Thanks to a reader tip, I thought it would be very worthwhile to point out yesterday’s blog post on the official County of Los Angeles website, which features an excellent “Spotlight Story” about of the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County and their efforts to collect and preserve important Hollywood artifacts from movies, in particular wardrobe piece.
The full article – “Hollywood costumes ready for curtain call“ – outlines the history of the institution’s efforts to preserve a very important collection of material dating back to the origins of the film industry.
The article can be found at lacounty.gov:
Below is the opening to the article:
Like many stars of a certain age, they no longer get out much. Still, as Oscar season approaches, they deserve their due. Some made history with Mary Pickford and Charlie Chaplin. Some were themselves Academy Award-winners.
True, most have spent the past several years in a vault in the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County. But the 250 or so historic movie costumes—owned, improbably, by Los Angeles County—represent one of the most well preserved aggregations of stardom in Hollywood.
“The bulk of people don’t know about it, but it’s a very important collection,” says Glenn Brown, archivist at the MGM Corporate Archives. “Its pieces are from some of the earliest days of film, things from the ‘20s and ’30s, donated by the stars themselves. Things you hardly ever find anywhere.
Chaplin’s “Tramp” costume is there. So are Fred Astaire’s tap shoes, Charlton Heston’s “Ben Hur” tunic and the green-sprigged dress (battered but unbowed) that Scarlett O’Hara wore in “Gone With The Wind” at the barbecue at Twelve Oaks. There’s also the pink Howard Greer ball gown that Pickford wore in her first talkie, “Coquette.”
The Natural History Museum has amassed not only many of the most important costumes from the earliest days of the movies, but also a trove of historic film props and other movie mementos, from Lon Chaney’s makeup kit to preserved locks of Pickford’s golden hair, lopped off when she famously bobbed it. Back in the day, such items were considered so insignificant that studios routinely burned, tossed or reused them.
Per the article, little from the collection is currently on display as a result of their “ongoing rebuilding and transformation project”, though they anticipate opening a new California history hall at the close of 2012, which will feature more of this material on display for the public.
However, the museum does loan pieces to other exhibitions, the next being a “ChaplinFest” at William S. Hart Park in Santa Clarita, which will feature costumes from Charlie Chaplin’s movies.
Learn more about ChaplinFest at scvchaplinfest.org:
Jason DeBord