Women He's Undressed (2015) - full transcript

Women He's Undressed is a cinema length documentary that explores the life of Australia's most prolific costume designer. Until now Orry-Kelly has been unacknowledged in his country of birth and pretty well forgotten in the adopted country of his greatest success. During the boom years of Hollywood he was the costume designer on an astonishing 282 motion pictures. He designed for the stars like Marilyn Monroe, Bette Davis, Humphrey Bogart, Rosalind Russell, Errol Flynn and many more of the immortals. His films included Some Like It Hot, Casablanca, An American in Paris and Now, Voyager. Orry-Kelly (Jack to his friends) won three Academy Awards and was nominated for a fourth. Orry-Kelly was Head of Warner Brothers Costume Department during the richest period of American film, the establishment of the dream factory and its effect on mass culture. He was outrageous, witty, outspoken, a drinker and uncompromising but he survived partially protected by his friendship with Jack and Ann Warner and gossip columnist Hedda Hopper and ultimately by his extraordinary talent.

(BIRD CALLS)

JACK WARNER:
Let's call a spade a spade.

He could be a real pain
in the ass sometimes.

But he was our pain in the ass.

BETTE DAVIS:
When Orry-Kelly left Warner's,

I felt as if I'd lost
my right arm.

WALTER PLUNKETT:
I can't believe

I have to share one-third
of this damn Oscar

with that sonofabitch
Orry-Kelly.

(SEDUCTIVELY GLAMOROUS MUSIC)

You say nobody knows who he is?
Who doesn't know who he is?



Orry-Kelly
was one of the greatest

costume designers
of all time.

(WHISTLING)

(BOTH LAUGH)

I was pretty awed by Orry.

He was out. (CHUCKLES)

He was definitely out.

If he was with some people
and wanted to say something,

he said it,
he didn't hold back.

Even if it would piss people
off, he'd still say it.

The great mystery
of Orry-Kelly is -

did he have a personal life?

I think we can say yes.

With whom was it?



That I do not know,
and it was never discussed.

ORRY GEORGE KELLY:
When my now rich

and famous lover and I
first met,

the one I'm not supposed to
talk about,

we marvelled, as you do,
at how much we had in common.

How we'd both grown up in towns
by the sea.

How our fathers had both been
accomplished tailors.

And even more
accomplished drinkers.

And we talked about how,

when you grow up
with the smell of the ocean,

the horizon beckons you
every day.

ANN ROTH:
This is making me sad.

Why are you doing this?

Because why?

Because he's a citizen
of your country

that made it in Hollywood?

Orry.

Orry's the name
of an olden-days king

from the Isle of Man,

from whence
my father came.

ORRY: Kiama was quite dramatic
for a small bush town.

We even have our own blowhole
at the end of the street.

(WATER BOOMS)

My rich and famous former -
insert euphemism here -

room-mate, the one
I'm not supposed to talk about,

would say that the blowhole
explained a lot about me.

Never too good
at masking what I think,

or who I am, for that matter.

I wondered if he'd ever
even talked about us.

The hungry years in New York.

Stage-struck, scared to death
we'd never amount to anything.

Nothing, he says.

Talking each other up.

How true we'd remain.

How we wouldn't change
if one of us made the big time.

The bathtub gin parties.

On Mother's money.

I get nothing.

No-one must ever know.

What was it Cole Porter
used to say?

Drop a spangle.

Drop a spangle
before it's too late.

Ditch the mask
and let your hair down.

Drop a goddamn spangle!

Having to hide what you are
is nothing short of tragic.

I don't think

he ever really acknowledged
Orry-Kelly's existence,

let alone the extent
of their relationship.

You know,
there is something higher

than artistic professionalism,

and that's ethical behaviour
and loyal behaviour.

Stardom was
this magical institution

that you could not
mess with stardom.

And once you had
achieved stardom,

there was an unspoken rule that
you didn't pull someone down.

ORRY I blame my mother.

For my seventh birthday
she takes me to Sydney

to see 'Dick Whittington',
a pantomime.

When the curtain call
was over,

she had to prise me
out of the red velvet seat.

For Christmas, Mother brings
the theatre to Kiama.

The supplied costumes
and scenery

are unspeakable, of course.

So every Saturday, all day,

I dress my duchess in jewels

and make my prince
look perfect.

MAN: If I've told you once

I've told you a hundred times
to give that away!

ORRY: My father was a hero
in Kiama.

He once dived
under a sinking ship

and helped to
plug up the hole.

What does happen to boys
who like to dress dolls?

My son would play football,
but he has weak arms.

He does study painting,

and I'm not just saying this,
but we think he's talented.

Under Mr Cox,
a professional teacher of art.

If only he'd pass
his blessed exams.

-(WHISTLE BLOWS)
-MAN: All aboard!

MOTHER: You'll live with Aunty Em
in Sydney, study hard

and then join the bank,
where you'll work your way up

and meet a gentler class
of people.

ORRY': Not that Mother is a snob,
but she is a Purdue.

When my father
gives up the booze

he dedicates himself

to propagating
the perfect carnation.

The screaming pink creation
Father names 'The Onry...

It's not an insult.

Trying to say he knows
I'm different.

Good luck.
It may not be smooth sailing.

-(SHIP WHISTLE BLOWS)
-MOTHER: Don't forget to write.

ORRY:: Dear Mother, I'm in the bank
and meeting nice people.

Yawn.

The only people I want to meet
are in there.

It would have been hard to be
a very creative gay man

in a small country town
in Australia.

So I'm sure the big smoke

allowed him to express himself

in all aspects of his life
much more freely.

(TRUMPET FANFARE)

The war's over
before I can enlist.

And I'm in a party
that will last a decade.

And everything,
even our clothes,

all start to loosen up.

Farewell to the bank.

Sorry, Aunty Em!

An audition pays off.

Just one line of dialogue
in a bawdy revue,

and chorus in 'Eileen'.

Leading man, here I come!

Whoo-hoo!

MOTHER: Dearest Orry,

All those theatre types.

Couldn't you just
keep on banking

and join an amateur group?

Or find a nice school of art?

I think he was an incredible
observer of humanity,

and I think he was able to move

in all kinds
of different circles.

I'm torn between the posh end
of Sydney town,

where wealthy wives and widows

pay handsome young theatre types
to do the tango,

the bunny hug
and the turkey trot,

and the underworld
of Woolloomooloo -

ladies my mother
would never approve of,

and the only place
to get a beer after hours.

Prostitutes, coming and going,
who love a chat,

in amazing, ever-changing,
bold-as-brass outfits.

Better than any art college.

And where the motto is
"Only be ashamed

"of being ashamed."

And where, of course,

I fall for the most handsome man
in the underworld.

Gentleman George.

He's a double for Wallace Reid.

Those eyes.

Unfortunately, he's Sydney's
most notorious pickpocket.

But he's a pickpocket
with a conscience.

-He really is.
-(SIREN WAILS)

I'm in too deep.

I'm on my way
to a life of crime.

-(WHISTLE BLOWS)
-Those eyes!

Need to get away.

Knuckle down
where no-one knows me.

Start again.

Mother helps me with a ticket.

MOTHER: You haven't got a girl
into trouble, have you, son?

Ohhh!

(WHISTLE BLOWS)

(SHIP HORN BLARES)

ORRY': Dear Mother and Father,
People rather stared

at my new Prince of Wales
suit on arrival.

American men
have not yet caught on

to the casual style
of English clothing.

I just cannot imagine
what it would have been like

for Orry-Kelly
to come to New York

SO young, in his early 20s.

It must have been like
going to another planet.

It is that adventuresome
Australian spirit.

ORRY: I joined the bums
and bandits of Broadway,

and soon had
to pawn the suit.

My building is filled
with showbiz folk.

My new friends,

a young Gracie Allen,
George Burns

and Jack Benny
practise their acts,

and we happily
flaunt prohibition.

(CHEERING AND WHISTLING)

The good news is...
I've got a job in the chorus.

The bad news is...

...I dropped another
actress yesterday

and we both fell off the stage.

(SPLASH!)

I'm dropping the boards
before I kill someone.

You were right about my arms,
Mother.

Sorry.

When he would describe
his early days in Manhattan,

it made you want to
be there with him.

New York at the time was called
the City of Bachelors,

because it was all these men

coming from
all over the country

and from other countries,

coming into the city
and living there

and making their way.

The theatrical community
was thriving.

There were a lot of plays
being put on.

Vaudeville was very big.

You were surrounded by people

who were living openly

in ways you couldn't have
imagined back home.

He was a young, wild...

Young and wild and fun.

And a super sense of humour.

(LAUGHTER)

ORRY: I'm covering the rent
sketching on silent films

and designing
hand-painted shawls.

Le Toquet French Imports.

French, my arse!

But they're walking out the door
until they go out of fashion.

