(a.k.a. Natalie Wood Part Two)

While I had my Natalie Wood makeup on, I did a quick change so that I could squeeze in an extra, bonus cosplay. This is my recreation of Natalie on this Italian poster for This Property is Condemned (1966). I painted this one on my own and while it’s not perfect, I think it’s pretty good for someone who had never painted digitally or used a tablet before a month ago! 

This bonus cosplay is gonna be my excuse to share some of my thoughts on the whole of this year’s Cosplay Under the Stars series.

Until the very end of July, I was waffling over whether or not I wanted to do this challenge again. But when the concept of recreating posters and magazine covers crossed my mind, instead of my usual cosplay, challenging myself with new media was really attractive. Even though I do like the results–and most of you seem to as well–I don’t know if and/or when I’ll do this again.

For context, I began experimenting with styling myself after performers and characters from my favorite movies when I was a teenager. Yes, before social media. (Yes, I’m old.) It was not only a creative outlet, but it was also a fun and different way of engaging with my favorite performers and films. (There’s definitely a way to tie this into being undiagnosed autistic, but that’s another story for another time.)

There is so much I’ve learned over the years by doing this. In some cases, I’ve come to appreciate the creative choices of some of my favorite performers in a new way. In others, I’ve arrived at an appreciation for performers that I didn’t know that much about beforehand. Honestly, if you are comfortable playing with styling and/or photography, I really recommend trying this yourself.

When I got my film studies degree, I saw how underrepresented the analysis of acting is in film scholarship–outside the parameters of star studies that is. And so, being able to connect with what the performers are doing in their roles from the outside in is so enriching. There’s much more depth and creativity in what classic film actors did than they are given credit for. I hope that I’ve been able to convey some of that to you all, even if my blog is not entirely focused on it.

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Now… there is a vocal minority of people who really, truly do not understand what I’m doing with any of these cosplays. My response to them is: ok, boomer. If you’ve never clicked a link to read what I’ve written, if you don’t understand self-portraiture, if you’ve never done makeup, hairstyling, photography, costuming, or acting–then why am I supposed to care about your opinion? (Another thing I’ve come to learn doing this is that prosopagnosia is way more widespread than you think. But, again, that’s another story for another time.)

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The reason I’m not sure if I’ll do this type of cosplay again is that such rote recreation isn’t as fun or creatively fulfilling. When you’re so worried about trying to get enough visual details just right, there’s not a lot of room to explore a performer or their performance, which is most of the fun of cosplays for me. It does seem that a lot less people understand what I’m doing with my cosplays when I’m recreating a mood or the energy of a performance than when I do image recreations–but let’s be honest, at this point in my life I know I’m the human equivalent of pickles and peanut butter–an acquired taste. If I come across a particularly compelling cover or poster in the future or if it would ever be feasible to do this with other people as my models, maybe I’ll have at it again. But, for now, I’ll probably go back to my regular cosplays.

Even so, learning new software and methods was fun in another way! I have to thank my SO for encouraging me to go through with the project and helping me immeasurably with painting work on most of the pictures while teaching me how to do it myself. They also helped me shoot many of these, given my lacking equipment.

All of my photographic equipment. No. Really. (The mirror is because my camera doesn’t have a front-facing display.)

Also, smaller shout out to Curious World, because his youtube videos accompanied me while I did my hair and makeup.

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If you’d like to support my cosplay endeavors going forward, I have a paypal,ko-fi, and a public amazon wishlist. Thank you for all your support and encouragement!

What is Cosplay Under the Stars?

If you’re new here, every August, Turner Classic Movies celebrates Summer Under the Stars. Each day of the month, a different film star gets a full 24 hours of programming. In 2017, on a whim, I decided to put together closet cosplays of every woman featured that month. And so, Cosplay Under the Stars was born.

In honor of the glorious Dolores del Río’s Summer Under the Stars debut, I recreated this 1936 Earl Christy portrait of her for Modern Screen magazine. Dolores has become one of my favorite film actors over the past few years and I’m excited that there are a bunch of films that TCM is playing today that I haven’t seen yet! I’m most looking forward to The Trail of ’98 (1928) and The Devil’s Playground(1937).

Dolores was a major star not only from her work in Hollywood, but also as one of the foremost stars of the Golden Age of Mexican Cinema. Sadly, TCM isn’t playing any of Dolores’ Mexican films today. (As someone who has done work in media rights management, I’m sure TCM has reasons that Mexican cinema is underrepresented in their programming.)

That said, spend some of today falling in love with Dolores and then seek out her Mexican films! There are still a lot of films of the Golden Age I haven’t seen, but I strongly recommend checking out La Otra (1946) (probably my favorite Dolores film), María Candelaria (1944), and Flor Silvestre(1943).

What is Cosplay Under the Stars?

If you’re new here, every August, Turner Classic Movies celebrates Summer Under the Stars. Each day of the month, a different film star gets a full 24 hours of programming. In 2017, on a whim, I decided to put together closet cosplays of every woman featured that month. And so, Cosplay Under the Stars was born.

The Star

Born into show business, Dolores Costello’s parents, Maurice and Mae, were both performers on stage and in early films for Vitagraph. Dolores had multiple credits in Vitagraph films before she even celebrated her tenth birthday. In fact, I’ve already covered one of Dolores’ early films on this blog, as part of my Christmas movie throwback list. 

