Did anyone else happen to notice an extra wearing Jane Russell's silver "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes" outfit in this movie? She was on the stairs around the end of the flick. She was just in there for a second but I really think it was the exact same costume. I don't know why I care, but I do.
The love impulse in man frequently reveals itself in terms of conflict.
"Bringing Up Baby"
Yes! That is definitely the same outfit! Fox was cheap and they did this often. The singer Abbey Lincoln is wearing the same evening gown that Marilyn wears when she enters the captain's dinner in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (the pinkish gown, Rita Hayworth wore it in an earlier film).
Professional Jayne Mansfield fanatic/lover™ since 1980.
Wow. My sister noticed the dress, too. Thanks for the info!
The love impulse in man frequently reveals itself in terms of conflict.
"Bringing Up Baby"
Kind of funny that a studio that made so many millions of dollars could be so cheap as to not make new costumes, huh?!
Professional Jayne Mansfield fanatic/lover™ since 1980.
Yeah really! Studios can be cheap. I think I've seen the same set used in like 5 different MGM films!
The love impulse in man frequently reveals itself in terms of conflict.
"Bringing Up Baby"
The car that Jayne is driving in Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter even has a dent in it!
Professional Jayne Mansfield fanatic/lover™ since 1980.
I don't really think recycling clothes and the like in movies is cheap, it's just practical. Why spend more money on clothes for minor characters in films when you've already got thousands of dresses at hand. They usually don't recycle clothes on major stars, just supporting players. And it pretty much was done by all the studios and still continues to be done. It's not just dresses you will see reused, it's sets, knickknacks, houses, etc. The houses on for the cast of DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES have been used in hundreds of shows - in fact the famous Munsters house is only a few steps away and they have to shoot carefully because that is one house everyone would recognize if it gets in a shot.
Years ago I once saw the 1965 HARLOW film with Carol Lynley and Carol is reading a "fake" magazine (which is a magazine with a bogus cover since they don't want to give a plug to an actual magazine) and then days later saw a CHARLIE'S ANGELS episode from 1977 where Kate Jackson is reading the very same fake magazine!! So they keep EVERYTHING and reuse it!
(Incidentally, a lot of people do think Marilyn's dress was originally Rita Hayworth's dress in BLOOD AND SAND but it's actually a different dress in a different color but clearly the same pattern. I read an article about it years ago where some costume expert pointed out the slight differences and added that Rita's orange dress would have not likely had been dyed successfully pink and also the type of fabric it was would have not held up or looked as great 12 years later (the gap between the Rita and MM films), so it's not the same actual dress but it is clearly made from the same pattern - more recycling!!)
Well Fox was really cheap and recycling such well known costumes as they did from Gentleman Prefer Blondes to The Girl Can't Help It just wasn't very bright IMO, particularly ones worn by Marilyn and Jane Russell. GPB was a big movie and they are easliy identified.
Professional Jayne Mansfield fanatic/lover™ since 1980.
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Yes it is true it was kind of cheap to reuse them especially after only three years but back then there was no video for people to catch things like that - and most 1956 moviegoers probably wouldn't have noticed them or remembered them especially since BLONDES was never on television until the 1960's (it wasn't until 1961 that Fox and other studios allowed their big hit movies from fairly recent years on television, HOW TO MARRY A MILLIONAIRE was the first movie shown in 1961 on NBC Monday Night at the Movies. I can still remember even in the late 1970's amd early 1980's you would have to wait at least four or five years before they would show on movie after it's theater release on television - today they are on cable and DVD within a few months. At least Jayne didn't have to wear Marilyn's castoffs on screen (and I think Jayne's clothes in this picture and ROCK HUNTER are easily as nice as anything Marilyn ever wore) but I don't think she would have mind since she did wear a few of them for publicity shots and premieres and the sort.
shareA lot of these costumes are very flimsily made. My friend owns Jayne's shoes from one of her musical numbers in The Sherriff Of Fractured Jaw (the scene with the costume) and they are just a pair of lace up boots with a pattern glued on (now falling apart almost 50 years later). Also, he has MM's dress from the Running Wild number in Some Like It Hot (though not a Fox film) and it's basically just a cheap piece of satin material.
Professional Jayne Mansfield fanatic/lover™ since 1980.
A lot of those clothes were only meant to be used one time, though they kept in wardrobe for long periods of time. I noticed that too of the extra with the Jane Russell outfit. Marilyn's gold lame` dress that she wore at the Photoplay Awards was designed to be viewed from the back in one GPB shot and publicity stills. Travilla begged Marilyn not to wear it because it wasn't meant to be for public view. MM wore it anyway and made Joan Crawford see red. Jayne later wore the same dress causing the usual riot she usually did whenever she appeared.
When all is said and done, what counts is what's true, and how we all treated one another.
That was Saturday Night at the movies.
Monday came later
(Incidentally, a lot of people do think Marilyn's dress was originally Rita Hayworth's dress in BLOOD AND SAND but it's actually a different dress in a different color but clearly the same pattern. I read an article about it years ago where some costume expert pointed out the slight differences and added that Rita's orange dress would have not likely had been dyed successfully pink and also the type of fabric it was would have not held up or looked as great 12 years later (the gap between the Rita and MM films), so it's not the same actual dress but it is clearly made from the same pattern - more recycling!!)
The costume department at Fox generally made more than one costume of the same design. So the dress was actually probably already made and then they added on to it for GPB. It is doubtful Fox would have spent money on a new costume. But it is true that these costumes are very flimsily made, however the colour change wouldn't have been as intense as suggested. Jayne, of course, wore the same wedding gown in her marriage to Mickey as she wore in TGCHI and had it dyed pink. It survived through the years and Mariska even had it altered and wore it as her evening gown in the Miss Beverly Hills Pageant in 1982...and she won!
Professional Jayne Mansfield fanatic/lover™ since 1980.
It is the same dress Rita wore in Blood and Sand. It was discussed in Studio Magazine. For GPB, the dress was altered for Marilyn's size and was added sequins. Marilyn was still not the mega-star she became after Niagara and after Gentlemen Prefer Blondes was released she became the It Girl for the early 1950's. While some of Marilyn's dresses were designed for her in GPB, most came from wardrobe. Blood and Sand was filmed in 1941 and in different color films red tends to read as orange and orange as pink. That's why the difference in color from Blood and Sand to GPB.
When all is said and done, what counts is what's true, and how we all treated one another.
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On "Laverne & Shirley"
Cindy Williams used to wear old star's dresses from past Paramount Films