INCLUDING DESIGNERS, »»IMPORTANT DATES IN HISTORIANS AND COMMENTATORS THE HISTORY OF MOTION Darren Gilshenan: PICTURES Playing Orry-Kelly Deborah Kennedy: 1897 — the history of film began in the 1890s, with the inven- Playing Mrs Kelly tion of the first motion-picture cameras and the establishment of the first film production companies and cinemas. The Lumiere Colleen Atwood: brothers in France were pioneers in this new field. The films Costume Designer of the 1890s were under a minute long and until 1927, motion Kym Barrett: pictures were produced without sound. The first eleven years of Costume Designer motion pictures show the cinema moving from a novelty to an established large-scale entertainment industry. Films became Scotty Bowers: several minutes long, consisting of several shots. The first rotat- Barman/fixer/ author ing camera for taking panning shots was built in 1897, the year of Orry-Kelly’s birth. David Chierichetti: Costume historian 1920s — By the 1920s, the United States reached what is still its June Daly-Watkins: era of greatest-ever output, producing an average of 800 feature Ex-model, entrepreneur films annually or 82% of the global total. Orry-Kelly arrived in New York from Sydney in 1922. In late 1927, Warners Marc Eliot: released The Jazz Singer, the first synchronized dialogue (and Author singing) in a feature film. By the end of 1929, Hollywood was almost all-talkie, with several competing sound systems (soon Jane Fonda: to be standardized). Orry goes to Los Angeles in 1930. Actor Sound helped save the Hollywood studio system in the face of Janet Fowler: the Great Depression. Thus began what is now often called ‘The Grandniece of Orry-Kelly Golden Age of Hollywood’, which refers roughly to the period beginning with the introduction of sound until the late 1940s. The Mrs Freeman Gosden: American cinema reached its peak of efficiently manufactured Widow of Freeman Gosden, writer and actor glamour and global appeal during this period. The top actors of the era are now thought of as the classic film stars, such Angela Lansbury: Actor as Clark Gable, Katharine Hepburn, Humphrey Bogart, Greta Garbo, and the greatest box office draw of the 1930s, child per- Leonard Maltin: former Shirley Temple. Film critic and author

1930s -1960s — the Golden Age of American Motion William J Mann: Pictures Author and Hollywood historian

Attendance was going up steadily and there were many great Catherine Martin: movies being made. Movies were primarily entertainment in Production and costume designer nature (rather than serious or informative documentaries). They steered clear of controversy; they generally avoided depress- Jean Mathison: Assistant to William Haines (actor/designer) ing topics or too much realism. This was the dream factory. Stars such as Shirley Temple, Charlie Chaplin, Clark Gable and Larry McQueen: Bette Davis were able to command enormous fees from the film Film costume historian studios. Costume Design became an Award category at the Academy Awards in 1948 when it was divided into Black and Deborah Nadoolman Landis: White and Colour. Orry-Kelly was for 20 years in the forefront of UCLA professor and costume designer Warner Brothers Studios films, head of their costume depart- Ann Roth: ment from 1932 — 1944, dressing stars from Bette Davis to Costume designer Marilyn Monroe... and Ingrid Bergman in Casablanca. SCREEN EDUCATION © ATOM 2015 Eric Sherman: Students could do some research on some of the following inter- Producer and director viewees using data bases such as Google, Wikipedia and IMDb. com as well as websites dedicated to cinema costume design. Barbara Warner Howard: The costume designers appearing in the film are highlighted in Daughter of Jack and Ann Warner the following list, Table 1. Michael Wilkinson: Costume designer 7 1 2 3

4 1: Costume designer Ann Roth (photo Anna Howard); 2: Costume designer Michael Wilkinson (photo Anna Howard); 3: Costume designer Kym Barrett (photo Anna Howard); 4: Orry-Kelly costume sketch from Hollywood (photo courtesy of Barbara Warner Howard).

