Swedish actress Ingrid Bergman played both Joan and Mary Grey, the fictional star actress who portrays the role of Joan in the New York City Broadway Maxwell Anderson play "Joan of Lorraine" at the Alvin Theatre, opening 11/18/1946-through-5/10/1947, a total of 199 performances. The 1946 play-within-a-play is about a company of actors who stage a dramatization of the story of Joan of Arc, and the effect that the story has on them. As the play begins, Mary Grey and the fictional director of the play-within-a-play, Jimmy Masters, are in conflict over how Joan is to be played. The conflict is resolved during the course of the play. Ingrid Bergman won a Tony Award for her performance, one of the first such awards ever given. Ingrid Bergman wanted to establish herself as a contender for Hollywood's greatest leading actress. She worked the town like a horse trader trying to get the Maxwell Anderson play "Joan of Lorraine" into a feature film for herself to star as "Joan of Arc." Bergman was unable to get any producer or studio interested. Bergman had worked with producer and director Victor Fleming in his remake of "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde" in 1941. Ingrid Bergman would not let the property get buried, she wanted to repeat her stage "Tony Award" performance, recorded for posterity. With her persistence, Bergman eventually convinced producer Walter Wanger, director Victor Fleming to join with her, to create an all new independent film company - "Sierra Pictures" - to produce the stage property "Joan of Lorraine" as a feature film in late 1947. (The company never produced another film.) An adaptation of "Joan of Lorraine" was filmed in Technicolor as "Joan of Arc." The film version did not use the play-within-a-play framework. Instead, it made the story a straightforward account of Joan's life, omitting the fictional acting company altogether. Anderson's dialogue for the story of Joan was not only retained, but in collaboration with Andrew Solt, expanded with additional scenes involving historical characters who do not appear in the original play. In New York, Bergman engaged Broadway-Hollywood film and stage costume/couturier designer Raoul Pene Du Bois, at age 33, (b.11/29/1914-d.Jan/1/1985, death at age 69). Raoul Pene Du Bois asked Barbara Karinska, at age 61 (b.10/3/1886-d.10/19/1983, death at age 97), to collaborate with him on the Hollywood extravaganza period costume film epic starring Ingrid Bergman. Both Raoul Pene Du Bois and Karinska had worked independently at Paramount Pictures on feature film projects. Raoul had costumed the Paramount feature "Kitty" in 1945. In 1945-46, Karinska had costumed the Bing Crosby, Fred Astaire musical comedy "Blue Skies" with Waldo Angelo and Edith Head as costume collaborators. The costume design team, Raoul and Karinska, spent four weeks in the New York City Public library researching the costume period. The first costume they designed in New York City was the suit of armor that Ingrid Bergman would wear as "Joan of Arc." Raoul Pene Du Bois and Barbara Karinska worked with the head of the Metropolitan Museum's historical armor collection - where the film's suit of armor for "Joan of Arc" was built and made by Leonard Heinrich, in the Metropolitan's basement-back-room armor restoration department. This was the first costume completed for the feature film. Both Raoul Pene Du Bois and Barbara Karinska negotiated a Paramount studios' costume-wardrobe office and then relocated to Hollywood, setting up their costume shop at Paramount Pictures' wardrobe department. The film was filmed at Howard Hughes Culver City RKO Pictures studio, and then initially released to movie theaters by Howard Hughes' RKO. At Paramount, Raoul Pene Du Bois continued illustrating his costume designs for the feature film "Joan of Arc" collaborating with Karinska, who supervised costume construction in the Paramount Pictures studio wardrobe shop. Raoul Pene Du Bois delivered costume design illustrations for all of the principle film's roles. Karinska assembled an entire shop of tailors, cutters, seamstress augmented with the studio's permanent wardrobe shop staff and was in the midst of building the principle costumes. Raoul Pene Du Bois felt he had completed his costume design task, deciding to depart the production because of the slow process of costume construction, and was offered a new project back in New York City. Raoul Pene Du Bois and