I could certainly write a book about the dress designer known as "The Dress Doctor," who like a Fairy Godmother, not only transformed Barbara's screen image, turning her into a glamorous "clothes horse," but who also ended up designing her personal wardrobe as well.

Until she starred in The Lady Eve, Barbara had never shown the slightest interest in clothes or fashion. Although she was never scruffy or untidy like some of todays so called "stars," she was certainly no fashion plate. In fact at the premiere of her film Stella Dallas she was dressed so plainly that she was roughed up by a couple of cops who thought she was a fan trying to gate crash the event. On screen she looked glamorous when the role called for it, but she was usually dressed by Orry-Kelly, Travis Banton, or Travilla, who were used to dressing glamour girls like Dietrich who took a great personal interest in all of her film costumes.

What happened to change everything is described by Edith Head in her excellent book, "The Dress Doctor."

"I had first designed for Barbara in 1940 on Paramount's romantic comedy, Remember the Night - a picture in which Stanwyck had floored people by donning hats without even looking in a mirror, and with no concern for how they looked on her. She explained her behaviour by saying, 'It's my performance that I'm concerned with, not how I look.' But on the set of The Lady Eve, things went a little differently.

Some actresses fit in three minutes, some take three days. There are those who stand before the mirror absorbing each minute adjustment. Barbara is the one who stood with her back to the mirror! As for fashion, she couldn't have cared less.

The Lady Eve was strictly a dress picture, and I was about to inoculate her with flattering furs, shimmering evening sheaths, and diamonds.

Barbara walked about while director Preston Sturges explained her dual role as two sophisticated ladies; a titled Englishwoman, and a lady gambler. Any expert eye could tell there'd be no difficulty in Stanwyck carrying high fashion. She's small, but she has excellent carriage, a good figure an innate poise. She listened to our diagnosis and said nothing. Barbara would make a first rate hand at poker.

Her first fitting involved an evening gown for the love scene with Henry Fonda. It was of clinging black crepe, a sheath with the slimmest of slim looks (she hated tight skirts), the lowest of necklines, a very high, very tight cummerbund (she hates anything tight around her midriff), and a short jacket covered with black glitter.

When she finally turned around and saw herself in the mirror she was stunned, and she fell in love with high fashion. I worked on all of her pictures for years, and it was the beginning of a long and happy relationship. I enjoyed it because Barbara, with her clean cut, arresting beauty, wears clothes well; but she has a sense of humour that keeps her from ever taking fashion too seriously. She's extraordinarily honest: 'This looks pretty repulsive on me, don't you agree?' Brutally frank: 'It maybe winter white jersey Edith, it looks like long underwear to me!'

The only argument we ever had concerned wardrobe tests. The average female showing clothes just automatically models, put one hand on her hip and walks thus. She'll turn her best angle to the director and cameraman. Barbara puts on a beguiling costume and just stand before the camera, turns around, walks, I'd gesture wildly from behind the camera. 'Hands on the hip, Barbara, come on girl!'

Barbara would have none of it. 'I'm not a model, why should I act like one?' she'd say. Once a costume was in action, an actual scene being shot, the clothes became part of her characterization.'

When the film was released both Barbara's performance, and her glamorous new look received raves, and the costumes started the trend for the Latin American look.

From then on Edith, who usually only designed for Paramount films went with Barbara to Warner's, United Artists, Goldwyn, and Columbia. The only studio that she didn't go to was MGM, where Barbara had the services of the expert designers, Irene, and Helen Rose.

These are the films that Edith designed Barbara's costumes after The Lady Eve:

You Belong To Me - Ball of Fire - The Great Man's Lady - The Gay Sisters - Lady of Burlesque - Flesh and Fantasy - Double Indemnity - Hollywood Canteen - Christmas in Connecticut - My Reputation - The Bride Wore Boots - The Strange Love of Martha Ivers - California - The Two Mrs Carrolls - The Other Love - Cry Wolf - Variety Girl - Sorry, Wrong Number - The File on Thelma Jordon - No Man of Her Own - The Furies - Roustabout.

It was rumoured that this was scrawled on the walls of the men's toilets at Paramount Studios -

"Edith Head gives good wardrobe!"

When Barbara came to London in 1947 for the World premiere of her film The Other Love, she brought her wardrobe from the film with her, and modelled it for the Press at the Savoy Hotel. They were probably the most beautiful costumes that she ever wore in any film, and she kept several of them for her own personal wardrobe.

You can see photo albums for the costumes of both films in our group.