see how and why this would not including dramatisations, he remains work. Just as clothes are an important an elusive figure, both very much ‘out aspect of how we present ourselves there’ and at the same time extremely in the worlds we live in, so too are the private. His friends, including gossip clothes of characters in films a crucial columnists Hedda Hopper and Louella aspect of how an audience perceives Parsons are said to have covered up and responds to them. many of Orry-Kelly’s more outrageous exploits. • As you watch Women He’s Undressed, think about why Orry- Orry-Kelly’s attention to detail is ap- »»COSTUME Kelly had such a long, varied and parent in his varied costume design DESIGN – successful career as a costume on an extraordinary 282 films over designer? What were some of the 30 years of work, mostly during WHY DOES IT qualities people who knew his Hollywood’s golden years of the MATTER? work best refer to? 1930s, 40s, 50s and beyond. (Further information about how his work has been regarded can be While the filmmakers have access to From the recently released film Wild found later in this guide) clips from the films Orry-Kelly worked where Reese Witherspooon wears • Television really took off in America on which show the range and variety tracksuit pants, loose T-shirts and in the late 1940s and 1950s and of his work, there is not a lot of con- other quite ordinary walking gear in has grown ever since throughout temporary footage of the man himself, her trek across America to American the world as a popular form of en- one of the figures behind the stars and Sniper and the combat gear in that tertainment. How might the enor- the camera, the maker of the magic film, actors need to be dressed ap- mous range of dramas and music on screen but not generally regarded propriately for the place, period and video clips produced for television as ‘a celebrity’ by magazines, news- character they are playing in the and now online, provide opportuni- papers and gossip columnists of the drama. If ‘the look’ of a film is wrong ties for costume designers beyond time. There are several key factors in viewers are likely to see the drama and the movies and stage shows? Orry-Kelly’s life that were fundamental the emotions as inauthentic or just not in forming his personality and identity. believable. Costume designers need They cannot be put into the ‘personal SCREEN EDUCATION © ATOM 2015 to work closely with the director of the »»STUDENT life’ basket or be divorced from his film, the other members of the design ACTIVITIES ‘work life’. team and the actors they are dressing to achieve the right look. If you It is important to note that the try to imagine the characters in the While many aspects of Orry-Kelly’s words spoken by the actor Darren Harry Potter films dressed in a more life and times are brought into focus Gilshenan who plays Orry-Kelly contemporary style, you can probably in this film in a number of visual ways are not direct quotes from the man 8 1

1 & 3: Young Orry-Kelly played by Louis Alexander (photo Anna Howard); 2: Deborah Kennedy playing Orry-Kelly’s mother – Orry has sent a fur shawl from Los Angeles (photo Prudence Upton).

himself, but were created by the writer of the film script, Katherine The boy The big smoke Thomson, as ways in which he might have spoken and reflected 1 from Kiama 2 of Sydney on aspects of his life and worlds. Several of these remarks precede For Christmas mother brings the You’ll meet a gentler class of people the different sections of the viewing theatre to Kiama. The supplied cos- — Mrs Kelly tasks, i.e. Sets 1, 2 and 3. tumes and scenery are unspeakable of course. So every Saturday, all day, I • What does Mrs Kelly expect of her What Orry-Kelly would make of dress my duchess in jewels and make son when he goes to Sydney? Gillian Armstrong’s account of his my prince look perfect — Orry-Kelly • How hard do you think it would life and work is impossible to know, have been to be a creative young but he would surely have enjoyed • What do we learn of Orry-Kelly’s gay man in the early 1900’s in a the long overdue public recognition youth in Kiama in the early part of small Australian country town like from peers, colleagues, friends and the20th century? Kiama? stars recorded on film, the form of • In what ways is the central motif • What were some of the groups entertainment that he helped shape of a boy in a rowboat an appropri- Orry mixed with in Sydney? and that shaped his life. ate one for the boy from Kiama? • I’m torn between the posh end of Where did this image of a boy in a Sydney town where wealthy wives Divide the following eight sets of sailor suit come from? and widows pay handsome young questions about different aspects of • What was there in his background theatre types to do the tango, the the film between members of your that set him on the path to becom- bunny-hug and the turkey-trot, and class. Each set focuses on different ing an artist and adventurer? the underworld of Woolloomooloo parts of Orry-Kelly’s life and work. • How early in his childhood does ... ladies my mother would never SCREEN EDUCATION © ATOM 2015 Take notes on two sections, e.g. 2 he recall having an interest in all approve of and the only place to and 4. things theatrical? get a beer after hours. Prostitutes • What were two activities that Orry coming and going who love a After watching the film, share your acknowledges having inherited chat, in amazing, ever-changing, responses before investigating some from his father? bold as brass outfits. Better than of the questions raised in The Big • As a 17 year old what was he hop- any art college... and where the Picture section later in this guide. ing to find in Sydney? motto is ‘only be ashamed of being 9 1