Before I'm properly paid.

Sigh!

Then through the courtyard
he walks,

carrying his worldly possessions
in a shiny tin box,

and wearing a much shinier
black suit.

The bow legs of an acrobat,

kicked out of his hallway room

and as penniless as he looks.

He's about to turn 21.

Archie Leach.

From Bristol, England.

By the sea, like me.

Devastatingly handsome,

and he doesn't know
whether he's Arthur or Martha.

And each time I look at him,
neither do I.

Two peas in a pod.

The start of
an on-again, off-again...

...'mateship'.

He buys English cod

and makes us fish and chips
to keep us from feeling homesick.

We tell each other to -
nya-nya-nya-nya-nya -

have faith.

He longs to get down
off the stilts

and get his handsome face
on the stage.

He gets a job playing the devil
in a full-face mask.

-Nya-nya-nya-nya-nya-nya!
-Oh! (CHUCKLES)

Greenwich Village

in those days

was a great literary

and theatrical centre.

WILLIAM J. MANN:
There were socialists, political radicals,

there were lesbians,
there were transgendered people

living openly at the time.

So there was really a sense
of 'anything goes' here.

Young Archie meets Orry-Kelly,

and, you know, in a finger snap

they're living together.

They made ties to get along.

And then...and steamed them
in the apartment.

It's very industrious.

We pay the rent
with our ties.

I allow Archie to cut stencils.

The Kelly-Leach era.

Archie sells them to performers,

and soon everyone
from prize fighters

to politicians are wearing them.

We sell hundreds of ties
on credit to Cuba.

Olé!

What's Spanish for
'we've been done like a dinner'?

With those looks,
Archie picks up money

walking the wealthy women
of New York,

and never tires
of reminding me

that he's always got his eye out
for beautiful blondes.

(KISSING)

I believe it was
Orry-Kelly who dressed him.

So he helped him pick out
a tuxedo

and customised it for him.

During the hard times,

he actually became
a professional escort.

He breaks hearts all over town.

But he still comes home to me.

I sail to Australia
for Father's funeral.

He's still here when I get hack.

That gave him

the best lesson he ever had
about acting,

and that was
that if you look the part

you can become the part -

it's so important

to everything that followed
in his life.

I could wring
those Cubans' necks!

Now, use the little gift
I'm sending you

to buy some canvas and oils.

People still pay good money
to have beauty on their walls.

Even the Americans.

So Orry didn't...approve

of Archie's lifestyle.

And also
things were happening for Orry.

He was beginning
to get real work,

real show-business work.

ORRY: Success!

Nightclub acts are spending
big money on sets.

My transformation scenes
get good notices.

And it's sets
for Shubert musicals

and dressing the wonderful
Miss Ethel Barrymore

and someone called
Katharine Hepburn.

Shuberts say I give better frock
than I do scenery,

and I'm promoted
to wardrobe maintenance.

(MEN YELL)

WILLIAM: The Wall Street Crash
in 1929 changed everything.

The New York theatre scene
practically stopped.

ORRY: We join
the speak-easy crowd.

My fornicating monkeys

on the wall
at Belle Livingstone's,

most dangerous woman
in New York,

make the papers.

ANN: It sounded very happening,
this place.

And it was very popular.

Archie helps out and holds on
to every penny that he makes.

The older he gets,
the stingier he gets.

At least one of us
has a business head.

(ARCHIE HOOTS AND SQUAWKS
LIKE A MONKEY)

And it was a big success,

which empowered Belle
to decide to go west.

Why not open our own speak-easy?

Archie Leach,
we're gonna be rich!

ORRY: My friends
spend up credit

like there's no tomorrow.

We're in trouble with the mob,

and we're too young to die.

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)

The Shuberts give me a season
in St Louis.

Isn't there anything down here
for Archie?

I know he's a lousy actor,
but something?

Anything? Please?

Idiot me goes with known
con artist Belle Livingstone

to set up a casino
in Reno and get rich.

When the mob tracks us down,
they decide not to kill me

because I'm "the guy
who done the monkeys",

and they give me till sundown
to get out of town.

MARC ELIOT: You know,
there was a kind of a gold rush

happening in Hollywood.

Everybody was running
there for the money.

For the fame.

ORRY: Los Angeles.

People are getting
breaks there,

so why, oh, why can't...
et cetera.

I hitch a ride there
with 30 cents to my name,

until a huge fruit truck
takes us out.

It's ironic that so much wonderful
moviemaking

was going on in Hollywood
at that time

when the country,
indeed the world,

was in the grip
of the Great Depression.

Hollywood in the early 1930s

was a town undergoing
radical change.

First of all,
sound was still very, very new,

and so many of the old players
from the 1920s

from the silent era

just were not equipped
to face that microphone.

So eventually, both of them
wound up in Hollywood.

ORRY: Hurrah!

Archie's got
a movie star name!

(LAUGHS)

When the heads of Paramount
see his test,

they say,
"We've got another Gable."

He's signed to a contract.

Now all he needs
is to get cast in something.

To Mr Cary Grant.

And me next?

The leading designers
in the early 1930s

would have been Travis Banton

at Paramount

and Gilbert Adrian at MGM.

So, Adrian was designing

for Joan Crawford,
for Greta Garbo,

who was the biggest star
of the time.

At Paramount...

...Banton was working with

Clara Bow, who he thought
was too fat.

He was designing for Mae West,

and most famous of all,

it was his collaboration

with Marlene Dietrich

that set her style
for the rest of her life.

ORRY: For six hungry months,
I sneak into double features.

Hollywood's dripping
with glitter and beads.

What they need is a good
plain gown with line.

MOTHER: Dear Son,

Persevere.

The upside of these tough times

is that people need
motion pictures.

You get your size-10 Kelly boot
in one of those studio doors.

What about Joan Crawford's
latest?

They have her dressed like
a wedding cake gone mad!

ERIC SHERMAN:
Every studio in those days

had a...

...almost a symbolic nature.

MGM was big fancy musicals.

Paramount was kind of
exotic black and white -

Josef von Sternberg.

LEONARD MALTIN:
Warner's films were the grittiest.

They called on real people.

They drew on actors who,

many of them from the stage,

who were more realistic

and more recognisable
as real people than, say,

the glamorised stars of MGM.

So at Warner Bros

you had Jimmy Cagney,

Edward G. Robinson.

Not pretty boys.

Warner Bros was always
considered a poor studio.

LEONARD: Rather notoriously,

Jack Warner
stole or poached talent

from mostly Paramount,
and also Columbia,

by hiring
some very big female stars,

which the studio needed
and lacked at the time.

So all of a sudden
they had under contract

Kay Francis,
who was a clothes horse,

and Ruth Chatterton,
who was a very popular leading lady.

And Barbara Stanwyck,
who wasn't yet an A-list star.

It wasn't Barbara.

It was Ruth Chatterton,
Kay Francis and William Powell.

(PHONE RINGS)

JACK WARNER: One thing is
the dames are gonna need clothes.

ORRY: Here. Me.
The chap on the pincushion.

Please!

Thanks to Archie's agent,

my sketches
are at the powers that be.

Warner Bros studio.

Could it be possible that,
for once in my life,

I really am in the right place
at the right time?

For 42 long days

and even longer nights, I wait.

CATHERINE MARTIN:
I love that Orry-Kelly

had this revolutionary idea

to include the actresses'
faces in the drawings.

I think it's something

that I relate to
specifically in my work,

because Baz always wants
the actors' faces

in the costumes.

I think for any costume designer

to kind of
really make their mark,

it's important to offer
something new and different

that people haven't been

doing before.

If this doesn't work,
back to Australia.

Please?!

I imagine it would have been
very intimidating

to have to prove oneself
as an outsider,

as a newcomer to the country,

a newcomer
to the movie business.

JACK WARNER:
OK, OK, try him out!

ORRY:: It all works,

and now I'm engaged
to dress film stars.

Hello, Malbro.

How are you, dear?

Surely you knew
that Julian and I

were having a little intrigue
on the side.

Oh, don't look so shocked,
Daddy dear.

-Well, I-1...
-You're just plain shocked.

We just came for a drink,
Julian.

No use being coy about it.

I think that his strength was,

whatever he did
for his actors and actresses,

he always enhanced
their very best aspects.

I want you to see me next
in China.

Goodbye, dear.

KYM BARRETT: And it wasn't all
in-your-face design.

That is what stands
the test of time.

(GLAMOROUS ORCHESTRAL MUSIC)

ORRY: The kid from Kiama.

The boy from the bush.

Into a company
that has built its fortune

on the heroic adventures
of a dog.

(DOG BARKS)

ERIC: Each studio made
a hundred pictures a year.

That would be 800 pictures.

Now each studio is lucky
to make 10 a year.

The mechanism that
the studio system had in place

to create these things
was tremendous.

