Western Costume today

One of the oldest motion picture businesses in Hollywood is Western Costume Company. Doing business under the same name since 1912, it outdates any studio or production company.

During the first decade of this century, L.L. Burns, Western's founder, settled in Los Angeles after many years of traveling west as an Indian trader. In the course of this occupation, he accumulated hundreds of Indian artifacts, weapons, costumes and jewelry pieces - enough to outfit several tribes.

Inhabitants of this sleepy little Southern California town of Hollywood were just beginning to notice strangers in their neighborhoods "making movies." On sunny days, men and women would be seen with cameras and hanging sheets as backdrops renting a neighbor's barn for a day's shooting of two-reelers. In fact, the barn rented by De Mille and Lasky for "The Squaw Man" stood on property owned by Burns.

Eventually, Burns' attention was drawn to a particular group of filmmakers because of the particular attire of the actors who were playing Indians. And what Indians! Wearing an incredible mixture of fur, beads, feathers and blankets, these actors had no relation to the dress of true American Indians. Burns was so amazed that he marched up to the man who seemed to be in charge to tell him how incorrect, how really awful his Indians looked. The director turned out to be the great cowboy actor William S. Hart, who was beginning to develop an awareness and understanding for historical accuracy in his films. So he listened to Lou Burns and promptly hired him to outfit the Indians.

The news of Burns' Indian costumes spread to other western filmmakers and he was soon renting to all of them. He augmented his original stock with second-hand clothing of all types and even bought out the only other company, Fisher's, which had been furnishing costumes and props for films.

In a short time, Burns had a growing and lucrative business on his hands, which he named after the first type of film he had ever costumed. "Western Costume Company" was born!

From its birth on the streets of Hollywood, Western grew into an industry staple by costuming virtually every major star of the teens and twenties. Western was responsible for costumes from D.W. Griffith's "Birth of a Nation" (for which Western made all of the Civil War uniforms) to all of the films produced by Douglas Fairbanks and Charlie Chaplin. Lillian Gish in "Orphans of the Storm," Buster Keaton's "The General," and Valentino's "The Sheik" are but a few examples of the quality and quantity of work done by Western.

1920's - 1932

By the early twenties, Burns had moved the company for a third time to a building on Broadway, between Ninth and Tenth Streets. The twelve floors of the new building were fully occupied by the million-piece stock and fifteen departments that made up the company. One of the most innovative of the departments was the research library, the first for the industry. Under the directorship of Ned Lambert (called "the man who knows everything"), Western supplied information for art directors as well as costume designers. Lambert scoured the world for books and pictures to create the magnificent collection that exists today. This outstanding collection has remained the nerve center of the entire organization, for all costume production begins with research.

Despite a future which seemed rosy, Burns' ownership of Western was not to last a decade. The studios were growing into giants and inevitably began to establish wardrobe departments of their own. Further competition was provided by a former employee of Western who founded United Costume Company. Warner Bros. came to Burns' rescue by buying out United and absorbing its wardrobe into the studio. They also hired Western to make all the costumes for Jolson's "The Jazz Singer", the first feature with sound.

1932 - 1990

With the onset of the depression, however, Burns was faced with bankruptcy and sold out to three brothers in the salvage business: Ike, Dan, and Joe Greenberg. The Greenbergs sold a great deal of the stock, consolidated, and in 1932, moved Western to 5335 Melrose Avenue, right in front of Paramount Studios. L.L. Burns moved on to become head of Warner Bros. Costume Department.

In 1934, the Greenbergs, who established a bar on the premises and provided employees free drinks every evening, sold Western to Abe and Joe Schnitzer, who ran the company for 13 years. During their tenure, Technicolor spurred the growth of the industry by inspiring opulent sets with costumes to match. Western supplied all the male costumes for "Gone with the Wind" (including Clark Gable). The shoe shop created and made the famous ruby-red slippers for Judy Garland.

In 1941, just after Pearl Harbor, the California National Guard turned to Western for manufacturing uniforms. The forties brought the movies of World War II and lavish Technicolor musicals. Western supplied costumes for them all and flourished.

With the end of the war, however, Western's business began to falter. In the post-war depression, Abe Schnitzer sold the company to a consortium of studios - Warner Brothers, Fox, Universal and Columbia. From over 300 employees, the payroll fell to less than 140.

The new management of G.B. Howe and John Golden, with backing from the studios, put the costume house back on its feet. John Golden served as president until his retirement in 1989.

Western was sold by its four owners to Paramount Studios (Gulf and Western) in 1988, and the studio immediately began looking for a buyer of the business so that it could be moved off the Melrose location. The building was to be torn down for a proposed 300,00 square foot office building.

Western Costume today

There were many bidders for Western, but in early 1989, the Trinity Group completed the purchase and Paul Abramowitz became the new president. One of the biggest tasks facing him was finding a new location that would large enough and geographically accessible to the industry. In late 1989, Abramowitz hired veteran costumer Eddie Marks to assist in finding and moving the company to the new location at 11041 Vanowen Street on Street in North Hollywood. The "Big Move" began, taking approximately five months to relocate everything and everyone into the valley facility. During the move the remodeling continued, with much gnashing of teeth on all sides, but also with amazing forbearance and good humor on the part of the staff brave enough to work their way through the initial chaos that has now shaped up into an ultra modern and beautifully accessible facility.

In early 1992, Eddie Marks replaced Abramowitz as President, and the company continued to move forward, adding new costumes and a multitude of uniforms, including modern Army, Air Force, Navy and Marines, as well as many police department uniforms from across the nation. In doing this, Western Costume Company once again was regarded as a leader in costume houses around the globe.

Western's revitalization preceding the change of ownership after 1992 has resulted in a successful increase in market share and customer base in the core business. Key future opportunities of expansion include an extended modern rental and uniform collection, staged exhibitions of Western's Star Collection, retail costume stores in satellite locations, including theme parks, and memorabilia and on-line sales.