Travilla & Dorothy Dandridge: From Vegas to London to Palm Springs

Since her early teens, Dorothy Dandridge was a singer and dancer who started as a young teenager at the famed Harlem Cotton Club Harlem in a sister act. From the late 1930s until after the war, Dorothy's film appearances included numerous "Soundies," a few minor ethnic roles, and musical numbers that could be edited out for showings in the South. A failed marriage to one of the Nicholas Brothers resulted in a mentally challenged daughter Dorothy had to support. Her 1951 appearance at West Hollywood's Mocambo nightclub led to her being cast as Melmendi, Queen of the Ashuba, in the latest Tarzan epic. She followed that, playing the wife of a Harlem Globetrotter, and returned to the nightclub circuit until Fox came calling.

Dorothy met Travilla when she stepped onto the studio lot to film Carmen Jones, an all-Black film version of Georges Bizet's opera. Travilla could appreciate Dandridge's beauty and grace as he did Marilyn's. The women were very similar and, in fact, had been friends since 1947. Travilla had worked with Ruby Dandridge at Warner's for 1950's The Daughters of Rosie O'Grady. Fox released Carmen Jones to great acclaim, but despite her Best Actress Academy Award nomination, no offers came in for Dorothy as black leading ladies were not a Hollywood staple.

In November of 1955, Dorothy headed to Las Vegas for a two-week engagement at the Last Frontier Hotel with her accompanist, manager Earl Mills, and a new Travilla wardrobe to wow the crowds. The designer's business and life partner, Bill Sarris, recounted how he and "T" (the designer's pet nickname) headed to Vegas to see his wardrobe in action on stage. They had great seats for incredible Dorothy's performance. Afterward, they met up in her dressing room. Bill bitterly remembered Dandridge refusing their invitation to go to the casino for a drink. She explained to the young Sarris that although she was the headliner, management wouldn't allow her to be seen out front.

The trio decided to go to Dorothy's suite and the trio headed towards the guest elevators just off the main lobby, but were stopped and informed by management. "As registered guests, the gentlemen could use the elevators, but Miss Dandridge would have to take the service elevator." Sarris lit a cigarette and laughed as he remembered Travilla's reaction. "Well, "T" gave that manager such a look that he immediately backed off. We walked to the lobby elevators, pushed the button, and waited. The doors opened, we got in, turned around. I pushed the button for Dorothy's floor, and the doors closed. That was it."

On the last night of her engagement, Dandridge was photographed wearing Travilla in front of a record crowd of twelve hundred patrons. The form-fitting, strapless evening gown was accentuated with a matching back panel starting at her hips and cascading behind her onto the floor.

Dandridge onstage in Havana.

Even though she signed a three-picture deal with Fox, Dandridge's race created casting difficulties, so she went back on the road. According to the Miami Herald, Travilla was given special permission to make the wardrobe for her upcoming April 1956 appearance at the Souci Club in Havana, Cuba, and then at London's Savoy Hotel.

According to Eileen Ascroft of London's Evening Standard, Dandridge arrived with a fifty piece wardrobe, including ten evening gowns. Ascroft described Dorothy's favorite gown, a "full-length sheath gown in fine cream wool that clung to her like a second skin and was glamorised with an Empire strapless top in shocking pink." Another of Dorothy's gowns strongly resembled a design created for Marilyn in The Seven Year Itch. Monroe's entrance dress was a form-fitting white crepe dress with blue polka dots. The front had a slight drape front with a crisscross neckline. Dorothy's was also floor-length with sequins and beads rather than calf-high with polka dots. The rest of the singer's costumes were "a basic white sheath adding touches of startling colour, drapery, and glitter to make them different." according to Ascroft.

With few film roles, Dandridge continued touring with her small revue. One of her frequent stops was Club Chi-Chi's intimate Starlight Room in Palm Springs, a mere two hours outside of Los Angeles. She was always a favorite of both residents and tourists of the desert resort town. In November 1959, two years later, she appeared in 1961 when Dorothy stepped in for Kathryn Grayson, who had pneumonia.

