Designer Double Dip: Seeing "Red!"

In 1937, MGM was set to film an unproduced play of Ferenc Molnár's called "The Girl from Trieste" with Luise Rainer set to star. After the death of whiz kid Irving Thalberg, the production decisions reverted back to Louis B. Mayer, who found the storyline (involving a prostitute) distasteful and too bleak. So the whole thing was overhauled - renamed The Bride Wore Red - and slated to star Joan Crawford. The refurbished plot line now involved a poor cafe singer who is decked out in finery and sent to an exclusive lodge in a Pygmalion-ish experiment. (Rainer didn't exactly suffer from this change. She won an Oscar that year for the previous season's The Great Ziegfeld and went on to win another - consecutive - one for The Good Earth, 1937!) To suit the colorful title, designer Adrian fashioned a dazzling gown of scarlet with a coordinating cape. 

The irony is that, for whatever reason, the movie was shot in black & white! So, lovely as it was, the gown was only seen in its true color through promotional photos or the odd lobby card. But it really was red. And it weighed a reported 30 pounds (presumably including that cape with its bejeweled trim and closure.)

Miss Crawford was given a slick new hairstyle, though the role she was playing (of downtrodden gal making good) was as familiar to her as her wide smear of lipstick. She played such parts multitudinous times over her career. Even she had to be tiring of such repetition and apparently moviegoers were to some degree as well. This is one of the movies that led to her being labeled (along with several other major stars) as "Box Office Poison" by a group of theater-owners.

She at least had the pleasure of having her husband as costar. (Franchot Tone did seven films with her, this being the last.) Their marriage only lasted from 1935-1939, however. The other leading man vying for her attention was Robert Young. Here you can see the trio posing with her sans cape.

After the film did middling business at the box office (though it didn't actually lose money), the expensively crafted gown made its way into the costume vaults of the studio, perhaps never to be seen again...

But it was, Blanche. It was! It was scarcely recognizable however. In Groucho Marx's 1941 comedy The Big Store, it figured into a fashion show, worn by one of the models.

The uncredited lady wearing red this time doesn't exactly have the same level of physical presence that Miss Crawford possessed... At 5'4" Crawford was hardly a towering monument, but this gal is just rather squatty looking. In the movie, Marx amusingly informs the viewer that the dress is indeed red, Technicolor being too expensive for the movie they're watching!

But that wasn't all. In 1943, Red Skelton starred in the musical Du Barry was a Lady and, in a number featuring the months of the year, model-actress Inez Cooper donned the gown (no cape) as Miss December. Cooper's look here is very Hedy Lamarr, though Crawford had herself had also sported Lamarr's signature hairstyle when she did the hooty Ice Follies of 1939. This would be the final time that the dress hit movie screens, though it almost made still another belated comeback!

After nearly a quarter-century, the gown was unearthed once more and slated to be featured in Robert Aldrich's garish oddity The Legend of Lylah Clare (1968.)

Unfortunately, the red dress was only used in publicity photos of Kim Novak. It didn't make its way into the final cut of the movie. I think Kim looked marvelous in it. In fact, I think this gown looks much better than any of the Renie creations she wore in Lylah Clare. This was the last gasp for the fabled red dress, but not the final time anyone would lay eyes on it.

The dazzling creation still exists and has made its presence known at various exhibitions of cinema fashion. You'll notice that along the way and through the years of its 85-year lifespan, the clasp on the cape has been changed out more than once. But the general workmanship of the legendary Adrian remains for all to see. 

 

** UPDATE: One of our faithful friends out there in the surface world sent us yet another example of this gown being sported by a star. This time, the delightful Miss Angela Lansbury donned the scarlet stunner for a 1945 photo opportunity at the entrance to her dressing room! We offer our thanks for keeping the fabric facts as complete as possible. **