Photoplay (Jan-Jun 1930)

They can't fool the fitter. Stars, however grand, are only women in undies to the dressmaker There are no Lost Causes when Jetta Goudal leaves the fitting room. She has fought the good fight for every seam and sequin Alone with her God and her dressmaker, a woman becomes absolutely natural. The worldlyairs fall from her along with her outer garments. THE first time Greta Garbo came into the shop a friend brought her. She wanted a gown to wear to Pickfair, where she had been bidden to meet Prince George of England. The mannequins were in a flurry of excitement. They had seen her come up the steps from the peep-hole in the curtain. The great Garbo had arrived! Remembering how languorously she moved across the screen in glittering sequins and rich, clinging velvets the mannequins paraded before her in the most exotic creations in the shop. Garbo, sitting slouched down on one of the divans, watched them with lack-luster eyes. She rose. "No, it will not do. I t'ink I go home." Seeing a good customer slip through his fingers, Greer thought fast, and brought out the plainest, most ordinary frock in the store. Garbo decided to stay. She came often after that and once selected a complete wardrobe for her triumphant journey to her homeland. Clothes mean nothing to her. They are simply a bore, but there was enough of the feminine in her heart for her to want to impress the people who had told her good-bye several exciting years before. It is a democratic atmosphere at the exclusive shop. None of the stars seems to mind the eyes of the curious. The Talmadges, for instance, bear down in a body, Connie (they call her "Dutch"), Norma, Natalie and Peg. They chat, like parrots, as if they haven't seen each other for a week. Corinne Griffith, even Mary Pickford, are oblivious of the tourist from Keokuk, when clothes are to be considered. BUT Garbo refuses the outer salons. She hurries through them, hat drawn down over her eyes, and shuts the door of the fitting room behind her. She prefers to talk to Greer rather than to select clothes. She often spends an entire day, and luncheon is sent up from the tearoom below. Herself a famous woman — yet, strangely enough, shut off from life by her fame — she has an absorbing interest in other famous people. She questions him avidly about Bernhardt, Duse, Pola Negri, whom he has known. She is essentially simple in her tastes and will buy nothing that smacks of the theatrical. Gone are the brief gingham slips, the tangled Pickford curls. The modern Mary selects clothes by a carefully worked out system, often with entrancing effect, as in this Greer-designed frock she wore in "Coquette" Pola Negri, too, became her real self in the fitting room. Gone was the princess and in her stead was a peasant girl who laughed loudly and was completely natural. POLA had no patience. It was impossible for her to visualize a frock in its rough state and she often tore her dresses off while they were in the process of evolution, but as each bead and sequin was added she crept back into her princess self and became more of a lady with every stitch. By the time she left the shop she was once more "ze grande artiste" for whom the doorman touched his head to the floor. They're all more difficult when they're selecting screen clothes than when it's a personal wardrobe they want. They feel they have a public duty on the screen and must dress according to type. Colleen Moore, for instance, has a lovely, ■ tall figure and should wear smart, sophisticated models, but because she is always a little flapper in pictures she selects other clothes. She hesitates to tell the designer when the dresses aren't right. With the exception of Jetta Goudal, Mary Pickford gives more thought and attention to her screen clothes than any other star. There is always a worried little frown on her brow. Her secretary comes with her and advises her. Mary gives profound consideration to every garment. She has worked out a theory that if one begins from the worst possible angle, the best possible results will be attained, so she has herself photographed in plain muslin underwear and standing in the most awkward [ please turn to page 104 ] 33