When Barbara moved to Television in 1960 she found another great designer by the name of Werle. He was responsible for her first TV series, "The Barbara Stanwyck Show," and that won her the first of her three Emmy's.

Her last designer was Nolan Miller, he is probably best remembered for the costumes for Joan Collins and Linda Evans in Dynasty. He designed her personal wardrobe, including the bugle bead gown that she wore when I met her at the Lincoln Centre in 1981. The most beautiful gown that he ever designed for her was for the 1978 Acadamy Awards when she presented the Star Wars Oscar with her friend William Holden. He broke away from the script to pay a personal tribute to Barbara, saying that the only reason that he was there that evening was because of her kindness to him in his first film, and you can see that on You Tube.

Jean Louis was the main designer at Columbia, and Adrian at MGM was responsible for Joan Crawford's shoulder pads. When he saw her massive shoulders, instead of disguising them he exaggerated them, and started a trend in the 1930's that was revived again by Nolan Miller for Dynasty in the 1980's. Joan was also famous for her ankle strap shoes, which were known as "Joan Crawford Fu## Me Shoes."

http://m.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-31036362

Another link to Barbara -Walter author of The Thornbirds on which one of Barbaras most succesful tv outings was based.Not sure if they met though?

I will reply later to your other post when Im in a position to give such a thoughtful post the proper response it deserves.

Not much I can say about her, she hated the TV series, and everyone in it apart from Jean Simmons. She was particularly vile about Barbara and her performance, but as Richard Chamberlain said, she should have been thankful that it was such a success and made her a fortune.

Sorry for the delayed reply.

Edith Head sounds like an absolute god send to Barbara and it sounds like Barbara really appreciated that fact too.
How very different our experience and memories of the golden era would be without their valuable contribution.

Would you say amongst big actresses of this era that there was petty jealousies and rivalries over exclusivity and/or access to these talents and their services.
And can you think of any instance were a poor costume designer or a costume designer who made a poir choice really badly served one of the big stars and may even had contributed towards an able and capable performance in a film being ruined by such ineptitude?

I guess Im thinking about some of the pettiness there was between stars over who had the best dressing room etc and assuming the rivalries werent confined to just that.

Nolan Miller did a fantastic job with Joan Cillins on Dynasty and those gloriously camp big gowns and shoulderpads!

Back to Barbara but when I think about it I cant imagine All About Eve being as good and effective an exercise in storytelling without those particular outfits.
Designers really do add something vital to a films ability to impact and have "zest".

I have never heard of any jealousy between actresses about costumes. Every studio had their own expert designers. MGM had Adrian in the 1930's and he created, and re invented Joan Crawford through all her transformations. Joan later used a freelancer, Sheila O'Brien, and insisted on using her when she was signed for From Here to Eternity. When Harry Cohn refused to bow to her demands she foolishly gave up the role, and Deborah Kerr took over.

Later MGM had the equally gifted and inventive Helen Rose and Irene. Paramount had Travis Banton in the 1930's, and he created all the fabulous gowns that contributed a big part in turning Marlene Dietrich into the legendary star that she became. In the 1940's Edith Head became Paramount's number one designer, and she went on through the 1950's, 60's and 70's, when she created the stunning outfits that Paul Newman and Robert Redford wore in The Sting. Columbia had Jean Louis, and Paramount had Orry Kelly. RKO had Walter Plunket, he later freelanced and designed the costumes for Gone With the Wind. 20th Century Fox had Charles LaMaire and Dorothy Jeakins. The exotically named Omar Kiam worked for David O'Selznick. So you see, there were plenty of designers to go around, and they seemed to keep even the most demanding ladies happy. When Audrey Hepburn was a Paramount she used the services of Edith Head, but later her costumes were designed exclusively by Givenchy.

I can't say that I have heard of any designer that ever let one of their stars down, they all seemed to be incredibly inventive and original.

When you mentioned Barbara and All About Eve I guess that you meant The Lady Eve, although coincidentally, Bette did use Edith Head for her role as Margo Channing, and Edith crested that fabulous sweeping gown which Bette wore at the infamous party where she upsets everyone, and then speaks that famous line which every film buff knows so well, "Fasten Your Seat Belts, It's Going to Be a Bumpy Night!"

incidentally, I went running with a very sweet girl this morning. She mentioned that she loved old movies, and before long I was telling her the plots of all my favourite films. She was enthralled, and kept asking for more, and it certainly made the eleven miles that we ran relatively painless. After we finished our run she came back for a cup of tea and I showed her some clips of the films I had been telling her about. Needless to say, they were all Barbara's film's, and I loaned her six of the best. She emailed me this evening to say how much she had loved The Lady Eve. So Barbara could well have a new young fan who had never heard of her 12 hours ago.