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Go west, 4 young man

1: Orry-Kelly discussing a design with Kay Francis (photo courtesy of Scotty Bowers); 2: Darren It’s ironic that so much wonderful mov- Gilshenan playing Orry-Kelly (photo Anna Howard); 3: Orry-Kelly design for Some Like It Hot (photo courtesy of Larry McQueen). iemaking was going on in Hollywood at that time when the country, indeed ashamed’ — Orry-Kelly period? the world, was in the grip of the Great What do these observations about • How did the young Orry-Kelly Depression. Hollywood in the early Woolloomooloo life suggest Orry make a precarious living in New 1930s was a town undergoing radical was attracted to in Sydney? York in the early 1920s? change ... sound was very new and • When did he decide to move on • Who did he meet up with in 1926 so many of the old players from the and where did he set out for? in Greenwich Village, a literary and 1920s, from the silent era, just were theatrical centre of New York at the not equipped to face that microphone time? — Leonard Maltin, film critic and New York, • How did his ‘dressing Archie author 3 here I come Leach’ teach him valuable lessons about being a costume designer? • What did Archie Leach do in Los We talked about how when you • How did theatre set designing lead Angeles that helped him on his grow up with the smell of the ocean, to frock designing for Orry-Kelly? path to stardom in Hollywood? the horizon beckons you every day • What effect did the 1929 Wall • How does Orry get his first big SCREEN EDUCATION © ATOM 2015 — Orry-Kelly Street economic crash have on the break in Hollywood? opportunities for work in the New • Which of the big film studios take He breaks hearts all over town but he York theatre world? him on as a designer of costumes still comes home to me — Orry-Kelly • What were the connections Orry- for the stars? Kelly made in the world of prohibi- • I think that his strength was what- • How did people travel overseas tion and speakeasies that led to ever he did for his actors and ac- to and from Australia during this him moving on again? tresses always enhanced their best 10 1

1: Darren Gilshenan playing Orry-Kelly and Nathaniel Middleton playing Archie Leach (photo Prudence Upton); 2 & 4: Orry-Kelly design; 3: Actor Darren Gilshenan playing Orry- Kelly hand-painting ties.

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aspects — Kym Barrett, Costume 54 girls dressed in Designer. period asserts that during the 6 54,000 silver coins What does this observation reveal golden age of cinema, ‘Hollywood about the kind of intuitive intel- was probably the most homopho- ligence Orry-Kelly exhibited as he bic city in the world’. What are The ultimate ugly duckling who turns established himself in Hollywood? some of the factors and attitudes into something of a swan, and part of that fed this homophobia? that transformation of course is the • What evidence is there that being way she dresses — Leonard Maltin Still Jack to open at this time would have prob- talking about Bette Davis’ role in Now, 5 his friends ably been career suicide? Voyager. • What does Scotty Bowers say Being a gay in the south is like being was the truth about the life leading • How did musicals such as Gold black in the south — Marc Eliot de- ‘ladies man’ Cary Grant lived? Diggers of 1933, choreographed scribing the difficulties for gay people How did the film studios attempt to by Busby Berkeley, offer great op- in the movie world in being open maintain the fantasy? portunities for really over-the-top about their sexuality. • Do similar constraints still exist in and glitzy costume design? the world of cinema and celebrity • What does Orry-Kelly’s work with • For what reasons have so many in relation to an individual’s sexual Barbara Stanwyck in Baby Face people in the public eye changed orientation? (1933) reveal about his versatility their names, including Marilyn • How might being gay have helped as a costume designer? Monroe, Jamie Foxx and Lauren Orry-Kelly in his professional • Outline some of the challenges Bacall? life, particularly working on set Orry-Kelly faced in dressing Bette • What was Orry-Kelly’s workload with lots of beautiful women he Davis in a number of roles such with Warner Brothers? What would could make glamorous and even as Dark Victory (1939) and Now,

have been some of the advantages famous? Voyager (1942)? Was she a natural SCREEN EDUCATION © ATOM 2015 and disadvantages of the Studio • What do you think Hollywood his- ‘clothes horse’ for glamorous System in Hollywood for actors torian William J Mann means when gowns? and film crew? he describes Orry-Kelly as having • At the end of World War Two, when • What evidence is there that Orry- lived ‘an authentic life’, particularly Orry-Kelly was in his forties, what Kelly was able to negotiate suc- in relation to his old friend Archie were some of the factors that may cessfully with the Film Studios? Leach, AKA Cary Grant. have led to him getting less work • Marc Eliot and biographer of the at Warners? 11 1 2

1: Darren Gilshenan playing Orry-Kelly (photo Anna Howard); 2: Orry-Kelly’s painting of a 1910s woman (photo courtesy of Barbara Warner Howard).

