Posts tagged ‘red fox’

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2009/12/13

Furs On Televsion – Bring Me the Head of Dobie Gillis

Heading back to more familiar territory, the 1980′s, with one from “the vaults” of older caps. Always nice to be reminded what a truly spectacular decade that was. With any luck the fashion cycle will replay it sooner rather than later. I’m filing this under “television” and not film because it was a TV movie, and that “Furs on Television” category is looking a little anemic.

Bring Me the Head of Dobie Gillis – The Film

From 1959 to 1963 there was a sitcom called The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis. In so far as it wasn’t something I caught very often on the “nostalgia” networks (I was more a Green Acres man, Lisa Douglas FTW), I’m not very familiar with it. In 1988, before it showed up on Nick-At-Night, someone created a reunion movie. The film’s plot was lifted from a 1956 tragicomedy by Swiss dramatist Friedrich Dürrenmatt, as the IMDb’s film pundits are literally dying to tell you about. The upshot of which is an old girlfriend blows into town to snag Dobie away from his happy home life by bribing the economically down-on-its-luck town.

Bring Me the Head of Dobie Gillis – The Furs

That old girlfriend is played by Connie Stevens, and her wardrobe was pure 1980′s rich lady. Yes, Connie, as Thalia Menninger, blows into town on Air Force One with her well stocked closet, and it’s brimming with fox.

In “great entrance” territory, Connie walks off Air Force One wearing a full length lynx coat.

Could be lynx dyed fox, either way, it’s a spectacular, thick ankle length fur.

On to the bribery, which Connie announces while beautifully accessorized in this dyed fox stole and muff. I believe the color has been referred to as “glacier” in other places, which, admittedly, has a bit more panache than “light blue.”

I “confess” to a deep adoration for brightly dyed fox. Though pink is a particular favorite, this one is quite nice indeed. I remain confused by Hollywood’s costume designers unceasing desire to break up such lovely muffs with metal broaches. This one is only slightly less annoying than the one in Lady of Burlesque.

Next up there’s this large red fox, which is another magnificent specimen from the 80′s mega fox line. Not quite as long as her entrance fur, but quite the coat nonetheless.

Connie does the “imperious” look while wearing the fox perfectly.

Massively full pelts on this coat as well as we get a quick glimpse from behind.

To wrap up we see a final red fox, different from the previous one as evidenced by the horizontal pattern of the pelts. This appears to be a very long cape, worn, while riding a horse, by Thalia in one of Dobie’s dream sequences.

Basically, this is just one of the finer examples of why I really liked growing up during the 80′s. Sadly things got a little rough after that. If I had to nitpick, I’m afraid Miss Stevens, while lovely, may have been a little past her prime at this point in her career. I admit it was appropriate casting considering the show’s original air-date, but that would have been a great Morgan Fairchild role. Perhaps most tellingly, it would be a great role for 2009 Morgan Fairchild.

Fur Runtime: approx 5 minutes
Film Runtime: 100 minutes
On-Screen Fur Ratio: 5%

Full Gallery- Fur Fashions of Bring Me the Head of Dobie Gillis

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2009/12/06

Furs in Film – Why Did I Get Married

Film subjects of this blog have tended towards a few specific time periods. Not my fault fashion doesn’t stand still. That doesn’t mean there aren’t promising signs as we slog through a nearly 20 year drought in fine on-screen fur fashions. We have Tyler Perry to thank for this modest little reminder, which is nicely winter themed as well to go along with holiday season. So enjoy this barely 2 year old entry, it’s probably not going to happen all that often.

Why Did I Get Married – The Film

The film Why Did I Get Married is based on a play of the same name, and is set, fortunately for us all, in a luxury retreat cabin in snowy Colorado. The film is about 4 married couples and the problems they’re currently experiencing. You know what that means… talk of divorce. Yes, something in common with films from the 30′s with fine fur fashions. Granted, this one probably has a bit more nuance to the character relations than a 30′s divorce comedy. Or maybe not, as I’m probably not the person who should be grading “nuance.”

Why Did I Get Married – The Furs

The film is notable for 2 reasons, primarily the fact the furs are there at all, but also because they’re just run of the mill cold weather fashions for the affluent women wearing them. So it’s no big deal that the ladies are adorned in fox, mink, and sable as they go through their marital strife.

