Behind The Scenes : Hollywood Wardrobe Gets a New Role on the Auction Block

The oldest and largest wardrobe supplier to the American cinema, Western Costume Co. in Hollywood, is parting with some of its stock Sunday at an open-to-the-public auction. Private collectors, archivists, film fans and the curious will be there to preview the 365 wardrobe items that will be sold as part of Butterfield & Butterfield’s “Star Collection” auction.

All items were created by Western Costume, which has been dressing Hollywood since Cecil B. DeMille’s original “Squaw Man” in 1913, and some have an Orange County connection: They were worn by movie actors who lived, played or were arrested here.

Represented through their wardrobe are performers who grew up here (Steve Martin in Garden Grove, Diane Keaton in Santa Ana and Kevin Costner in Villa Park) or owned property here (John Wayne in Newport Beach, Raquel Welch in Big Canyon, Douglas Fairbanks in Irvine Cove and Laguna Beach residents Bette Davis, Rock Hudson, Mickey Rooney and Fredric March). Also, there are costumes on the block that were worn by Bette Midler, who has a home in Laguna Beach.

Actors who worked here include Charlton Heston and Roddy McDowall, who shot “Planet of the Apes” at UC Irvine in 1967. Location scouts for the science-fiction film thought the newly built campus looked futuristic enough to pass as an ape-run city. The movie received an Academy Award nomination for costume design.

Over the years, Errol Flynn, Lauren Bacall and Humphrey Bogart sailed away from what Bogie called, “Hollywood gossip and leeches” and docked their boats at Newport Harbor.

The arrested one? Truman (“Murder by Death”) Capote, who spent a night in jail here in 1970 for ignoring a court subpoena to testify at the trial of a triple slayer he interviewed in prison.

Estimated values for the costumes range from $200 for a silver bullion floral brocade period robe made for Alan Ladd to $22,500 for the antebellum traveling suit Vivien Leigh wore as Scarlett O’Hara in the wagon ride through Shantytown in “Gone With the Wind.”

Previews are from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. today and Saturday, and 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Sunday. The auction begins at 2 p.m. Sunday. Butterfield & Butterfield Fine Art Auctioneers & Appraisers is at 7601 Sunset Blvd., Los Angeles.