• In 1945 when Orry-Kelly went to people had for Orry-Kelly’s work? work at Fox, what other business- • Where had Orry-Kelly ‘been away’ es did he set up? between 1951 and 1955 when he • How was Fox’s star Betty Grable was invited to work on the cos- promoted and dressed to boost tumes for Oklahoma!? morale during the war? • In what ways did doing the • How do the clothes Orry-Kelly costume design for the musical created for Bette Davis in Mr Les Girls (1957) and for Rosalind Oh, there was something wonderful Skeffington, Vincent Sherman’s Russell in Auntie Mame (1958) about working with a great talent who 1944 film, reveal the qualities of play to all of Orry-Kelly’s strengths, built clothes, specifically for this char- the character Davis played in the according to a number of more acter, for you— Jane Fonda film, Fanny Trellis? recent Hollywood designers? What were the special qualities these One of the great costume designers films reveal about the diversity of and an Australian; a three time Oscar When times get Orry-Kelly’s skills as a designer? winner; Cary Grant’s boyfriend...now 7 tough ... you catch • Why might Cary Grant have come that’s the trifecta, surely — Catherine the next wave to visit Orry-Kelly in the 1960s, Martin, designer so many years on from their time spent together? • How many films did Orry-Kelly I’ve heard that he could be a very • Apart from their acting ability, how work on in his career? (Check this charming, funny man unless he drank. did Orr-Kelly help Tony Curtis and reference for a complete list: www. And then he could get rather vindic- Jack Lemmon pass themselves imdb.com.) What does the list re- tive and rather loud. And that may off as almost believable women in veal about why film critic Leonard have been part of his downfall — Larry Some like it Hot (1959)? Maltin describes his films as ‘not McQueen, costume historian and • How does his work with Natalie apples and oranges but a whole archivist Wood in Gypsy (1962) demonstrate fruit basket’? his skills in transforming actresses • When Orry-Kelly died in 1964 aged • What were some of the quite prob- into characters and glamorous 67, who were some of the big- ably true objections some film stu- divas on screen? name Hollywood figures who acted dios expressed about Orry-Kelly’s as pall-bearers at his funeral? behaviour? • Where has Orry-Kelly’s unfinished • Despite the claim that he was dif- memoir been for the last forty odd ficult to work with, he was one of 8‘Drop a spangle’ years? Who now has ‘custody’ of SCREEN EDUCATION © ATOM 2015 three designers who collaborated this document? Why the secrecy on the costumes for the 1951 He was a master of colour. He was about its content and probable musical, An American in Paris, a master, obviously, of dressmaking. revelations about life and loves which won the Academy award But his training as an artist was re- in Hollywood between the 1920s for costume design for its three ally the key to his career — Deborah and the 1960s? Whose reputations designers. What does this suggest Nadoolman Landis, designer were being protected? about the regard many Hollywood • How do so-called ‘tell it all’ 12 memoirs have the potential to ILGA, lists 78 countries with criminal TABLE 2 damage the reputations and care- laws against sexual activity by lesbian, fully protected images of people gay, bisexual, transgender or intersex One perception of costume and their families some 40 years people (LGBTIs), but that’s a slight designers is that it’s just about making people look good. But I think on? In the case of Orry-Kelly and understatement. your job is to be an adjunct to the his Hollywood connections, how storytelling. You’re trying to help might his revelations threaten as- A similar 78-country list is below, the director and the actor who are