Maybe if you calculate hip to waist ratio you can determine if some of these measurements are more or less accurate. I think of "the box," tooeven in still images. They ate smaller portions and avoided or limited processed foods. Obviously, Sophia Loren was (and may still be) the classic hourglass. How did these movie stars manage to have such small waistlines? In conclusion, old Hollywood stars had small waists due to a combination of diet, exercise, and lifestyle. Vivien leigh was 5"1 on a good day, exact same with Natalie Wood. Find all the information it in this article. And yes, Anonymous #3--Greer Garson! 4. Humphrey Bogart, Clark Gable, Cary Grant, and Fred Astaire would often wear their own clothing in contemporary productions. As a result, she focused more on modeling than acting before marrying Ricardo Montalban. She was pregnant when she made Some Like It Hot, which explains her amplitude in that film. They literally looked like baby gap frocks. Remember that wonderful scene from "The Women" where Joan Crawford, Norma Shearer (my favorite Golden Era actress) and Rosalind Russell are at the fashion show at the dress designer's, and one of the models after the show is strutting around in a foundation garment under a sheer peignoir, repeating "Our new one-piece lace foundation garment-zips up the back and no bones", and apparently that was considered a lighter foundation garment, lol. The real-life Fields was just as moody, and importantly just as drunk as the screen version. A stage actress, Farmer made her Hollywood debut in 1936 and had a string of successful films throughout the decade. My Aunt won a beauty contest in 1945 and weighed exactly that..great figures too. Secrets to the Small Waists of Old Hollywood, 2. 9 Ronald Reagan's Lust For Young Virgins. It was through these periods that the actress developed the sultry low voice she turned known for and that set her other than her friends. Studios often appointed assistants to their actors, who would advise and take care of the stars. Priscilla Presley was certainly one of the most beautiful women in Hollywood, who retained her intense beauty well into her forties. And that weight that you mention may have been toward the beginning of her career as well. You can see it on screen too..she had an amazing body which had its angularity and posture as the highlights, but not an enviable bust.If you see the list, Bergman-34 Hepburn 34B?What I mean is that just by looking at them on screen you can say that the difference is more than that right? Take a look at old photos from the 1950s and what do you notice about the women? So many things written about Marilyn's weight. It was normal for weight upkeep to be included in contracts. Exercise and diet are not the only things to radically change over the last half-century. Reply 6 10 years ago A username540512 13 Hard work, mostly. And Bergman - she was a giant!Fascinating post. Join film and fashion historian Kimberly Truhler for the first event in her series HISTORY OF FASHION IN FILM! But how do they get this perfection? She also voiced Rapunzel in the Disney film Tangled, and she still looks stunning at 33. After that, it didn't take long for many other companies to start flocking . This data is now also completely posted on the Sizing and Silhouettes web page here on GlamAmor and shall be regularly updated for your reference. Art Deco Elegance focuses on 1930s type icons Marlene Dietrich, Kay Francis, Jean Harlow, Claudette Colbert, Ginger Rogers, and Joan Crawford. Tiny waists have long been a symbol of beauty, and Hollywood stars from the Golden Age of cinema set the standard for how to achieve this coveted look. Vintage Starlets & Their Tiny Midsections, Understanding Hollywood Clean A Comprehensive Guide. I've seen some of her costumes up close and they are so small! beauties of the 40's and 50's and they really were gorgeous they had glamour Forgot to say they moved the sizes again in the 80's and 90's both decades. Size 4 women can still be voluptuous and healthy while being slim at the same time. When Judy Garland married composer David Rose in 1941, MGM didn't approve, so what'd they do? There are old-time swashbucklers carefully adjusting their masks, starlets hiding their tan. They had to be willing to change their names. Every actress was given an image to uphold. I think she's taller too. Using more than a dozen historical corsets on display at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, Gibson found that the average adult woman's waist size was 56 cm -- or 22 inches -- in circumference. Just interesting to see them all together, especially when it comes to the variety of heights! It's a fun chart, isn't it? But it's always fascinating to me to get some sense of their size, especially height when so many of these women seemed larger than life onscreen.You know, I think I always have something of an ulterior motivation to make people--particularly women--understand that we shouldn't be so attached to numbers or images that are pushed out by the media, seen in