Travilla & Ann Sheridan: Freelance

Sheridan left Warners in 1948 and landed at Fox to film I Was a Male War Bride opposite Cary Grant. Travilla left Warners in 1949 and was new to Twentieth himself, so he didn't design her wardrobe but did loan her a black faille coat-dress for publicity. 

He then created Sheridan's wardrobe for the 1950 film noir Woman on the Run. Set in San Francisco, her character spent much of the time in coats of various textures, but all with dramatic lapels and cuffs.

Travilla's Original Tahitian Artwork.

In 1953, Travilla designed Sheridan's wardrobe for RKO's Appointment in Honduras. It was easy as she wore one nightgown, for which they bought five, and aged to show her struggles in the jungle before putting her in men's work clothes.

Thanks to the recipient of $220,000 from her late longtime boyfriend press agent Steve Hannagan's life insurance policy, Sheridan purchased the Malcom Brock department store in Bakersfield outside of Los Angeles in April 1954. She sold her Beverly Hills home and relocated soon after, raising her poodles and painting most African landscapes with the occasional film role. Before moving, Sheridan gifted Travilla's daughter Nia with a purebred poodle named Zsa Zsanne that showed at the 1955 American Kennel Club Stud Book.

Due to cost cutbacks from the demise of the studio system, Travilla's Fox contract was not renewed, so he was focusing on launching his own private-label couture line. As she'd done at Dom, the Beachcombers, and Warner's, Ann Sheridan gave Travilla a leg up on his new venture by doing what she did best: talk and invest. In March 1957, Sheridan was filming Without Incident opposite Warner co-star Errol Flynn in Tucson, Arizona. She humble-bragged to the Daily Citizen's fashion journalist, "I never have to diet. In fact, I have trouble gaining weight. Right now, I wear a size 12 dress." Most of my dresses are made by Billy Travilla, who formerly was with Warner Bros and 20th Century Fox. I hate to go shopping. I guess I wear just about everything; full skirts, slim ones, and every color, too."

Travilla, Sheridan, and Mrs. W.E. Moore, (9-1957.)

One week after returning from Kenya, Africa, where she’d been filming Woman and the Hunter, “Aunt Annie” appeared at an invitation-only Fashion Tea with the Bakersfield Community League. Wearing a white silk linen dress embroidered in blue, Sheridan had agreed to co-emcee the show and mingle among the 350 guests afterward. Shrugging off her jet lag, she excitedly told the local paper, "His phenomenal success in his new field has come about, I am sure, because of his studio experience."

A few days later, when Hedda Hopper asked what the actress was up to, Sheridan didn't promote Woman but spoke about her "painting like mad and helping emcee a fashion show for her friend Billy Travilla." Ann explained to Hopper how the designer needed assistance getting his new line into Bakersfield's fashionable shops, including Brocks, the local department store. "Perhaps I could help him there; I just happen to own the building." Having bought the department store three years prior, Sheridan kept her word. Over the next couple of years, the Bakersfield Californian featured large, illustrated ads from Brock's touting the latest Travilla fashions.

However, the need to perform was too great. She began talks with Universal Studios director Ross Hunter to develop a Broadway musical based on his 1953 film Take Me to Town in which she'd starred as "Vermillion O'Toole," a turn-of-the-century dance hall hostess in the Northwest logging country who falls in love with a logger with four sons. Sheridan threw Ross a birthday party in early May, just before her road tour of the romantic comedy Kind Sir.

Sheridan’s stage debut was light fare about a stage actress's mishaps in her attempts to make an inattentive husband jealous. Mary Martin played the role on Broadway. Starring opposite Ann would be Scott McKay. Designing her wardrobe was her old friend, Billy. In fact, during the Summer of 1958 Sheridan borrowed Bill Sarris from her friend as she and Sarris were linked as a couple in both Walther Winchell’s and Earl Wilson’s gossip columns as a couple.

Three Kind Sir sketches. The top two appeared on eBay, the bottom one is from

a 1966 press photograph featuring Travilla and his work.

Ann modeled three of her six outfits for the Chicago Sun-Times, including a satin cocktail coat, a white satin dinner sheath with a fishtail train and deep hem slit, and her entrance costume of jade green and blue wool print with a full back yoke that formed a cape. "There are two chic afternoon costumes, a cocktail suit and dinner sheath, a full-length ball gown, and a pink and black negligee. With flying panels and full-blown capes, fishtail trains, and fur-trimmed fabrics, this wardrobe includes some of the most dramatic outfits that have ever swept onto a stage. Miss Sheridan’s costume changes are worth the price of admission." Unfortunately, the show closed after ten weeks, but it was long enough for Hunter to see his potential leading lady. "Sheridan looked a dream in costumes done by Billy Travilla." 

