Magnificent Doll (1946) stars Ginger Rogers as Dolley Madison, future First Lady and wife of President James Madison, although 99% of the film takes place pre-presidency! It’s like the filmmakers said, “What if we took the early years of the country and turned them into a soap opera?” Starting in about 1790 and going through 1805, the film focuses on Dolley and her love life, with some idealistic dabbling into politics. David Niven plays baddie Aaron Burr and Burgess Meredith is James Madison. While the music is overly sweeping and the “but who will she CHOOSE” is treacly, the costumes by Vera West and Travis Banton are sometimes hilarious, sometimes gorgeous — and the hats by Lilly Daché are divine.
Dolley (going with her first name, since she has three different surnames in the film) begins as a Virginia planter’s daughter in a 1780s-esque poufy gown reminiscent of the robe à la polonaise:
But it turns out dad is a Quaker, and had some kind of revelation while in a Revolutionary War battle that he had to marry her off to the son of a fallen friend. Dolley does it, but is DEEPLY UNHAPPY because of the horror of having had her husband Chosen For Her which is Deeply Upsetting As She Never Gets To Experience What Everyone Else Gets Which Is Falling In Love. She’s SUPER anachronistically pissed off about this, but then, she has reason to be because apparently marrying a Quaker means she has to dress like it’s the 1830s, and then like she’s a Puritan?
Thankfully husband #1 dies (just as Dolley decides she DOES love him) in a Yellow Fever epidemic, which means she and her mom get to liven up their wardrobes and return to the late 18th century. Her wardrobe sometimes leans more 18th century, sometimes more 1940s:
She and mom take in boarders, and all the rising politicians, including Aaron Burr and James Madison come a’calling. Dolley and Burr get close — like, passionate kisses close — and Dolley discovers that she’s actually an excellent political hostess. She’s still rocking the sheers for this:
Probably her best outfits are the redingotes — she wears this one for getting steamy with Burr:
And then this one with AN AMAZING HAT for falling in love with James Madison — apparently because he’s idealistic and positive about politics, vs. Burr who is cynical and negative.
She and Madison get married and head to Virginia, but then he’s called back to Washington to help Jefferson run for president.
Time Has Passed, which we know because suddenly Dolley is rocking the form-fitting take on Regency.
She becomes Jefferson’s First Lady, since he’s a widower and American society is too racist for Sally Hemmings to fill the role. Dolley goes Full Sparkle:
And despite this being a very naturalistic hair era, she remains committed to the Big Updo’s:
The biggest 1940s clunker is when she and Burr have a secret meeting. This screencap does not capture just how ridiculously WEIRD and not-anything-period this outfit was on screen:
And at the end of the film, she proves her commitment to the American ideal by talking a crowd out of lynching Aaron Burr (who’s just gotten off from treason charges) in such a way that his political ambitions are done… and she does so in a turban and shawl, finally looking vaguely Regency!
Have you seen Magnificent Doll (1946)? What’s your take on the 1940s-meets-turn-of-the-19th-century costumes?
Find this frock flick at:
So help me, Ginger Rogers dressed up in semi-Federalist splendour is a Wonder of the World and I thank you, author and FROCK FLICKS a whole, for introducing me to such a breathtaking work of art.
Now please excuse me, I must ogle.😍
😂 😂
Not as 1940s as it could’ve been, IMO. Most of the designs pay decent homage to the Late 18th/ Early 19th Century, the hair however is pure 1940s fabulosity! ZOMG, I’m dead and gone to 1940s hair heaven!
40s IS a great hair era!
It is, especially in “Historical” Films of this era!
More hysterical than historical, but we’ll just go with it 😁
I don’t even know where to begin. Since it’s a Universal Picture, they didn’t have quite the budget that Paramount or MGM had. Was polyester a thing then? Because there’s so much boing in that first photo. The redingotes would be fabulous if the correct underpinnings were worn with them, but goodness – the one with the fur trimmed shawl? Wowzers. Don’t hate me because I like the look of properly done fur. The sparkly look reminds me a little of Mae West. After all, Josephine of France had a lot of sparkle in her court gowns, but not quite like this. I dunno – I love Ginger and her personality. I love 1780s – 1810 fashion. And Dolly Madison had an interesting life. Did this film even deal with how she saved what she could of the most important contents of the White House when the British sacked DC and burned the mansion? I believe she was also the earliest First Lady to be captured in a daguerreotype, although she was elderly when it was taken. I guess that’s the problem with having some knowledge – you see a movie image that makes you cringe when you compare to what you know about real life. And it’s still the studio system at the time. The leading lady had to look like a STAR™️. Big hair, big jewels, big makeup, big embellishments.
Which to some of us is more a feature than a bug in the system!
What strikes me most is how carefully bodice fabric is sculpted around each breast.
Hard not to notice, but then there’s such a lot to notice here. I like to think Ginger and David were giggling happily between takes.
Re Sally Hemings, even if she had been white she was Jefferson’s mistress not his wife, which would have been enough to rule her out completely as White House hostess. Even in Ancien Regime France, where ‘maitresse en titre’ was an absolutely accepted official role, the role didn’t stretch to that.
Yep. Mistresses were a “no go” as hostesses. Widowed and unmarried Presidents called in their women relatives (Jefferson his daughter Martha, Buchanan his niece Harriet Lane, Chester Arthur (a widower with one very young daughter) his sister. The late Lindsey Graham said in an interview that if he DID win the nomination and the election (in 2016), he’d have his sister as First Lady.
Even in these more enlightened times, I think a POTUS couldn’t even get away with an “official” unmarried partner. Spouse, sibling, nibling, or bust.
Hum, I have not seen this film and I am not sure I want to watch it! Though I do like Ginger Rogers and some of the other actors.
I am guessing the weird veil used was a plot device. Secret meeting = veil. Maybe it was the director who insisted?
I found this about the photograph of the real Dolly Madison:
https://www.si.edu/newsdesk/releases/national-portrait-gallery-acquires-earliest-known-photograph-us-first-lady