I dont suppose theres much possibility Walter that any of the costume designers from this era are still with us?Did many of them write books about their experience?I think their perspective from their vantage point in detail would make a very interesting read on a number of levels including understanding the era in richer emotional detail.

Yes I did indeed mean The Lady Eve but Im intrigued that the same designer also worked on All About Eve.

Im delighted that youve managed to recruit and help cultivate a new fan for Barbara Stanwyck and movies from this era.I hope all your marathon training is paying off,your certainly dedicated and put me to shame fitness wise!

Oh BTW to other people reading this thread,fans of Hollywoods golden era please be brave and feel free to post!

I don't think that there are any of the great dress designers still alive, lets face it, many of them were working back in the 1930's.

Edith Head seems to be the only one who wrote books on her life as one of Hollywood's greatest designers. There are also several books written about her, including "Edith Head's Hollywood" which I have just seen on Amazon, going for £60.

This is what Barbara said after being turned into a fashion plate by Edith in The Lady Eve.

"Once you've felt the pleasure of introducing clothes which set a new fashion trend, you become much more conscious of fashion."

For £60 one can only suspect that theres lots of intriguing and colourful gossip and stories!

Or rather its a book targetted at a highly specific niche market and that its very high quality particularly to somebody in the profession today of film or costume design.

I recall reading that there was a collection of about 25 Hollywood films most from the golden era that have copies of them stored in a safeplace or "vault" for posterity and for future generations of americans to enjoy not just as films but as films that are seen as having an important historical cultural significance as well as a social impact in their era.

A kind of signifier of whats thought of as the cream of films but also something to survive into the future safely come what may nuclear war,earthquakes etc.

Do you know if any of Barbara Stanwycks films are in this collection?

The AFI have all of the great Classic's stored in a vault, and I know that they have The Lady Eve because Marsha Mason actually mentioned it when they showed a clip of it at Henry Fonda's AFI Tribute.

There are also collectors like myself that have Special Editions of their favourite films on DVD. Fortunately many of the 1930's and 40's Classics have been digitally re mastered, so I think they will be safely preserved for the next few generations.

You may be referring to the National Film Registry held by the Library of Congress which picks 25 films to preserve every year.

Thanks for that, now that is something that I didn't know about.

I just had a quick check, and see that they have my two all time favourite films, The Lady Eve and All About Eve.

http://www.theguardian.com/film/2015...lizabeth-scott

Yet another one Walter,fellow golden era fans

I think she was on your initial list?

Thank You yes I think were talking about the same thing!

Do you happen to know please which of Bette Davis,Joan Crawford,Lauren Bacall and Barbara Stanwycks films are on these lists please?

Yes, and a great favourite of mine, she talks about working with Barbara in The Strange Love of Martha Ivers in a marvellous interview on YouTube.

Ive just been looking through her filmography,Very impressive indeed and I think I may delve furthur and try and watch some of them as some sound right up my street especially the darker films.Im surprised her passing hasnt been more widely reported.
Are her films shown on tv much?

PS Im assuming she was very complimentary and positive about Barbara?

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/new...-singer-770508

Mary did more work in tv but did star in some films including with the legendary Orson Welles.Cant recall if she was on your list?

Her films are never on TV, but there is a great selection of Amazon, and they are not that expensive. You can also see many of them on YouTube, including a terrific thriller Stolen Face, which she filmed in the UK in 1952, in which she plays a dual role, and with a cockney accent.

She was quite complimentary about Barbara, although I think that she was quite in awe of her, and she was only 24 when they worked together.

I had vaguely heard of her and her husband as a double act, but I must confess I didn't know that she had ever appeared in a film.

Complete list here.

http://www.loc.gov/programs/national...istry-listing/

Thank you very much,I will check the link out in full later


I wonder precisely how many of Barbaras film costars are still with us no matter how large or small a player they were?

Barbara was hollywood royalty I imagine any younger actress who got to work with her and took their craft seriously would have felt it was a dream come true to work with Barbara who was definitely an actors actor.

So in your view was "Stolen Face" Lizabeth Scotts best film?

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/new...stewart-770928

Screenwriter of legendary cult classic "Rebel without a cause" dies aged 92

It is certainly one of my favourites, along with The Strange Love of Martha Ivers which you really should see. The one scene that they have together is really something.

Many of the younger actors who worked with Barbara are still with us, including Robert Wagner and Audrey Dalton, who both appeared with her in Titanic (1953). They both speak very fondly about working with her on the Special Edition DVD of the film.

