Dolly Tree
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Dolly Tree (17 March 1899–17 May 1962) was an English illustrator, actress and costume designer who during the 1930s and 1940s designed dresses for Myrna Loy, Jean Harlow, Rosalind Russell, Maureen O'Sullivan and Judy Garland among others in addition to costuming historical dramas such as David Copperfield (1935) and A Tale of Two Cities (1935). Born in Westbury-on-Trym in Bristol in 1899 as Dorothy Marian Isbell, the daughter of Charles Edwin Isbell (1863-1942) , a solicitor, and Bertha Marian (née Keith-Williams) at an early age she discovered an aptitude for drawing before being drawn towards a career on the stage. In 1912 her family relocated to London and she began her career as an artist after seeing the play Vanity Fair at the Palace Theatre in 1916. Of the play she later wrote, ‘I was fascinated by the wonderful dancing and art of Regine Flory and admired her so much that I started to design a special poster of her, really to amuse myself, based on my recollections of this vivid artist seen across the footlights.’ A friend took her drawing to Sir Alfred Butt who bought it and gave her a two-year contract (c1917-1918) to design posters and programme covers for of all his shows including The Boy (1917), The Beauty Spot (1918), Going Up (1918), Telling the Tale (1918), The Latest Craze (1919), The Kiss Call (1919), Very Good Eddie (1919) and Hello America (1919). Her comic illustrations also appeared in various British newspapers and magazines. Between 1915 and 1918 Dolly Tree appeared in five British silent films as an actress. In the United Kingdom her career as a costume designer began in the 1920s on various cabaret shows in London in particular; in 1923 she collaborated on her first film, Woman to Woman, directed by Graham Cutts and with Alfred Hitchcock as the co-screenwriter, artistic director and assistant director. Her work became popular in Paris where she became the first English person and the first woman to design for the Folies Bergère. In 1926 she moved to the United States, first working in New York where she created the costumes for the 1928 Broadway play Diamond Lil starring Mae West. She then went to Hollywood where she was involved in designing for 175 American films, firstly for Fox Studios (1929-1931) and then for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (1931-1942), mainly as a designer of dresses, among others alongside Adrian. In 1931 while working at Fox Studios she met and married the American Naval officer Thomas Kimes. Although the marriage was a happy one but his career in the Navy kept them apart and they divorced in 1940. After her divorce Tree began to drink heavily which lead to her leaving MGM in 1942 and returning to Fox Studios where she married her second husband Don E. Whiteford. However, this marriage also did not work and they quickly divorced, which drove Tree further into alcoholism. Her second divorce, her heavy drinking and the death of her father in 1942 lead to her becoming increasing unreliable and losing her job.
Hide-Out
(Wardrobe Designer)
The Thin Man
(Costume Design)
Riffraff
(Wardrobe Designer)
A Tale of Two Cities
(Costume Design)
The Devil-Doll
(Wardrobe Designer)
Thunder Afloat
(Costume Design)
Fast Company
(Wardrobe Designer)
Sinner Take All
(Wardrobe Designer)
Sworn Enemy
(Costume Designer)
Andy Hardy Meets Debutante
(Wardrobe Designer)
Tell No Tales
(Wardrobe Designer)
Live, Love and Learn
(Wardrobe Master)
Three Live Ghosts
(Wardrobe Designer)
Mad Holiday
(Wardrobe Designer)
Too Hot to Handle
(Wardrobe Supervisor)
Paradise for Three
(Wardrobe Designer)
The Girl Downstairs
(Wardrobe Designer)
Espionage
(Costume Design)
Thoroughbreds Don't Cry
(Wardrobe Designer)
Thunder Birds
(Costume Design)
My Dear Miss Aldrich
(Wardrobe Designer)
The Bishop Misbehaves
(Wardrobe Designer)
The Golden Fleecing
(Wardrobe Designer)
Woman Wanted
(Wardrobe Designer)
Annabelle's Affairs
(Costume Design)
Suzy
(Costume Designer)
Arsène Lupin Returns
(Wardrobe Designer)
Tales of Manhattan
(Costume Design)
I Love You Again
(Costume Design)
Rosalie
(Costume Design)
A Night at the Opera
(Costume Design)
Manhattan Melodrama
(Costume Design)
She Wanted a Millionaire
(Costume Design)
Three Godfathers
(Wardrobe Designer)
The Pied Piper
(Costume Design)
Escapade
(Costume Design)
Bad Girl
(Costume Design)
Just Imagine
(Costume Design)
Whipsaw
(Wardrobe Master)
The Bad Man
(Costume Design)
20 Mule Team
(Costume Design)
The Good Old Soak
(Costume Design)
Mad Love
(Costume Design)
Fury
(Costume Design)
The Night Is Young
(Wardrobe Master)
Transatlantic
(Costume Design)
Sporting Blood
(Costume Design)
The Kid From Texas
(Costume Design)
Sporting Blood
(Costume Design)
Exclusive Story
(Costume Design)
Libeled Lady
(Wardrobe Supervisor)
David Copperfield
(Costume Design)
Straight Is the Way
(Costume Supervisor)
It's in the Air
(Costume Design)
The Casino Murder Case
(Wardrobe Designer)
Dr. Kildare Goes Home
(Wardrobe Designer)
The Secret of Dr. Kildare
(Wardrobe Designer)
Congo Maisie
(Wardrobe Supervisor)
Little Nellie Kelly
(Costume Design)
The Trial of Mary Dugan
(Costume Design)
Billy the Kid
(Costume Design)
Stand Up and Fight
(Costume Design)
Go West
(Costume Design)
At the Circus
(Costume Design)
A Wicked Woman
(Wardrobe Supervisor)
6,000 Enemies
(Wardrobe Supervisor)
Trouble for Two
(Wardrobe Supervisor)
Stronger Than Desire
(Wardrobe Designer)
The First Hundred Years
(Wardrobe Designer)
Ten Gentlemen from West Point
(Costume Design)
The Gay Bride
(Wardrobe Designer)
Navy Blue and Gold
(Wardrobe Designer)
Of Human Hearts
(Wardrobe Designer)
The Unguarded Hour
(Wardrobe Designer)
They All Come Out
(Wardrobe Designer)
Times Square Lady
(Wardrobe Designer)
You Can't Buy Everything
(Wardrobe Designer)
Yellow Jack
(Wardrobe Designer)
The Loves of Edgar Allan Poe
(Costume Design)
We Who Are Young
(Wardrobe Designer)
On Borrowed Time
(Costumer)
After the Thin Man
(Costumer)
Kind Lady
(Costumer)
The Arcadians
(Costume Designer)
Night Must Fall
(Costumer)
Big City
(Wardrobe Designer)
Lord Jeff
(Wardrobe Supervisor)
Madame X
(Costume Design)
The Chaser
(Wardrobe Master)
The Good Earth
(Wardrobe Supervisor)
Public Hero Number 1
(Wardrobe Master)
The Ice Follies of 1939
(Costume Design)
The Shining Hour
(Costume Design)
Absolute Quiet
(Costume Design)
Skyline
(Costume Design)
The Garden Murder Case
(Costume Design)
A Day at the Races
(Wardrobe Designer)
Age of Indiscretion
(Wardrobe Designer)
Rendezvous
(Wardrobe Designer)
Another Thin Man
(Costume Design)
Gold Rush Maisie
(Costume Design)
Maisie Was a Lady
(Costume Design)
Test Pilot
(Costume Designer)
Maisie
(Costume Design)
Spring Madness
(Costume Designer)