So far, this post would look to be about that film - of course one of my absolute favorites, and not because of my dear wife's name - but it isn't. It's actually about the furniture. Specifically, the sofa and two matching armchairs - nineteenth century or later, but made in a Louis Seize style - that were well chosen, quite appropriate adornments to the Paris salon of Gigi's Aunt Alicia. We see them very frequently throughout the film, in many separate scenes. I've become so familiar with them that, long ago, I started to notice them in other MGM films. Here are the examples I've found so far; in the future I hope to be able to add other instances of their use.
I have to apologize in advance for the poor quality of some of the images here, particularly the screen captures. I'm always very careful to share the best quality images on this blog but, in this case, I often didn't have any other options if I wanted to include the film.
*
"Marie Antoinette", 1938. The first image I found marks an appearance that didn't actually happen. This is a camera set-up for a scene that was perhaps shot and then not included in the finished film. As the slate shows, this is meant to be madame du Barry's salon. But the only time this set is seen in the film, while most everything else in this corner of the room is visible, the sofa and chair are not. (The slate also mentions French director Julien Duvivier who directed scenes in the film, though sole directing credit went to W. S. Van Dyke.)
"Ninotchka", 1939. With Greta Garbo and Melvyn Douglas.
"New Moon", 1940. Publicity portraits of Jeanette MacDonald and a very poor screen capture featuring Mary Boland and company.
.png)
"We Were Dancing", 1942. With Norma Shearer, Melvyn Douglas, Lee Bowman, Florence Bates, and Barlowe Borland.
"Reunion in France", 1942. With Joan Crawford and Morris Ankrum.
 |
| At the left, partly hidden by Ankrum, is a stool that looks like it could be part of the suite or at least covered in matching fabric. |
"Meet Me in St. Louis", 1944. With Judy Garland, Harry Davenport, and Tom Drake.
"Madame Bovary", 1949. With Jennifer Jones, Frank Allenby, Gene Lockhart, Henri Letondal, Alf Kjellin (as Christopher Kent), and Gladys Cooper.
 |
| Jones as Emma Bovary admires a bit of embroidered (woven? printed?) fabric that we'll soon see on the back of a chair. |
"An American in Paris", 1951. With Gene Kelly and Nina Foch.
 |
| More than once we see one of the armchairs flanking the front door of the Paris apartment of Milo Roberts (Foch). |
 |
| Later, we see another on the other side of the door. |
"Scaramouche", 1952. With Nina Foch (again) and Mel Ferrer.
 |
| This shot begs the question: just how many chairs were there? I'd always assumed there were only two, as I've never seen more than a pair featured elsewhere. But there appears to be at least five here. Are they all part of the same suite, or are they just covered in the same fabric? |
"The Swan", 1956. With Grace Kelly, Alec Guinness, Louis Jourdan, Jessie Royce Landis, Brian Aherne, and Estelle Winwood.
.png)
And the one, "Gigi", 1958. With Leslie Caron, Hermione Gingold, and the wonderful Isabel Jeans as Aunt Alicia.
*
The sofa and two armchairs were featured in the catalogue of MGM's famous/infamous 1970 studio auction. I wonder what became of them...?
*
If anyone knows of additional film appearances of this suite, please let me know. I'd really appreciate it.
This is fun! I also have often watched for repeated appearances of furniture, set elements and art work in old movies. I’ve spotted one marble statue in Susan and God, Meet Me In Saint Louis, and Please Don’t Eat the Daisies. All the major studios owned vast stocks of props, and sometimes loaned them to each other or possibly rented them from the same 3rd party prop house. One of my favorites is the rococo parlor suite in Aunt Pittypat’s parlor in Gone With the Wind (Selznick Int’l) also prominently seen in Now Voyager (Warner Bros). Folks with sharper eyes than mine also make a hobby of spotting reused costumes & jewelry in old films.
ReplyDeleteKindred spirits! Such nerdy fun. : )
DeleteI will say that those who post about costume reuse often go too far, imagining that they see a previous garment in a later one, when there's no possible way that A could have been transformed into B. (I think most of them don't know enough about clothing construction.)
