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Creator
Dodger Costumes Limited
Call number
*T-Vim 2005-008
Physical description
43.51 linear feet (104 boxes)
Preferred Citation

Dodger costume bibles, *T-Vim 2005-008. Billy Rose Theatre Division, The New York Public Library.

Repository
Billy Rose Theatre Division
Access to materials
Request an in-person research appointment.

Dodger Costumes Ltd. was a theatrical costume company in New York from 1998 to 2005. The Dodger Costume Bibles consist of costume bibles created by costume designers and assistants working on plays and musicals produced by Dodger Theatricals and Stage Entertainment between 1978 and 2005, as well as costume bibles from shows whose costumes were held by the Eaves-Brooks Company until it was sold to Dodger Costumes in 1998.

Biographical/historical information

The Dodgers are a theatrical producing partnership active in New York City since the late 1970s. During this time, the partners have included Michael David, Edward Strong, Rocco Landesman and Des McAnuff. The Dodgers group was formed in 1978 at the Brooklyn Academy of Music. They later moved on to producing at the New York Shakespeare Festival, and eventually they regularly produced shows off and on Broadway.

In 1998, Joop van den Ende bought the live entertainment division of the Dutch company Endemol, which had previously been associated with Dodger Theatricals. Van den Ende’s new company, Stage Entertainment (also known as Stage Holdings) partnered with Dodger Theatricals (also known as the Dodgers, Dodger Properties and Dodger Productions) for many projects and productions. That same year, Stage Holdings and Dodger Theatricals purchased the extensive Eaves-Brooks Costume Company to form Dodger Costumes.

The Eaves Costume Company, founded in 1863, was family-owned and was originally located in lower Manhattan. The company moved to 151 W. 46th Street, centrally located in the Theater District. It advertised itself as "The World's Largest Rental Costumers" and rented to universities, community theatres, secondary schools, churches, etc. Eaves acquired the Brooks-Van Horn Costume Company in 1981. The newly merged collection became known as the Eaves-Brooks Costume Company, Inc., relocating to Long Island City and maintaining a facility on West 26th Street in Manhattan.

Dodger Costumes Ltd. functioned as a lending costume shop supplying many regional revivals, tours, and private individuals with Broadway costumes from 1998 to 2005. Dodger Costumes also functioned as an archive, preserving the costumes and costume bibles from Dodger productions on Broadway, Off-Broadway, and on tour. In 2005 Dodger Costumes was sold to Costume World, Inc. of Deerfield Beach, Florida. The professional association between the Dodgers and Stage Entertainment ended in 2005. Though no longer associated, both companies continue to be among New York’s most active theatrical producing companies.

Scope and arrangement

The Dodger Costume Bibles document the history of theatrical costume design in America from 1969 to 2005, through the costume design records of a prominent theatrical production company and a famous costume company. Productions represented in this collection are those produced by Dodger Theatricals on Broadway and on national tours from 1979 to 2005, as well as shows from the same era whose costumes had been held at the Eaves-Brooks Costume Company, which the Dodgers acquired in 1998.

The costume bibles of which this collection consists are binders containing costume drawings and paintings for every member of the cast of the given show, with notes documenting all changes made to the costume, and usually including fabric and color swatch samples; lists of all the costumes in the show; inventories of measurements of each actor in the production; photographs of the finished costumes, and the actors in them; and costume plots by actor/character. (A costume plot charts each costume change the actor has over the course of the show.)

There are also shoe bibles and hair bibles which plot all the hats and wigs each actor wears, and how the wigs must be styled after each performance. Other items often found are financial documents, such as budgets and invoices, which document the cost of costume materials, and the assembling and maintenance of costumes. Notes and memos discussing the design, fabrication and handling of costume pieces and wigs are also present. Programs and photographs from the show are sometimes included in the costume bible.

General files contain measurement files on actors maintained by the Eaves-Brooks Costume Manufacturing Corporation, a folder of illustrations of military uniforms from various armies and periods; and costume inventory lists from various Dodger shows.

Arrangement

The Dodger Costume bibles are arranged alphabetically by production title. General files are arranged in chronological order.

Administrative information

Source of acquisition

Donated by Dodger Stageholdings in 2005.

Processing information

Compiled by Diana Bertolini, 2013

Related Material

Dodger / Eaves-Brooks Costume Plots, ca. 1947-1965. Billy Rose Theatre Collection, The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts..

Using the collection

Location

Billy Rose Theatre Division
New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, Dorothy and Lewis B. Cullman Center
40 Lincoln Center Plaza, New York, NY 10023-7498
Third Floor

Conditions Governing Use

The author/creator retains copyright of materials. For information on obtaining permission to publish, contact the Theatre Division at theatrediv@nypl.org.