magazines, and so on. Rita's first film role was in 1935. But at the very least we can get a sense of their size and how they compared with the rest of Hollywood. Old Hollywood is thought for its glitz and glamour, and that is largely because of its shining stars. Judy Garland was reportedly devastated when she found out her nanny had been betraying her. In fact, that is the premise of her entire comedy career. The bottom line is that essentially it's meaningless because it has changed so much. 31. During the studio system, it was unprecedented for an actor to refuse a component, as a outcome of doing so usually had extreme consequences. Exercise routines also played a key role in maintaining the figures of these classic movie stars. I know, Silver Screenings! In 1947, two years after the end of WWII, Dior introduces their New Look, which of course wasn't actually new at all, but very old. But not quite as thin asthey got to bein the 1960s. I also wanted to call more attention to the genius of the costume designers, who make these people seem taller, slimmer, whatever. Actually, learning that changed the way I have viewed my figure. I recently saw the Grace Kelly exhibition in PA, and was shocked that her wardrobe looked perfectly sized for me. Your Step-By-Step Guide to Getting Over a Cold. Thanks Irene! In the 1950s, a new home cost 2,000 but an office worker's average wage was just 14 a week. Join movie and trend historian Kimberly Truhler for the third occasion in her series HISTORY OF FASHION IN FILM! I think no matter their actual size, these stunning women always appear larger than life on screen. Either way, itll be there. What happens to make that happen? From Roseanne Barr stating, "I'm more sexy than Pamela Lee or whoever else they've got out there these days. The Joan Crawford Mildred Pierce pinafore was tiny. The imaginary women they depict in comic books and animated films have hips like Playmates but impossibly small waists. MelaniesaidRegarding the bigger heads-I recall as far back as the silent period, Mary Pickford in her autobiography Sunshine And Shadow, noting this about herself. I am suspicious, though, that in some cases the data came from studio PR. NorasaidAlso have a look at the women in comparability to their male stars. Thanks for sharing Kimberly. It's impossible that a woman like Elizabeth Taylor, having a relatively petite frame with 36" hips, could have a size 36C bra size, at least in modern sizing. July 27th, 2019. She does look slender though. Hi, I really appreciate this chart of starlet sizes. Many seem like giants onscreen; Joan Crawford is one who regularly elicits gasps from audiences when they hear how petite she really was. Shirley Temple learned from a young age that it was never a good idea to be unprofessional on set. Like going on a historic tour & looking at their tiny little beds & thinking 'how did they sleep in that?'. Yes, those studios really liked to regulate things, didnt they? Well, would you look at that white women are still at the center of fashion and Hollywood's beauty ideal. For Judy Garland, that meant working six days per week and up to 18-hour shifts filled with singing and dancing. Marlene Dietrich was one of many earliest identified film stars informed to shed weight, and the pressure for actresses to look a certain means hasnt gone away. As a result, Gilbert's career tanked. They were expected to exude the ideals of a gentleman at all times. Anonymous mentionedVivien leigh was 51 on an excellent day, exact same with Natalie Wood. Jean Harlow was told that becoming a wife would alter her sex appeal, and, due to the morality clause in her contract with MGM, the studio was allowed to deny her marriage to William Powell. And her waist was 25-28 depending on her what her weight was. Never saw a pic that captured her beauty.Saw Debbie Reynolds at a party and was amazed at how petite she was. Starlets often exercised to maintain their physiques, although it wasn't common to talk about it back then. Alfred Hitchcock. I recall in her 1932 film "Love Me Tonight" (co-starring the ever-charming Maurice Chevalier), in one scene where she is giving her vital statistics to a doctor, she claims (in song) that her waist is 28". And not surprised to hear about Garbo stooping a bit to compensate for her height. I can imagine how happy you are about that. Such a detail is used to prove that there's nothing new under the sun, that women have been vain to the point of risking serious harm in generations long past as well. They converted the entire gown sizes in the late 60 early 70s to the standars we now have. Studios wanted to make sure their actresses were always ready to be photographed, as Hollywood had a looks-over-talent philosophy at the time. Many old movies show them wearing corsets while performing on screen, and off-screen they practiced rigorous exercise regimes combined with calorie restriction in order to stay trimmed. That's how Sharon Tate ended up in The Beverly Hillbillies and Ava Gardner in Hitler's Madman. And how do all these celebs