To get the ball rolling we have Denise Boutte in this red fox jacket. Won’t do anyone any good to bother comparing 2000′s fox coats with 1930′s fox coats, so I won’t. Pleased to be seeing this “modest” little jacket at all.

Greeting Denise and “friend” are the other wives at the retreat, led by Tasha Smith in the film’s “signature” full length silver fox coat. Sharon Leal appears in a full length mink beside her.

We have the film’s brief shot of both fox coats on screen at once.

Tasha Smith is the only one to really get more than one coat in the film, here appearing in an oddly mismatched combination of furs. The full length mink is fairly conservative compared to the silver fox.

Due to the character she plays, it’s difficult to find a close up of Tasha Smith’s character when she’s not possessed of some disdainful or exasperated look on her face, at least while she’s wearing that lovely silver fox.

The ladies go shopping later in the film, and while it’s apparent it’s not exactly a furrier, there are furs in the racks. Here we see Janet Jackson in the sable wrap she wears along with Sharon Leal in her mink once more.

Janet is still better known for her other career, but she looks very fetching in the sable, accented by a red scarf.

One more with all the furs on screen at once, Tasha and her fox, Janet in the sable, and Sharon in her mink.

The stats for this film fall into what is probably pretty “average” for fur fashions in a lot of films, so it certainly can’t be called a “fur film” for its on-screen ratio. It’s a film from 2007 with a full length silver fox coat in it, so that alone is pretty notable.

Fur Runtime: approx 8 minutes
Film Runtime: 113 minutes
On-Screen Fur Ratio: 7%

Fur Fashions of Why Did I Get Married – Full Gallery

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2009/11/29

Furs in Film – The Films of The Falcon

I know what you’re thinking… I like the Lone Wolf, but what do you have in an ornithologically themed gentleman detective? Well you are in luck. Today we have the films of a gentleman (and his brother) called The Falcon. The Falcon was created by Michael Arlen in a short story in Town and Country and quickly thrown up on the screen by RKO a year later. Basically, every aspiring writer’s wet dream fulfilled by a studio looking to get into the gentleman detective film franchise business.

The Falcon – The Films

The Falcon first speedily appeared in The Gay Falcon in 1941, played by George Sanders. To quell the hysterical reaction of your collective inner twelve-year-olds, the name originated with the character’s name of Gay Lawrence. Okay, that probably didn’t help. In the original story the character’s name was Gay Falcon, which explained the name. The films fell back on using The Falcon as a nickname. Sanders  played The Falcon in 4 films, then, in The Falcon’s Brother, he passed the role to Tom Conway, who played… The Falcon’s brother, and was, in fact, George Sanders’ real life brother.

The Falcon – The Furs

The entire series was filmed in the early 40′s, but the reliable gentleman detective theme overcame the fashions of the day and provided some very nice furs. Not every Falcon film featured great furs, and no single film really rises to worthiness on its own (a couple almost make it), but taken as a group, they make for a good survey. So here’s a quick look at the fur fashions of the Falcon films.

The Gay Falcon – 1941

The Falcon came out of the gate strong with Wendy Barrie as the Falcon’s fiancée de-jour in this large white fox coat. Accented with a nice veil, the big white fox fur is well photographed for the few minutes it appears.

The Falcon ends up being a bit of a serial fiance, though Wendy would make it back for another film, this particular white fox would not. Not to worry, there’s better white fox ahead.

A Date with the Falcon – 1941

Yes, they made films quickly back then. I’m 90% certain this is Mona Maris in a red fox stole near the beginning of the film.

This sequel wasn’t the best of the bunch for furs, but Miss Maris does look fine in this fox stole.

The Falcon Takes Over – 1942

Probably the best of the bunch for 2 reasons, one, this amazing full length white fox fur coat, and two because Helen Gilbert is doing a great Veronica Lake impression.

Check out the main gallery for more of this lovely specimen. As this image suggests, Miss Gilbert is playing the bad girl. This film is actually the first adaption of Raymond Chandler’s Farewell, My Lovely.  If you want pretentious amateur film critic analysis of that, read the IMDb comments, not this blog post.

The end of The Falcon Takes Over includes what would become a standard trope of the Falcon films… someone appears to ask the Falcon for help on a new case. In this case it’s a group of showgirls, some of whom are wearing furs. Sadly, the other standard element of this trope is that it actually has nothing to do with the next film.

