Paul Abramowitz

As president of Western Costume Co., I would like to take exception to the way our company was portrayed in the article, "Gone With Neglect" by Gaile Robinson on Feb. 23. Robinson is evidently ignorant of the difference between what she refers to as a "rental shop" and one of the great costume houses of the world, which Western has been and will continue to be. We create costumes with some of the finest craftsmen and designers in the industry for...

Paul Abramowitz admits he hasn't slept much lately. As president of Western Costume Co., he's supervising the move of its entire stock of costumes and props--about 3 1/2 million of them--from Hollywood to North Hollywood. The move, expected to take 28 days, started last week. "How do you move all of this and still do business at the same time?"

When America declared war after the Pearl Harbor attack in 1941, the California National Guard was mobilized and called to arms. There was one problem, however: caught without warning, the servicemen had nothing to wear. No cause for alarm. The Western Costume Co. of Hollywood, the vanguard of authentic movie costumes, outfitted the soldiers with uniforms before they set off to guard the state's bridges and other vital installations.

As president of Western Costume Co., I would like to take exception to the way our company was portrayed in the article, "Gone With Neglect" by Gaile Robinson on Feb. 23. Robinson is evidently ignorant of the difference between what she refers to as a "rental shop" and one of the great costume houses of the world, which Western has been and will continue to be. We create costumes with some of the finest craftsmen and designers in the industry for...

Paul Abramowitz admits he hasn't slept much lately. As president of Western Costume Co., he's supervising the move of its entire stock of costumes and props--about 3 1/2 million of them--from Hollywood to North Hollywood. The move, expected to take 28 days, started last week. "How do you move all of this and still do business at the same time?"

Western Costume Co., a Hollywood institution that has supplied costumes to movie makers for 80 years, has been sold by Gulf & Western's Paramount Pictures Corp. to a California holding company, Paramount officials said Tuesday. AHS Trinity bought the historic costume business for an undisclosed amount, said Paul Lestz, president of Paramount's Studio Group. The sale, effective March 1, includes the 1.

Codercard, an Irvine technology firm, has settled a lawsuit filed by best-selling author Sidney Sheldon and two other investors as part of what its chairman characterized as an unsuccessful effort to seize control of the company. The Sheldon suit alleged that Codercard insiders, including company founder and president Robert W. Herman, had issued millions of shares of Codercard stock to themselves in a bid "to control Codercard for their own benefit."

Batman outfits selling for up to $300? Sixty bucks and more just for the rubber mask? Holy price hikes! Welcome to the new era of costume marketing. Now that grown-ups are rediscovering the joys of the Halloween season in a big way, many of those who sell and rent costumes and accessories are zeroing in on upscale adult pocketbooks.

To the casual passerby, there's nothing remarkable about the 120,000-square-foot former printing plant fronting a sun-baked stretch of Vanowen Street in North Hollywood. There's nothing to indicate that, just beyond the double doors, gangsters are earning their stripes, "Mad Men" are being made and entire armies are getting outfitted in a rabbit warren of rooms flanked by a cavernous warehouse crammed with period clothing from multiple eras. Few would guess that, just upstairs, Christopher Plummer's jacket from "The Sound of Music" is rubbing elbows with Vivien Leigh's Walter Plunkett-designed buckboard dress from "Gone With the Wind," not far from a feathered headdress once worn by Cary Grant in "To Catch a Thief.

When America declared war after the Pearl Harbor attack in 1941, the California National Guard was mobilized and called to arms. There was one problem, however: caught without warning, the servicemen had nothing to wear. No cause for alarm. The Western Costume Co. of Hollywood, the vanguard of authentic movie costumes, outfitted the soldiers with uniforms before they set off to guard the state's bridges and other vital installations.

Tonight a slice of vanishing Hollywood history will make its way down a runway at the Beverly Hilton Hotel. Anne Bancroft's leopard-trimmed dress from "The Graduate" will be paired with Carol Baker's leopard-trimmed dress from "The Carpetbaggers." Three period pieces from "Cleopatra," nine from "My Fair Lady" and seven "Lovely to Look At" gowns will join the leopard-spotted duo as will more than 130 other costumes for "Fashion in Film--The Hollywood Years."

The Music Center, which has its own extensive permanent collection of art, is dedicated to fostering the visual as well as the performing arts. That's why Katherine Keck Moses has put together a rather extraordinary collection of more than 40 works--"A Celebration of California Art"--by some of the state's top artists to be sold at an auction at the Mercado Preview Party on June 6 and displayed throughout the Mercado '86 weekend June 7-8.