UNDERCOVER DESIGNS below DRAWINGS MADE BY COSTUME DESIGNER KRISTIAN FREDRIKSON FOR Jim McFarlane (b. 1955) Portrait of Kristian Fredrikson HIS FIRST FILM COMMISSION PROVIDE AN INTIMATE GLIMPSE INTO HIS with a Mouse, during the Making of Film Sequences for Graeme PROCESS AND PRACTICE, AS MICHELLE POTTER REVEALS Murphy’s Nutcracker at the National Theatre, St Kilda 1992 b&w photograph; 40.2 x 27.5 cm ristian Fredrikson (1940–2005) is Sir , John Butler, Russell Pictures Collection nla.gov.au/nla.pic-vn3098377 perhaps best known for his Kerr, Gray Veredon and Stanton Welch; and Kgroundbreaking collaborations in the conductors Richard Bonynge, Richard Divall opposite page from left theatre, notably with choreographer and and Patrick Thomas. He also worked with Pages 10–11 in The Berlei Review, October–November director Graeme Murphy. For Murphy, world-renowned performers, dressing Cate 1929 Fredrikson designed costumes for a series Blanchett, Sir , Deborah Australian Collection of productions by major dance and opera Kerr, Nicole Kidman, Leo McKern, Keith nla.gov.au/nla.cat-vn1428827 companies in and New Zealand. Michell, Dame , Anthony Kristian Fredrikson (1940–2005) His input often extended beyond the realm Warlow, and many others. Costume Designs for the Production Undercover of design to include the co-creation of The work he did in film and television is in Papers of Kristian Fredrikson, new narratives for old texts. New texts for a lesser known aspect of Fredrikson’s career, c. 1960–c. 2005 Australian Ballet productions of but it is one that sheds light on the diversity Manuscripts Collection nla.gov.au/nla.cat-vn3969578 and The Nutcracker led the way in terms of of his practice. Fredrikson designed costumes reimagined narratives from the Murphy– for film and television productions that took Fredrikson stable. in a wide range of settings, from Redfern During a career that (with Short Changed, a film based on a father’s spanned just over 40 attempt to gain custody of his child) to the years, Fredrikson also outback (with The Shiralee, a television series worked alongside based on the novel by D’Arcy Niland). The many other theatrical productions on which he worked spanned luminaries in Australia, an array of subjects and historical eras: from New Zealand (where nineteenth-century Australia in Dirtwater he was born) and Dynasty, which depicted one man’s efforts Houston, Texas. Over to establish a cattle ranch and an empire, to the years Fredrikson’s Australia and the jungles of Asia in collaborative Vietnam, another miniseries for television. In colleagues included other work for film and television he ventured directors John into the realms of science fiction and puppetry. Bell, Wal Cherry, Fredrikson received a number of design Judy Davis, Sir commissions for television early in his career, , largely for ballets for ABC TV, including, in Robyn Nevin, 1965, The Lovers of Verona and The Awakening. George Ogilvie His first film commission, however, came in and John Sumner; 1982 with the movie Undercover. Directed choreographers by David Stevens and produced by David

20:: UNDERCOVER DESIGNS Elfick for Palm Beach Pictures, Undercover His promotional activities included was released in 1983. While its title suggests taking Berlei goods around regional a spy movie, it was, in fact, the story behind Australia on a train known as the Great the growth of the Berlei undergarment White Train. The Berlei company also business. Set in the 1920s, the movie was produced a journal, The Berlei Review, filmed, in part, in ’s Queen first published in 1922 and then (at Building before its restoration, and in the least initially) monthly, until the 1950s. Regent Theatre, a heritage-listed building in It contained news and photographs George Street, Sydney, which was eventually of the many promotional activities demolished. The film follows the story of Fred undertaken by the company, Burley and his brother Arthur, founders of the which, in the 1920s, included Berlei enterprise. It highlights their ongoing elaborate shop-window displays, efforts to improve their undergarments, competitions, fashion parades, especially corsets, by making them lighter and musical shows and, eventually, less constraining, using new fabrics and ideas ‘talkies’ featuring and promoting to create a product that would appeal to the the Berlei product. The musical ‘modern woman’. shows, which attracted large Undercover also focuses on the relentless and enthusiastic audiences around efforts of Fred Burley to promote the Berlei Australia, included Youth Triumphant in brand. Burley was at the forefront of the 1924, So This Is Elegance in 1925, Radiant concept of ‘Australian made’ and was the Woman—At Beauty’s Shrine in 1926 and founding president of the organisation known Lady Be Beautiful in 1929. as the Australian-Made Preference League. Fredrikson’s input into Undercover included the design of a number of 1920s-style outfits for the characters in the story, especially for the leading lady, Libby (played by Geneviève Picot), who comes from out of town to Sydney to seek a better life for herself and ends up with the Berlei organisation, and Nina (played by Sandy Gore) the imposing head designer for Berlei. The National Library’s collection of Fredrikson designs for Undercover includes sketches for every imaginable accessory,