The Falcon’s Brother – 1942

George Sanders must have realized they weren’t going to have a better fur than the white fox in The Falcon Takes Over, so he wanted to move on. Or maybe there was another reason… In any case, The Falcon’s Brother did not carry the fur fashion momentum of the previous film and gives us only this silver fox stole worn by Amanda Varela.

The Falcon In Danger – 1943

The second best Falcon film for fur fashion, this one features a number of furs, on screen at the same time. First up is the showcase fur, a long silver fox cape worn by Amelita Ward, who is playing The Falcon’s latest main squeeze.

As the mystery unfolds, ladies in fur gather at the airport with The Falcon. Amelita and her silver fox meet up with Elaine Shepard in this full length mink coat.

Finally, by process of elimination of women listed as being in the film on the IMDb, I think this is Jean Brooks in a spotted fur collar, which would not have ordinarily been noteworthy without Miss Ward’s silver fox being in the shot.

The Falcon and the Co-eds – 1943

Another light entry, which gives us, at the very end, this actress in a short haired fur hat and muff.

Which wouldn’t really have made it either if not for being a few seconds away from the Falcon’s latest end-of-film setup as this lovely lady appears in a short fox jacket to ask for The Falcon’s help on another new case before the credits role.

The Falcon in Mexico – 1944

Much like the fur carrying showgirls at the end of The Falcon Takes Over that lady in fox isn’t in the next film, The Falcon Out West, which has only a single rather bland mink to show for it. Thankfully the next sequel has two very full fox jackets, starting with this white fox on The Falcon’s current girlfriend, who’s in this film for about a minute.

The Falcon sends his girlfriend off for the rest of the film then immediately catches this very well dressed burglar (Cecilia Callejo) in the act of breaking into a gallery to steal a painting for which she posed, wearing this large marble blue fox fur jacket.

The Falcon in San Francisco – 1945

We end on neither a high nor low point, as Fay Helm (I think) brings us this very nice silver fox fur coat as she bails the Falcon out of jail.

Fay’s a bad girl, so the silver fox is a good fit, as is her smoking at the restaurant she brings the Falcon to after bailing him out.

For a series of film from the 40′s this is a pretty good showing. Not all of them are really great, and there’s the oddball The Falcon in Hollywood (1944), which by all rights should have been the best of the bunch but was completely dry. Whatever the reason, the wardrobe requirements for the gentleman detective film took a valiant stand against the fashions of the day and we all got something good out of it.

Fur Fashions of the Films of The Falcon – Full Gallery

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2009/01/22

Furs on TV – Knots Landing

Soap.net abandoned me a while back. I knew I was in trouble the minute I saw commercials for 90210 appearing. As I knew it would, the network’s line-up was slowly overtaken by 90′s soaps. With the exception of 60 minutes in the wee hours of the morning for Ryan’s Hope (more on that later), the network is devoid of any worthwhile programming.

Knots Landing – The Show

I was at the time coming off taping Dallas after having done Dynasty. All the while Knots Landing ran concurrently. I knew it was a long lasting show, and that my odds of it being replayed from the beginning were low, but I kept my focus on the big 2. So what I have of Knots runs from about season 3 until… well, until the 90′s happened and ruined fur on television. So there may be a few choice moments I missed, but this gallery represents most of the “decent” furs ever seen on the show.

Knots Landing was adapted as a Dallas spin-off, about a cul-de-sac in the LA burbs of the same name. Climate wise, it was no Denver, and wardrobe wise it wasn’t either. Still, as an 80′s nighttime soap, the humble residents of this particular suburban cul-de-sac did wrap up very glamorously from time to time, lead mostly by Donna Mills who arrived in season 2 to pump up the fur count much like Joan Collins in Dynasty.

Knots Landing – The Furs

Fitting that Donna starts us off then, in a coat with a full lynx collar and cuffs. Abby Ewing’s “signature” heavy eye makeup is on display here and everywhere (or it wouldn’t have been much of a signature). I never watched Knots as a kid, so it wasn’t exactly her fault I find it exceptionally “enticing.” I now understand most females find it exceptionally “slutty.”

Fur stoles. Perhaps the costumers were trying to work with the climate and still fit fur in, thus there were quite a few fox fur stoles on display in Knots Landing. Here Donna in blue fox…

…and Constance McCashin in crystal fox.

