:01:01
Howard Greer was
the costume designer at Paramount,
:01:04
and he taught her to draw like he drew.
:01:07
But quickly she started being very useful
all around the wardrobe department.
:01:13
In 1925, another designer,
Travis Banton, came out from New York.
:01:17
Eventually, Howard Greer left because
all the big stars were asking for Banton.
:01:23
Banton was enormously talented.
:01:26
Yes, this is Sunset Boulevard,
Los Angeles, California.
:01:27
Without Greer there, he started handing
some of the lesser assignments to Edith.
:01:30
It's about five o'clock in the morning.
:01:32
Banton didn't get along
too well with Clara Bow.
:01:33
That's the homicide squad, complete
with detectives and newspapermen.
:01:36
Clara Bow was Paramount's biggest star.
:01:39
A murder's been reported from one
of those houses in the 10000 block.
:01:39
The public adored her
but she had very poor taste in clothes.
:01:43
She liked to wear bangle bracelets
with all of her costumes,
:01:44
You'll read about it
in the late editions.
:01:47
she wanted belts on dresses
that weren't supposed to have them,
:01:47
You'll get it over your radio
and on television,
:01:51
she even wanted to wear
high-heeled shoes with ankle socks.
:01:51
because an old-time star is involved,
one of the biggest.
:01:54
And so Banton turned Clara Bow
over to Edith to dress.
:01:56
But before you hear it all distorted
and blown out of proportion,
:01:59
The most famous picture
they did together was "Wings".
:02:00
before those Hollywood
columnists get their hands on it,
:02:03
Bow was in uniform for most of the film.
:02:03
maybe you'd like to hear the facts,
the whole truth.
:02:06
In the middle '30s, when Banton was
still on hand to do the really big stars,
:02:08
If so, you've come to the right party.
:02:10
Edith was assigned the starlets
and actresses who were coming up.
:02:12
The body of a young man was found
in the pool of her mansion,
:02:15
Head office told her these young ladies
:02:16
with two shots in his back and one
in his stomach. Nobody important.
:02:17
were to have no say
in the costumes they wore.
:02:21
But Edith managed to talk to them,
:02:21
Just a writer with a couple
of B-pictures to his credit.
:02:24
get a sense of what they thought looked
good on them, what they liked.
:02:26
The poor dope!
He always wanted a pool.
:02:28
And she would put those ideas
into the drawings
:02:30
In the end, he got himself a pool,
only the price turned out a little high.
:02:32
so that the studio would think
they were hers, start to finish.
:02:37
When these ladies became stars,
they remembered her.
:02:38
Let's go back about six months
and find the day when it all started.
:02:41
They always wanted her
for their pictures.
:02:43
I was living in an apartment house
above Franklin and Ivar.
:02:44
Edith Head knew
how to talk with the stars.
:02:47
Things were tough at the moment.
:02:49
She knew how to make them
feel very important,
:02:50
I hadn't worked
in a studio for a long time.
:02:53
how to give her attention only to them.
:02:54
So I sat there grinding out
original stories, two a week.
:02:58
They always felt they were
number one with her.
:02:59
Only I seemed to have lost my touch.