This pretty pink wool coat was designed by William Travilla for Betty Grable to wear as the character ‘Stormy Tornado’ in her last film How to Be Very, Very Popular in 1955. In 1978, in the seventh season episode of M*A*S*H entitled Major Ego, Jamie Farr wore the coat as Corporal Maxwell Q. Klinger.
Because Farr’s character was often seen cross-dressing, he wore a number of costumes that had earlier been donned by the stars of the then 20th Century Fox Studio. Farr is known to have worn at least one other gown previously worn by Grable, as well as a Cleopatra costume that had once been worn by Ginger Rogers.
A wonderful article from The National Museum of American History, which currently owns the coat writes that:
In 1979 Farr wore another Ginger Rogers dress, not owned by the museum, that the actress recognized from years before. Miss Rogers was at the studio filming a Love Boat episode (Season 3, Episode 10), and they ran into each other in the 20th Century Fox canteen while breaking for lunch.
According to Farr, she got quite a kick out of it, telling him, “I saw the show where you wore my outfit and, I have to tell ya, it looked a helluva lot better on you than it did on me.”
Costume Credit: Mor, The Vintage Costume Film Collector, The National Museum of American History
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