Title: Edith Head’s Hollywood
Description: Costume-designer Head died before finishing this memoir--so the book at hand consists of fragmentary tape-recorded recollections connected by Calistro's fill-ins of Head's career-history. Also, lots of this same--or similar--material appeared in Head's The Dress Doctor (1959). Still, with passing time, Head was able to be somewhat more candid, and there are choice opinions and anecdotes among her memories of a 60-year Hollywood-costume career. She chats about Clara Bow's waist, Mae West's bosom, and Dorothy Lamour's unlovely feet (as well as her sarongs). There's a detailed discussion of dear friend Barbara Stanwyck's problem with ""a comparatively low rear end""--remedied by widened waistbands on her long waist ""to create an optical illusion that her derriÃ‰re was just as pertly placed as any other stars'."" Similarly, Head reveals how she made tiny Veronica Lake look bigger, how she frumpified Olivia de H. for The Heiress, how Bette Davis' party-dress in All About Eve was accidentally created. And though Head speaks of most of her stars (including Redford and Newman) with genuine affection, she takes neat slaps at Hedy Lamarr, show-offy Paulette Goddard, and (above all) Cecil B. DeMille--""a conceited old goat"" who ""never did an authentic costume picture in his entire career."" With undressed/ half-dressed glimpses, too, of Lana Turner, Gloria Swanson, Judy Garland, and many others: pleasant, sometimes-tart browsing for clothes-oriented film fans
Subjects: Social life and customs, Women costume designers, Biography, Fashion designers, Costume designers, Hollywood (los angeles, calif.), social life and customs, Los angeles (calif.), biography, Women, united states, biography
Places: California, Los Angeles, Hollywood (Los Angeles, Calif.)
People: Edith Head