A lot of things
were done in-house,

where they would make
their own shoes,

they would make their own hats.

There were glove-makers.

Because a woman didn't
step out of her house

without gloves then.

And in the storeroom,

the costume designer
would go down

and shop for buttons,

shop for fabric,
shop for linings.

All of that happened
on the studio lot.

MOTHER: "Dear Mother, The studio
wants me to change my name.

"Like Archie has.

"They wanted something
more Parisian."

He's using my maiden name.

Purdue.

Purdue up in lights!

Ah. "But I told them 'Kelly'
is good enough for me "

Of course it is.

"So we compromised
on the hyphen.

"I'm still Jack to my friends.

"When I get my first movie,
feel free to applaud the credits.

"Your loving son, Orry-Kelly."

Orry-Kelly.

People might think
he's a corporation!

(GLAMOROUS ORCHESTRAL MUSIC)

I think the interesting thing

about the perception
of costume design

is it's just about
making people look good.

But I think your job
as a costume designer

is to be an adjunct
to the storytelling.

You're trying to help
the director and the actor

who are creating a performance,
are creating a character.

I don't really think
that it's our job

to have any
of our costumes be...

...something
that you really notice.

I'm so interested in the full spectrum
of humanity, you know?

And the most compelling roles
are always when you see someone

at their most triumphant
and glorious moments,

but also at their deepest,
darkest moments of despair.

I have to do a drawing
for myself.

Because I work
purely from instinct,

not intellectualised,

although I am

the biggest researcher
in the world.

And to be able to bring out
the good things to somebody

in front of a mirror is a really

important part of the process.

You keep looking in the mirror,

and suddenly
another being is there.

And the actor, for a second,

does not recognise himself.

It sounds like magic,

but it isn't, it's real.

And, I mean, you can do it
with a shoulder pad.

You can do it with a beer belly.
You can...

Something that removes

the actor from himself.

KAY FRANCIS:
Mr Kelly understands emotion.

MAN: Pour me one, huh?

KAY: When I'm playing
a big scene,

when I'm trying
to kill my boyfriend,

I need something plain,
not dramatic.

LARRY McQUEEN: They were dealing
with an awful lot of women

that had very strong opinions

as far as how they looked,
how they wanted to look,

how they wanted to be
perceived by the public.

And they needed someone

that could be their best friend,

that could make them think

they did look beautiful,

even though they might not have,

and to actually
make them look beautiful.

I'm a character actress,

so you're really talking to
the wrong woman, in a way,

because I...

I'm always trying to...
to create a character.

So the clothes are
terribly important to me.

But the average leading lady

just wants to look fabulous.

ORRY: Miss Del Rio
is a beautiful wild anemone,

with a back that does
not need dressing.

Oh, Inez, I love you.

Jack Warner
was a very tough boss.

And he and Orry
had some legendary clashes.

I liked him
because he was showbiz,

unabashedly showbiz.

JEAN MATHISON:
Orry-Kelly knew what he was doing,

and he knew what he could
produce for Jack Warner.

He could give Jack a bad time.

ORRY: Repeat after me.

No actress of mine

does a love scene

in floral
and freaking puff sleeves.

I love you.

I think
he would have been working

from dawn till dusk.

Because he never
would have completed his job

because another script
would be on his desk.

LEONARD: Nothing escaped
Jack Warner's notice,

whether it was somebody
leaving a light on...

(CHUCKLES)

...or tossing a crumpled piece
of paper on the lawn.

It was his property.

It was his lawn.

It was his light bulb
being wasted.

On Saturday after my dad
had finished a picture,

there would be a script on his desk
with a note clipped to it

saying, "Here's your next project, Vince."

And one out of 10 he said,

"Mr Warner,
you've got to be kidding."

And Warner would say,

"But I paid a fortune for it."

ORRY': Dear Mother,
I'm dressing 60 pictures a year

with not a lot of help.

And some of them look it.

For my contract renewal,

I told you I'd get
my Aussie up.

And he did.

Stood up to Mr Jack Warner

for six weeks,
until he caved in.

You see, he does have a brain
for business after all.

$750, not pounds, a week.

ORRY: When you come to visit,
you'll have a butler,

a chauffeur, a maid,

and a room
with your name on it.

Do you know,

he was on the verge of sharing
with his good friend again,

Mr Cary Grant,
as a matter of fact,

but when all's said and done

I think he's better off
living alone for now.

ORRY: At first,
we meet for dinner a lot,

but Cary's got his head
in the stars.

And so I get a dog.

(DOG PANTS)

But what he discovered,

and what Archie
would soon discover...

...is that Hollywood
wasn't Greenwich Village.

Hollywood at the time,

when the golden age of cinema
was happening,

was probably
the most homophobic city

in not just America,
but the world.

With the Depression worsening,

we saw a reaction against
the excesses of the 1920s,

and we began to see raids
on 'pansy clubs' -

which is what they were called
in the '30s -

at the same time that we see
the Production Code

being implemented in Hollywood,

where any inference to being gay
or lesbian on the screen

had to be wiped out.

MARC: I mean this was a city

run by European moguls

who probably

had never heard
of homosexuality.

I mean, these were...

They came from tough families

that were always on the run.

Most of them were Jews,

and they kind of escaped
to Hollywood.

And their desire was to create

a beautiful American dream
on screen.

And the American dream
in those days

did not include homosexuality.

When Cary Grant
meets Randolph Scott...

Here's Randolph Scott
from a wealthy Southern family

where he too
has to leave Virginia

because he's gay,

and being gay in the South

is like being black
in the South.

They take a beach house
out in Malibu.

They did a layout, I think,
for 'Architectural Digest'.

How beautiful, how tasteful
their home is.

There are pictures
of Cary Grant cooking

and both of them
weightlifting.

MAN: Aren't those boys
carrying that 'buddy business'

a bit too far?

Paramount had a fit
about all of this, you know?

They said,
"What are you two guys doing?!"

Your public image
became as important

as anything else
in your career.

And when the studios
would get a little upset,

they would throw some starlet
at him,

and he would take them out

and he would be photographed,

and play the whole game.

Opening nights.
"Oh, yes, she's very beautiful."

And go home
to Randolph Scott.

(WATER SPLASHES)

Orry never tried to fool anyone,
which many people do.

And Cary Grant
and Randolph Scott did,

and would never admit it.

I don't blame them
for not admitting it.

(GLAMOROUS ORCHESTRAL MUSIC)

There'd been lots of musicals

when talking pictures
first started.

1929 and 1930 there were so many

that the public
got tired of them.

And theatres
were actually advertising

"not a musical”.

But then Darryl F. Zanuck,
the head of production,

took a chance on a film
called '42nd Street'.

And the film was a sensation.

It was an absolute smash.

ORRY: A musical that's gritty
and now.

DEBORAH NADOOLMAN LANDIS:
I'm sure that Orry-Kelly

pulled from personal experience

where '42nd Street'
was concerned.

ORRY: They're as close to naked
as I can get away with.

It's for every chorus girl
I ever dropped.

LEONARD: '42nd Street'

had an immense vitality to it.

Coming out during
the Depression

had something to do
with its success too.

It just lifted people's spirits,

and yet didn't take them
out of the Depression entirely.

Busby Berkeley, I guess,

was the ultimate reason
it succeeded,

because he had such
astonishing imagination,

which the Warners let run free.

ORRY: Busby and I
hit the tiles together,

and he tells me the military

is where he got
all his manoeuvres.

Started out not knowing
a plié from a platoon.

Hollywood finds few
in its own backyard.

Busby's fearless.

The way he uses the camera

through the legs of the girls.

Shooting not just
from the roof but through it

He literally raises the roof.

(ALL SING) & Old Man Depression

3 You are through,
you've done us wrong... &

ORRY: 54 girls dressed
in 54,000 silver coins.

4 And when we see the landlord

& We can look that guy
right in the eye... &

75 women worked eight days
to make the hoop skirts.

Then one day I'm called down

because the electric violins
are shorting

and giving
the chorus girls shocks.

The Warner musicals
are happy days.

The tech fellas
arrive early on set

for a glimpse of the Berkeley girls
all scantily dressed.

Spoilsport Warner
chases them off.

"Back to work!"

Nothing makes you a better designer
than experience.

And having been there,

Orry was a witness
to backstage life,

to backstage chorus girls.

ORRY: Well, of course,

no girl minds stripping off
in front of a fairy.

(WOMAN CRIES)

Kelly's room's a confessional

for the broken
and disappointed.

(WOMAN SOBS)

Ginger Rogers
just read in a gossip column

her fiancé's engaged
to another gal.

-(WOMAN WAILS)
-ORRY: Shhh!

(LAUGHTER)

And the boy from Kiama flies
in William Hearst's private plane

to deliver wardrobe sketches,

and remembers to pinch himself.

