“CONVERSATION WITH EDITH HEAD”: A LEGEND IN HER OWN TIME.

Moxie Theatre is currently staging a one woman tour de force show starring Susan Claassen in “A Conversation with Edith Head.  

Susan Claassen as Edith Head

Written by Claassen and Paddy Calistro (“Edith Head’s Hollywood”) and starring Claassen and host Stuart Moulton, Ms. Head takes the audience on a trip down memory lane that begins during the silent film era up to and including Steve Martin’s “Dead Men Don’t Wear Plaid” directed by Carl Reiner. 

Carl Reiner and Edith Head

For those who remember, Edith Head won 8 Oscars for Costume Design and over the years was nominated 35 times. Her career spans 55 years from silent film to 1982.

With dress she designed for Bette Davis in "All About Eve"

It’s like an actor’s holiday. Names are dropped by the spoonful. She dressed  Barbara Stanwyck, Bette Davis, (The gorgeous dress she wore in “All About Eve”) Grace Kelly, Kim Novak, Paul Newman and Robert Redford for “The Sting”, Elizabeth Taylor’s magnificent gown for  “A Place In The Sun”, Olivia De Havilland for “The Heiress”, Grace Kelly, Mae West, Dorothy Lamour (while waiting for peacocks to molt so she could use peacock feathers). And whatever director she was working with at the time, was her favorite. 

If you are a movie buff, as am I, this is red meat to chomp on.

Classen takes on the role of Edith Head which fits her like a glove. She has that iconic look with dark eye glasses, hair style with pencil stuck in the bun, fashionable grey suit and shoes. She is surrounded by pictures of all the movie stars she dressed, and sketches of some of her costumes (some courtesy of Costume Designers Guild and Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Science).

When “The Dress Doctor” (as she calls herself) comes on stage, she addresses the audience looking straight at them and then works the stage sharing backstage secrets and answering questions, from both the audience and her host Stuart Moulton.

Edith Head is a legend in her own right and Classen’s “Conversation” is a trip down memory of a bygone era of Studio Ownership, big league directors (one of her off screen friends was Alfred Hitchcock) and personal friendships. In fact, by evening’s end, you almost felt as if you were her friend. 

After the show, she hangs around for pictures. After I took mine with her, she gave me an “Edith Head Approval sticker. (She gave one to everyone.)

Edith head passed away in 1981 but Susan Claassen is alive and well and now living in La Jolla. 

Costume Recreations by Chris Brewer and MaryAnn Trombino with wig design by  Renate E. Leuschner and Justin Stafford and voice and movement by Dianne J. Winslow. 

The show runs about 85 to 90 minutes and is a delicious and savory pause in a world of ugly tastes. 

Enjoy.

See you at the theatre.   

 When:  Runs through March 1. 7:30 p.m. Thursdays and Fridays; 2 and 7:30 p.m. Saturdays; 2 p.m. Sundays

Where: Moxie Theatre, 6663 El Cajon Blvd., Stuite N, Rolando, San Diego

Photo: James Blair)

Tickets: $20-$51

Phone: 858-598-7620

Online: moxietheatre.com