Joan Van Ark’s character was central to the show, and since she wasn’t meant to be a member of the gliteratti, she rarely ended up in fur. This hurt Knots’ overall fur quotient. Where as Dynasty’s female cast seemed to compete to wear the most, outside of Abby, the pickings on Knots were slim. Here’s Val in a rare red fox coat.

To say Donna’s character Abby got the best furs is a bit unfair, since she got the most, but Constance McCashin’s Laura Sumner did have some memorable ones, especially this large lynx fur coat.

Val’s “other” notable fur was another stole, this one in white fox.

Michele Lee’s character Karen was in the same boat as Val, a regular ole housewife who wasn’t supposed to look glamorous. Thus she rarely got any fur. This black fox stole was one of her only notable appearances on the show wearing fur.

Back to the really good stuff, with Abby wearing a big full length blue fox coat while engaging in what is no doubt completely innocent chit-chat with a shirtless male. It does appear he’s happy to see her like that, though.

Getting later into the show the furs became very few and far between. Fortunately when they did appear, they were worth it. Here’s Donna Mills in lovely full length lynx fur coat.

Paper Dolls didn’t work out, so Nicollette Sheridan found more long term work here on Knots Landing. Sadly she didn’t show up until 86, and she only got one decent fur, but boy, was it decent…

Here’s a perfect illustration of why I generally don’t bother capture mink images in any form. This is Michelle Phillips in a full length black mink playing Nicollette’s character’s mother, with daughter Paige in the background. To me, there’s no contest. Nicollete’s huge, thick, full length beauty screams youth and passion, fire and energy with more than a hit of sensuality. Michelle might as well be going to church.

Of the big 80′s nighttime soaps, Knots was certainly the poor cousin to Dallas and Dynasty in the fur department. The core problem was the setting and characters, most of whom weren’t ever meant to be quite as “flashy.” They were housewives living on a suburban cul-de-sac. Probably should be happy the overall 80′s aesthetic blended as much fur into the show as it did. Comparatively, they’ve certainly run a higher fur-per-episode count than similarly themed Desperate Housewives. Oh, what a difference a couple decades make.

Full Gallery: Furs on Television – Knots Landing

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2008/12/12

Furs in Film – Tin Pan Alley

The actual Tin Pan Alley is on its way to becoming some hi-rise. The alley’s history as a source of popular music from the late 19th and early 20th century meant it eventually figured into the new-born film business. The one in the 30′s and 40′s, not the current one. Maybe if was the center of a modern blockbuster, it wouldn’t be at the mercy of very real blockbusters. Granted, the time that a musical could be a blockbuster is pretty much past.

Tin Pan Alley – The Film

Tin Pan Alley, the 1940 film version, follows star Katie Blane, played by Alice Faye, and her sister Lucy (then up and coming Betty Grable) as they find fame and fortune with Tin Pan Alley songwriters Harry Calhoun and Skeets Harrigan. With the Blane sisters singing their songs, everyone is rocketed to fame and fortune. Until slightly more famous, and well dressed, Nora Bayes asks to sing one of Calhoun and Harrigan’s songs, one promised to the Blanes. The Blanes skip town leaving Harry and Skeets on the rocks as their fame fades and the end up joining the Army. Which is what most down-on-their-luck songwriters did back then. Happy reunions occur in France and, despite 3 or 4 years of hellish trench warfare summed up in about thirty second of stock footage no one manages to die in World War I.

Tin Pan Alley- The Furs

Another film from the “40′s” with great fur. This one is probably cheating, though. Maybe it hit theaters in January of 1940. Maybe it was the fact that the film is set in the mid to late 1910′s. The foxes are a bit too large to really work for that period. Not that I’m complaining. This is one case where a little Hollywood costume excess works in our favor.

Things only really get rolling after Harry and Skeets are on top of the world with the help of the Blane sisters and the “other woman” shows up to poach their latest songwriting masterpiece. That would be the famous Nora Bayes, played by Esther Ralston.

Nora shows up in a fox trimmed cape with a large, matching barrel muff with tails. Not quite the same as Barbara Stanwyck’s from Lady of Burlesque, but the combination is very nice indeed.

Nora gets her song, despite polite protests from one half of the songwriting team.