have waists that measure like 20 inches? Actresses knew that becoming pregnant was against most studios' rules, and, as a result, some women, like Ava Gardner, had abortions to prevent penalties. They couldn't work with other studios while on contract. Many celebrities also follow strict diets designed by nutrition experts that focus on eating nutritious meals while avoiding processed foods high in sugar and fat. That means a gal at present may have the same measurements as considered one of these stars, but weigh more. Youll get daily recipes, articles, inspiration, and handy cleaning checklists. If you're interestedhttp://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-1306012/Beauty-summed-To-tell-womans-really-attractive-figures.html, There's a concept known as "paleo-future," examining how the past envisioned the future would be. Joan Crawford and Elizabeth Taylor both adopted children, as it allowed them to continue working, while Loretta Young kept her pregnancy and birth a secret from the public and later adopted her biological daughter, Judy Lewis. Even with a corset, I cannot believe she was so slim. So what was the difference? The spilling of the tea went down on Instagram Story as the Keeping Up With the Kardashians' star's friend, Anastasia Soare, praised Kim for the size of her waist. You see, the Golden Age of Hollywood was a time between the 20s and 60s when the studio system ruled, which means the Big Five studios managed the film business. Post author: Post published: February 17, 2022 Post category: sergei fedorov anna kournikova married Post comments: four characteristics of operations management four characteristics of operations management Sometimes studios saw potential in an actor or actress even before they could prove their acting chops. Lauren Bacall went through a series of voice lessons when she first signed with film director Howard Hawks at Warner Bros. It's true, Howard. After the decade of the 1940s, which was filled with hardship and war, women of the '50s were ready for fun styles and glamor. Whether its adding in belts or investing in specific clothing cuts and fabrics, these tips can help even the most curvaceous figure look trim and refined. You then learn women's natural waists were between 22 to 28. We are now so conscious of our sizes, weight and health in general, that I wish I had a PR person, deciding that 106 pounds at 5'7" is "normal". Sophia is stunningly beautiful and a perfect representative of that hourglass shape. In fact, Bette Davis was suspended by Warner Brothers for turning down roles. And women often had to change their appearances. ;) Women were simply much smaller back then, as any vintage dealer will tell you. This wasn't just true for C-list or B-list actors, but also for the Hollywood stars at the time. You may be surprised. You may even see the distinction between 80s actresses and celebrities and the ones from now. 10 Adjustable Dumbbells for Home Workouts. Even I have to remind myself to stand up straight since I'm so much taller than the average woman (5'4") and man (5'8"). No honeymoon for the happy couple. Wood was proud of being the same size as her idol, and reportedly borrowed her dress from "streetcar" for a costume ball, without needing any adjustment. Though sizes have dramatically changed over the years (and are essentially meaningless because of it), weight is still measured just the same as always. Studios would place actresses on strict diets in the event that they gained weight. While being groomed to become Hollywood's newest star, studios tested their young actors with small parts to see how they did. Heres everything you need to know about How Did Old Hollywood Stars Have Such Small Waists. She has almost no showing of breast or hips at all. And you're absolutely right--one can have similar measurements and different weights. Remember those suits? I havent seen it since and likely wont unless I have some ribs removed. Don't have the necessary long line required for chic or elegance!) Whenever I do presentations on the History of Fashion in Film , some of the most fascinating facts to audiencesare the sizes of their Last Friday morning I woke up bright and early in order to see Peter O'Toole introduce his 1964 classic film Becket at Grauman's Few films capture the feel of Hollywood better than director Billy Wilder 's Sunset Boulevard (1950). I'm guessing she was usually between 120 and 140 in her films. The pin-up look of the 1940s may have been an ideal, but to achieve it, stars such as Betty Grable and Rita Hayworth kept their figures by . I was stunned to see how short Garbo was! She called in sick 16 days while working on Meet Me in St. Louis, and production on The Pirate was delayed by the actress. I saw Elizabeth Taylor when she was still married to Eddie Fisher. They could not work with different studios while on contract. Their perks came with plenty of strings attached. With few exceptions they are thin. The illusion was due to the talented production teams--from set designers to clever directors