A Conversation With Edith Head

Susan Claassen as Edith Head. Photo by Tim Fuller.

Edith Head was a legend in her own time, a designer to the stars who worked on 1,131 motion pictures, received 35 Academy Award nominations and eight Oscars over her 60-year career.

This month, Toronto audiences have an opportunity to get up close and personal with the celebrated fashion icon, embodied by look-alike performer Susan Claassen in her one-woman show A Conversation With Edith Head, making its Canadian debut at Buddies in Bad Times Theatre January 17 to 19.

Here, we chat with the passionate Claasseen to find out more about what this production has to offer.

Theatromania: Tell us about A Conversation With Edith Head. What inspired you to tell the story of this legendary Hollywood designer?

SC: I first got the idea to create a theatrical presentation when I was watching a television biography. I contacted Edith's estate and they granted me permission to pursue this project. I madly read anything I could find and when I came upon Paddy Calistro's book, Edith Head's Hollywood, I decided to attempt to locate its author. I called telephone information for where I thought Paddy lived, and voila, she was listed. I placed the phone call and it was kismet. At our first meeting in Los Angeles we knew the connection was right and we agreed to collaborate. Paddy had not only written the book, but had inherited 13 hours of taped interviews with Edith Head. It was truly a gift from heaven.

We can honestly say that A Conversation with Edith Head is based upon the words and thoughts of Edith Head—the ''Edith- isms'. In hearing her speak, it struck me how bright she was—and she did not suffer fools lightly. She had to keep up a strong exterior in order to mask her vulnerability. Her longevity is a direct result of her tenacity

Theatromania: How would you describe your one-woman show in a few sentences?

SC: It is an evening of wit, wisdom and a whisper of gossip! We have worked very hard to create an intimate portrait that reveals the complexity of this fascinating woman. We set the play in 1981 during the making of her last film, Carl Reiner’s Dead Men Don’t Wear Plaid, starring Steve Martin. She died two weeks after the wrap of the film, and the film is dedicated to her. Throughout the play we see glimpses of a woman who has outlived all her contemporaries and is wrestling with a lifetime of memories and regrets. It is some of those vulnerable moments that resonate so deeply.

Theatromania: How did you prepare yourself for this role?

SC: I am very disciplined. I study the script every day. I listen to her interviews. I arrive at the theatre two hours before curtain to slowly and thoroughly get into Miss Head’s “head”—it is a wonderful time and very precious to me. I have my rituals that I go through, like eating the same thing prior to every performance. It is an awesome responsibility to keep someone’s legacy alive and I embrace that wholeheartedly. I know I'm not Edith. And the audience knows I'm not Edith Head. But there's a shared moment. Everybody can remember a film they saw, or a date they had, or the first time they saw “Gowns by Edith Head,” or the first time they saw Grace Kelly in the gorgeous gown, or Elizabeth Taylor in the A Place in the Sun dress. It brings back something that in some way touched them. And that is a connection that I just treasure.

Norman Lear and Barbara Rush, who both worked with Head on Come Blow Your Horn, came to see us and said: “You are more Edith than Edith!” Jean-Pierre Dorleac, a costume designer who was one of Edith's contemporaries, came to opening night and said: "I just felt I was with my friend again." The list goes on from Joan Rivers to Anthony Powell to Tippi Hedren to Elke Summer to Kate Burton, who said: “I am having an out of body experience. I used to come to your fittings Miss Head with my step-mom!”

Theatromania: Which "Edithism" is your personal favourite?

SC: “You can have anything you want in life if you dress for it.”

“A designer is only as good as the star who wears her clothes.”

"If Cinderella had had Edith Head she would not have needed a fairy godmother!"

“A creative person must have a healthy ego.”

“I have yet to see one completely unspoiled star, except for—Lassie.”

Theatromania: Have you learned anything new or significant from this experience?

SC: I have learned so much about Edith Head having immersed myself in the research for over a decade. Name one other designer who has eight Oscars, a trading card, an animated homage and a Google Doodle! Edith paved the way for all costume designers. Edith was an executive woman before there was such a thing! It was a boy’s club when she started in 1923. Women in the United States had just recently got the vote, if you can imagine. It has been said that Edith had the instincts of a pastry chef and the authority of a factory foreman. She herself said, “I knew I was not a creative design genius...I am a better diplomat than I am a designer...I was never going to be the world’s greatest costume designer, but there was no reason I could not be the smartest and most celebrated.”

She knew how to play the game better than anyone. Her concern really was to change actors into characters. Edith said, “I make people into what they are not—10 years older or younger, fatter or thinner, more handsome or more ridiculous, glamorous or sexy or horrible. The camera never lies, after all, so my work is really an exercise in camouflage.” She was a woman with a great heart, a great sense of humor, and great, great determination.

Theatre actors thrive on the immediacy of an audience. Every audience is notable and remarkable. From our first night in London when Dame Cleo Laine came to my student matinees—each opportunity is a blessing. The audience response has been amazing. From Tbilisi to Edinburgh to Chicago, audiences have been touched by Edith’s story. What they take with them after having seen the performance is truly dependent on what they bring to it. Film buffs get immersed in hearing stories from someone who has lived throughout the evolution of contemporary film, older audiences remember always seeing the closing credits, “Gowns by Edith Head,” and it evokes a bygone era. Younger audiences think of the Pixar animated film The Incredibles and Edna Mode, designer to the super heroes.

The universal response is summed up by a note I received from a fan: “My friend saw the show on Saturday and adored it. He said the same as me, i.e. if someone mentions Edith Head to me now, my first reaction will be to say, "Oh yes, I met her once and it was unforgettable!" To be able to create an “unforgettable” experience, it doesn’t get much better than that.

See Susan Claassen as the unforgettable Edith Head: January 17 to 19, 8pm at Buddies in Bad Times Theatre. Visit buddiesinbadtimes.com for more information and to buy tickets.