Vintage Powder Room

Welcome to the Vintage Powder Room Cinema!  Tonight’s feature is THREE GIRLS ABOUT TOWN starring Joan Blondell, Binnie Barnes, Janet Blair, Robert Benchley and John Howard.

Enjoy the movie!

TCM says:

As the Merchants Hotel readies for a morticians convention and the mediation committee meeting of a group of aircraft manufacturers and workers, hotel manager Wilburforce Puddle worries about a newspaper editorial critical of the hotel’s policy of employing hostesses. Angered by the editorial, head hostess Hope Banner storms into the hotel press room to confront her fiancé, reporter Tommy Hopkins. Tommy denies that he had prior knowledge about the editorial, although he would like Hope to resign as hostess and find a “regular” job. Hope, however, argues that she needs the extra money to send her younger sister Charity to private school. After Hope leaves, Charity appears in the press room looking for her sister, and Tommy escorts her to Hope’s room. There, Charity announces to Hope and her other hostess sister Faith that she intends to quit school and follow in her sisters’ footsteps. Both Faith and Hope oppose her decision, asserting that she is too young and innocent to leave school.

No other item in my collection captures the feeling of Southern California during the 1920s as well as this West Electric Beach & Motor Hair Net envelope.

In addition to producing hair nets, West Electric, based in Philadelphia, manufactured hair curlers and shampoo. The company patented one of its hair curler designs as early as 1909 and ads for their products appeared in magazines such as The Ladies’ Home Journal.

The sandy beach and graceful palm trees depicted on the package are evocative of any location offering surf and sand, but the car is a dead giveaway of the L.A. life—no other place has embraced car culture with such frank enthusiasm and unconditional love as Southern California.

Prior to the 1920s women’s bathing suits were more concerned with coverage than with comfort. Imagine jumping into the surf at Santa Monica Beach in a black, knee-length, puffed-sleeve wool dress. Following WWI everything changed. Women painted their faces and bobbed their hair, and bathing suit designs started to reflect their new freedom. No right thinking flapper would show up at a beach party in anything that covered her knees or her arms.

In 1921 a local fashion show introduced inflatable bathing suits, which were described as pretty and practical because they allowed the wearer to float in the water, just like she was using water wings. The style sank without a trace.

Following the discovery of King Tut’s tomb by Howard Carter in 1922 people were consumed with all things Egyptian, and of course Egyptian themed bathing suits briefly became the rage on local beaches. What made the water wear Egyptian themed? Why the hand-painted hieroglyphics representing inscriptions from the Pharaoh’s tomb, of course.

Bathing suit designs then changed forever in 1925 when Fred Cole entered the swimwear business. Cole had been a silent film actor, an occupation his parents thought thoroughly disreputable, during the early 1920s, so they were pleased when he suggested that they start a swimwear line at their knitting mills in Los Angeles, and the staid sounding “West Coast Manchester Knitting Mills” became “Cole of California.” Cole would bring Hollywood glamour to the swimsuit industry.

In 1936, Cole hired Margit Felligi, who served as Cole’s head designer until 1972. Felligi was an inspired innovator and in 1943, during the wartime shortage of rubber, she created the first side-laced swimsuit. It was called the “Swoon Suit” in honor of popular crooner Frank Sinatra.

She continued to make fashion history over the years with her significant contributions to fabric and design, including the 1964 “Scandal Suit,” which was considered to be one of the most overtly sexy bathing suits of all time.

Cole still exists as Catalina-Cole, and in 1997 the company launched another winner, the “tankini.” I think Fred Cole and Margit Felligi would be pleased.

Welcome to Vintage Powder Room Cinema!  Tonight’s feature is LADY OF BURLESQUE starring Barbara Stanwyck, Michael O’Shea and directed by William Wellman.   I think this film makes a nice companion piece for tonight’s post about the La Cherte face powder box.

Enjoy the movie!

