#ann Hollowood

[cressida-jayoungr]

One Dress a Day Challenge

Anything Goes December

The Muppet Christmas Carol / Gonzo the Great as Charles Dickens

It's been well documented that the costumes in this movie are more detailed and accurate than they have any right to be, including (or especially) on the Muppet characters. Here is Gonzo as Charles Dickens in all his glory. Look at his patterned waistcoat! His beautifully fitted greatcoat and top hat! His striped socks, which don't even show unless the trouser legs are specially pulled up! And just imagine being in the workshop chuckling to yourself while creating this costume, assuming nobody but you and a few costume nerd friends would ever notice the level of craftsmanship, unaware that large portions of this newfangled thing called the internet would be squeeing over them thirty years later. Ann Hollowood and Polly Smith, I salute you.

[costumeloverz71]

Belle (Meredith Braun) Red coat & gray bonnet.. The Muppet Christmas Carol (1992).. Costume by Ann Hollowood & Polly Smith.

[muppet-facts]

Muppet Fact #464

Jim Henson's The Storyteller series Has won 12 awards including the Emmy for Outstanding Children's Program (1987) and the Grand Award at the International Film and Television Festival of New York (1988).

The full list chronologically is:

39th Emmy Awards (1987): Outstanding Children's Program- for "Hans My Hedgehog."

Catholic Media Association's Gabriel Award (1987)- for "Hans My Hedgehog."

Chicago International Film Festival (1987): Golden Hugo Award for Children's Programming- for "Hans My Hedgehog."

Parent's Choice Award (1987): Best Broadcasting for Young People- for "Hans My Hedgehog."

The Ohio State Award (1987) for The Storyteller.

XII Resena Mundial de Acapulco (1987): Children's Programming Award- for "Hans My Hedgehog."

International Monitor Award (1988): Awarded to David Yardley for Best Editor in Children's Programing- for "Fearnot."

Houston International Film & Video Festival of the Americas (1988): Gold Medal- for "The Soldier and Death."

Chicago International Film Festival (1988): Golden Hugo Award for Children's Programming- for "Sapsorrow," "The Three Ravens," and "The Soldier and Death."

International Film and Television Festival of New York (1988): the Grand Award- for "The Soldier and Death."

BAFTA Award (1989): Best Children's Program - Entertainment/Drama Category.

BAFTA Award (1989): Outstanding Costume Design to Ann Hollowood and Polly Smith.

Sources:

Awards Nominees and Winners: 1987- 39th Emmy Awards. Outstanding Children's Program. Jim Henson's The Storyteller: Hans My Hedgehog." Emmys.com.

Jim Henson & The Muppets Awards and Honors Archive Master List. JHC Archives. Pages 9 and 10.

[edwin--artifex]

"The Magical Legend of the Leprechauns", TV Mini Series, Hallmark Entertainment (1999)

Costume design: Ann Hollowood

Assistant costume designer, buyer & coordinator, Rome, Italy: Edwin Alexander Francis

official trailer ->

[barkerverse]

Outfit Appreciation - Anne Bobby as Lori Winston in Nightbreed (1990)

Costume Design by Ann Hollowood

[ediths-shades]

Belle’s (Meredith Braun) green dress from Muppet Christmas Carol (1992) requested by anonymous.

[keirahknightley]

Costume appreciation series: The Muppet Christmas Carol (1992) dir Brian Henson

Costume Design by Ann Hollowood and Polly Smith

[badgaymovies]

Nightbreed (1990)

Today's review on MyOldAddiction.com, Nightbreed by #CliveBarker starring #CraigSheffer and #DavidCronenberg, "a shallow, indulgent bloodbath"

CLIVE BARKER

Bil’s rating (out of 5): B. 

United Kingdom/Canada/USA, 1990.  Morgan Creek Entertainment, Seraphim Films.  Screenplay by Clive Barker, based on his novel Cabal.  Cinematography by Robin Vidgeon.  Produced by Gabriella Martinelli, Mark Alan Miller.  Music by Danny Elfman.  Production Design by Steve Hardie.  Costume Design by Ann Hollowood.  Film Editing by Mark Goldblatt, Richard…

[jimhenson-themuppetmaster]

Builder/Designer Polly Smith

Polly Smith has worked for the Jim Henson Company since she was brought on board to create costumes for The Muppet Show in 1978 and continues to design for Sesame Street. In the years in between, she has designed costumes for many of the Muppet film and television projects produced by the Jim Henson Company as well as the costumes for several other children’s television programs.