However, audiences had a much better chance of seeing Travilla's designs for Sheridan's five-month run of Odd Man In, a comedy adapted from Claude Magnier's French farce. As the only female of three roles, Sheridan would stand out wearing Travilla designs in shades of blue, organdy, lemon, and green. Sheridan received outstanding notices, but her name filled the seats, not the writing quality.

Travilla was busy crisscrossing the country, but he flew in from Kansas City to have a fitting with his buddy in mid-September before flying to Los Angeles, where he fitted 60 pieces of his upcoming Spring Collection before arriving in Amarillo for two days, then El Paso. The show opened on October 1, 1959, in Wilmington, Delaware, but after five months and 67 cities, the producers threw in the towel. Their last performance was on March 5, 1960, in Burlington, Iowa, shortly after Sheridan gave an interview claiming, “The show stinks!” Immediately after the performance, producers auctioned off most of the play's set pieces, props, and wardrobe. They raised $186, with $62 donated to the local community theater. A brand new $400 negligee and nightgown set in blue, identical to one Sheridan wore in the first act, sold for $10 to the town mortician as a gift for his daughter, who attended Stephen's College. A $35 pair of shoes went for $6. A couple of years later, regarding the issue, Sheridan told Newsday reporter Len Chainowitz, "I've lost faith in the national touring company route to Broadway." 

In the third week of July 1962, Travilla threw a Greek-themed party with Ann, the guest of honor. Sarris planned the authentic food while the belly dancer and band arrived after the Torch Restaurant closed. Soon, the guests were dancing traditional folk dances, including attendees Shirley Jones (wearing a long slim dress in black lace over blue), Barbara Eden, Dorothy Dandridge, Jack Lemmon, and Women's Wear Daily West Coast reporter/photographer Max Shapiro, who fondly remembered holding Lemmon’s hand while dancing in the circle. Sheridan wore a stark, severe black day-length dress with long sleeves. An appropriate outfit as, according to the local gossip columns, the shindig didn't break up until 10 am the following day.

Sheridan's appearance on Wagon Train (1962.)

Sheridan was appearing on the television series Pistols and Petticoats at the time of her death from cancer in 1967.

 

 

Travilla & Ann Sheridan: The Warner Bros Years Pt II

Silver River was Travilla's third film with Sheridan and the first of four films partnering with fellow designer Marjorie Best. After graduating from art school, Best briefly became a teacher before joining Warner Brothers in 1936 when they bought United Costumers. Silver River was only her fifth film for design. However, her specialty in period costumes made her the perfect candidate to create numerous suits for Errol Flynn. "It is easier to be objective in designing for the opposite sex. The designer is less likely to inject personal likes and dislikes into the designs, but rather, to build from a purer standpoint of what fits the characterization and looks best."

When shooting commenced in April, Flynn arrived with his wife and a wrapped ankle he'd injured during a tennis game and filmed his first scenes sitting down. Sheridan was not expected to be on set for another two weeks. While the actress was on vacation in Hobe Sound, Florida, Travilla repurposed Sheridan's sculpted head from The Unfaithful to test hat designs.

In Burbank, five seamstresses, three milliners, two bootmakers, and a corset specialist were finishing Sheridan's thirty-two lavish costumes. Working with three separate dressmaking forms in Sheridan's measurements, the gowns were photographed and sent to the actress for approval. 

Sheer fabric with ball fringe banding the full skirt and edging the sleeve ruffles of the standing collar blouse. Sashed with a large bow in the back.

The designer played one of many jokes on Sheridan when her first costume was delivered to her dressing room. He’d attached an actual birdcage, complete with a stuffed white bird perched on a bouquet of roses. ”Annie not only loved it and laughed at it, she wore it,” he told Screenland Magazine.

The press kit for River featured several sketches of Sheridan's 1867-75 wardrobe pieces with a modern version using elements from the older piece.