She calls back shortly, wearing this white fox trimmed dress. The trim forms a bit a circle around her arms. Certainly one of the more interesting uses of fox trim.

Apparently Betty Grable was written into the film as the younger sister at the last minute thanks to her success in Down Argentine Way, where she also wore some nice fur. Here she waits for sister Katie to return home in a large red fox trimmed coat.

Alice Faye wears a coat with black fox trim as she gets the bad news about Nora and the song.

Katie comforts Alice after getting the bad news. One supposes the heat in the lavish upscale apartment is on the fritz. Again, not that I’m complaining.

The years pass and the Blane sisters have found their own success in London. They learn Harry and Skeets have joined up with the Army and are in London before shipping out to France. They decide to see them and patch things up. Alice chooses a very nice fence-mending fur with this jacket with a huge white fox collar and cuffs.

They meet up at the docks. Miss Faye looks beautiful framed in this thick white fox fur.

The entire docks sequence is, per Hollywood cliche, drenched in fog. Muddies up the view of the fur from time to time, but Alice manages to shine through quite a bit.

Tin Pan Alley is actually one of the first films I ever tried doing caps on years and year ago. I remember struggling with the last sequence, as the combination of sweeping shots in the fog soaked docks made it a rather annoying one to cut one’s teeth on. Alice’s jacket would have been even more appealing if it were all white fox, but the size of the collar and cuffs made it almost indistinguishable from a full fur jacket in many shots.

The full Tin Pan Alley Fur Gallery.

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2008/12/04

Furs in Film – Night Shift

The 80′s, decade of mega foxes and power furs. Decade that, at the moment, it’s not really easy to find a whole bunch of people broadcasting content from. There are a few gems that appear, for whatever reason, from time to time. Like our next pick, which is notable primarily for the pure length of time the showcase fur appears on screen.

Night Shift – The Film

Henry Winkler spent a lot of time on TV as the Fonze, but like a lot of famous television personalities, was never able to completely translate that small screen success into the big screen. One of the more memorable attempts was Night Shift. At least, memorable to me, but perhaps not for the reason Henry Winkler wants.

Winlker stars as the standard troubled loser Chuck Lumley who, through circumstances that would never occur outside of an 80′s comedy, achieves self esteem and gets the girl. He accomplishes this via his new night shift co-worker Bill Blazejowski’s (young Michael Keaton) wacky plan of running a prostitution ring from the morgue in which they work.

Ah, 80′s hookers. If television and films taught me anything about them, they all wore really great furs.

Night Shift- The Furs

There are a variety of furs in the film Night Shift, though only one receives the kind of screen time it deserves. After their initial success in the world of pimping, Chuck buys his working girl’s a stake in a fast foot restaurant. They arrive rather bundled up in a variety of furs.

Also desperately searching for a springboard to film stardom from a popular television series, Shelly Long is Belinda Keaton, the hooker with a heart of gold, and a small silver fox jacket. Shelly’s fur wardrobe ramps up quickly with the success of their prostitution ring. This is her second fur, not a bad little jacket, but the main event is not far off.

This would that main event, a full length fox coat I believe is referred to as “indigo” or possibly bluefrost. Somewhere between crystal and silver, the fox plays for entire scenes in the film.

Not that I question Belinda’s financial acumen, but the reason this entire scene is played in that wonderful fox coat is the heat in her apartment doesn’t work. One would think with all her newfound “full length fox coat” money that would be simple to correct.

Not that I care, as this circumstance leads to Belinda and Chuck’s first kiss, and a rather drawn out scene in which they try to pull each other’s coats off but fail. If only it were that way in all films.

The tub shot, ’nuff said.

Naturally complications arise and Chuck is arrested. The girls come to bail him out on a cold winter’s night.

Love wins the day, as Chuck rescues Belinda from a life of prostitution and, presumably, gets some blood tests shortly after skipping off into the neon sunset.

Night Shift is a good example of a “long scene fur”.  Certainly unheard of in recent memory, the idea that entire scenes would play out with an actress in a full length fox coat was rare even in the 80′s.  Miss Long was not a particularly great beauty, but she manages to fill out the coat well enough.  A 1982 Morgan Fairchild would have done the coat justice, but then Morgan really didn’t play to the “heart of gold” type required for the film.