And at the parties,
for everyone who is anyone,

I make those
lifelong girlfriends

that every boy needs.

The exquisite Marion Davies,

who doesn't believe
her own talent.

Fanny Brice,
funny and brilliant.

Ann Warner, who collects humans

who need warmth
and understanding.

All gals who see the joke
on themselves

before anyone else does.

Suppers for 50.

Costume bashes for 500.

The Hearst Castle.

Ann and Jack Warner's.

At the castle, if you misbehave,
you're tapped on the shoulder

with an escort
to a car provided.

So far, I remain untapped.

There'd already been
a Production Code,

but nobody paid
much attention to it.

And the early '30s movies,

especially Warner Bros movies,

really pushed the envelope,

to use a contemporary term.

Come here, sweetheart.

LEONARD:
In films like 'Baby Face',

nothing was off limits.

'Baby Face' is the story
of a woman,

an abused young woman,

who flees from

her Pittsburgh
steel-mining home town

to the big city...

Boy, I'll bet there's plenty of dough
in this little shack.

LEONARD: ..where she literally
sleeps her way to the top

and becomes a big executive.

COLLEEN ATWOOD:
In the film 'Baby Face',

the sort of transformation
that Orry-Kelly did

with the character
of Barbara Stanwyck

is a kind of journey
that is fun to watch

and also fun to learn from
as a designer.

(DOOR CLOSES)

COLLEEN: An actor like Barbara
is so amazing to watch

because she's
so not traditionally beautiful.

But I get so lonesome
out there all by myself.

Don't do that!

Did Fuzzy Wuzzy
enjoy his dinner?

Mm-hm.

COLLEEN: But stunning-looking
in the film,

and her changes
are so kind of striking and strong

in a life journey
from one point to another.

It's hard to believe
that 'Baby Face' got by at all.

But in fact the Warner Bros

had to go back
and re-shoot the ending

because they were
obliged to show...

Get a doctor, quick!

LEONARD:
..that Stanwyck's character

did pay a price
for what she did.

Oh, darling.

Darling, don't leave me!

And eventually,

some members of the audience
started to protest.

And church groups and civic groups
started to protest.

And Hollywood
heard the drumbeats.

WILLIAM: The Code sterilised
American films overnight.

On the other hand, the Code

did make the great directors
rise to the challenge.

And the list of rules
that they came up with were,

I mean, really astonishing.

No kissing
longer than two seconds.

Separate beds.

You couldn't criticise religion.

Crime couldn't pay.

You couldn't show women's bodies
above the knee.

You know, before this,

Hollywood was
a pretty wild west place.

(PHONE RINGS)

Yeah?

ORRY:
My heroic friend Billy Haines

is shown the front gate at MGM.

WILLIAM:
He was a huge, huge star

at the end of the silent era
and the early talkie era.

He also had a partner

who he had met in 1925,
Jimmy Shields.

And they lived together and they
entertained and they socialised.

And the press came to
their parties,

and the studio heads
came to their parties.

There was no pretence.

There was no disguise.

Billy Haines was called into
Louis B. Mayer's office,

and Mayer, the head of the studio,
looked at him and said,

"Billy, it's either Jimmy
or your career."

Mayer didn't like the idea
that he was a gay gentleman.

And Billy said to him,

"If you would leave your wife,
I would leave Jimmy."

And Billy walked out.

And then he went into
the design business,

and became one of the top
interior designers of all time.

WILLIAM: So it took a lot of courage
at that moment to say,

"I'm walking away from
the only thing I've ever done,

"and I'm going to, you know..."

But out of principle
and out of love.

It's really a great love story
between Billy and Jimmy.

ORRY: What the hell
do they expect us to be?

Some of us ask ourselves,
"Would we do the same thing?"

In the case of Travis Banton
and Adrian,

the great designers
from Paramount and MGM,

they played the game,

and both of them got married.

LARRY: Orry-Kelly refused to
play along with that game.

He was who he was.
He never made excuses.

And sometimes he stepped on
some toes

or ruffled some feathers,

but, in fact,
he lived an authentic life.

ORRY: Don't do it!

! try to warn Virginia

that Cary will break her heart.

But she's smitten
by the Grant charm.

In the case of Cary Grant,

he got married
to Virginia Cherrill,

a very kind of
young and innocent starlet.

MARC: After they come back
to the States,

Randolph Scott is still there.

I mean, he's just...

To him, nothing is different.

That this is a marriage
of convenience.

He understands it.
He gets it.

But he's really the wife,
not Virginia Cherrill.

So there's a kind of a struggle -
who's the wife here?

HEDDA HOPPER:
Randolph Scott and Cary Grant

are now both married,

and live in separate houses,
a few doors apart.

WILLIAM: Shortly after that,
he attempted suicide.

And even though

some people say it had
nothing to do with the marriage,

it seems to me
awfully suspicious

that here's a man
who had lived quite happily

and openly with Randolph Scott,

and had moved within
a largely gay circle

when he first came to Hollywood.

And then suddenly
he gets married

and there's suddenly
a suicide attempt.

I believe there must be
some connection there.

What might life
have been like for them

if they hadn't had to
go their separate ways

and live a life
according to the studio's rules,

according to society's rules,

and lived together,

as they seemed to have been so happy
in those early years?

ORRY: Fights is where
Hollywood gets together.

Sometimes I run into Cary,

but seems he can do
without a friend like me.

Come on!

ORRY: Meanwhile, I keep trying
to subvert the Hays Code.

(JAZZY MUSIC)

(JAZZY PIANO MUSIC)

LARRY: Orry was sometimes
a better friend of Jack's wife Ann

than Jack appreciated.

And when she was your friend,
she was there for you.

Believe me.

I remember him
being at the house

very, very often.

Not just for dinner parties,
but casually,

coming over in the afternoons,

sitting and chatting
with my mother.

And I could hear the laughter
all the way down the hall.

And the moment
I got a little closer

and they saw me,
they'd stop talking.

Mr Nash, Miss Mason.

-How do you do?
-How do you do, Miss Mason?

MAN WITH FOLDER:
Oh, call her Lynn.

-Shall I?
-Why not?

When she arrived
at Warner Bros,

Bette Davis was kind of
an odd duck.

She was not a typical ingenue.

She was not compliant...
(LAUGHS)

.like a typical ingenue.

And she didn't have

conventional pretty-girl
ingenue looks.

DAVID CHIERICHETTI: But Kelly
always made her look very good,

and her lack of
a movie star look

was a great concern
to everybody.

But what she could do was act.

You told me that one day
you'd find a fellow

that would go the whole distance
and take orders all the way,

and you'd make him a champ.

And she suffered through
a lot of potboiler movies.

And then, finally,
on loan to RKO,

made 'Of Human Bondage'.

Well, one thing
I can say for you...

...a gentleman
in every sense of the word.

LEONARD: Everybody sat up
and took notice.

And from that day forward,

she fought for better parts
at Warner Bros.

And she and Jack Warner
became combatants,

but not always enemy combatants.

ORRY:
The most important attribute

for a successful film actress
is intelligence.

Bette Davis isn't easy,

but she's worth it.

LEONARD: 'Gone With the Wind'
fever was in the air.

And Bette Davis

was among those people
caught up in that.

And when she realised she was
not going to get the part

or maybe even have a chance to
get the part of Scarlett O'Hara,

she put her weight behind

a not dissimilar story

called 'Jezebel'.

JACK WARNER:
Who wants to see a movie

about a woman who wears
a red dress to a white ball?

BETTE DAVIS:
Only 10 million women, Jack.

LEONARD: And finally

talked Jack Warner
into buying the property

and letting her
play it on screen.

(SWEEPING ORCHESTRAL MUSIC)

Evening, Miss Julie.

Thank you, Gros Bat.

"Jezebel' was Warner Bros' answer to
'Gone With the Wind'.

But the funny thing was
that it was in black and white.

...simply bowled over by it,
I won't know what to think.

Wait a minute.
Bring that over here.

LEONARD: And yet
the storytelling is so good

and so persuasive

that you think
you are seeing a red dress.

You really believe
that she's wearing a red dress,

and yet all you're seeing
are shades of grey.

Well, shall we go, Pres?

Not till
you're properly dressed.

You're sure it's the dress?

Costume designers,
including Orry-Kelly,

worked really using contrast -

black, white
and shades of grey.

It's not that they designed
in black and white. Not at all.

They designed in colour.

It was a brown dress,
a reddish-brown dress,

but it photographed red.

Now, there was an awful lot
of experimentation

that had to be done
by the designers

to sort of
create a look of colour

without really having colour.

Take me out of here!

COLLEEN: I thought that
the translucence of the fabric

and the way that it moved
was really beautiful.

And I think that
his hand with fabric

and his choices of light fabric

and layering
light fabric together

is one of the things
that set him apart

from other designers
of the period.

