Free Stars Over Sunset Boulevard by Susan Meissner Page A

the opening scene on the porch?” Audrey looked about the room for the gown. “I heard two of the wardrobe girls in the commissary today, talking about how beautiful it is.”
    Bert was alone in the room, but he looked around, anyway. When he turned back to face the women, he told them to follow him. He took them to a long rack and accompanying shelves tagged with a placard that read
Scarlett
. The dress slated for the opening shot hung on a padded hanger and was covered in cotton sheeting. It was the sole wardrobe piece hanging on the rack. Bert lifted the billowing white dress out of its protective drape. Even without its hoop, it looked like a cloud. Green sprigs danced across the voluminous skirt, and a velvet, emerald-hued ribbon hung fromboth sides of the tiny waistband, to be tied in the back. Ruffles of white and green fluffed about the bodice.
    â€œIt’s gorgeous!” Audrey breathed, her face radiant. She took a step toward Bert and touched his arm.
    â€œThere’s going to be a hat and a parasol, too,” Bert said.
    Audrey leaned in close to him. “You’re so lucky to be surrounded by such loveliness all day long, Bert,” she said. “You really are.”
    Bert looked down at Audrey’s manicured hand on his arm and smiled. “Lucky? I spend my days in a never-ending clothes closet. I’d rather be behind one of the cameras. You know that.”
    â€œWell, this is better than being a janitor. You know
that
.”
    They seemed to be recalling a conversation between the two of them that had taken place long before Violet had moved to California. In those few seconds, Violet felt invisible. “It’s such a pretty dress,” she chimed in, wanting her companions to remember she was in the room with them.
    Audrey let go of Bert’s arm to run her fingertips through the yards of fabric. “Miss Leigh will look stunning in it,” she said dreamily, almost as if she was imagining herself wrapped in the folds of the dress Vivien Leigh would wear.
    Bert cocked his head and smiled, as if he, too, was imagining Audrey in the gown.
    â€œI didn’t know filming was what you really wanted to do,” Violet said to Bert.
    A couple seconds passed before he turned his head to reply. “Doesn’t matter.” He shrugged. “It won’t ever happen, anyway. There’s probably a dozen or more people ahead of me, wanting to train on those cameras. I guess I should be glad I’m not still pushing a broom.”
    He returned his attention to Audrey, signaling as politely as he could that he really didn’t want to continuethat conversation. Audrey was holding the gown up to her neck and swishing the fabric so that it sounded like muted applause.
    â€¢Â Â Â â€¢Â Â Â â€¢
    The following morning when Violet reported to Miss Myrick’s little office, she learned they were to spend the first part of the day talking with Mr. Lambert, the wardrobe supervisor.
    Violet grabbed a pencil and her steno pad. “I thought Walter Plunkett was in charge of all the costumes for this movie,” she said, recalling the dozens of memos she had sent out in recent weeks related to the extensive clothing needs
.
    â€œMr. Plunkett designed the costumes, but it’s Mr. Lambert who has to see that all Mr. Plunkett’s designs get made, and made properly, and then are properly cared for. And it’s my job to make sure they’re right for the time period. Let’s be off.”
    They walked under gray skies that hinted of rain, past several soundstages to the wardrobe building, and Violet found herself hoping that she would run into Bert. She wondered if he would be pleased to see her.
    When indeed it was Bert who brought out the green-sprigged gown for Miss Myrick’s approval, his face registered mild surprise at seeing Violet, but then he cautiously winked at her. Violet knew he meant only to silently acknowledge that