Here’s the full gallery: The Furs of Night Shift

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2008/11/13

Furs in Film – Morning Glory

Did two color posts in row, how did that happen? Let’s get back to the 30′s, where the financial analysts of today get all their Depression predictions from. One hopes it won’t take another one of those to usher in a new period of mega fox fashion in Hollywood.

Fortunately, the 1933 Katharine Hepburn film Morning Glory provides a couple huge fox furs in case they need an example.

Morning Glory – The Film

Adapted from the play “Zoe Adkins” by Howard j. Green, Morning Glory tells the tale of Eva Lovelace, a young actress with aspirations of becoming a Broadway star but little in the way of experience. After being passed over in auditions she meets Adolphe Menjou, playing a theatre coach who agrees to give her a few pointers on the whole “acting” thing. Back when this wasn’t complete cliché, Eva ends up going from bit part to star when the leading lady throws a tantrum and quits.

Morning Glory – The Furs

Eva tries to break into Broadway by going to auditions. Unfortunately, more experienced, and better dressed actresses are there ahead of her. Geneva Mitchell as Gwendoline Hall relaxes in this large fox stole and muff combo when noticing Eva in the waiting room.

Eva’s attempts to chat up Gwendoline aren’t well received. This closeup of Geneva in the fox stole is excellent.

Gwendoline finishes up her audition and meets Rita Vernon on the way out. Rita is played by Mary Duncan, and wears a nice chinchilla jacket and muff.

Rita and Gwendoline appear delighted to meet one another at the same audition.

But they are actresses, after all…

Rita secures the lead the role in the play, and provides us this nice closeup of the collar of her chinchilla jacket in the process.

We move to the end of the film, after Rita walks out and Eva steps up to become the star. Since Katharine Hepburn never really faded from the public eye like many of the screen legends of her day, it’s sometimes hard to picture her during the time became famous. This is Katharine Hepburn at age 26, wearing an enormous white fox wrap.

The white fox fur wrap is technically just white fox trimmed, but the trim is that lovely enormous kind that make the golden sequined body of the wrap a mere distraction to the thick, fluffy fur.

Hepburn in close up, face surrounded by white fox. Screen legend, indeed. She won her first Oscar for this role, and I think the white fox may have helped.

From a fur fashion perspective, Morning Glory is an uneven film. It starts with Geneva and Mary in their audition furs and drys up until Katherine appears at the end in that massive white fox fur wrap. The nice thing about the wrap is Miss Hepburn spends the remainder of the film wearing it. The final scene plays out backstage after her successful turn in the staring role, and lasts a good five to ten minutes.

Fur Film Gallery – Morning Glory.

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2008/10/30

Furs in Film – I’m No Angel

These days it’s easier to find media from the 30′s with mega furs than it is to find similarly well fashioned media from the 80′s. Despite what chronological order may suggest, even plumbing the depths of cable rarely turns up any 80′s gems. So we return to the by gone days of power furs and the women who knew who to use them.

I’m No Angel – The Film

This time the woman in question is Mae West, who could pull off a power fox like few others. 1933′s I’m No Angel is considered one of her classic roles. It serves up a couple very classic fox outfits in addition to a variety of classic Mae West lines.

Mae stars as Tira, a circus performer who rises from circus obscurity to circus stardom as the lion tamer. Fortunately the circus paid really well back in the 30′s, at least lion taming must have. Now much better off, Tira climbs the social ladder, ditching her boyfriend and trading up to the New York social scene. After one of those wacky misunderstandings, she ends up suing would-be boyfriend Jack Clayton (Cary Grant) for “breach of promise.”

Tira arrives to the trial exceptionally well dressed, and ends up winning, both the trial, and her boyfriend back. The moral of the story is that all attractive women should wear fox to civil litigation.

I’m No Angel – The Furs

Tira first meets Jack’s cousin Kent when he and some friends visit her after an evening of lion taming. One of the friends sports this rather nice white fox collar.

Kent’s fiancée doesn’t particularly care for Tira’s new found interest. She drops by to dissuade Tira from pursuing Kent. Gertrude Michael as Alicia Hutton wears the fox trimmed wrap in this scene, but Mae is in charge. The cigarette holder is a nice touch.

The marquee fur is up next, this coat trimmed with enormous white fox collar and huge cuffs. Wisely we see it all when Miss West first enters, putting the entire coat on display. The combination collar / full fringe on the coat is perfect.