The third week in July 1962, Travilla threw a Greek-themed party for Ann Sheridan with authentic food, a belly dance,r and a band from the Torch Restaurant. Dorothy was among the guests, including Barbara Eden, Shirley Jones, and Jack Lemmon. It was only a short time before they were dancing traditional folk dances. Women's Wear Daily's West Coast reporter/photographer Max Shapiro fondly remembered holding Lemmon's hand while dancing in the circle. According to the local gossip columns, the shindig broke up at 10 am.

In April 1964, Dorothy returned to the Chi-Chi, booked for a nine-day engagement. Press reports and reviews spoke of her "new $10,000 Travilla wardrobe," including both a body-hugging white sheath and a sleeveless evening gown of cerise silk with reverse pleats, a low decolletage and a panel from hip to floor in the back.

Dorothy died of an accidental drug overdose in 1965.

Travilla & Television: Ginger Rogers in "Tonight at 8:30" (1954)

On October 18, 1954, the National Broadcasting Company (NBC) premiered the first episode of Producer's Showcase. Conceived by Hollywood and Broadway agent Leland Hayward, the ambitious television series would present original musicals, plays, Broadway productions, great concert artists, and tribute programs. Each 90-minute show would feature marquee-name talent from both stage and screen, broadcast live and in color on the fourth Monday of each month.

The premiere episode was to have starred Mary Martin, but with Broadway obligations to Peter Pan, Ginger Rogers agreed to step in. Rogers would perform in three one-act Noel Coward plays, Red Peppers, Still Life, and Shadow Play. Her co-stars included Gig Young, Estelle Winwood, Ilka Chase, Trevor Howard, and socialite Gloria Vanderbilt, who is making her dramatic television debut. All would be directed by Otto Preminger. For ninety minutes, the forty-three-year-old former dancer would be required to run between ten sets, with a dozen costume changes, including hair, shoes, and accessories. Travilla’s loan to Preminger by 20th was announced in the September 16 edition of the Hollywood Reporter. Having worked with Rogers in Monkey Business, Dreamboat, and Black Widow in the past two years, Travilla was the perfect choice to create her wardrobe.

 

On October 17, the New York Times published photos of the dress rehearsal, and articles described not only the individual playlets but also the costuming for each.

 

In Red Peppers, as the wife of an old vaudevillian couple, Rogers and her partner first appear in sailor suits near duplicate to those in the Mitzi Gaynor/Ethel Merman duet from No Business Like Show Business. In their dressing room, Rogers strips down to a pair of boxer shorts and a t-shirt before changing into a full-dress suit and topper, all timed to Coward's fast-paced dialogue.

As a middle-aged English housewife in Still Life, in 29 minutes Ginger underwent four costume changes to mark the passing seasons. It begins with her garbed in a simple blue silk faille dress with detachable shoulder straps and built-in net petticoats.

For the 26-minute In Shadow Play, Ginger enters wearing a mink-trimmed green brocade robe. "Play, Orchestra Play," the scene's musical production number, requires she change into a full-sleeved, violet chiffon dance dress. The gown had a hidden breakaway slide fastener that would allow it to be ripped away mid-dance, revealing a white lace costume with a spangled lace stole and a red rose at the throat.

The show clocked in at 1:29:06, according to the (unfortunately) black and white copy held at the Paley Museum in Los Angeles. Reactions were mixed. While audiences liked it, the critics hated it. The Times found "overtones of soap opera" and "a cumbersome farce." Rogers "delivered her lines listlessly, given more to play acting than a valid portrayal.". At the same time, the star "brought an eagerness to please, she failed to grasp the subtleties of Coward's characters." It would be remembered more for socialite Gloria Vanderbilt's television debut.

Fortunately, the series' future thirty-six episodes would feature more successful fare, including Mary Martin in Peter Pan, Humphrey Bogart, Lauren Bacall, Henry Fonda in Petrified Forrest, and Margot Fontaine in Cinderella.

Travilla's professional relationship with Rogers continued into the next decade. In June 1966 Rogers would celebrate her 1000th performance as the lead in Broadway's Hello Dolly. Ginger arrived at Sardi's wearing Travilla, where a party was being thrown for her that night. The next day, Rogers donned the designer again while co-hosting the Tony Awards held at the Rainbow Room atop Rockefeller Center.