Anne Bancroft Revisits the ‘20s (Fort Lauderdale News, April 1961)

— with the help of 1961 fashions

Fort Lauderdale News (Fort Lauderdale, Florida); 30 Apr. 1961; pg. 134.

Author: Sweeton Wood

Neither of Anne Bancroft’s roles in Two for the Seesaw or The Miracle Worker gave anyone a chance to see her as the glamorous female she is–5’7″ in her stocking feet, with measurements that are something to envy–35-23-35. So, her imagination triggered by the new clothes (so reminiscent of the ’20s), she herewith casts herself as a whole gallery of the glamourous girls who helped put them over the first time around.

Slim necks emerging from collarless or virtually collarless necklines, sleeves that are pared down or nonexistent, and a sparse unadorned line down the body that sometimes gets frivolously gay at the hemline.

Hats and hairdos go dramatically along with the change. The whole general fashion feeling is witty as well as feminine–the way a woman should be. They give a girl a wide-eyed dewy look that should bring men on the run…even if she’s not Anne Bancroft.

Fanny Brice: _{Wife of gambler Nicky (My Man) Arnstein and showman Billy Rose, she was the soul of the Roaring ’20s–the laughs, the torch songs, the Follies, the boozy clubs. As Baby Snooks, Anne chooses a middie and pleated skirt by McMullen.}

Iris March: _{Like Hemingway’s Lady Brett Ashley and F. Scott Fitzgerald’s Daisy, novelist Michael Arlen’s girl in the Green Hat symbolized the flaming females of the ’20s. With their rebellious airs and frenzied fun-fun-fun-at-any-price philosophy, we’d call them beatniks today. And if any actress must play a beatnik, why not a sophisticated beat like Iris, in a green silk hat, by Mr. John?}

Helen Morgan: _{The piano-perching Queen of Nightclubs, star of Showboat, the Follies and the Scandals–what a role for any actress, especially when she can wear this orange chiffon dress with ostrich feathers, by Ceil Chapman.}

Libby Holman: _{Though death robbed her of both a husband and a son, the “Moanin’ Low” songbird of the ’20s never lost her glamour. That’s for Anne, in white chiffon with a blue cape by Ceil Chapman.}

Auntie Mame: _{Born in book form in 1955, she lived in the ’20s, and her free-wheeling irreverence toward tradition made her a true daughter of that era. This Dynasty of Hong Kong silk at-home costume is in keeping with what author Patrick Dennis says she wore.}