Ginger Rogers
Without that job and those lines to say an actress is just like any ordinary girl trying not to look as scared as she feels.
Stage Door (1937)
Ginger Rogers as Donna Mantin in Star of Midnight (1935).
G busts into this movie all brash and heiress-like, and at first sight, I was disappointed. I was promised G as a spoiled society dame dressed by Bernard Newman! Why was she in a black sack?
But, dear reader, you will be happy to learn that there is a point to the shapeless sack coat! For G’s coat, much like Gretchen Wiener’s big hair ….is shapeless because it’s full of secrets.
For yes, we soon learn that G is a spoiled society dame with the good instincts to fall in love with William Powell at his most dapper. But…what else do we know? Can we trust her? Why is her coat so huge and shapeless? Is that oversized white bow a scarf or part of the ensemble? How did she get mixed up with gangsters? Why must William Powell retrieve mysterious letters from a gangster’s lair? LITERALLY: who is that masked woman?
It takes sophistication to make a costume that reflects a character’s personality. This coat does that, and beyond, creating mystery simply in being. A mystery coat for a mystery movie! Shapeless sack coat: I salute you.
PS: I love this movie so much! William Powell, Ginger Rogers, high society mysteries, gangsters, and mysterious masked women, are delightful on their own, and when put together - it is basically my personal dopamine hit. Why are movies from the 30’s the VERY BEST?
life:
Happy International Dance Day.
(Photo by Rex Hardy, Jr. for Life, August 22, 1938.)
See More: Dancing With the (Classic) Stars
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