the producers agreed that Karinska would design the remaining costumes for secondary performers, extras, etc. After Raoul Pene Du Bois's departure, the film producers insisted on seeing more costume sketches - which Karinska could not accomplish because she lacked the talent to illustrate costumes in the "Hollywood flashy presentation sketch style." Karinska had worked with costume illustrators with Edith Head and on New York stage shows. Edith Head had interviewed a newspaper-advertising fashion illustrator from the I. Magnin's Wilshire department store advertising staff - Dorothy Jeakins. Edith Head recommended Dorothy Jeakins to Karinska, who recognized Dorothy's artistic sketching style and as a potential apprentice. After a portfolio interview presentation, Dorothy Jeakins was hired to work as an illustrator, to sketch and illustrate costume ideas that Karinska would herself provide in a simplistic sketch. The illustration costume sketch solved, fulfilling the producers request for "sketches" - gave Karinska her time and value to supervise the wardrobe work-room, maintaining the film's principle photography schedule. As production proceeded, all the costumes illustrated and wardrobe construction under completion, sketch artist Dorothy Jeakins was kept on the production's wardrobe team apprenticing and assisting Karinska. Jenkins became involved with costume shop supervision, fittings, and finishing of wardrobe specifics required in production. Principle photography began, all the costumes designed by both Raoul Pene Du Bois and Karinska were finished or under completion in the wardrobe work-room. Karinska with the producer's approval, moved to MGM's Culver City studios to begin designing costumes for Vincent Minelli's "The Pirate." Dorothy Jeakins was left in charge, to finish the film's shooting schedule, expected to pull together any last minute costume requirements in the studio's stock inventory. Upon completion of principle photography, Jeakins remained on the production's pay-roll returning wardrobe-costumes to Paramount's wardrobe-stock inventory. Edith Head, after Jeakins had finished the film's costume strike, transferred sketch artist Dorothy Jeakins to the Paramount Pictures wardrobe department, adding Dorothy to her stable of costume sketch artists and illustrators. In the best Hollywood tradition, like "Eve Harrington" in "All About Eve," after Karinska had departed for New York City and MGM, Dorothy Jeakins convinced director Victor Fleming and producer Walter Wanger that she had actually designed all of the movie's costumes. Neither Raoul Pene Du Bois nor Karinska were around to contradict her claim! "Joan of Arc" had important nominations and wins for the 1948 21st Motion Picture Academy of Arts and Science Oscar Award contest - but failed to be nominated in the Best Picture category. Films "Joan of Arc" and "The Search" received an Academy Special Award. Jose Ferrer was awarded Best Actor in a Supporting Roll. The Award for Cinematography (in Color) was awarded to Joseph Valentine, William V. Skall and Winton Hoch. Frank Sullivan was awarded an Oscar for Best Film Editing (in Color). In the Academy Award Best Actress category the winner was Jayne Wyman for "Johnny Belinda." Loosing nominees in Best Actress were the following: Ingrid Bergman for "Joan of Arc," Olivia De Havilland for "The Snake Pit," Irene Dunn for "I Remember Mama," Barbara Stanwyck for "Sorry, Wrong Number. The Art Direction Award (in color) was won by "The Red Shoes" - art director Hein Heckroth and set decorator Arthur Lawson, beating out "Joan of Arc" art director Richard Day and set decorators Casey Roberts and Joseph Kisit. In the category Music Score of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture, composer Hugo Friedhofu was nominated for his work on "Joan of Arc." . The producers failed to include Raoul Pene Du Bois' costume design contribution in the film's credit category. Two Costume Design (in Color) films were nominated, "The Emperor Waltz" designed by Edith Head and Gile Steele, with "Joan of Arc" winning Best Costume Design Oscar for Barbara Karinska (age 62) and Dorothy Jeakins (at the young age of 35), (b.Jan 11,1914-d.Nov.21,1995, death age 81). The nomination and Oscar trophy launched Dorohy Jeakins costume design career. At the Academy's theater presentation, Elizabeth Taylor announced and gave the award to nominee Dorothy Jeakins. Karinska was in New York City.
