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Susan Claassen to Star in A CONVERSATION WITH EDITH HEAD An Evening of Wit, Wisdom and a Whisper of Gossip!
The (Name of Organization) presents Susan Claassen in A CONVERSATION WITH EDITH HEAD by Paddy Calistro and Susan Claassen, based on the book Edith Head’s Hollywood (E.P. Dutton, Inc. 1983) by Edith Head and Paddy Calistro. A CONVERSATION WITH EDITH HEAD to be presented (dates), is a behind-the-scenes feast of great movie lore and delicious stories that provide insight into Hollywood’s legendary costume designer, Edith Head. In her six decades of costume design, she worked on 1,131 motion pictures, dressed the greatest stars of Hollywood, received thirty-five Academy Award® nominations and won an unprecedented eight Oscars.® Hear Miss Head tell her own story, which is as fascinating as the history of the film industry itself. It is a story filled with humor, frustration and above all glamour. This diva of design helped to define glamour in the most glamorous place in the world-- Hollywood!
Edith Head spent more than sixty years as a motion picture costume designer. Of those, forty-four years were spent at Paramount Studios. There she worked with the most famous actors of the time, from Mae West and Clara Bow to Grace Kelly, Audrey Hepburn and Bette Davis. When Paramount failed to renew her contract in 1967, Alfred Hitchcock stepped in and Ms. Head was invited to join Universal Studios. At Universal she costumed Robert Redford and Paul Newman in The Sting and won the first-ever Oscar® for a film without a female lead. Her eight Academy Awards® celebrated her artistry in The Heiress (her first Oscar®), Samson & Delilah, All About Eve, A Place in the Sun, Roman Holiday, Sabrina, The Facts of Life and The Sting. Edith Head died in October 1981, still under contract to Universal Studios, having just completed working on the Steve Martin film, Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid.
Susan Claassen was inspired to write and star in the show while watching a television biography of Ms. Head. The petite, dark-haired actress immediately imagined herself playing Edith Head, “…a perfect fit,” as Claassen describes it. “I discovered that not only do I bear a striking resemblance to Edith Head, but we share the same love for clothes and fashion,” Claassen notes. Much of the dialogue in A CONVERSATION WITH EDITH HEAD comes directly from the famed designer. When she was asked to write the authorized posthumous autobiography, Edith Head’s Hollywood, Ms. Calistro acquired more than thirteen hours of recollections recorded by Edith Head, which she and Ms. Claassen painstakingly reviewed to gather the remarkable “Edithisms”-- as Ms. Head referred to her own sayings--that abound in the show. In addition, Claassen and Calistro collected insights from Hollywood insiders who knew Ms. Head best: costume designer Bob Mackie, who once worked Ms. Head's sketch artist; her dear friend Edie Wasserman, wife of the late Universal Studio head Lew Wasserman; and Art Linkletter, award-winning host of House Party, the daytime television show of the 1950s that brought Edith Head into the homes of America.
A CONVERSATION WITH EDITH HEAD based on the play SKETCHES–EDITH HEAD'S HOLLYWOOD, is produced through special arrangement with the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences and the Motion Picture and Television Fund. The original play, SKETCHES–EDITH HEAD'S HOLLYWOOD, premiered to critical acclaim and a sold-out extended run at the Invisible Theatre (IT) in Tucson, Arizona, in January 2002. It went on to play to SRO audiences in Key West, Florida. A CONVERSATION WITH EDITH HEAD has been performed at benefits for the Chicago Historical Society, the Invisible Theatre and also at the Wadsworth Atheneum in Hartford, Connecticut, the American Film Institute (AFI) Silver Theatre and Cultural Center in Silver Spring, Maryland, and the Arizona Women’s Theatre in Scottsdale, Arizona. 2006 dates include North Coast Repertory Theatre in San Diego, FASHION INSTITUTE OF DESIGN AND MERCHANDISING in Los Angeles, The Hollywood Heritage Foundation, NYC and The GIFT Festival - an international theatre festival in the Republic of Georgia.