Leslie Caron - She made her American film debut with Barbara in The Man With a Cloak (1951), although the more famous An American in Paris was released first. She turned up at Barbara's last public appearance when she was presented with her AFI Life Achievement Award.

Lori Nelson and Billy Gray - All I Desire (1953)

Lee Aaker - now 71, he played her nine year old son in Jeopardy - 1953

Diane Foster - She played her daughter in The Violent Men (1955)

Patricia Crowley - There's Always Tomorrow - (1955) she speaks very affectionately about her in a YouTube Interview.

John Ericson - Forty Guns (1957)

Earl Holliman - Trooper Hook (1957)

Jane Fonda - She made one of her very first appearances in Walk on the Wild Side. (1962) She also hosted Barbara's AFI Tribute and spoke about the way her father referred to Barbara as the friend who he fell in love with when they were filming The Lady Eve, and that she used to sit on her knee on the set as a 4 year old.

Lee Majors and Linda Evans - The Big Valley - 4 Star TV - 1965 - 1969 - Linda has spoken many times about how Barbara took her under her wing and became her second mother after her own mother died, She said that she taught her everything she now knows about professionalism, being on time, and treating co workers with respect and courtesy.

Richard Chamberlain - The Thorn Birds (1983) He tells the story of the only time that Barbara ever fluffed her lines was when she attempted to seduce his character. She was very apologetic, explaining "It has been so long since I held a naked man in my arms!"

Again Walter the level of detail you poesse of this era is hugely impressive and your sharing of it gratefully received.

I think Leslie Caron released her autobiography within very recent years-Are you aware if she mentioned Barbara at all?

Love Barbaras humour in regards to fluffing her lines on The Thornbirds!

I think it would be fair to say that when contrasted with Joan Crawford and Bette Davis that Barbara easily had the better sense of humour and more relaxed approach to her film career than these intensely competitive women who almost seemed to live for hollywood stardom.

Well, I must say that I couldn't do it without your constant feedbacks, so this successful thread is definitely a collaborative effort as we head towards a grand total of 30.000 viewers.

Yes, Barbara definitely did not take herself too seriously, refusing to dye her greying hair when she was only in her late 30's, and often referring to herself as "A fairly old bag."

I have just remembered another actress who worked with Barbara and is still alive and well at 88. Julie Adams appeared in one of my favourite episode of The Big Valley, entitled The Emperor of Rice. Julie was very much the aggressor in this story, tying Barbara up, whipping and torturing her. She said in her memoir how much she loved working with Barbara on this show, and she was full of admiration for her talent and professionalism.

Leslie Caron also had only positive things to say about her in her autobiography,

"Stanwyck was a great pro of the old school. She told me that she got up around 5.30, and turned up at the studio at 6.30 to go through the rigorous routine of make up and hair and also brushing up her lines, and getting mentally ready for the serious business of being a Star. She was first on the set, ready to start work, she never faltered in anything, and never fluffed her lines; she didn't kid around but stayed concentrated. In order to stay focussed she knitted, never stopped between scenes.
You could see she'd done that throughout her career, because if the set was a little cold, she'd wear a hand knitted sweater, each time of a different colour; she said she had many. Her maid came with her on the set and brought her coffee, and anything else she might need. Stanwyck however, was not a bit stuck up or capricious, quite the opposite. She was simple, almost rustic in her manner, straightforward and generous. The crew loved her and called her "Missy."

One day we were playing a scene together and suddenly she stopped, something that actors must never do. It's against the rules for an actor to stop short in the middle of a scene, only the director can say "cut." Director Fletcher Markle asked, 'What's the trouble?' She answered, "A shadow on the kids face, I stepped in front of her light."

There again you see an example of her total professionalism, consideration for others, and complete lack of temperament.

Well I dont think either of us were expecting 30,000 views or a thread that would last over 6 months when I first started it-long may this successful collobrative effort continue and another flame be kept alive for Hollywoods unique golden era

Sounds to me like Barbara Stanwyck had the pretty ideal combination of taking her work very seriously but not taking herself seriously.

Its no wonder that its so difficult to find any colleague who will "slag her off" and trash her memory.

Are there any tv channels that show repeats of "The Big Valley", and do you know when it was last repeated in America?
Im assuming you have all the series in a TV DVD boxset.

I bet youll be watching Barbara Stanwyck fayre right up until you take your last breath!(hopefully many many years away may I add!)

Very random question Did Barbaras character in "The Big Valley" ride horses and did she herself ride them in real life?