The summer edition of Costume Jewelry Collectors Int’l Magazine (CJCI) featured a tribute to the legendary Joan Castle Joseff who passed away at the age of 97 in March 2010. Joseff continued her husband’s legacy of providing period-correct costume jewelry to the movie industry though the company he founded, Joseff of Hollywood, after his death in 1948.
With more than three million pieces of movie jewelry in its archives, Joseff of Hollywood has provided brilliant costume jewelry designs to thousands of movie productions including Gone with the Wind, Ziegfield Follies, Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, and Bedtime for Bonzo. The CJCI article reveals, “Most every starlet from the 1930s to the 1950s wore Joseff jewelry in the movies. Marlene Dietrich, Bette Davis, Joan Crawford, Marilyn Monroe and Grace Kelly were just a few of the stars who adorned themselves in these magnificent jewels.”
Author Leigh Leshner also shared numerous anecdotes about Joseff in her CJCI article, including Joseff’s way of handling stars who “forgot” to return the company’s jewelry after a movie shoot which was gleaned from a 1950 New York Times report. “Every so often a player becomes so attached to a piece that she neglects to return it. For this, Joan Castle has a stock formula: She simply bills the studio for $10,000 – and the jewel is soon recovered.” According to the article, the figure rose over the years and by 1992 in an interview with The Independent of London, Joan was quoted as billing $50,000 for the same offense.
In addition to period photos of Joan Castle Joseff and a number of the stars who wore Joseff jewelry in films provided by Joseff-Hollywood's current General Manager Tina Joseff, this CJCI feature is also illustrated with rich photography featuring vintage jewelry sold through the company’s ‘commercial line.’ Under Joseff’s direction, these pieces originally retailed in high end stores such as Saks Fifth Avenue, Neiman Marcus, Marshall Field’s and Nordstorm’s and are now prized by collectors.
To read the entire Joseff feature, subscribe to CJCI Magazine (a full-color quarterly publication) at www.costumejewelrycollectors.com. Your subscription will also include an invitation to participate in the organization’s social forum and provide regular email updates from the organization. Participation in the social forum is optional, of course, but those who join find that sharing stories with others interested in vintage costume jewelry to be both entertaining and educational.
Comments