Mitzi photographed by master MGM glamour photographer George Hurrell but who’s the designer?

Here’s Mitzi photographed by master glamour photographer George Hurrell. The list of stars he photographed during Hollywood’s Golden Age is as long as your arm. Some stars, as their power grew, refused to be photographed by anyone else.

mitzi gown GEORGE HURRELL watermark
My grandmother Mitzi Cummings photographed by MGM photographer George Hurrell, circa 1934.

Unfortunately, other than Hurrell’s credit stamp on the back of the photo there isn’t any other information but I get the feeling Mitzi is wearing a gown from a specific designer. I’m just not knowledgeable enough in this area to pick who that might be. If you know, feel free to comment on my Facebook post, just click here.

I also have several photos of Mitzi wearing this same gown to one of W.S. Van Dyke’s legendary parties – if you saw my live video on Facebook yesterday I shared a pic of Mitzi wearing the dress standing with Otto Kruger and Jean Hersholt. I have another from the same night of Nelson Eddy looking down dreamily into her eyes.

Maybe the gown was on loan, which is why the photo with George Hurrell was arranged and she wore it to a party. It sure is of its time. I especially love that belt! But to be honest, I’m not sure it’s all that great an ensemble on Mitzi – her cute little figure is all but drowned out by all those layers and material.

On the topic of designers, last night I found a fantastic photo from the early 1970s of the famed MGM designer Helen Rose, with Mitzi, Ricardo Montalban (who the story goes my grandfather brought to the US), Janet Leigh, and uncle Jack Cummings (Mitzi’s brother), who was a prolific MGM producer.

There’s a lot of frosted lipstick and frosted highlights, polyester suits and gowns but everyone looks fantastic – I’ll post it here soon!

Oh to be Mitzi!

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Copyright 2017 Alicia Mayer. All rights reserved.
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