Let me send for him.

JULIE: No, he'll come back.

Wait and see.

ORRY: So many people swear
they saw a red dress

in black and white.

Bette Davis's figure
was very difficult,

and Orry-Kelly
had a lot of problems

that he had to solve with it.

The biggest problem
was her breasts.

They were very large and limp,

And they fell down
to her waist, practically.

Did I hear you say
that you were a writer?

And Kelly
wanted to give her bras

that would have underwires
in them that would push her up,

but she wouldn't allow him
to use any wire

because she thought
it would give her breast cancer.

And so he had to make
undergarments for her,

and he did,

that pushed them up
as far as they could go.

But if you pushed too hard,
they would simply double over.

There'll be a wonderful world...

DAVID: Another way he did it

was to put some detail
above her breasts,

like a pocket handkerchief

or a corsage.

COLLEEN: I think that
the collaboration

with the knowledge
that Orry-Kelly had

about how to transform
a body and a character

through their costumes

is probably one of the things

that gelled his relationship
with Bette Davis.

ORRY: She never disagrees
about unimportant details.

One of a handful of actresses

who can look in the mirror
and tell the truth.

What makes many of the actors
today exceptional

is all the things that they
think are wrong with them,

because those things
are what make them unique.

And the combination
of those things

are what make them beautiful.

JACK WARNER:
Who wants to see a movie

about a goddamn girl dying?

(HORN HONKS)

DAVID: 'Dark Victory'

was one of Bette Davis'
most important films.

She was nominated
for the Academy Award for it.

And she was playing a wealthy woman
who's very stylish,

so Kelly made very high style

and flattering costumes for her.

I played bridge
in the afternoon,

I went to the theatre
in the evening.

DAVID: There was little hats
she has to wear

because she's had her head
shaved in the story,

and she wears these little caps
to cover it.

I'll die as I please.
Now, leave me alone!

You hate me, don't you?

DEBORAH: Orry must have
worked very closely

with Bette Davis
on that character arc

and the evolution of that person

through the screenplay,

because there's not one false move.

What did you do?

-Oh!

(CHUCKLES)

(PENSIVE ORCHESTRAL MUSIC)

LEONARD: 'Now, Voyager',

she is the ultimate
ugly duckling

who turns into
something of a swan.

And part of that transformation,
of course,

is the way she dresses.

Oh, uh, this is my very good friend
Mr Jaquith.

I ran into him on the street
and brought him by for tea.

I thought Mother
would be pleased

and I...well, I hoped
you would be too.

How do you do, Miss Vale?

She fought to do it
even though

it was being offered
to Irene Dunne.

She fought to get it
for herself.

And she was not afraid
to look very unattractive

in the early part of the film.

Kelly padded her to make her
look overweight.

She goes away
to the mental hospital

and she goes on a cruise
afterwards

and her family
comes to meet her.

She's now more slender
and much more beautiful

and wearing fabulous clothes.

ORRY: I could have killed her
during this.

She won't even look at
my dressy evening clothes.

Won't look!
I fly to the bottle.

She apologises - family problems -
and we make up.

Hello, everybody.

I love her
for being a true artist.

Always attempting
the impossible.

Oh, you look simply gorgeous!

How quiet and strong
those clothes are.

I think you can really
understand that he was...

...he was a master of
silhouette and of nuance.

The final scene where Paul Henreid
lights two cigarettes

and gives her one,

she's wearing
a very simple blouse and skirt,

because she didn't want
to wear something

that would be too eye-catching
and detract

from the drama
of the scene.

In everything she did,

she was very purposeful
and decisive.

And to have another person
on her side

I think really, um, added

to her vision
of those characters.

I mean, they're strong.

They're actually sometimes
quite affronting.

(GUNSHOT)

(DOGS BARK)

(GUNSHOT, DOGS BARK,
PEOPLE EXCLAIM)

(GUN CLICKS)

(DOGS CONTINUE BARKING,
PEOPLE TALK AT ONCE)

LEONARD:
'The Letter' simply has

one of the greatest opening scenes
of any movie ever made.

Period.

How do you not
grab an audience

by starting out your story
with the leading lady,

a well-known,
recognisable leading lady,

shooting a man point blank?

(LAUGHS) Just incredible.

Well, he took hold of my arm
and swung me back.

But I tried to scream
and he flung his arms about me

and began to kiss me.

I struggled to tear
myself away from him.

He seemed like a madman.
He kept talking and talking.

And saying he loved me and...

Oh, it's horrible!
Can't go on!

MICHAEL: They say that
Orry-Kelly was the only person

who knew how to flatter

Bette Davis's figure
and her personality.

It was a good marriage.

I mean, Orry was
very in tune with her.

He loved her
and she loved him.

And rightfully so.

(JAZZ MUSIC)

MOTHER: He comes home
every two years

and I'll be sailing over shortly.

He's a very busy man now
with over 50 films a year.

Doesn't it just
take your breath away,

the way he comes up
with all these ideas?

ORRY: Tell Jack Warner
if he's going to flog my frocks

to freaking Macy's in crap fabric,
in crap colours,

then take my double-barrelled
bullshit name off them!

Now!

JACK WARNER:
Yeah, yeah. Kelly can be trouble.

But his clothes have got
the one thing I insist on -

quality.

(LAUGHTER)

ORRY: And at a party,
I get the Cary Grant mask

and now I'm the murky past.

The half-English, half-Cockney,
half-arsed "Hi."

No eye contact.

I try to figure out
if he's happy living his normal life.

Am l7?

He's marrying an heiress.

Jackpot.

"Cary Grant to wed"

and I'm picking up sailors
on the San Pedro wharves.

SCOTTY: He was openly gay.

That's one thing, as I said,
I liked about Orry -

he was honest and above board,

and wasn't sneaking about.

Men

and the teeny tiny
number of women...

...who were gay...

The word we don't use.

...were very much intimidated

by the studio system.

Back in those days,
it was illegal to be gay.

I mean, it was like being a Communist.
(LAUGHS)

You know, you could,
as you pointed out,

you could lose a job

if there were people
on a particular movie

or in a particular studio
that was homophobic.

The two great hosts
of Hollywood's society

were Cole Porter
and George Cukor.

And they would have
visiting royalty,

but also, you know,
just the royalty of the stage

and Hollywood would
come by, you know,

the Barrymores and Vivien Leigh
and Laurence Olivier.

And Orry-Kelly was
a huge part of that.

He was a regular
at Cukor's house.

I remember at one Cukor dinner
having cold cherry soup.

(LAUGHS) I didn't even know
there was such a thing,

and it was really good.

And Orry-Kelly
was at that dinner

along with Warren Beatty

who was at the time
dating Natalie Wood.

They never took their
hands off each other.

WILLIAM: After all
the famous stars went home,

there would be a time
for Cukor and his young men.

Cary Grant never came
to George Cukor's house

in the way other actors did.

And that was,
friends of Cukor told me,

because Cukor thought
he was a phoney

and didn't really
want him around.

ORRY: Meanwhile,
Cary sues Louella Parsons,

gossip columnist,

for insinuating
he's not "a normal man".

I would not have taken that
from the King, your father.

Much less will I accept it
from a king in petticoats.

DEBORAH:
There are lots of stories

about the creation of

'Elizabeth and Essex'.

I mean,
apparently Michael Curtiz

who was the director,

tested the costumes,

hated the costumes!

ORRY: I've been around
too long for this.

Our director, Curltiz,
who no doubt researched

the Elizabethans
while he was on the john,

wants Bette's ruffs
and hoops smaller.

Smaller!

"Too big! Too big!"

Together, Bette Davis and I

fight the good fight
for authenticity.

I make two versions.

She tests
in the scaled-down ones

and wears the historically
correct dresses on the day.

It's very naughty,

but the story is that
that's what they did.

(BOTH LAUGH)

ORRY: Finally,
the USA joins the war.

To my mind, 'Casablanca'
is the perfect movie.

It's certainly
the perfect Hollywood movie.

They all thought
it was a piece of trash

when they were making it
and they had no ending

and they couldn't figure out
how to end and it got written

at the last minute, the ending,
I mean, it's funny.

ORRY:: Dear Mother,
My war effort is 'Casablanca',

with Bogart,
your favourite, Claude Rains,

and a young Swedish actress
named Ingrid Bergman.

She prefers to be
made up on set

to avoid the make-up room gossip.

One could learn a great deal
from the Swedes.

And of course, every producer,
his wife and their dog

knows how
she should be dressed.

Orry-Kelly,
from producer Selznick -

"Miss Bergman looks like

"she's dressed up
like a candy box.

"Her hat's hideous.

"White shoes -
her feet look like the 'Titanic'.

"Evening dress hideous.

"She looks big from the rear."

