Has anyone seen Boardwalk Empire?

[Cufflink79]

Last week on the HBO network, a new series set in 1920 Atlantic City New Jersey profiles the life and times of a politician/mobster during prohibition.

As for the styling of the clothing, I myself perfer the stlye of the later 20s into the 30s, but what caught my eye was the patterns Nucky Thompson and the others have for their suitings.

I am however happy that many players on the show are wearing cuff links.

The website for the show is below.

http://www.hbo.com/#/boardwalk-empire

Best Regards,

Cufflink79

[Mark Seitelman]

Martin Greenfield Clothiers of Brooklyn, New York, made the suits.

Here is an excellent story that ran in the New York Daily News: http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainmen ... ewing.html

The cloths are English and heavy. Probably not one Italian cloth in the bunch. Isles Textiles provided most of the cloths.

The look is pretty authentic. E.g., the button stances are higher. The hairstyles look correct.

Nucky Thompson, a high-living corrupt politician and criminal, wears very beautiful clothes. E.g., last night he wore an excellent tweed plaid country suit. In comparison, the government agents wear very plain clothes.

Of course, there are lapses here and there. E.g., last night's episode took place in the winter. A minor character, a flatware salesman, wore a racoon coat with a straw boater!

[J.S. Groot]

Very interesting article, Mark. Does anyone have here have real experience with Greenfield?

Unfortunately, American tv-shows only reach Denmark after a couple of years, unless they are exceedingly hyped (eg Mad Men).

[couch]

One thing puzzles me in all the stills I've seen from the program that feature Nucky. He sports a boutonniere (good) but they all seem to be pinned on the front of his lapel like a corsage. Was this in fact Thomson's practice for some reason, or do the production designers and costume people just not know why the English call this flower a 'buttonhole'?

[Mark Seitelman]

I have Greenfield suits. They make an excellent suit.

Greenfield makes a full canvas suit with hand sewing (e.g., collar, lapels, shoulder, armhole, and buttonholes).

Martin Greenfield Clothiers is a RTW and MTM factory which makes private label clothes. Some of its customers include major stores and chains, such as Brooks Brothers and Neiman Marcus. It also makes clothes for independent tailors and stores, such as Alan Flusser, Jack Simpson, and Peter Elliot.

On MTM, for some customers Greenfield makes the pattern, cuts the cloth, and sews the garment. The retailer finishes the garment in its shop, such as buttonholes and alterations. E.g., Brooks Brothers. Other tailors cut their own patterns and cloth and send the suit to Greenfield for sewing.

Martin Greenfield is one of the most beloved men in the business. He is a Holocaust survivor. After the war he came to GGG Clothing in Brooklyn which was popularly known as "three G's." He started at the bottom and eventually ran the place. When the family wanted to sell-out, Greenfield bought the factory in 1977 and started Martin Greenfield Clothiers. He runs it with his sons, Jay and Tod.

Many Brooks Brothers customers know Martin Greenfield from his many trunk shows around the country. From the force of his personality, he would return with tons of orders. Customers have become friends, such as Colin Powell and Wynton Marsalis. Martin still does some trunk shows.

The Greenfield factory is the one of the last major mens factories left in New York City. It has 100+ employees. The next in line is Rocco Ciccarrelli with about 30 or fewer employees. (He used to make Thom Browne RTW.) After that, no other factories in New York, only workshops and bespoke tailors.

The factory is not open to the public. Martin makes clothes for some private customers who have the privilege of having the Greenfield label in their suit.

Here is the Greenfield website which features a couple of videos: http://www.greenfieldclothiers.com/home.html

[Mark Seitelman]

One thing puzzles me in all the stills I've seen from the program that feature Nucky. He sports a boutonniere (good) but they all seem to be pinned on the front of his lapel like a corsage. Was this in fact Thomson's practice for some reason, or do the production designers and costume people just not know why the English call this flower a 'buttonhole'?

I believe that this is an example of one of the lapses that I mentioned earlier.

Greenfield routinely sews the loop at the back of the lapel for a flower. Either it is the fault of the costume designer, who might not know better, or the flower base was too wide for the buttonhole.

[Jordan Marc]

Couch, the production designers and carpenters are responsible for building the sets, both exterior and interior, and the set dressers are responsible for placing furniture, lighting and props seen through windows from the exterior or placed on sets seen from the interior point of view. By the way, the street lined with cottage-sized row houses is real, not a set.