THE NATIONAL LIBRARY OF AUSTRALIA MAGAZINE :: MARCH 2015 :: 21 satin ribbon trim’. He even gave instructions to the production team on occasions: ‘Note: above Chorines’ (that is, ladies of the chorus) ‘must Copies of pages from Pictorial Review and Foy & Gibson be bound to minimise bust’. catalogues including millinery and shawls, in addition Fredrikson looked at 1920s fashion in Papers of Kristian Fredrikson, c. 1960–c. 2005 to day and evening wear for men and women. catalogues for inspiration when creating Manuscripts Collection Fredrikson rendered his designs carefully on his Undercover designs. His personal papers nla.gov.au/nla.cat-vn3969578 heavy black paper with detailed instructions include pages from the catalogues of Foy illustrations regarding the making of the costumes: ‘make & Gibson—one of Australia’s earliest Kristian Fredrikson dress in two parts’, ‘split is diagonally cut department stores, reputedly modelled on Le (1940–2005) front’. He also stipulated the kinds of material Bon Marché in Paris—and from American Costume Designs for the Production Undercover and trim from which he wanted the items fashion magazines popular in the 1920s, in Papers of Kristian Fredrikson, made: ‘ombré chiffon, sequined’, ‘organza with such as Pictorial Review. Like his designs for c. 1960–c. 2005 theatre, Fredrikson’s drawings for Undercover Manuscripts Collection nla.gov.au/nla.cat-vn3969578 demonstrate his insistence on historical accuracy. Fredrikson also had access, as did the entire production team for Undercover, to archival material held by the Berlei organisation, including copies of The Berlei Review, and film and photographic material. Of particular interest are Fredrikson’s designs for the theatrical extravaganza with which Undercover concludes. It is partly modelled on the 1926 Radiant Woman production, which was reported in The Berlei Review in September 1926. Radiant Woman included the Berlei Beauty Ballet in several items, including Dance of the Sprites, Fan Dance and Jewel Ballet. It also featured an ‘Enchantress’ into whose cauldron is placed all that is necessary to produce the radiant woman (including a Berlei Corselette). Undercover‘s concluding sequences feature similar items and characters, including the Enchantress, played by Isabelle Anderson. The photographs and drawings featured in IN A PREVIOUS ISSUE Australians Abroad: Ballet Designs The Berlei Review were clearly a visual starting by and point for Fredrikson’s own designs for the Michelle Potter looks at the work closing moments of Undercover. His design of two Australian painters working overseas in the world of theatre for Undercover’s Enchantress, for example, and dance follows, almost exactly, a line drawing for the * December 2011 same character reproduced in the Review. The nla.gov.au/pub/nlanews/2011/ dec11/Australians-Abroad.pdf Review also contains a photograph of a line of women performing Dance of the Sprites in the

22:: first act of Radiant Woman. They are dressed and fashion history with a touch of glamour in flowing tunics of the kind frequently worn and extravagance—and a splash of introduced by dancers of the 1920s engaged in the kind romance. Yet it is when the National Library’s of dancing familiarly known as ‘Grecian’ extensive Fredrikson collection is brought into or ‘free’ dancing. The women hold balls in play that a picture emerges of his meticulous the air and their tunics are draped with and hands-on approach to design and his garlands of flowers. Fredrikson’s design for constant striving for historical accuracy. The Undercover’s version of Dance of the Sprites extent of the Library’s collection also enables shows a more sophisticated design, but one Fredrikson’s work on Undercover to be seen in that certainly owes its origins to the Berlei the wider context of his ongoing commissions, Review photograph. and to be examined for the influence it had on Fredrikson seems to have loved what he his later designs. uncovered while working on Undercover; he used the 1920s-inspired designs elsewhere over the following years. A drawing of the jewelled DR MICHELLE POTTER is an headdress for one of the Berlei Beauty Ballet independent arts writer, dancers was a starting point for Fredrikson’s curator and historian. designs for the Berlei Dolls in Undercover, Her research into the who enter tap dancing and singing in the final film and television moments of the show. Fredrikson recycled commissions of this design idea, albeit in a more glitzy Kristian Fredrikson manner, for showgirls in Tivoli, a collaboration was facilitated by a 2012 between Fredrikson and Murphy that first Scholars and Artists in took the stage as a joint Australian Ballet Residence Fellowship and Sydney Dance Company production in at the National Film and 2001. Fredrikson also created a variation on Sound Archive the Berlei Dolls costume for characters in his ballet Peter Pan, made for the Royal New Zealand Ballet in 1999. Undercover presents what is, perhaps, a little known aspect of Australian business

THE NATIONAL LIBRARY OF AUSTRALIA MAGAZINE :: MARCH 2015 :: 23