Designer Double-Dip: Dis Robe

This one'll be a bit all over the place. Mainly because it's a bit of a hybrid between a "Guest Who" post and a "Designer Double-Dip" one.  Maybe you'll enjoy the "best of all worlds" content or perhaps you'll drift asleep (LOL!), but I like to cover any possible bases when I'm going on (and on) about something. If you're a regular reader, you'll recall my recent post about all the stars who popped up on Chrysler Theatre. There was one installment I mentioned in the comments, but did not feature visuals from. The reason for that was the abysmal quality of the uploaded content rather than any lack of fascination with the people in it. I would have left well enough alone except that there was a nagging feeling about the episode and I only now have put two and two together.

Regardless of the happy expressions on most of these folks, the episode was titled "Terror Island." Here we meet handsome Donnelly Rhodes, his new bride Carol Lawrence and Rhodes' adoptive mother, Miss Ginger Rogers.

At the time of filming, Rogers (an Oscar-winner for Kitty Foyle, 1940) was 54 and still in good shape. 1965 would be a rather busy year for her with this installment of Chrysler Theatre, her role in the TV musical Cinderella and the release of her very last feature film, Harlow.

The eerie goings on at "Terror Island" would be the closest Rogers ever came (and it ain't that close!) to the hag horror genre that so many of her contemporaries took part in during the 1960s. Generally, there was no way was Ginge going to let herself be seen looking anything other than sparkling.

Anyway, I've tried my best to clear up the visuals of this poorly preserved piece of television. It's rough; blurry, out of tint and framed incorrectly to boot! (The episode may be viewed here for those interested.) My kingdom for a proper release of these once-beautiful television programs!

Rogers is eager to welcome her adopted son and his new wife. His first wife disappeared under some questionable circumstances years before.

Rhodes wants to limit his time there to merely one afternoon while Lawrence feels it's important to reconnect with his family while also introducing them to her.

Rhodes' relationship with Rogers, while not exactly antagositic, in nonetheless fraught with tension and anxiety.

He's playing a downbeat character here, but I just love Rhodes. It's fun to see him as a young man (getting close to 30 here.)

Some of you might recall him as Jake the caterer, one of Blanche's kindest, handsomest and most memorable boyfriends on The Golden Girls. This is where I fell for him first.

Back at Terror Island, Rhodes and Lawrence find themselves staying longer than anticipated.

But there's more. Rogers has another child; a daughter.

Said (sullen) daughter is portrayed by Katharine Ross.

Then close to the dawn of her career, marble-eyed Ross had begun acting on TV in 1962 and proceeded to guest star on many shows from Ben Casey to Wagon Train to The Alfred Hitchcock Hour to The Big Valley. This same year, she made her movie debut in Shenandoah (1965) and within two years landed her most famous role in The Graduate (1967.) She even won an Oscar nomination for that, though it went to Estelle Parsons in Bonnie and Clyde.

Even though Anne Bancroft was only nine years older than Ross in The Graduate, they seemed utterly believable to me as mother and daughter.

Somehow it comes off less likely that Rogers would have brought forth Ross...! But I digress.

Afflicted with a bum leg, Ross' character is unhappy, dour and often unpleasant. The dreary role certainly doesn't bring out her looks, which was generally one of Ross' best gifts as an actress! She would go on to the huge hit The Stepford Wives (1975) and later land on The Colbys, among other things.

Okay, kittens, we're getting close to the Designer Double-Dip part of this post. Though I wish it had to do with the fur-trimmed robe that Rogers is sporting in this night-time scene, that is not the subject at hand. (If anyone does know where this piece might have been worn before, let me know, please!)

It's when Rogers goes to embrace her troubled daughter Ross that the robe I'm concerned with makes its presence known.

There isn't anything particularly special about it, though, right? It's a dark blue robe with white piping. It's somewhat dowdy appearance is a marked contrast from Rogers' fussy get up.

As the mother and daughter have a set-to, we get a quick glimpse of the body of the garment, with a white-trimmed pocket on the right side. So how 'bout it? Seem at all familiar? Within two years, this robe would pop up on another character with a downbeat air. But that time it would be in a significant box office sensation...

Let's consult the tape and reveal...

Miss Lee Grant as Miriam Polar in Valley of the Dolls (1967.)

Fretful Grant wears this robe while worrying about what has become of her pop singing brother. A knock at the door brings what may be news.

Sure enough, a telegram confirms her worst suspicions. He's run off an eloped with a beautiful, curvy chorus girl.

Katharine Ross was 5'3" while Lee Grant was 5'3-3/4" so fit was no concern. But note the way Grant has splayed the color out to give it a more flared look, showing off more collarbone (and also showing more navy blue fabric inside where the piping is.) You can see around the upper collar where the robe was once creased differently. 