Wikipedia says:

In 1941, Lee authored a mystery thriller called The G-String Murders, which was made into the sanitized 1943 film, Lady of Burlesque starring Barbara Stanwyck. While some assert this was in fact ghost-written by Craig Rice, there are those who claim that there is more than sufficient written evidence in the form of manuscripts and Lee’s own correspondence to prove that she wrote a large part of the novel herself under the guidance of Rice and others, including her editor George Davis, a friend and mentor. Lee’s second murder mystery, Mother Finds a Body, was published in 1942.

During the late 1920s La Cherte face powder claimed to be “The World’s Most Exquisite Face Powder.” Its ads even promised “it will endure through hours of dancing,” and the woman on this powder box from my collection seems to be testing the veracity of the company’s claim by strutting across a stage beneath a single spotlight.

It takes a woman with uncommon panache to take the stage alone, and that is why the La Cherte face powder box reminds me so much of Betty “Ball of Fire” Rowland, one of the most famous burlesque dancers of her era.

Betty was originally known as the “littlest burlesque star” because of her small stature, but her spirited performances earned the gorgeous titian-tressed dynamo the nickname “Ball of Fire”.  Betty wowed audiences for years at the New Follies Theater on South Main Street downtown in revues such as “Panties Inferno,” “It’s Wicked,” and “Julius Teaser”.

Betty told me that her favorite fragrance had been L’Aimant by Coty.  L’Aimant debuted in 1927 and it was the first perfume created by Francoise Coty. The scent is elegant and sophisticated, just like Betty.  She told me that she wore it in her daily life and also on stage as a part of her act.

Before each of her appearances Betty would spray a liberal amount of L’Aimant all over herself so that when she “worked the curtain” her perfume would waft over the gents seated in the first few rows.  I was awed by the anecdote. To incorporate the power of olfactory memory in her act was sheer genius. A large number of men must have seen Betty perform and carried with them the memory of her perfume. I wonder how many wives and girlfriends received gifts of L’Aimant from those men over the years; and I also wonder if the men knew why they’d selected that particular perfume at a counter crowded with choices.

As my conversation with Betty came to an end she lamented that Coty had long ago discontinued her favorite scent, but if you know where to look you can still find a vintage formulation of the famous floral.  I sent a bottle of L’Aimant to Betty, and I hope it transported her back to her glory days on the stage of the New Follies Theater.

 Here is Betty in action:

NOTE:  Betty ‘Ball of Fire’ Rowland recently celebrated her 100th birthday!

Welcome to Vintage Powder Room Cinema!  Tonight’s feature is A STAR IS BORN in glorious Technicolor. It has an all-star cast: Janet Gaynor, Fredric March, Adolphe Menjou, May Robson, Andy Devine, and Lionel Stander.

Enjoy the movie!

From TCM:

 A screenplay entitled “A Star Is Born” is stamped with the words, “Final Shooting Script,” then opened to reveal the following story: Esther Blodgett returns one winter evening to her home, an isolated farmhouse in North Dakota, after seeing a movie with her little brother Aleck, which starred her screen idol, Norman Maine. Esther’s Aunt Mattie disdains Esther’s obsession with the movies, and her father and grandmother Lettie are surprised to hear that Esther wants to be a movie star. After Mattie berates her, Esther runs to her room in tears. Lettie then tells Esther of her own past dreams of coming across the country in a “prairie schooner,” and although she cautions Esther about the heartbreak that always comes to those who pursue their dreams, Lettie encourages Esther and gives her money to take a train to Hollywood.

Before her face appeared on this beauty ad, Betty Burgess was a screen actress hoping for fame

One of my favorite events is the Vintage Fashion Expo which is held a few times annually and alternates between San Francisco and Los Angeles. I’ve been to both venues in search of vintage treasures, but it was in L.A. that I found this Hollywood Curler card (c. 1935). After some haggling, I paid five dollars apiece for two of them.