A traveling suit from 1867 featured a full skirt and cutaway jacket of grey faille silk trimmed with cerise velvet ribbon and jet beads. A cerise velvet vest with jet buttons snugly fits over a white lace blouse — hat, muff, and gloves complete the outfit. The modern version is a soft grey wool suit with a full skirt achieved by unpressed pleats. The lapels and vest are of cerise satin, and the outfit is accessorized with a white silk jabot, aqua suede gloves, and a white felt hat with cerise coque feathers.

The sketch on the left shows an 1866 mourning gown of black velvet and silk moire, a jet trimming. The rounded shoulders and wasp-waist of the period are detailed with crossed velvet strips with jet trim. The black moire's contemporary dress with the vest of Kelly green silk velveteen and jet buttons features the modern version of the padded hips, wasp-waist, and rounded shoulders silhouette in the cross-piece detail. The black straw hat makes news with its loops of black velvet ribbon. Green gloves and black shoes complete the outfit.

A traveling suit of 1872 of Sage-green wool with jet bead fringe trim. The military front above the voluminous skirt and bustle accents the padded hips and tiny waist. The modern adaptation is a suit of sage-green faille -- approximately the same color as the costume -- and featuring the military front of the 1872 original. The silhouette is rounded shoulders and long skirts with flare accentuating the hip line. It is topped with a brown felt hat with a sage-green ribbon band and a large bow in the back with gloves and shoes in brown.

Another is of purple heavy all, silk taffeta from 1872. A voluminous skirt tied in the back with a large bow and a slight train accentuates the bustle effect. The vest is cream-colored satin brocade with self-covered buttons. The modern adaptation is a spring suit of grey linen with white linen accents: the criss-cross detail from the original forms the pockets, as does the white linen button-down neckline. A white straw sailor hat has a cerise ribbon band, a bow, and a pair of white gloves complete the ensemble.

Sheridan later said the film "was not a good picture." Jack Warner "was amazed that I accepted it," but "Errol Flynn was a big box office name, and women didn't get to do Westerns very often. I thought it might be a good combination and that it might turn into a good picture. Unfortunately, it didn't."

After River, Sheridan was loaned to RKO for the more modern Good Sam with Gary Cooper. She played the wife of a family man who helps people in need and ends up broke. Ann's wardrobe was stylish and modern.

A wool suit with pale beige, dark beige, and brown stripes. The jacket and skirt are cut straight for the long, slim look, with diagonal side panels set to accent the waistline. Stripes are cut on the diagonal for the Demme collar and shirt cuffs. The single jacket button and cuff buttons are square and coin-thin. A beanie hat of dark brown felt is tied in the back with a bow of coarse brown veiling. Gloves and pumps are made of brown suede.

A black broadcloth suit, styled with a nipped-in waist and huge false pockets, flared to create that hourglass look. The skirt is snugly fitted and tapered to the hemline. The hat is black felt; the fullness pleated into a broad band of steel grey grosgrain ribbon, which ties in back in a flat tailored Bow. The scarf is grey with fuchsia pinks, and the pink gloves are deerskin.

Sheridan also wore a suit of Antelope beige broadcloth with a finger-tip jacket. Fastened by three self-fabric buttons, it has a nipped-in waist and dual hip drapes that conceal deep pockets—accented by a nut-brown felt hat with a pert cockade of brown aigrettes and antelope beige doeskin gloves. The only jewelry is a strand of pearls worn at the high-neck collar. (PHOTO TO COME.)

The over-gown is satin with a souffle yoke of appliqued imported lace. The flowing negligee is a silk souffle cut in a full circle with the fullness gathered at the shoulders. Full circular sleeves are gathered into narrow wristbands with wide sating bows falling from each shoulder.

An apricot chiffon dress with a full skirt of many folds with a deep peplum extends into a fishtail in the back. The full-length sleeves are cinched at the wrist. The high-neck lace bodice is fastened with a row of tiny buttons and features a tiny standing collar of lace and small-cap sleeves. A chiffon jabot is worn at the throat. PHOTO TO COME.)

In 1948, Sheridan left Warners and signed an independent contract. Nearly a year later, The Hollywood Reporter announced Travilla as the designer for Carriage Entrance, the first of three films distributed by RKO. Two weeks later, Sheridan's inability to find a leading man was reported delayed production. Sued by the studio, Sheridan countered with her acceptance of Robert Mitchum as the male lead. However, RKO replaced her with Ava Gardner and published that Ann's wardrobe had to be taken in to fit Ava. Sheridan sued the studio for $350,000 and was awarded nearly $60,000 two years later.