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ABOUT THE PEOPLE
SUSAN CLAASSEN is celebrating her thirty-first anniversary with the Invisible Theatre (IT) and has been a resident of Tucson since 1972. As Managing Artistic Director, she has produced more than 335 productions and directed more than fifty. Susan has been a member of Actors Equity Association (the professional actors’ union) since 1969. Some of her most memorable roles have been Bella in LOST IN YONKERS, Alice B. Toklas in GERTRUDE STEIN AND A COMPANION, Hannah in CROSSING DELANCEY, Shirley in SHIRLEY VALENTINE and Trudy in THE SEARCH FOR SIGNS OF INTELLIGENT LIFE IN THE UNIVERSE. In addition to her work with the Invisible Theatre she has been a consultant and director for the Waterfront Playhouse and The Red Barn Theatre in Key West, Florida, and directed IWON’T DANCE at New York’s famed Rainbow and Stars Cabaret and St. Paul's prestigious Ordway Theatre. Susan is a national board member of PEOPLE FOR THE AMERICAN WAY–A Constitutional Liberties Organization. She is the recipient of the 1985 Governor’s Award for Women Who Create, the 1993 Humanitarian Torch Award for her efforts on behalf of people living with AIDS and a 1996 Distinguished Service Award from the State Federation for Exceptional Children for her commitment to arts education for special populations. Susan was the 1999 City of Hope “Spirit of Life” recipient, and performs as a clown in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. She was recently selected as one of Tucson Lifestyle’s 10 Most Admired Women.
PADDY CALISTRO is considered one of the leading authorities on Edith Head and is the co-author of Edith Head's posthumous autobiography Edith Head’s Hollywood. The only authorized biography of the world’s most famous costume designer, the book was the first of several books written by Paddy Calistro. She was selected as Ms. Head’s official biographer based on her experience as a fashion journalist. A former staff writer for the Los Angeles Times in the fashion and beauty department, Paddy wrote the weekly “Looks” column featured in the Los Angeles Times Magazine for four years as well as contributing several feature articles to the daily Times and its weekly magazine. She also was the West Coast reporter for Allure from its inception. Additionally, she contributed to Glamour, Mademoiselle, House Beautiful, Elle, Four Seasons Magazine and frequently to Fitness and Los Angeles. For more than a decade Paddy was the lead interior design writer for Los Angeles magazine, coordinating and writing sections on trends in home design. She was the editor of American Style, a bilingual fashion magazine sold in Mexico and South America. The co- founder of Angel City Press, an independent book publishing company based in Santa Monica, she currently serves as its publisher and editor-in-chief. Critics across the country rave about Susan Claassen’s Edith Head - The Diva of Hollywood Costume Design!!
“Edith Head comes to life in a way that’s so perfectly accurate...” - New York Times
“Head and shoulders above the rest! Hollywood costume designer Edith Head lives - that is, through the petite body of actor Susan Claassen!” - The Chicago Sun Times
“Susan Claassen successfully creates a complicated, balance living character ... in this smartly dressed play.” - Tucson Weekly
“ A compelling glimpse of a Hollywood that no longer exists. It’s a winning production! Susan Claassen’s portrayal of Edith Head is a tour de force ... Ms. Claassen masterfully inhabits Edith Head’s persona. “ - Celebrate-Key West, Florida
“ Viewers were rapt throughout the performance ... ” - L’attitudes - Key West
“Susan Claassen’s Edith Head play shines ... captures designer’s magic touch!” - The Tucson Citizen
“‘ You can have anything you want in life if you dress for it.’ Edith Head said it, Susan Claassen shows how it is done...” - Green Valley News and Sun
“A perfect fit!” - Preview Connecticut Press photos may be downloaded from the web site (http://edithhead.biz/html/press_kit.html). Photo credit must be given to Tim Fuller Edith Head was undoubtedly Hollywood s most famous costume designer, or magician, as she liked to call herself. Her career spanned fifty-eight years of movie making. In those years she dressed almost every major star who shone in the industry and, with her straight-cut bangs, dark glasses and tailored suits as her trademark, became more famous than most of them. Just a few weeks before she died, she was still waving at fans as the Universal City Studio Tour stopped at her bungalow.
She was born Edith Claire Posener on October 28, 1897 in San Bernardino, California. Her parents soon divorced, her mother remarried, and the young child was given her stepfather s surname, Spare. She graduated from the University of California at Berkeley and received a Masters Degree in Romance Languages from Stanford University in 1920. Edith Spare taught French and, despite her lack of experience in the subject, art at the Hollywood School for Girls. She enrolled in night classes at Otis Art Institute and Chouinard, where she met and married Charles Head, and became forever Edith Head.
When a 1923 classified ad announced a job opening for a sketch artist at Paramount Studios, the resourceful young woman, in need of a summer income, used a borrowed portfolio to win the position that would change the course of her life. She made the transition from sketcher to full-fledged designer in 1933 and set about learning everything she could from her boss, Travis Banton. In 1938, as her first marriage was ending, Edith Head replaced Travis Banton and was suddenly the top designer at one of Hollywood s biggest studios. She kept the post until 1967 when Paramount was sold and she moved to Universal Studios. In 1940 Edith Head married one of her best friends, Wiard Boppo (Bill) Ihnen, a Paramount set designer. They remained together until his death in 1979, enjoying a very private life in their Hollywood hacienda, Casa Ladera.