pects of ‘the dream factory’ that is including links to this blog’s coverage creating a performance, are creating Hollywood, a world where illusions, of individual countries a character Catherine Martin, The Great Gatsby, glamour and squeaky-clean celeb- 2013 rity are still seen as important? http://76crimes.com/76-countries- where-homosexuality-is-illegal/ I don’t really think that it’s our job to have any of our costumes be Even in Australia in 2015, homophobia something that you really notice 9 The Big Picture Kym Barrett, The Matrix, 1999 is still an issue in many workplaces where gay and lesbian staff are being I’m so interested in the full A. STARDOM forced to stay in the closet or choose spectrum of humanity, you know, self-employment to avoid workplace and the most compelling roles are You could not mess with stardom. homophobia.1 always when you see someone at And once you had achieved stardom their most triumphant and glorious moments but also at their deepest, there was an unspoken rule that you • Are you aware of any other of darkest moments of despair didn’t pull someone down — William Hollywood’s leading male actors of Michael Wilkinson, American Hustle, J. Mann, Hollywood historian this period who felt constrained to 2014 conceal their sexuality to continue Men and a teeny tiny number of their careers? I have to do a drawing for myself, women, who were gay — the word we • How did some gay men in the because I work purely from instinct. Not intellectualised. Although I am don’t use — were very much intimidat- world of film, whether actors or the biggest researcher in the world. ed by the studio system — Ann Roth film crew, play various games to You keep looking in the mirror and keep their image squeaky clean suddenly another being is there. • In what ways does the morphing and their careers alive? And the actor, for a second, does not of Archie Leech into Cary Grant — • He was openly gay. That’s one recognise themself. It sounds like magic, but it isn’t. It’s real. ‘my now rich and famous lover’— thing, as I said, that I liked about And, I mean you can do it with a exemplify some of the strict codes Orry — he was honest and above shoulder pad. You can do it with a of secrecy, particularly in relation board, and wasn’t sneaking beer belly. You can… something that to sexuality, that prevailed in the about — Scotty Bowers, author removes the actor from himself Hollywood of the so-called ‘Golden of Full Service: My Adventures Ann Roth, Midnight Cowboy, 1969, Klute, 1971 Era’? in Hollywood and the Secret Sex • What would have been some of Lives of the Stars. Why do you And to be able to bring out the good the difficulties and traumas that think Orry-Kelly was able to suc- things to somebody in front of a were caused by almost universally ceed in Hollywood when so many mirror is a really important part of negative attitudes to homosexual- other gay men were shunned by the process Colleen Atwood, Chicago, 2002 ity in any form during Orry-Kelly’s the studios? lifetime working in ‘the dream I think that the collaboration with factory’? B. UNDRESSING AND the knowledge that Orry-Kelly had • It was not until 1962 that Illinois DRESSING — BEING A about how to transform a body and becomes the first state in the COSTUME DESIGNER a character through their costumes United States to decriminalize ho- is probably one of the things that gelled his relationship with Bette mosexual acts between consent- • What would you consider to be the Davis ing adults in private. most important skills for a suc- Colleen Atwood Read more about the long- cessful costume designer? standing repressive attitudes and • How would this work be different I think the cut of them and the way laws at The American Gay Rights to being a fashion designer and they drape just looks so beautiful

