ANN RUTHERFORD POSES IN SUIT BY DOLLY TREE [1940] Oversized photo by László Willinger

[Los Angeles]: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, [1940]. Vintage original 10 x 13″ (25 x 32 cm.) black-and-white double weight glossy silver gelatin photo. Soiling on verso edge right and bottom, about fine.

Ann Rutherford poses in a suit designed by Dolly Tree. Tree designed many of the MGM lady stars’ wardrobes for contemporary stories. This one, about a young newlywed, required Rutherford to pose for styles to be used in newspaper and magazine fashion layouts. The printed blurb on verso refers to this suit as something a young woman must budget for when she plans to marry, this being a suit which will not “bulge her budget”. Of course, few brides at the time could afford a custom-made couture suit by Dolly Tree.

It appears that photographer László Willinger (his ink stamp on verso) posed Rutherford on location during the late-California afternoon.