As Dolores and her sister Helene aged out of child roles, they hopped over to New York and worked as models and on stage for Florenz Ziegfeld. Famed Broadway producer Ziegfeld ran a series of very successful revues on Broadway featuring showgirls who exemplified a specific brand of free-wheeling, vigorous femininity. Such was their popularity that the nickname “Ziegfeld girl” had nationwide recognition. Many Ziegfeld girls found success on film – Dolores and Helene were brought back to the movie business by Warner Brothers. After some minor roles, Dolores was picked by John Barrymore to star alongside him in The Sea Beast (1926), which was loosely inspired by the novel Moby-Dick. Dolores’ star rose dramatically over the next few years and she would marry Barrymore in 1928.

The Cosplay

When I originally saw these portraits of Costello, I immediately wanted to recreate them in closet cosplay. But, even now, I haven’t been able to definitively pinpoint when they were taken or if they were taken to promote a specific film. Based on her styling, I reckon they were likely shot around 1928-29. Then I came across an uncited suggestion that they were taken during the production of Noah’s Ark (1928). So, I watched it and the assumption seems probable. I did not intend to make this a post about a movie, but Noah’s Ark is so interesting, I couldn’t help myself!

The Film

Noah’s Ark is fascinating. It stands firmly between the silent and sound eras. Darryl F. Zanuck conceived the film as a dual story: a World War I romance tale and a creative retelling of the story of Noah from the book of Genesis. Originally planned as a fully-silent epic, the production of Noah’s Ark was extended due to the emergence of talkies. Sound segments were filmed making Noah’s Ark one of many hybrid films made in this transitional period. Though it was released at the end of Hollywood’s sound/silent hybrid cycle, it was a big box office success.

The film begins with a preface likening biblical stories to contemporary life, easing the viewer into the mirrored story of the flood/WWI. The story commences with our cast of characters on a train traveling through Europe, carrying a very international crowd. We meet two all-American types, Travis (George O’Brien) and Al (Guinn “Big Boy” Williams), a German showgirl, Marie (Costello), a minister (Paul McAllister), and a Russian intelligence agent, Nickoloff (Noah Beery). The train is violently derailed over a bridge, but Travis and Al manage to save Marie and end up at a local inn with other survivors, including Nikoloff. Travis saves Marie once more that night, as Nickoloff sneaks into her room with ill intent. At the same time, soldiers arrive at the inn announcing that war has broken out. 

Later, in Paris, Marie and Travis have fallen in love and marry, while Al enlists in the army. Travis finds it hard to say goodbye to his good friend and gets swept up when he sees Al marching away. Travis quickly joins up too, leaving Marie to fend for herself–a German citizen stuck in France in the middle of the war(!!!). All three lose touch. In a heart-wrenching turn of events, when Al and Travis by chance end up in the same trench together, the chaos of the battlefield leads Travis to accidentally kill Al with a grenade. Back in the city, Marie has resumed working as a showgirl where she is recognized by Nickoloff, who has her arrested as a German spy. Nickoloff plants evidence on her and uses his influence to ensure that she gets the firing squad. In another chance encounter, one of the military men assigned to carry out the execution is Travis, who immediately attempts to stop the execution. At that moment, however, a German attack buries the whole lot of them under a ton of rubble. As they sit without much hope of survival, the minister (the same one from the train), recounts the story of the flood.

Noah (McAllister) lives in a kingdom ruled by King Nephilim (Beery) who worships a god called Jaghuth. God warns Noah of the oncoming flood and Noah has his sons begin constructing a massive ark. One of Noah’s sons, Japheth (O’Brien), is in love with their servant girl, Miriam (Costello). King Nephilim plans to sacrifice Miriam and kidnaps her. When Japheth tries to save Miriam, he is captured, blinded, and forced into hard labor. The flood comes suddenly just as Miriam is about to be killed. Japheth manages to escape his chains and his sight is restored divinely. He finds Miriam and the two make their way to the ark. Meanwhile, a whole menagerie of animals also make their way to the ark while masses of people are battered by waves and washed away.

Returning to the 1910s, the people buried under the rubble are rescued and learn that the armistice is signed and the war is over.

READ MORE below the jump!

The production of this film was a massive undertaking. All of the special effects are dazzling. The compositing, miniature work, and matte paintings all really stood out to me. Now, the flood sequences were a lot to take in. It’s been reported that some stunt performers were killed filming these scenes and many were badly injured. I managed to track down five different books that report this, all with slightly different accounts. However, none of them cite a source for this information, so I’m not sure how much of it is apocryphal. Regardless, it’s easy to believe. Many of the shots of the flood waters bombarding these extras are wide shots with lots of people and lots of water. Trying to film those shots while adequately monitoring the safety of all performers seems likely impossible. (One reason we should be very grateful for CG nowadays IMO.)

I’d honestly recommend this movie broadly because its excess alone is remarkable and the dual-story format is entertainingly strange. However, watching this on the other side of the Second World War makes the hopeful ending totally gut wrenching.

Also, the relationship between Al and Travis is so so so queer. O’Brien and Williams have a lot more chemistry together than O’Brien and Costello. But, honestly, that chemistry imbalance actually makes the 1910s section more interesting.

Despite the film’s extended production, it made a very tidy profit. While Costello’s films during the silent/sound transition were popular, she had a minor speech impediment that made the process bumpy for her. And so, a few years later, Costello chose to retire to focus on raising her children. After divorcing Barrymore, Costello made a strong, but unfortunately short comeback to films. Thankfully, before her re-retirement in the 1940s, we all got her wonderful turn in The Magnificent Ambersons(1942).

Dolores Costello, for me, represents a kind of sehnsucht. The fits and starts of her career gave us captivating glimpses at what could have been a full and ranging filmography, but never came to fruition. Noah’s Ark is one of those glimpses. The gravity of Marie’s situation settling on to her is so effectively communicated through Costello’s face and body language–all of the uncertainty, anxiety, abandonment–that little needs to be made explicit in the 1910s section. What a gift she had!

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