Mark, costume designers rarely, if ever, overlook the smallest of details. They're among the most compulsive, control-mad perfectionists imaginable. Here's a true story, not that it has anything to
do with Boardwalk Empire, but it will give you some idea of what these people are like. Years ago, the New York City Ballet decided to mount a brand-new production of The Firebird. Barbara
Karinska, who had won an academy award for her costume designs in Hollywood years earlier and
was known as Mme. Karinska to all the Balanchine dancers, asked Marc Chagall to make some sketches for the new costumes. When they landed on her worktable, she was horrified by the pathetic designs Chagall had sent her. She tossed them aside and designed all the costumes herself. They were so wonderful that an exhibition of them was put on display at the Library of the Performing Arts, which is tucked between the Metropolitan Opera House and the Vivian Beaumont Theatre at Lincoln
Center. It was fascinating to see museum goers, young and old alike, walk around the huge display and reach out to touch the costumed mannequins as though they were actually real. Truth be told, the costumes were far better than the new production of the ballet.

Don't blame the costume designer. Pick on the actors, the prop department or Scorsese, who may have been watching the take on a monitor rather than dealing directly with the cast.

JMB

[couch]

JMB,

I don't doubt that costume designers are meticulous as a species. That's why I asked the question--it seems an odd oversight. I have never worked on a film, so I defer to your more direct and encyclopedic experience. My correspondence with the film curator of a research collection with major costume holdings (both designs and garments), however, suggests that production designers on at least some productions have supervisory responsibility for the look of the clothes and the people, as well as the sets:

My best advice is to contact the Margaret Herrick Library at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (the Oscar people.) They have the MGM archive and they also have Robert Boyle's papers. As production designer, Boyle would have supervised costumes as well as art direction, make up and special effects. [referring to Hitchcock's North by Northwest]

In the immortal words of Anna Russell, I'm not making this up, you know.

[couch]

Mark, you may well be right that it's a lapse. Early in my mature life as a bespoke customer, our mutual acquaintance Collarmelton tipped me off that if one wanted to be sure a lapel buttonhole could accommodate a flower, as most suits of the '30s and before could, one should specify a 1 1/4" buttonhole, known (at Poole at least) as a "carnation buttonhole." I've always respected the work from Greenfield that I've seen, and I have no doubt at all that, had such a buttonhole been specified, he would have delivered it. So I would look elsewhere than the clothier to assign responsibility for the lapse (I assume here that it was not the historical Thomson's lapse).

[Jordan Marc]

Couch, production designers such as William Cameron Menzies who was responsible for the futuristic design of Korda's Shape of Things to Come in 1937 changed the entire concept for the look of the movie--sets, props, camera angles, costumes--the works. He was empowered to employ whomever he wanted to get the job done--designers, model makers, seamstresses, etc. Menzies would later decamp
to Hollywood and his influence on filmmakers and cameramen, such as Orson Welles and Greg Toland, would change the look and mood of American-made movies. Did he ever do another science fiction picture? You bet! It was called Invaders From Mars, a classic nightmare that scared the bejesus out of the audience, albeit without the hoaky encumbrance of computer graphics.

The importance of the MGM archives of sketches, costumes, set designs and props cannot be underestimated. Selling off treasures from the major studios at auction or taking a huge tax credit by donating an entire library of priceless newsreels to a university, as 20th Century Fox did, is atrocious. It's a legacy of imagination and art and talent that cannot be replaced.

JMB

[alden]

For all of you BE fans, it just occurred to me to report that our own LL contributor and tailor extraordinaire, Frank Shattuck, who is also an excellent actor, is appearing in episodes 4 and 6 of the show playing an Irish gangster.

Take a look at this evening's show.

Well done Frank, showing a little Cagney are we now?

Cheers

Michael Alden

[Mark Seitelman]

Well done, Frank.

I thought that the actor playing Sheraton looked familar.

Please assure us that the blood was stage blood.

[Cufflink79]

When I saw the name on the credits last week I couldn't believe my eyes, but when I tuned in yesterday evening I knew it had to be an LL member.

Very good work Mr. Shattuck not only in your acting, but in your dressing as well.

Best Regards,

Cufflink79

[old henry]

Michael , thank you so very much for comparing me to Cagney. He is the greatest ever, Not only could he do it all , he could do it better. { "City for Conquest , "White Heat" , "Yankee Doodle Dandy"} . I just , this morning , found this topic. I had a lot of fun playing a loud mouth Irish gangster. After all , im a loud mouth Irish tailor. In real life they never woulda got me. Thank you Michael , Mark and Cufflink.. Frank S

[Yale Cameron]

Frank, I had no idea that was you on the show. You were absolutely terrific in the "sit sown" scene with jimmy, al, and jonny torrio. Did you wear suits you made yourself or did they make you wear the greenfield suits made for the show?