Speaking of jewelry, though, I did a previous post about the necklace a version of which Jeanette MacDonald can be seen wearing in this post. The work of Joseff of Hollywood, the piece was produced in various configurations. More geeky fun!
http://godsandfoolishgrandeur.blogspot.com/2020/12/the-story-of-necklace-diamonds-of-queen.html
For true film chintz, the dressing room scene used in Harlow 1965 with Carroll Baker or the bedroom set used in the Yellow Rolls Royce 1964 scenes with Jeanne Moreau.
Delete-Rj in the IE
This sofa and chairs appear in the music parlor scenes in the latter half of The Swan (1956).
ReplyDeleteOh, thank you! I'll see if I can find images of that.
DeleteI found a few images from the film that show the chairs. (I couldn't find any that showed the sofa, sadly.) Thank you again for the heads up!
DeleteStephilius,
ReplyDeleteI was doing a bit of research on the 'Gigi' furniture set, and stumbled on your blog.
First of all, I can't believe I haven't seen your blog before. };-)
Secondly, I can't believe that I missed seeing pieces of the 'Gigi' furniture set in 1952's Scaramouche!
Anyway, I have a few more movies for you in which various pieces of the set make an appearance:
"Mrs. Parkington" (1944)
"Kind Lady" (1951)
"Two Weeks in Another Town" (1962)
"Made in Paris" (1966)
"Fitzwilly" (1967)
Here's a link to several of my Collectors Weekly posts about the furniture. I did some low-tech screen shots of some of them, including the couch in "The Swan" (I do think based on scrutinizing this particular movie that there are a total of six arm chairs in the set):
https://www.collectorsweekly.com/stories/319228-mgm-giltwood-louis-xvi-style-furniture-s
https://www.collectorsweekly.com/stories/319249-mgm-gigi-furniture-pieces-in-1956s-t
https://www.collectorsweekly.com/stories/321058-madame-bovary-1949-and-the-gigi-fu
P. S. I see you also have an interest in Joseff jewelry. I only learned about Joseff after developing a slight obsession with a necklace worn by Elizabeth Taylor in "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" (it has a series of pendants that look like conifer cones):
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0061184/mediaviewer/rm1816047616/
Cheers,
keramikos
Thank you so much, keramikos, this is wonderful!
DeleteYou're very welcome. Thank you for your wonderful post on the 'Gigi' furniture set. :-)
ReplyDeleteI have some more links for you:
"Mrs. Parkington" (1944)
https://archive.org/details/mrs.-parkington-la-senora-parkington-1944-tay-garnett-vose-fac-6
At the 1:10:25 mark, you can see the couch, partially occluded by Agnes Moorhead's gown, and Walter Pidgeon walking through the room. A few seconds later, you see part of one of the chairs by a doorway.
These are pretty fleeting glimpses, but they're better than a sharp stick in the eye.
"Kind Lady" (1951)
https://m.ok.ru/video/2113214679715
At around the 39:48 mark, you see one of the chairs in Mary Herries' (Ethel Barrymore) bedroom.
I think there are other sightings in the movie, but it's always just that one chair.
"Made in Paris" (1966)
https://m.ok.ru/video/1078925593268
Beginning at around the 22:09 mark, you see one of the chairs by a doorway. Within about the next three minutes, you get a look at two more chairs, all in the same room, so I don't think it's tricky set dressing/editing.
There is another scene in the movie showing some of the chairs in another room of the apartment, but that could be tricky set dressing/editing.
"Two Weeks In Another Town" (1962)
https://archive.org/details/TwoWeeksInAnotherTown1962
This is unfortunately just a trailer, but you do get to see the couch and one of the chairs at around the 01:51 mark, and it's really just the one scene where you see the furniture.
Overall, it's not a good movie despite all of the resources, and director Minnelli was pained by this. Apparently, that was the result of bad editing, and not by Minelli.
Apropos of nothing, you see the opera house balconies from 1952's "Scaramouche" in "Two Weeks In Another Town."