Smith received Emmy nominations for her designs for The Jim Henson Hour (1988) and Muppets Tonight (1996) and has received three Emmy awards for her designs on Sesame Street. Smith also co-designed costumes for the TV series The StoryTeller (1986-88) which won a BAFTA award for Best Costumes in 1989, and The StoryTeller: Greek Myths(1989) which received a BAFTA nomination for Best Costumes in 1991.

Other television credits include Dinosaurs, Fraggle Rock, The Muppets’ Wizard of Oz, Blue’s Room, Jack’s Big Music Show and Bunnytown.

Smith’s film credits include Muppets from Space, The Adventures of Elmo in Grouchland, Muppet Treasure Islandand The Muppet Christmas Carol. Smith was also part of the design teams for the films The Dark Crystal, The Muppets Take Manhattan and Labyrinth.

In addition to the work on films and television shows, until 2002 Smith oversaw the costumes for many of the Muppet commercials, photo shoots, personal appearances and also worked on many Muppet toy prototypes.

In 2002, Smith was chosen as one of 200 women to show their work in the exhibit Women Designers in the USA 1900-2000 at the New York City Bard Graduate Center.

Additionally, in 1977, while designing costumes for the Champlain Shakespeare Festival at the University of Vermont, Smith collaborated with two friends to create the first women’s sporting bra called “Jogbra”. This achievement has been recognized with a bronzed Jogbra on the wall at the University of Vermont and by inclusion in the costume collections of the Smithsonian Institution and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Smith’s two partners went on to create the company which produced and marketed the bra while Smith chose instead to go off and create undergarments for puppets and animals.

Polly Smith received her BFA in Fashion Design from Moore College of Art & Design in Philadelphia. Smith was recognized as a distinguished alumna by the College in 2005.

Henson/Muppet credits

John Denver & the Muppets: A Christmas Together - Nativity Muppets, costumesThe Muppet Show - Muppet Costume Designer 5th seasonDark Crystal - Associate Costume Designer: Gelflings (Jen and Kira) and PodlingsI Love Liberty- Miss Piggy's costumes, othersFraggle Rock - Muppet builderThe Muppets Take Manhattan - Costume Designer (with Karen Roston and Calista Hendrickson)The Muppet Show: On Tour!- Additional costume designJim Henson’s Muppet Babies Live! - Additional costume designLabyrinth - Creature costume design; Creature Workshop team: Hoggle, Sir Didymus, Alph and Ralph, Goblinsand Riding GoblinsThe StoryTeller - Costume designer (with Ann Hollowood)The Tale of the Bunny Picnic - Puppet designInner Tube- CostumesThe Jim Henson Hour - Costume DesignerThe Muppets at Walt Disney World - Costume DesignDinosaurs - Costume design (uncredited)The StoryTeller: Greek Myths - Co-Costume DesignerThe Muppet Christmas Carol - Costume DesignerMuppet Classic Theater- CostumesMuppet Treasure Island - Costume DesignerMuppets Tonight - Costume DesignerThe Adventures of Elmo in Grouchland- Costume DesignerMuppets from Space - Costume DesignerIt’s a Very Merry Muppet Christmas Movie - Costume DesignerThe Muppets’ Wizard of Oz - Costume DesignerSesame Street - Costume Designer (2003-)

Non-Muppet productions

Jack’s Big Music Show - Costume DesignerBunnytown - Costume DesignerBlue’s Room - Costume Designer

[ambrosias-cottage]

Review: ‘Merlin’

Ray Richmond April 27, 1998 |

Just when everyone was about ready to give up on the broadcast network miniseries --- or whatever it is that they're calling two-night, four-hour movies these days --- up pops "Merlin" to awaken the tired genre with a burst of pure magic. It's not just another sweeps event, but rather a swashbuckling, impeccably staged family classic that takes the Arthurian legend and burnishes it with a vibrant contemporary sheen. Fantasy purists will probably hate it, but pay them no mind. This is very cool stuff.