The image of an actress, Betty Burgess, appears on both cards, so naturally I wondered who she was. She was gorgeous enough to have been a leading lady, yet I’d never heard of her. I concluded that she had never “made it big.”

During the Great Depression films often featured a young woman with no place to sleep, nothing to eat, and only pennies in her handbag. Ah, but the girl always had a dream that shone as brightly as a theater marquee, and in the movies those dreams invariably came true.

Betty’s performance was positively reviewed and I imagine it was because of that success that her photo turned up on my Hollywood Curler cards. Betty didn’t become a household name though; she only acted in a handful of films between 1935 and 1939, then her career abruptly ended.

Betty was talented, so I believe that she voluntarily abandoned her acting career to pursue something, or someone, she wanted more than fame. Her image on the Hollywood Curler cards reminds me that life evolves, and so should one’s dreams.

Welcome to Vintage Powder Room Cinema!  In keeping with the theme of yesterday’s post, victory rolls and the Greatest Generation–this week’s feature is A YANK IN THE RAF starring Betty Grable and Tyrone Power. Enjoy the movie!

From TCM:

Prior to the United States’ entry into World War II, egotistical American pilot Tim Baker seeks adventure and money by ferrying a bomber from Canada to England. While in London, he meets a former girl friend, Carol Brown, a nightclub performer who volunteers in the ambulance reserve during the day. Carol is both pleased and annoyed to see Tim, with whom she broke up a year earlier because of his irresponsible nature. Hoping to win Carol back, Tim accepts her dare to join the R.A.F. but quickly becomes bored with the classes teaching basic flying techniques. One afternoon, Carol goes to the airfield and meets Wing Commander John Morley, who is immediately taken with her. Morley sees her nightclub show and escorts her home, after which Carol, angry at Tim for standing her up that evening, tells him that she has a new man in her life. 

I paid $8 for this pack of Sta-Rite hair pins at a vintage textile show (cosmetics items pop up in all sorts of places) and it obvious to me from the women’s hairdos that the card dates from the 1940s.

I have dozens of items from the ‘40s in my collection because I am fascinated by the ways in which patriotism was used to market cosmetics to women during WWII. American pride was often denoted by red, white, and blue packaging as well as in advertisements which depicted women engaged in war work, or as pin-up girls awaiting husbands or lovers off fighting for our country. These ads make it clear that the women shown look as beautiful as they do thanks to a certain face powder or lipstick (which came in a wood or paper tube because metal was required for the war effort). Patriotic beauty didn’t stop at the hairline, either; each of the women on the Sta-Rite card is wearing her hair in a Victory Roll.  If you’re a vintage fashion maven you’re probably already familiar with the style but, if not, a Victory Roll was one of the most popular ‘dos of the WWII era.

Magazines and newspapers all over the country provided women with directions for creating Victory Rolls; in fact, in 1944, the Los Angeles Times featured an article on “Factory Glamour” with these styling tips: “Part hair in center…roll it up on the sides, higher near the crown, tapering to the back of the neck.  From the rear you show – a V for Victory!”

Welcome to Vintage Powder Room Cinema!  This week’s feature is PARIS WHEN IT SIZZLES in glorious Technicolor, starring Audrey Hepburn and William Holden. Enjoy the movie!

From TCM:

Film producer Alexander Meyerheimer is in Cannes and upset because scriptwriter Richard Benson is late delivering the script for The Girl Who Stole the Eiffel Tower , Meyerheimer’s latest production. He wires Benson in Paris that he has only 2 days to complete the script; and Benson, who has written nothing, hires a secretary, Gabrielle Simpson, to move in and assist him. As they grind out a script that combines all the elements of a spy thriller, a comedy, a love story, a western, a musical, and every other basic motion picture genre, Richard and Gabrielle project themselves into the story and actually become the hero, heroine, and villain of each scene they create. They return to reality only for story changes, champagne suppers, and romantic interludes.