that people would put them on today SCREEN EDUCATION © ATOM 2015 Movement: A Timeline http://www. dressing catwalk and photographic and be happy in them infoplease.com/ipa/A0761909. models? Colleen Atwood on the costumes in html#ixzz3SW999zDN • Read the comments in Table 2 Casablanca, 1942 from a number of successful cos- Homosexual acts are still illegal in 78 tume designers about what they He was a master of silhouette and countries throughout the world The believe are the most important as- of nuance Deborah Nadoolman Landis talking International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, pects of being a costume designer about Now, Voyager, 1942 Trans and Intersex Association, or in movies. 13 • Larry McQueen, a film costume historian, suggests that the job of a successful costume designer required the ability to simultaneously flatter the often ego-driven stars and make them look absolutely fabulous while ensuring that the costume was right for the role. Do you think expectations of costume designers have changed much since Orry-Kelly dressed the Hollywood stars in the 1930s, 40s, 50s and 60s? • How did he manage to flatter Bette Davis, Natalie Wood, Marilyn 2 Monroe and many of the other stars he dressed? 3 • How do you think the qualities of the clothes he designed — par- 1 ticularly the style, drape, fit and colour — ensured that the actors 1–3: Orry-Kelly design. and actresses he dressed really felt comfortably at ease in playing their self-deprecating, so we have tried to part? Give some examples shown capture that with a humorous, cheeky in the film where the character’s style to our story telling. important characteristics and sense of themself shines through He is our narrator and commentator; in the clothes they wear. his comments and humour take us on • Research the work of one of the the journey and exploration of his life, costume designers who ap- his talent and his secrets. pears in this film such as Ann Roth, Catherine Martin or Michael We use him to tie together a pastiche Wilkinson and using images and of stylised images and heightened words, outline the qualities of re-enactments, articles, letters to his their work that have made them mother, clips from the films, comments successful figures in the world of from actors and other outstanding theatre and film design. Academy Award winning costume • Why do you think, unlike Errol designers (many are Australian) design Flynn and Chips Rafferty, Orry- experts and Hollywood historians. Kelly has remained virtually un- We also found a number of newspaper known as an important Australian He also takes us on the ups and interviews (especially during his ‘Star’ artist for so long? How is a film downs of a career where a big return visits to Australia from the 30s such as Women He’s Undressed mouth and alcohol were not the till late 50s) and many pithy comments likely to engender interest in both best for a smooth ride personally or on everyday dress and style in his the man and the profession of professionally! syndicated columns. costume designer? FINDING ORRY: It was from these that we were able to Read through the following informa- get a sense of his voice, his character, tion from the film’s Press Kit where As there are very few still alive who opinions and his renowned humour as Director Gillian Armstrong talks about knew him well, we started with the we searched far and wide in the US the process of making this film before discovery of some letters to his close and Australia for his memoir. discussing the questions in Activity C friends Marion Davies and Hedda SCREEN EDUCATION © ATOM 2015 — Bringing Orry-Kelly to life. Hopper, including an unpublished THE BOY IN THE SAILOR SUIT: chapter from the rumoured ‘lost Director Gillian Armstrong writes- memoir’ that he sent to the very ill The Kiama and District Historical Marion so she could read what he said Society was wonderfully supportive THE FILM TONE: about her. This find confirmed that the and had some great stills of Orry and memoir existed. his father, a local hero. Orry was certainly out there, funny and 14 1: Angela Lansbury with director Gillian Armstrong on set (photo Anna Howard); 2: Former model/entrepreneur June Dally-Watkins (photo Anna Howard).