Just when everyone was about ready to give up on the broadcast network miniseries — or whatever it is that they’re calling two-night, four-hour movies these days — up pops “Merlin” to awaken the tired genre with a burst of pure magic. It’s not just another sweeps event, but rather a swashbuckling, impeccably staged family classic that takes the Arthurian legend and burnishes it with a vibrant contemporary sheen. Fantasy purists will probably hate it, but pay them no mind. This is very cool stuff.

   The Peacock has joined forces with Hallmark Entertainment (the folks behind the masterful “Gulliver’s Travels” and the shallow, bloated “The Odyssey”) to formulate a smart and exhilarating production that broadens the story of knights and chivalry in charming ways.

   What’s great about this “Merlin” is that even those who aren’t well schooled in the King Arthur/Camelot thing will find plenty to love in a David Stevens–Peter Barnes script that bolsters the color of the characters without sacrificing their humanity. And the scads of visual effects from London’s Framestore and the Jim Henson Creature Shop are stunningly detailed and genuine. This production boasts the best talking horse since horses began chattering on TV in the 1960s.

With his compassion for his characters and his precise blend of words and images, writer-director Kenneth Lonergan take his place as one of American cinema's most vital voices.

The backbone of “Merlin” is a deep, measured performance by Sam Neill as the wizard of the title, framing the story as narrator while taking Merlin from reluctant young magic man through seasoned old-timer. Neill’s Merlin is as tragic as he is heroic, as ambivalent as he is confident.

  Serving as the bane of Merlin’s existence is the sinister Queen Mab (played with a perfect mix of menace and mockery by Miranda Richardson). Mab, who sounds like a Munchkin with cancer of the larynx, stops at nothing to control Britain and, ultimately, to rule the world. And boy, can that woman scream.

   Merlin has a much better relationship with Nimue (Isabella Rossellini), the beautiful love of his life who understands that Merlin doesn’t really much like magic — particularly since it’s his birthright as dictated by Mab. Nimue tells him of Avalon and the Holy Grail, the sacred cup that will free England of hunger and illness.

   And then there is Lord Vortigern (a sniveling Rutger Hauer), a bodacious baddie who kidnaps Nimue and foists a very realistic, fire-breathing dragon onto her (another spectacular effect). The remainder of the first installment interweaves great battles, our introduction to the great unbreakable sword Excalibur and comic relief from the mighty morphing deviant servant Frik (a wickedly over-the-top Martin Short).

   Part two finds helmer Steve Barron hitting his stride in stitching together the complex web of deceit that hangs over “Merlin” like a London fog, with particular attention paid to the dawn of Camelot. There’s a masterfully mischievous performance from Helena Bonham Carter as the sly Morgan Le Fey, half-sister of the-man-who-would-be-king Arthur (Paul Curran). Lancelot (Jeremy Sheffield) and Guinevere (Lena Headey) also make their appearances.

   The lush countryside of England and Wales blends spectacularly with Ann Hollowood’s exquisite costumes to perfectly complement the action. Neill is more than up to the task of carrying a highly detailed production on his firm shoulders. And those effects — it’s difficult to recall a more captivating use of them in a large-scale TV production.

   If there is a downside to “Merlin,” it’s that there are so many little twists and turns and scenarios going down at once that you’re not always sure what’s going on. But the acting and the emotionally charged script (complete with an oh-so-’90s makeover of the title character) more than compensate. Tech credits sparkle.

[costumeloverz71]

Sapsorrow (Alison Doody) Light blue ballgown.. The Storyteller, "Sapsorrow". (1988).. Costume by Ann Hollowood.

[muppet-facts]

Muppet Fact #820

The credits for The Fantastic Miss Piggy Show adds superlatives to each credit, with examples like: "Miss Piggy fantastically performed by: Frank Oz" or "Devine Costume Designer: Ann Hollowood."

Source:

The Fantastic Miss Piggy Show. ABC. September 17, 1982.

[edwin--artifex]

(1997) "Merlin" I & II NBC TV series

Costume designer: Anne Hollowood

Assistant costume designer, buyer and coordinator, Rome, Italy: Edwin Alexander Francis

costume design: Sam Neal as Merlin (with a special message)

...and an Emmy to go with it! ->