-Yes, monsieur?
-I reserved a table.

-Victor Laszlo.
-Yes, Monsieur Laszlo.

Right this way.

DEBORAH: So many of the clothes
that Ingrid Bergman wore

in 'Casablanca',
you could wear now.

(PIANIST PLAYS TUNE)

DEBORAH: She glowed.

He put her
in so much white,

which would be appropriate

for...for Morocco.

COLLEEN: I do remember
the clothes from 'Casablanca'

as being absolutely
elegant and stunning.

Rick, I have to talk to you.

COLLEEN: Humphrey Bogart -

you never forget that character
and the looks.

I think people still want
to achieve that feeling

with the character,
like he was the ultimate cool guy.

I thought it was such a great fit
between the personality

of Ingrid Bergman,
her character.

Orry-Kelly really understood that
and gave it such force.

There's sort of
an almost minimalist approach

to the clothes.

COLLEEN: I think the cut of them
and the way they drape

just looks so beautiful

that people would put them on today
and be happy in them.

DEBORAH: I'm not surprised
that when the audience saw her

and saw her clothes,

they were so affected
by the movie.

They wanted to be her.

They wanted
some of that romance.

Any chance of a royalty
on my dress

that the New York houses
are all knocking off?

The first thing I do
is call Bette.

"Darling, we'd better get a move on
dressing your next picture

cause Uncle Sam's
about to dress me.

"At 46,
I'll be peeling spuds.”

Or, as it happens,
shovelling shit.

MAN: Ain't your name Kelly?

And don't you come
from Hollywood?

And don't you have something to do with
women's dresses?

And don't I read in the paper

you are more than all of us
dumb bastards put together?!

I start drinking
after breakfast.

I'd start drinking before

except they'd see
where I hide my stash.

Uncle Sam
releases the over-45s.

Thank God!

Orry and Cary met again

on the set
of 'Arsenic and Old Lace'.

Get out of here!
Do you want to be poisoned?

Do you want to be murdered?
Do you want to be killed?!

Oh!

And Cary was a big, big star
at this point.

But this was the first time
they'd actually

worked together on a film.

There was a little bit of tension between
the two of them.

Whoo-hoo! Please!
For heaven's sake.

But, Mortimer, right out here in the open
with everyone looking?

WILLIAM: And at one point,

the television show,
"Queen for a Day',

had sent a limo over
to the set.

(HORN HONKS)

Cary noticed the limousine
out in front

that had the words
"Queen for a Day'

emblazoned on its side
and Cary turned to Orry

and kind of said,
"Orry, your limousine has arrived."

Now, this was not something
that Orry took very well.

But it was also
a real low blow

from Cary Grant
with whom he had had

an intimate personal
relationship with for so long,

and to say this now
was a jab.

I don't think he ever
really acknowledged

Orry-Kelly's existence,

let alone the extent
of their relationship.

DAVID: When he came back
from the army,

things had changed at Warners.

Howard Shoup had been
promoted a little bit

and given an 'A' picture to do.

ORRY: So relieved
to get back to the frills,

I failed to notice the frisson.

I'm designing bugger-all
while Mr Howard Shoup

shafts me and gets
all the good jobs.

I can't believe

my mother couldn't do anything.

There must've been
something so extreme.

Perhaps he didn't show up
for a week.

I have no idea
what it could've been.

I punch out a Warner's executive
who won't square with me

and tell me
I'm sacked to my face.

And Warner's out of town.
Help!

Jack Warner eventually says
I can stay

even if I am a mean drunk.

JACK WARNER:
If it's any consolation, Kelly,

and if I know
your kangaroo hide,

you'll double your money
wherever you go next.

BETTE DAVIS:
I miss Kelly desperately.

My next film is a hodge-podge.

Such inferior clothes.

ORRY: Anyone need
a dressmaker?

Going cheap-ish.

DAVID: And I guess he must've
been idle most of the time

between '42 and '45

when he went to Fox

and Charles Le Maire,
who was the head of design there,

was prevailed upon to give him a job
and he didn't want to.

So he put him on the most
unpleasant assignment

of the period, was working
with Betty Grable.

ORRY': Dear Mother,
I've moved over to Fox.

Costumes for Betty Grable.

And time off to open
an atelier on the side.

Dear Mother, Grable
is something on wheels to dress.

So unpredictable,
she'd tear the clothes off her back.

Couldn't think of two actresses
more different

than Bette Davis
and Betty Grable.

ORRY: { thought you could use
another sable.

And as promised,
I'm taking notes for my memoir.

(LIVELY PIANO MUSIC PLAYS)

(BOTH SING)

LEONARD: Betty Grable
became America's sweetheart

during the war.

DEBORAH:
It was her face and body

that was painted on our B-52s.

So she was a very important commodity
for that studio.

People enjoyed going to see her

in these mindless
escapist musicals

where she showed off
her beautiful legs.

DAVID: They were not
true period at all.

Betty Grable wanted to show
her legs all the time,

whether it was
appropriate or not.

BETTY: Thank you. Oh!

DEBORAH: He was so comfortable
in every genre.

I think he was amazing.
But very funny.

I mean, those clothes
were very, very funny

in "The Dolly Sisters'.

(SINGS) J Your little poor relation,
Patsy Powderpuff... &

-Help!
-(THUNDER CRACKS)

Please someone
get me out of here!

After Kelly had been fired
from Warner Brothers,

Bette Davis insisted
that he be brought back

to design the clothes
for 'Mr Skeffington'.

ERIC: My father described

working with Orry that

as they would discuss
the character,

there would come a moment
where Orry

would kind of lock on,
like a radar,

and say,
"I've got it, Vincent!"

(SWEEPING ORCHESTRAL MUSIC)

There's a famous staircase scene
in the picture

and Warner said,
"Use that stair over there."

And my dad said,
"But, Mr Warner,

"that stair was in
four other films."

And Warner said,
"Use it, anyway."

-Good evening, Fanny.
-Hello, Fanny.

Fanny, you look beautiful.

DAVID: Kelly made very elaborate
and stylish clothes,

but they were
a little bit too fussy.

Too much detail.

This was to show her vanity.

And they get worse and worse
as the story progresses.

Oh, there's an attractive man!

DAVID: And Bette Davis
wasn't afraid to look foolish

because it underlined
the points

that she was making
with her acting.

'Mr Skeffington'
was an enormous SUCCESS.

She got to know
Edith Head somehow.

Then after that,
she didn't ask for him again.

She was arare,
totally individual actress,

who had a quality of her own.

He understood that totally.

ORRY:: Oh, fine, run off with
pushy Miss Edith Head.

DAVID: He lost
'The Razor's Edge'.

Gene Tierney,
who was the star of the film,

wanted her husband
to design it.

And Kelly had actually
done some work on it

when Gene Tierney said
she wouldn't appear in the film

unless her husband,
Oleg Cassini, got the job.

Everyone needs one person
who believes in them.

Florence Kelly, farewell.

She loathed wasted words,
my mother.

She was the original
morse code.

Even when she shared gossip,

her writing got tinier
and tinier,

like a whisper.

Over the years,
every letter ended

in precisely the same way.

"Be sure to keep
your bowels open

"and you won't get
appendicitis.

"And have faith."

(DOG WHINES)

Hollywood and Vine.

The famed corners are
a little dim these days.

I christened it
'the street of disappointments”.

Until I met someone
to go home to.

A fine romance.

A builder. Bob.

SCOTTY:
Everybody I fixed Bob up with

fell in love with him,
liked him.

He was very square
and kind of a farm boy type,

you know, kind of with
'dis, dat, dose and dem'.

And Orry liked him very much.

ORRY: Robert.
Robert Roberts.

My friends like him.

(CHUCKLES) He makes me laugh.

JEAN MATHISON:
We used to meet at The Brown Derby

and after work, many of us
would gather there after business

and catch up on, you know,
events of the day

and whatever happened
and that sort of thing.

And Orry-Kelly
was one of the fellows

that used to drop in
and join the group.

He always had fun.

One time,
Kelly crossed the street

in the middle of the street
between the traffic

and the cop was standing there
and he stopped him.

And he looked at the guy
and he said,

"How fast was I going?"

(LAUGHS)

HEDDA HOPPER:
When a man over 40

says he's fallen
for a girl of 20,

it isn't her youth he's seeking
but his own.

ORRY: Cary Grant to wed.

Divorce coming soon.

DAVID: Kelly got
a couple of jobs at MGM

because of George Cukor.

The first one was 'Pat and Mike'
starring Katharine Hepburn.

And the MGM wardrobe department
found him to be difficult.

He was unpopular there.
They thought he was foulmouthed.

LARRY McQUEEN:
What I've heard is that he could be

a very charming, funny man

unless he drank.

And then he could get
rather vindictive

and rather loud.

And, uh...