and cinematographers. All you need is a few simple wardrobe adjustments and modifications that will help you stay comfortable while still achieving a cinched silhouette with natural curves. Go to a vintage store you can see it. Katharine Hepburn famously rejected her studio's guidelines on dress code and reportedly walked around set in her underwear, refusing to get dressed, after someone in the costume department at RKO Radio Pictures took her pants away. These actresses did whatever they could to maintain the desirable hourglass figure popular at the time. It is highly unlikely that the numbers for Marilyn and Jane, for example, were recorded at the same point during their GENTLEMEN PREFER BLONDES.2) These numbers do not take the weight fluctuation of the stars into consideration, and some--such as Marilyn--had much more fluctuation than others.3) These numbers were sometimes provided by studios' PR folks for magazine copy, so they were definitely idealized (just like today's PR folks do and all the photoshopping that goes on).This list is compiled more for entertainment, though I am often taking numbers from the studios themselves as well as some costume designers for the stars. First I was like, "Hey, why is Katharine Hepburn all the way at the bottom?' Thanks for your comments, Marilyn! 15 Times Vintage Stars Did Everyday Things and Looked Completely Unrecognizable . Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. (Yes I continued to lose some after this too!). performax 18 volt battery I could wish that shape was still the vogue, as I have it from the waist down, but large-breasted and short-waisted, long-legged ("chic" and "elegant" are two of the many positive attributes I'll never possess, lol ! Wednesday, August 7, 2013 Sizing Up Old Hollywood--Heights, Weights, and Measurements of Classic Cinema Stars Whenever I do presentations on the History of Fashion in Film, some of the most fascinating facts to audiences are the sizes of their favorite classic cinema stars. I can't tell you how much I appreciate your comments. MGM even held a contest to find pick a name for their new star, Lucille LeSueur. Your body will need extra water while waist training. Mostly portion size, but you already knew that. #10 Vivien Leigh: 32 Old Hollywood Actress - Vivien Leigh Vivien Leigh was 5 foot 3 inches tall and had a bust size of 32. The Hollywood stars of old were known for their slim waists and full lips. 1920s hairstyle report from 1925 Who said bobbed hair lacks variety? WX was 16, 28 inch waist, and Outsize or OS was 18, with 30 inch waist. Depending on the projects an actor's studio backed and the opportunities they pegged for that star, this stipulation could make or break a career. Jean Harlow was advised that turning into a spouse would alter her sex appeal, and, because of the morality clause in her contract with MGM, the studio was allowed to deny her marriage to William Powell. Again, thank you for having all this infotmation in one spot. The measurements do seem small, but when I went to the Victoria & Albert museum's Hollywood exhibition I was completely STUNNED by how tiny the costumes were. Processed foods have been around since the 1860's. By 1950 we had Crisco, Girl Scout Cookies, animal crackers, Eggo Frozen Waffles, Hershey bars, Dr. Pepper, Oreo Cookies, Wonder Bread, milk shakes, banana splits, and convenience dinners, just to name a few. I definitely will keep your comments in consideration when I do the next update on the chartI agree that 112 seems a bit unrealistic if those are indeed her measurements. Mandy Moore Waistline: 24 inches Aside from her famous tear-jerking movie A Walk To Remember, Mandy Moore has been a successful singer and songwriter. The Jazz Age focuses on Twenties type icons Gloria Swanson, Clara Bow, Joan Crawford, Greta Garbo, and Louise Brooks. The New Short Bobbed Hairstyles from Hollywood The latest bobbed hairstyles in 1925 as modeled by Hollywood actresses such as Leatrice Joy, Fay Wray, Marion Davies and Clara Bow. :), Thanks Christian! That said, I still love being tall! Joan Crawford and Elizabeth Taylor each adopted youngsters, because it allowed them to continue working, whereas Loretta Young stored her pregnancy and start a secret from the common public and later adopted her organic daughter, Judy Lewis. Carole Lombard's height has been a subject for debate for some time. etc. Is 115lbs then like 1125lbs now for example? So petite! Check out this ad from that generation: Look at what it says. Women had been merely much smaller again then, as any classic supplier will let you know. A certain kittenish sexiness was one of the desired styles in that era, along with the well-known Art Deco streamlined look. Actress Clara Bow was one of the most famous women in the 1920s, until her rumored promiscuity caused her to lose her contract with Paramount. But I'm just here for the fashion, too :). It is perhaps the best yr of her tragically quick l Fascinating to me that measurements are usually obtainable for the ladies, however not for the lads.