Movie Classic (Sep 1935-Feb 1936)

Closets! must have some special Alabama ingenuity, as you will agree after reading what she did to her closet. It was the "pocket-handkerchief" size with hooks scattered around the walls. After Gail had hung up five or six dresses, it looked as jammed as a subway at rush hour, and half her clothes still were on the bed.' "A rod from wall to wall across the length of the "closet will more than double its capacity," she reasoned, "and that will still leave room for a shelf!" So out came the hooks. She called the janitor. He put up a shelf for her ; two inches below it he arranged brackets for the rod. But Gail did not buy the ordinary thick, wooden rod. A plain iron gas or water pipe makes a far stronger one and she knew it. So young Miss Patrick bought a length of pipe and a can of paint — creamcolored paint to match the woodwork in her bedroom. And she set to work in the closet painting the new rod, the floorboards and the shelf. And when she had finished, Gail went shopping again. This time she acquired four yards of figured chintz and two and one-half yards of shelf edgings in a turquoise rayon taffeta — you can get this sort of edging in any number of materials. With the chintz she covered the little wooden hangers, the hat stands, and boxes for her hosiery, gloves, and lingerie. (It means a lot if you can find place for all that in your closet. It means that you can do without buying an extra piece of furniture for your bedroom, and that's something to consider these days !) With the new paint and the chintz, that closet took on a gaiety it had never expected to know. But when Gail added the taffeta edging to the shelf — that was the supreme touch ! She tacked it on with cream-lacquered thumbtacks. And the result was completely charming. And this was the amazingly low cost for the whole thing, item by item : Iron rod, 35c ; Paint, 45c; Chintz (at 35c a yard) $1.40; Taffeta edging for shelf (at 40c a yard), $1.00; Thumbtacks, 25c. Total cost : $3.45. • IF YOU have neither the time nor the inclination to cover your hangers, you can buy clever little velvet dress hangers in any large department store for thirty five cents a dozen. Get them in shades to match the color scheme of your room. Hatstands to match are also available. But grandest of all is that new gadget, made up of wire racks, that you put on the back of closet doors. It comes enameled in any shade you wish and gives you unbelievable space for things. There is room for at least two hats, an umbrella, six pairs of shoes — and if you are sharing the closet with your husband, you will have a place for all of his neckties. What's more, everything will be in plain sight so that you will not have to Sylvia Sidney, seen in the negligee she wears in Accent on Youth, keeps dust away from things in her closet by hanging drapes there! rummage Another item to cheer the heart of any woman is the new flowered oilcloth. It is extremely easy to keep clean and it dresses up a shelf miraculously. You finish it with bias or folded tape after you have cut it to fit exactly. • LET yourself go where closets are concerned ! Joan Crawford did— with thrilling results. Joan, you know, has always hated closets, because she was shut in a very dark one once and the memory lingers on. Consequently, every one of Joan's closets now has a window in it. She has all kinds, but one of the neatest is her "game" closet, which lives next door to the card room. In it, she has enough compartments to hold the backgammon and chess boards, the boxes of cards and chips and all of the old games that help to make a party so successful. All of the shelves and drawers are painted white with silver moldings and the walls are pale blue. It isn't necessary, of course, to devote a whole closet to such things, but it is a won [Continued on page 86] 55