...that may have been part
of his downfall.

(MAN SINGS)
& I'll build a stairway... &

DEBORAH:
The musical 'American in Paris'

was divided
between three designers -

Walter Plunkett,

Orry-Kelly
and Irene Scharaff.

DAVID: I don't know how
he got 'American in Paris'

and why Walter Plunkett
didn't do the whole film.

Kelly did all of the book
of the picture.

Plunkett did
the black-and-white ball.

And Irene Scharaff
was brought in to do the ballet.

And the three of them won
the Academy Award for it.

The Academy Award
for costume design

wasn't established
until 1948.

LEONARD:
And winning that Oscar

certainly didn't do him
any harm.

It may have re-established him
in many ways.

(ORRY CHUCKLES)

Mr and Mrs Kelly of Kiama,

this is for you.

Wherever you are.

JUNE DALLY-WATKINS: I knew Orry
when he was the celebrity

and lived in that beautiful white house.

And everybody respected him.

ORRY: Another brilliant
business move from Kelly.

The sole purpose
of a dress salon,

it would seem,
is to lose money.

I'm obviously very good at it.

I'm losing every last dime.

The men I thought were
distributing my dresses

have been busy
knocking them off.

Most of the costume designers
did drink.

I'm not really sure why.

I'm not sure
if there's a correlation.

Duh!

If you're drinking
and you're gay

and you're
under a studio system,

what would you say?

I never saw him ever drinking.

I think he wanted to

give a good impression
of himself to me.

Of young Junie from Australia.

MRS FREEMAN GOSDEN:
A good friend of my husband

called one night
and they talked about

other things from time to time,

but this night
she talked about Orry-Kelly

and that he had his, uh...

He had fallen upon hard times

and could Freeman buy
some of his pictures

which were for sale.

And Freeman said,
"Of course, Ann, I'd love to do that."

Freeman was a very good friend
of Bob Cobb

who ran that famous
Brown Derbys.

I guess they must've been
talking about

the problems that Orry had

and he explained to Freeman
what had happened

and that he knew about them

and that he had offered
the restaurant

for the rest of his life,

to eat his meals there.

Lunch, dinner, whatever.

ORRY: The phone stops ringing.

The Oscars curse.

Nothing to do with the bottle.

Where is Bob, actually?!

If I could just find Bob!

Bob!

Bob!

When Orry went away,
believe me,

he didn't have
a lot of friends.

People did not rally.

Mrs Warner did

and, um, Rosalind Russell did.

My understanding is that
he came out of rehab.

We didn't use those words then.

He had been away for quite
a long time to get sober.

That he told me.
That was no secret.

He was not being
invited out at all.

When he came out
to do 'Oklahomal',

believe me, it was like
working with a nun

who didn't know
how to read a menu.

DEBORAH: 'Oklahomal'
had been a huge hit on Broadway.

And I wonder
how he got that job.

DAVID CHIERICHETTI:
Two women from London, I believe,

were assigned to do "Oklahoma!'

and for some reason,
Kelly was brought in.

ANN ROTH: Mrs Hammerstein,

who had a very dear friend
who has just been rehabilitated,

named Orry-Kelly, was in
a little apartment on Larrabee.

And she said, "Let's have Orry.
He's this fabulous designer.”

And so Orry arrived.

He thought that
I was just fine.

And I was hired.

Because I was
this pretentious brat

from a farm in Pennsylvania

with a cigarette holder
and a string of pearls.

And I wanted to be taken
very seriously

and Orry could do
the most divine imitations

of me being Madame Chanel,

who...no-one knew
who that was!

I mean, it was...
l was in Hollywood!

They didn't know anything!

Orry was empowered
by the success of 'Oklahoma!'

MICHAEL: You see a great example
of bravura use of colour.

You know, it's so exuberant.

It really matches
the tone of the music

and the spirit
of the film so well.

DEBORAH:
It's very theatrical.

And very, very broad.

And painted

with very plain colours

and plain surfaces.

ANN ROTH:
I brought him out.

I did. There's no question about it.

He was like a butterfly
that had been released.

(ALL SING) s Oklahoma! &

'Les Girls' is all about style,
it seems to me.

It's not
the greatest screenplay,

it's not the greatest concept,

but you have Gene Kelly
and three gorgeous women

gorgeously costumed
and that ain't bad.

DEBORAH: 'Les Girls' was a film

where Orry-Kelly was really allowed
to put on show

all of those glamorous tools
in his toolbox.

All the sparkle and the things

that really make little girls
fall in love with the movies.

COLLEEN: It had a kind of
lightness and humour to it

in the clothing and in the characters
and in the palette.

DEBORAH: Because these women
had to be completely irresistible

and seduce everyone,
including the audience.

So I think that's what
'Les Girls' is all about -

fun and sex appeal.

(MUSIC ENDS, APPLAUSE)

Mr Corey, would you like
to announce the winner?

Yes, the envelope is in pure white
with a nervous green seal.

(AUDIENCE LAUGHS)

The winner...

.'Les Girls', Orry-Kelly!

(APPLAUSE)

(DRAMATIC INTRO MUSIC)

ORRY: Amazing.

Back in the same office
I started in 30 years ago.

All I want to do is make
Rosalind Russell happy.

Give her frocks
that her Mame can play with.

Help is on the way, darlings.
Henri, ca val

ORRY: Living life
on her own terms -

exuberantly, without
a whiff of hypocrisy.

...is on his way over here
with another gallon of gin.

Oh, Alan, darling!
I'm so glad to see...

Edna, I called you yesterday.
Where on earth...

-Hello, Mame.
-Hello, darling.

I'll be with you
in just a minute.

ORRY: Actually, all I want to do
is be Auntie Mame.

And of course
because it's about a woman

who is larger than life,

played definitively
by Rosalind Russell,

who had introduced
the character on stage,

it gave Orry-Kelly licence
to go bigger,

bolder, brighter than
he might've dared otherwise.

Ohhhh!

DEBORAH: In the scenes
where there was drama,

in the scenes
where it was serious...

ROSALIND: Nuts.

Should she know that
I think you've turned into

one of the most beastly
bourgeois babbity little snobs

on the eastern seaboard?

DEBORAH:
Most of the design was quiet.

ROSALIND:
Oh, I'm comin', Beau, sugar!

FORREST TUCKER:
Here we are, honey.

DEBORAH: And in the scenes

where we're supposed to be
co-conspirators,

where we're in on the joke,
where it's supposed to be funny,

Orry-Kelly was able to go

as big and crazy

and witty as anybody.

MICHAEL: Her outfits were
so extraordinary and over the top

that they just made you
love the character more.

LARRY McQUEEN:
I think I enjoy Mame

because of the outrageousness
of the character.

It's sort of like that mother

that would probably
drive you crazy

if you actually had,
but you sort of wish you knew.

I'm going to
open doors for you!

Doors you never even
dreamed existed!

(PHONE RINGS)

The voice starts up
without introducing himself.

Cary.

20 years since he's called.

Last night, he saw
one of my Samoan paintings.

He'd like to buy
something similar.

Where's my studio?

Could he come and see
the paintings tonight?

He starts coming round
a couple of nights a week

after he's finished shooting
for the day.

One hears
he's rather friendless.

Anyone not of use has been
dropped over the years.

But he makes me laugh.

It seems possible,
delightful,

that we could be pals again.

Until he asks me,
"Is it true?

"Am I seriously
writing a memoir?"

He wants to know what's in it.

What am I going
to say about him?

That you lived
a perfectly normal life?

Tell them nothing.

No-one must ever know.

I turn on the television
and catch 'Dark Victory'.

-Judy, darling.
-Yes?

Trotty, trotty.

ORRY: 20 years on.

Not a bad job.

All his genius was on display
in 'Some Like It Hot'.

(LAUGHS)

Most memorably the dress

that Marilyn Monroe wore

when she was sitting
on a couch

and Tony Curtis
was talking to her,

and you could not take
your eyes off her breasts.

You know, skeet shooting,
dog breeding, water polo.

Water polo?
Isn't that terribly dangerous?

I'll say. I had two ponies
drowned under me.

LEONARD: Marilyn was
at her sexiest in that film.

There's just no question
about it.

DEBORAH: She has two dresses
where she is completely naked.

And I don't understand
to this day

how the fire brigade
wasn't called out.

COLLEEN: It brings a smile
to your face when you watch it

and you know, as a designer,

doing those kind of movies
is difficult.

DEBORAH:
The story of 'Some Like It Hot'

asks us to believe that
Jack and Tony look like women.

So they can't really look like
obvious drag queens.

They just have to look like
not very attractive women.

-Thank you, Daphne.
-Oh, thank you, Daphne.

LEONARD: It was crucial
to that film's success

there be some degree
of credibility

to these two guys trying to
pass themselves off as women.