Closer shot, highlighting the sheer size of the white fox collar on the coat. Fashion is fickle, but why did this ever go out of style?

This shot is worth it just for Mae West’s expression alone. The white fox collar is the perfect frame.

A brief interlude when Tira consults her lawyer before heading to trial against Jack. The silver fox muff and trim on the dress are just a prelude to the final act.

Finally, in the penultimate sequence, the trial is on, and Tira takes over as her own counsel. She’s dressed the part in a cape with a huge fox collar and matching muff. The trail sequence lasts a good 10 minutes and she’s in this fur the entire time.

Close up of the collar, because it’s definitely worth it.

Victorious, Tira plays to the press, but realizes she loves Jack after all. Jack’s definitely the lucky one.

Were I to gripe, I’d say that gold fabric on the the white fox was completely unnecessary. Were it all white fox, it would certainly be same league as Irene Dunne’s white fox from The Awful Truth. Still, the collar and cuffs were spectacular enough as they are.

Enjoy: I’m No Angel Fur Gallery.

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2008/09/08

Fur on TV – Paper Dolls

“For all sad words of tongue and pen, the saddest are these: ‘It might have been’.”

Now that John Greenleaf Whittier is spinning in his grave over the use of that rather brilliant turn of phrase on a blog, we can move on to talk about Paper Dolls.

The Show

From September to December of 1984, ABC attempted to duplicate the Dynasty gravy train with another high-society evening soap. The setting, high fashion modeling. The year 1984. In summation: major fur glamor.

Sadly, this 80′s fur-fueled epic was not to last, stripping posterity of years of glamorous stars in enormous fox coats. We have only our fantasies to guide us about what the years to come may have brought. All that remains are 14 all-to-brief episodes of fur glory.

The Pilot

…comes out swinging on cold days and nights, forcing one of the last of the great 80′s fur stars, Morgan Fairchild, to do what she does best, look awesome in a big fur coat. One might quibble over Brenda Vaccaro and how she went a bit downhill so many years after Midnight Cowboy, but I have to look on the bright side and think, it could have been worse.

Who else should appear but a very young Mimi Rogers, pimping a very nice full length lynx. Paper Dolls obviously had a budget behind it. I would have been happy with just “foxes of many colors”, but you can’t complain about tossing in some high end lynx.

The Female Leads

Speaking of very young, Nicollette Sheridan made her acting debut on Paper Dolls. She’d later bring the fur in Knots Landing and ever so briefly in Desperate Housewives later, but this was her start, and what a start it was. Perhaps if the show had lasted she’d have made fox coats all the rage with the teenage set.

Making sure she covers her fundamentals, Nicollette gets some red fox time in as well. Sadly, she did not get a chance to wrap up in some blue fox before the show’s so premature departure.

Who is that she’s talking to? Yes, Trek fans, that’s none other than Jadzia Dax of Deep Space Nine, Terry Farrell. Sadly, Terry’s character was the more grounded, reserved, and modestly incomed of the two main model players. She was level-headed ying to Nicollette’s rich yang. Thankfully, she did not go completely furless the entire short run…

Granted, given the choice, I’m kind of glad if there had to be only 1 of the two that wore furs more often, it was Nicollette. This isn’t to say if Dax had been walking around Deep Space Nine in enormous fox coats all the time, I would have minded.

Bonus Shots

Just a few extras, as it’s not like I don’t have a lot of them. Here’s Morgan Fairchild in what appears to be stone martin, or maybe just a pleasantly colored mink.  I enjoyed the juxtaposition of Morgan’s teased out blond on top and the fur on the bottom.

I think this is Jennifer Warren in a nice dyed fox. Love the dyed foxes, though my preferences run more towards hot pink than purple. The interesting thing about this one is that it’s very similar to the coat that shows up in an episode of Dallas. Same alternate sleeve dyes and all.

Brenda going for extra points with the cigarette holder here. Smoking, good, cigarette holders, awesome.

And that’s it for Paper Dolls. This isn’t all the fur there was on the show, even. It displayed so much potential, only to be cut down before it could amass a good 100 episodes of massive fox coats. Sadly, prior to mass Internet connectivity, there was no grass roots campaign to bring the show back.

Full Gallery: The Furs of Paper Dolls

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