As to 1967's "Fitzwilly," you see tiny fragments of the chair behind Dame Edith Evans in several stills at IMDB dot com:
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0061669/mediaviewer/rm2151700480/
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0061669/mediaviewer/rm2673736961/
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0061669/mediaviewer/rm2976659968/
BTW, feel free to use any of my 'Gigi' furniture set screen captures in my Collectors Weekly Show & Tell posts. They're not the best, but again, they're better than a sharp stick in the eye.
keramikos
Thank you, again! We're certainly a couple of "obsessives", I'd say! : )
DeleteYou're welcome, again. Yah, no doubt at all that I'm an obsessive, and not just about the 'Gigi' furniture. };-)
ReplyDeleteI've also noticed the little cast iron benches from the park scenes in other movies, such as the 1949 version of "Little Women," and 1956's "Tea and Sympathy."
"Gigi" is such a visual feast, and that's not the only reason it's great.
As you yourself have mentioned, Isobel Jeans is wonderful as Aunt Alicia, and I've always loved Hermione Gingold.
Something you might want to check out some time if you've never before seen it is character actor John Abbott (he plays Honore Lachaille's valet Manuel), who does what I think is a hilarious turn as a hypochondriacal aristocrat in 1948's "The Woman in White."
Another furniture obsession (a minor one for me) is the Gaby Deslys boat bed that famously puts in an appearance in 1950's "Sunset Boulevard." Somebody has a blog post about that boat bed, and I tipped them off about a couple more movies where it puts in an appearance.
Anyway, I made another CW S&T post about the 'Gigi' furniture with one still capture each from those online sources I mentioned previously (CW S&T has a limit of four images per post):
https://www.collectorsweekly.com/stories/324883-more-sightings-of-the-mgm-louis-xvi-gig
Feel free to use any of them; however, I might redo that one from "Two Weeks In Another Town," because it's very blurry, and I realized the other day that I still have the full movie on my DVR. However, I have to wait until after sundown, because otherwise sunlight seeps in through the blinds, and harshes my low-tech captures. Yeah, they are that low-tech. :-)
keramikos
Oh, I missed this comment! Thank you, fellow obsessive! To be sure, these are - not - actual Louis Seize pieces; one of the things I noticed in your most recent share was, seen up close, how fairly crude the carving of the woodwork is. There's that old saying about "daylight upon magic", that it's never a good thing. But they certainly look glamorous on film - I can live with that! : )
DeleteYeah, I'm beating this topic to death; however, a new wrinkle has appeared, and I wrote a brief Collectors Weekly Show & Tell post about it:
ReplyDeletehttps://www.collectorsweekly.com/stories/324898-curiouser-and-curiouser-said-alice
Love it! Interesting how the set is described as being USED in "Marie Antoinette", though you can't actually SEE any of it in the film.
DeleteI had to look up that "daylight upon magic" expression, and the origins are interesting:
ReplyDeleteAbove all things our royalty is to be reverenced, and if you begin to poke about it you cannot reverence it…Its mystery is its life. We must not let in daylight upon magic.
The English Constitution (1867) ‘The Monarchy (continued)’
Walter Bagehot 1826–77
English economist and essayist
https://www.oxfordreference.com/display/10.1093/acref/9780191826719.001.0001/q-oro-ed4-00000713
Anyway, I did catch your drift, and I agree. I have to confess that I was a bit crestfallen to learn that the decoration of the upholstery was not entirely woven or embroidered, but partially painted.
Indeed, when you look closely at the two chairs in the Doyle auction listing, they are not in immaculate condition. In fact, if you look at the seat of the one on the right, it looks like it's been rode hard and put away wet. So to speak. };-)
However, the behind-the-scenes folks in Hollywood knew how well that furniture could photograph, which is probably why it got pressed into service so often.
I probably wasn't clear at all about why I was contacting Mr. Boultinghouse. One of the search hits was a Linkedin post he'd made about the Doyle auction listing.
Whoever characterized the furniture as "Baltic Neoclassical" might be spot on about that; however, what they know about the Hollywood history of it is bit spotty.
Mr. Boultinghouse hasn't responded to my email, but I'll give it some more time. If he never responds, I might try to folks at Doyle.
Yes, I've always loved that Bagehot quote. It's certainly applicable where royalty is concerned, but I've found it quite pertinent in considering other forms of "theater," as well. : )
Delete