ORRY: They were just
picking off old costumes

from wardrobe for the boys.

Finally, I took them in hand.

LEONARD: They lobbied for
Orry-Kelly to do their costumes

as well as Marilyn Monroe's.

And it's a good thing
they won that fight.

DEBORAH: His design for
Jack and Tony is so joyful.

And they seem to embrace it
with two hands.

(TANGO MUSIC PLAYS)

LEONARD: Jack Lemmon
loved telling the story

of the two of them going
on a lunch hour

into the ladies rest room
at the studio

to see if anybody noticed,
and no-one did.

DAVID: One of the things
that Kelly dealt with initially

was that Marilyn Monroe
was pregnant

and he had to hide that.

ORRY: I make a few mistakes
with Miss Monroe,

like telling her
Tony Curtis has a better arse.

LARRY: She also didn't
want to play that role.

She thought it was just
going to be one more

in a string
of dumb blonde roles.

It seems like
you have the wrong track.

Do you mind riding backwards?

MICHAEL: The way that he uses
the nude silk souffle

that looks like the beading
and the embroideries

are just sitting right on top
of Marilyn's body.

(SINGS) & Why did you
leave me to... &

LARRY: Everything shows
except the things

that are strategically
beaded to not show.

I'm surprised they allowed it
to stay in the film,

but he got away with it.

I think he was trying to push it
as far as he could push it.

It was sexual and innocence

all at the same time.

& I wanna be loved by you

J Ba-deedly-deedly-
deedly-dum... &

LARRY: Since I own the dress
from "Some Like It Hot',

I do have a soft spot for it.

(APPLAUSE AND CHEERING)

(ALL CHEER)

The winner is...

...'Some Like It Hot'.

-(APPLAUSE)
-Orry-Kelly!

HEDDA HOPPER:
Kelly, you're having your third wind.

JANE FONDA:
I mean, I go to watch that movie

just to see Marilyn Monroe
in that scene.

And I'm not gay.

(CREW LAUGHS)

I'd like to brrrr
in those breasts, though.

(LAUGHS)

ORRY: It's four years
since Thanksgiving

that I've given up the booze.

More offers for pictures
than I can accept.

And I finally finish my book.

The publisher says
it reads like a charm.

(HORN HONKS)

JANE: Orry rolled up
in that kelly-green,

really expensive car,

and the signal was

"I am important
and I'm rich."

And the first movie
that I did with him

was called
'In the Cool of the Day',

which I think
was not even released.

There was Angela Lansbury in it
and Peter Finch.

She was always in drapes

and lovely sort of
folded capes

and hats and snoods

and all kinds of
rather exotic outfits.

Whereas my character was
right out there, you know?

I mean, there's
no question about it,

that she wore everything
with, you know,

"Look at me" kind of attitude.

"Look at my tits."

And that was alright
because that's what she was.

She's Mrs Bonner.
I'm Mrs Logan.

ANGELA: You wondered
how the hell Peter Finch

ever went for her
in the first place, actually.

That was
the only quarrel I had.

I thought the script
was pretty god-awful.

He took to me.

I knew that he liked me

and even though none of
the films we did together

were really any good.

You'll have to forgive me,
I'm sorry.

JANE: Maybe Orry

befriended me because...

.that I was
Henry Fonda's daughter

and they knew that

that put a certain
kind of pressure on me

and that I was vulnerable

and lacked confidence,

and they kind of wanted
to buoy me up.

LOUELLA PARSONS:
Tell me, Kelly,

what are you going to do
for Natalie Wood?

The girl has to play
a stripper.

ROSALIND RUSSELL:
And I do it damn well!

NATALIE: Momma,
this will be much better

than vaudeville for June,
and for us.

Nothing is better
than vaudeville.

(PLAYS TRUMPET BADLY)

ORRY: Well, playing
the greatest stripper of all time

with a shortage
on the bust line

is what Natalie's up against.

But nothing
that we can't fix.

Momma?

I'm a pretty girl, Momma.

LEONARD: She emerges

as this glamorous,
savvy stripper.

And that legendary costume
that she wears

which shows off her figure
to its best advantage

stands out.

-(SULTRY MUSIC PLAYS)
-(MEN CALL OUT)

Natalie Wood was only 52",

She weighed 90 pounds.

And I didn't realise until
I started to look at the costumes

how much of that
womanly transformation

was done
in the costume itself.

I mean, the bras
are totally built out.

The hips have ornamentation

and additions to them
to make them look bigger.

To make her look taller,

there's beadwork that's running
in a linear pattern

down the front of the dress.

That's to create height.

LEONARD: Natalie Wood
never looked more stunning

that she does
when she is Gypsy Rose Lee.

(SULTRY MUSIC ENDS)

As if I'll kick the bucket.

As if cancer ever killed anyone.

I'm in my fourth wind.

And if I win an Oscar
for 'Irma la Douce'

and my glorious hookers,

I'll thank the girls
of Woolloomooloo.

Only be ashamed
of being ashamed.

I was pretty young
when I saw the movie

and it was very risqué
for me to see.

I must've snuck off to see it.

And I was just captivated

by her green stockings,
especially.

I don't think I'd ever seen
a green stocking.

You know, I've never seen a girl
in green stockings before.

But it matches the ribbon.
And my underwear.

Say, what does that 'X' stand for?
Eccentric?

COLLEEN: I loved
the black-and-green theme.

I just loved
everything about it.

The way he used colour,

like with all
the ladies of the night

that inhabited the street.

(ZIP! ZIP)

COLLEEN: The diagonal zipper,
the breakaway thing.

The black with the pastels.

It was sort of like
'Edward Scissorhands' to me.

It's a film
that's stuck with me

in a subliminal way, I think,

as a designer through time.

ANith this ring, I thee wed.
-And I pledge thee my fidelity.

And I pledge thee
my fidelity.

(PEOPLE GASP AND MURMUR)

ORRY: 'Irma la Douce'
has a happy ending.

I love this film for that.

Darling Ann Warner is the last
of the girls still standing.

The booze took its toll
on our other party princesses.

Ann wants a list

of honorary pallbearers.

Oh, God!

Tony Curtis.

Jack Benny.

People with biceps.

Katharine Hepburn.

Bob. Bob Roberts.

Ann's a recluse these days.

But she's come back
into the world

to help me leave it.

And Cary.

A pallbearer. Cary Grant.

In with the friends
of Dorothy.

Tell him it's the last time
I'll say, "Drop a spangle.”

I bet you an Oscar
he doesn't show.

Eucalyptus.

All the way to Australia.

Ann asks me what I want said.

The truth.

Just the truth.

(ETHEREAL CHORAL SINGING)

You came!

Best bet I ever lost.

He was a master of colour.

He was a master, obviously,
of dressmaking.

But his training
as an artist

was really the key
to his career.

The man put out

something like 285 films.

Uh..

That's an incredible
accomplishment.

And they were good films

and they were good costumes.

Orry just loved
the milieu he was in.

He just loved making
those women look glorious

and he did it uniquely.

And the range of films
he designed is so great.

It's not apples and oranges.

It's a whole fruit basket.

He had a calling.

He listened to his heart
and he left his home,

went to the other side
of the world

and kind of
explored the person

that he had always
wanted to be.

Australia should've been
incredibly proud of him,

but I just don't think
that they knew

that this famous Orry-Kelly
in Hollywood

really belonged to them.

Her great friendship for Orry

was probably a wonderful thing
for her too.

I'm sure he returned it

and I'm sure
she missed him very much.

Oh, there was
something wonderful...

...about working
with a great talent

who built clothes,

specifically
for this character,

for you.

(ETHEREAL CHORAL SINGING
CONTINUES)

LARRY: A lot of people
who are very good

don't even get one Oscar,
but Orry won three.

ARLENE DAHL: The winner is...

...'Some Like It Hot'.

-(APPLAUSE)
-Orry-Kelly!

(ORCHESTRAL MUSIC PLAYS)

Why, thank you.
Thank you.

Beautiful. I thank you.

And particularly Tony Curtis
and Jack Lemmon.

(AUDIENCE LAUGHTER)

As Louella would say,
"They never looked lovelier."

(LAUGHTER)

(ORCHESTRA PLAYS)

ANN ROTH:
Yeah, he lived a big life.

If you asked me
if I thought he...

Did he have a happy life?
I'd like to think that he did.

I mean, those paintings
are certainly...

They say a lot, don't they?

CATHERINE MARTIN:
We jokingly say

he's not only one
of the great costume designers

and he is a three-time Oscar winner
and an Australian,

he was also
Cary Grant's boyfriend.

Now, come on,
that's the trifecta, surely?

WOMAN: For the last 40 years,

it's been in my daughter's
swimming bag,

which has been in my cupboard.

The promise to my mother
was to never let this out of my sight

and her last words were,
"I'll kill you if you do."