We bought our shop almost 27 years ago from a man named Walter Kell. Walter had opened our shop 27 years earlier as an art studio. He had studied painting and drawing not only in the USA, but in Paris as well. He was well known in the Southern California community and had made many, many friends among local artists. Eventually, the Walt Kell Studio Art Shop morphed into a framing store and antique shop. Our name, Studio Antiques, came from the fact that Walt answered the telephone with “Studio”. It is our way of continuing his legacy.
We had the opportunity to sell the items in his personal estate in 2013 via an estate sale that took place over 13 selling days. The house was packed from floor to ceiling with antiques, collectibles, art and artifacts. Of course, we moved some of the more interesting things to our shop to sell at a later date in order to maximize the incoming revenue. It only took 548 days for us to pull this particular item out and start figuring out what to do with it. I KNEW it was good, but who is this Plunkett guy and who is that a picture of?
First stop, Google. I know about Edith Head, of course. Walter Plunkett was a California native as was Edith. He was born in Oakland in 1902 and passed away in Santa Monica in 1982. I am certain both Walters, Kell and Plunkett, were friends. Although he started out studying law, he quickly found himself more interested in theatrical endeavors, including acting, costume and set design. In the 1920s, he made a permanent career move to costume and wardrobe.
Plunkett’s first credited work as a costume designer was for RKO’s film, “Hard-Boiled Haggerty”. From that, he was given free-reign at the studio and set about creating costumes that rivaled those of his better known contemporaries. His best known work can be seen in the films “Singing in the Rain” and “Gone With the Wind”….oh, yeah. I guess I really do know who that Plunkett guy is! For example:
http://blog.fitnyc.edu/materialmode/2013/04/13/muriel-king-and-gone-with-the-wind/#jp-carousel-385
Oh, how we wished the costume design we had our hands on was from “Gone With the Wind”. No matter how much we searched, or tried to find which film this was from, we just couldn’t figure it out. We posted on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/WalterPlunkett?ref=br_tf and on a variety of antiques/collectibles discussion board. We were without luck until someone came our way to help.
The costume, as it is written in the upper right hand corner, is from the courtroom scene in “Song of Love”. We can see by the note that it was reviewed and was determined that the red jacket would be black in the final version. Just below Plunkett’s signature are the initials, CB. We presume these are the initials of the producer/director, Clarence Brown, showing his approval of the design. Fabric swatches can be found in the upper left hand corner of the drawing.
So, although it took time, we finally figured out just WHAT we had and HOW to price it for sale. You can find the item here, in our eBay store, STUDIO ANTIQUES.
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Tags: antiques, Clarence Brown, costume design, Edith Head, Gone with the Wind, Katherine Hepburn, original drawing, Picker's Journal, Song of Love, Walt Kell