Whereas Ross kept the original neckline, more bundled-in and with the white piping much closer to the edge/crease.

Though Ross and Grant never acted together on TV or in a movie, they did share two films with one another in addition to this costume piece. They both worked on Voyage of the Damned (1976), an all-star wartime drama. Ross was about the best I've ever seen her in it and Grant was Oscar-nominated (losing to Beatrice Straight in Network.)  She'd won the prior year, though, for Shampoo.

They were also both in the star-filled disaster flop, The Swarm (1978), again sharing no scenes together.

And with that I believe I'll hang it up! Till next time.

Fun Finds: Shake Your Head, Darling

Oh, trust me. We did shake our heads! We may have even rolled our eyes a little. Knowing how much we adore anything campy and/or tacky in The Underworld, one of our regular readers saw fit to send me as a birthday present, this delicious self-help book "Shake Your Head, Darling" published in 1982 by celebrity hairstylist Jose Eber. (As Mr. Eber points out in the earliest part of the book, it's "Joe-zey" not "Hoe-say" because he is French.) The book has a 20-Question quiz whose answers determine if you are a Life-Style Red, Life-Style Green or Life-Style Blue. (Reds are super busy, Greens work for a living and Blues are lazy bums and/or trophy wives. LOL!) What follows are most of the photos contained in the book, generally a two-shot of Eber with his celebrity pal and then one of the celeb in a posed portrait. We were happy to see four members of our (self-imagined) Disaster Movie Club along with two honorary members (thanks to The Big Bus, 1976) and other assorted friends. Each two-shot has text written by the lady in question, often revealing and interesting. Let get shaking! First up, the Life-Style Reds:

Channing's questionnaire had personal remarks written across all but two of the answers! God only knows how he arrived at any determination of her Life-Style.

Not too much to shake, here. The third sentence of her text made me snort!

Ms. Fawcett was probably one of the celebrities most associated with Eber.

She's the only one who ranked a second portrait in the book. What about this look?! I don't believe one was used in this case, but this sort of style was (semi)achieved all over the nation with the aid of "banana clips" if you remember those... A lady at work still has one and uses it and I always tell her that The Smithsonian is still waiting for her to donate it to them!  LOL

Marshall's text is hilarious and unsurprising, considering how glamour-proof she's always seemed.

This might be the most glam picture ever taken of (the now ballcap-wearing) Marshall!

Wow. Whole lotta shakin' goin' on!

Ms. Ross starred in The Swarm (1978.)

Next we examine the Life-Style Green ladies. What fun to see Sandra Dee included!

Ms. Principal co-starred in Earthquake (1974) and is no stranger to celebrity self-help books!

Ms. Sinatra didn't write her own text like most of the other participants. I have never really understood what she did for a living! LOL There were a smattering of acting gigs and a producing job or two surrounding her father, but I can never zero in on why she's famous. The book says she "needs a hairdo that is easy to take care of, because she is so busy." ??

Too busy to smile?

Ms. Vaccaro starred in Airport '77 (1977.)

I love her expression in this photo!

Ms. Walters is the sole participant who did not take a photo WITH Eber (thus denying him another opportunity to eye-fuck the camera - Ha!) She didn't take the quiz or write any text either. Frankly, I think this photo looks a tad ridiculous.

Ms. Warren knew a thing or two about hairstyles, having once been the wife of famed snipper-turned-producer Jon Peters.

Now the Life-Style Blues, starting with exotic Barbara Carrera, who co-starred in When Time Ran Out (1980.)

Carrera was so elegant and mysterious, but I truly doubt that she ever shook her head (darling) at any point in this photo shoot!

Johnny Carson's third wife shook him down for about $20 million if you asked him! In one of those "you can't make this shit up" moments, Johnny married a Joan, then a Joanne, then a Joanna! His final, successful marriage was to an Alexis.

Another of Eber's clients who was closely associated with him and arguably THE most famous of the lot was Cher. But the biggest shock is that she was considered a "Life-Style Blue!" She was clearly busy as hell at all times if she needed a haircut at 1:00am.

Dallas' Linda Gray is one of those people who always seems to be greatly enjoying having her portrait taken. Her enthusiasm always shows through.

I love this photo of Gray! She did eventually cut her hair fairly short on the show, but grew it back out over time. Gray is the only famous actress I've ever seen completely naked in person! (LOL It was during her tour in the stage play "The Graduate.")

This is also a really neat portrait of Ms. McCoo of The Fifth Dimension (and, to my generation, the host of Solid Gold!)

I think this book just bounced off the camp-o-meter with the combination of Eber and Zadora!

I've actually seen Family Dollar cashiers who still sport this exact same hairstyle more than three decades hence!

Be sure to look at this back cover more closely as the photos are different from the ones inside (and thanks to the heavy 1980s makeup, far more garish looking in color!)