Hollywood recognized the petite designer in 1974 with her own star on Hollywood Boulevard, an honor she had indeed earned. In her six decades of costume design, she worked on 1,131 motion pictures, received 35 Academy Award®® nominations and won an unprecedented eight Oscars®®. In addition to her film work, she designed Vogue sewing patterns; toured the country staging Hollywood fashion shows; wrote magazine and newspaper columns; was America s favorite fashion maven on Art Linkletter s House Party; wrote two books, including The Dress Doctor (with Joan Kesner Ardmore; Little, Brown and Co., 1959) and How to Dress for Success (with Joe Hyams; Random House, 1967); and audiotaped hours of interviews in preparation for her autobiography, Edith Head s Hollywood (E.P. Dutton Inc.), co- authored by Paddy Calistro and published posthumously in 1983.
Edith Head died in 1981 of a progressive and rare blood disease, myeloid metaplasia, two weeks after completing work on her last film, Dead Men Don t Wear Plaid. She left her estate to the Motion Picture and Television Fund and to other charitable organizations aiding Native American children and her beloved animals. Her funeral was attended by hundreds, including not only Hollywood s stars but also the backlot people. A Paramount security guard dressed in a uniform designed by Edith Head mused, I remember her real well. At Christmas she took care of everyone on the lot. She was the greatest designer in the world. Edith Head was quite a girl. And that she was. Susan Claassen is celebrating her 29th anniversary with the Invisible Theatre (IT) and has been a resident of Tucson since 1972. As Managing Artistic Director, she has produced over 335 productions and directed over 50, including such favorites as WHEN PIGS FLY, SYLVIA and KINDERTRANSPORT. Susan has been a member of Actors Equity Association (the professional actors union) since 1969. Some of her most memorable roles have been Bella in LOST IN YONKERS, Alice B. Toklas in GERTRUDE STEIN AND A COMPANION, Hannah in CROSSING DELANCEY, Shirley in SHIRLEY VALENTINE and Trudy in THE SEARCH FOR SIGNS OF INTELLIGENT LIFE IN THE UNIVERSE. In addition to her work with the Invisible Theatre she has been a consultant and director for the Waterfront Playhouse and The Red Barn Theatre in Key West, Florida and directed I WON T DANCE at New York s famed Rainbow and Stars Cabaret and St. Paul's prestigious Ordway Theatre. Susan is a national board member of PEOPLE FOR THE AMERICAN WAY A Constitutional Liberties Organization and the short half of the comedy team of MOLS AND SUZ. As a video writer and producer, she has written and produced two award winning projects: CHILDREN AREN T WATERPROOF for the Tucson Drowning Prevention Committee and READY, SET, READ for the Tucson Public Library. She was the recipient of the 1982 Woman on the Move Award in the Arts, the 1985 Governor s Award for Women Who Create, the 1993 Humanitarian Torch Award for her efforts on behalf of people living with AIDS, the 1994 and 1998 Tucson Unified School District Superintendent s Honor Roll Award for her exceptional work with Special Education Arts Programming, and a 1996 Distinguished Service Award from the State Federation for Exceptional Children for her commitment to arts education for special populations. Susan was the 1999 City of Hope Spirit of Life recipient, she was honored with the 2001 Volunteer of the Year Award, performed as a clown in the 2001 and 2002 Macy s Thanksgiving Day Parades (and will also be in 2003) and was recently selected as one of Tucson Lifestyle s 10 Most Admired Women. She dedicates her work to the living memory of her beloved mother, Goldie.
Paddy Calistro is considered one of the leading authorities on Edith Head and is the co-author of Edith Head's posthumous autobiography Edith Head s Hollywood. The only authorized biography of the world s most famous costume designer, the book was the first of five written by Paddy Calistro. She was selected as Ms. Head s official biographer based on her experience as a fashion journalist. A former staff writer for the Los Angeles Times in the fashion and beauty department, Paddy wrote the weekly Looks column featured in the Los Angeles Times Magazine for four years as well as contributing several feature articles to the daily Times and the weekly Magazine. She also was the West Coast reporter for Allure magazine from its inception. Additionally, she contributed to Glamour, Mademoiselle, House Beautiful, Elle, Four Seasons Magazine and frequently to Fitness and Los Angeles. For more than a decade Paddy was the lead interior design writer for Los Angeles Magazine, coordinating and writing sections on trends in home design. She was the editor of American Style, a bilingual fashion magazine sold in Mexico and South America. The co- founder of Angel City Press, an independent book publishing company based in Santa Monica, she currently serves as publisher and editor-in-chief. She dedicates her work on this play to her brother, Ron Haver, whose loving spirit continues to inspire!