We have taken the key visual motif of the boy Orry George Kelly in a sailor suit, photographed by a small wooden boat in his local Kiama photography studio, as our central visual theme.

The rowing and the water become our theme of tenacity, doggedness and endeavour.

AN ARTIST’S JOURNEY:

Overall this is an exploration of a young Australian artist’s life:

York and his friendships and personal and work life.

1 The boy from the bush, as we discovered he called himself, had finally RESEARCH BREAKTHROUGHS: come alive! What made him, where did his talent come from, how did he make it so big After searching for over a year, and At the same time, thanks to the brilliant internationally and also his demons following a number of dead end leads, assistance of Jack and Ann Warner’s and the many ups and downs of try- we had virtually given up, when we daughter, Barbara Warner Howard, we ing to sustain such a long Hollywood had a random breakthrough. found an unmarked box of all Orry’s career? personal photos and drawings that his I was heard mentioning Orry on a best friend Ann, her mother, had saved What made him so special as a Newcastle radio station interview along with his Oscars, after his death. costume designer? What was his promoting a local film festival by a brilliance? What actually does a great friend of Orry’s grandniece who kindly It had ended up lost and unopened for costume designer contribute? contacted me wondering if I would be forty years in the Warner Archives and interested in meeting his grandniece, would probably still be there without What was he like to work with? who by the way had his memoir! this movie. It was also a treasure trove. It gave us a wonderful insight into him What were all these rumours of trouble This led to the document she had and his work and some unique visual and tantrums and drinking? been holding in her laundry cupboard images. in a pillowslip for her mother for over What was his relationship with Bette 30 years. Finally, we were fortunate to find his SCREEN EDUCATION © ATOM 2015 Davis and the studio boss Jack Warner friends, ninety year old, ex fixer to the like? This was absolutely thrilling. stars, Scotty Bowers who adored Orry, ninety year old June Dally-Watkins, And what was his personal life? Finally we had Orry’s real voice and who stayed with him in Los Angeles in opinions and so much richer, compli- the late 50s and 86 year old and still And his rumoured close friendship cated detail about him such as why he working, Costume Designer Ann Roth, with Cary Grant? really left Sydney and why he left New who was his assistant on Oklahoma! 15 and the youngsters Jane Fonda and this story? What information http://www.oscars.org/ Angela Lansbury. and images are online searches hollywoodcostume/ unable to unearth? How do the All knew him personally and gener- filmmakers fill in the gaps in The Celluloid Closet (1995, Epstein ously gave their time on camera to fill information and connections of and Friedman) in the last gaps in his story. Orry-Kelly to flesh him out as a living and breathing figure? This documentary film highlights the C. BRINGING ORRY-KELLY historical contexts that gays, lesbians, TO LIFE bisexuals and transgenders have oc- »»REFERENCES cupied in cinema history, and shows • Comment on the recurring use AND FURTHER the evolution of the entertainment of the ‘rowing my own boat’ industry’s role in shaping perceptions scenes or motifs as a central READING of LGBT figures. The issues addressed image in animating aspects and include secrecy -- which initially de- periods in Orry-Kelly’s life? Australian Dictionary of Biography fined homosexuality -- as well as the • How convincingly does the film entry for Orry-Kelly demonisation of the homosexual com- and the acting re-create the era, munity with the advent of AIDS, and the voice and attitudes of Orry- http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/ finally the shift toward greater accept- Kelly and his worlds from Kiama kelly-orry-george-10677 ance and positivity in the modern era. to Hollywood? • Construct a set of questions Orry-Kelly’s autobiography is to be An article from the New York Times to put to Orry-Kelly about his published in 2015. This is one of the about Scotty Bowers’ 2012 book experiences in the golden age key sources the makers of this docu- about ‘gay Hollywood’. (88 year of Hollywood cinema about mentary drew on to re-create Orry- old Bowers appears in Armstrong’s what it was like working with Kelly’s life. documentary) Jane Fonda, Marilyn Monroe, Bette Davis and Ingrid Bergman. Orry-Kelly, Women I’ve Undressed, http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/29/ Will your questions attempt to Penguin Random House, 2015 fashion/scotty-bowers-and-his- get gossipy anecdotes or focus sexual-tell-all-of-old-hollywood. on the professional aspects of An outline of Orry-Kelly’s life and work html?pagewanted=all&_r=0 dressing the stars? which includes a complete list of the • Develop a set of questions films on which he worked July, 2013 article from the Kiama for Director Gillian Armstrong Independent about the search for a and Writer Katherine Thomson http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orry-Kelly copy of Orry-Kelly’s long lost mem- about their approach to oir, sections of which helped the researching and creating the A selection of important costume filmmakers film. designers in Hollywood history • Write a review of this film that http://www.kiamaindepend- describes and comments http://www.tasteofcinema. ent.com.au/story/1639121/ on how the use of creative com/2014/20-great-hollywood- memoir-find-helps-kelly-film/ and original approaches to costume-designers-you-should- constructing a biography is know-about/ The rise and decline of the powerful able to utilise much more than Hollywood Studio System words. Comprehensive listing of award win- • What does the age of several ners in this category of Academy http://ils.unc.edu/dpr/path/ of the participants in this film Awards since its introduction in 1948 goldenhollywood/ who worked with Orry-Kelly suggest about the need to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ (Endnotes) record people’s stories about Academy_Award_for_Best_Costume_ 1 The Age newspaper, Saturday 21st figures from the past? Why are Design#1940s February, 2015, page 11 firsthand accounts often the most vivid and compelling ways Watch a preview of an exhibition cur-

of bringing a person to life? rently running in Los Angeles about SCREEN EDUCATION © ATOM 2015 • How do leads and information 100 years of costume design in the to be found through online movies. Orry-Kelly’s name features research contribute to the prominently on the exhibition poster complexity and vividness of

16 Photo Prudence Upton.

This study guide was produced by ATOM. (© ATOM 2015) ISBN: 978-1-74295-566-7 [email protected] For information on SCREEN EDUCATION magazine, or to download other study guides for assessment, visit . Join ATOM’s email broadcast list for invitations to free screenings, conferences, seminars, etc. Sign up now at . For hundreds of articles on Film as Text, Screen Literacy, Multiliteracy and Media Studies, SCREEN EDUCATION © ATOM 2015 visit .