R.I.P. Playboy Club

One of the most stylish shows of the fall season fell victim to low numbers and a certain special interest group after three episodes this past week.

Sadly, many of you never got to see the incredible sets of NBC's The Playboy Club (replicated to a bunny's ear on location in Chicago) and the sixties modern apartment interiors designed by production designer Scott Murphy, art director Gary Baugh and set decorators Beauchamp Fontaine and Tricia Schneider. I was working with one of the shelter publications on a set design story (which will not come to pass) and happy to share this incredible work with you.

Murphy used to work for architects Frank Gehry and Richard Meier prior to his career as a production designer and it shows -- his work on The Sopranos earned him three Emmy nominations for art direction. The Playboy Club featured two story sets complete with cocktail lounges, dance floor, pool tables, restaurant and of course, the trademark bunny logo. I feel certain this show would have garnered him a fourth nomination.

While the sets certainly have the sixties vibe, many of these interiors work today. If you want to create your own retro interiors, look for the usual suspects -- designs by Eero Saarinen, Knoll and Herman Miller along with Tulip and Eames chairs -- real or knock off. And of course a place to mix the requisite cocktail.

Enjoy the time travel and R.I.P. Playboy Club.

Modified sunken living room was the epitome of chic
and no room at that time was complete without the requisite bar

Alternate view. Note the oversize table lamp
and ceiling fixture that gives a nod
to Achille Castiglioni's Arco Lamp

Shades of olive and creme for the walls and low-level tufted modular furniture

Chrome and glass for the dining room
with color block venetian dividers

Nothing says sixties like Avocado Green appliances

This kitchen design scheme works for today as well

Love the faux wood screen behind the bed and corner tufted box style upholstered chair

Speaking of the sixties (and for those of you who love Mad Men), be sure to catch my article in Array Magazine on the show's star Bryan Batt who played art director Salvatore Romano. Batt is a true Renaissance man - actor, author, shop owner and designer. His new book big easy Style: Creating Rooms You Love to Live In (Clarkson Potter) hits the bookstores this month. Below are a few of the enticing rooms featured in the book.

Photo Credits: NBC, Array, Clarkson Potter

The Perfect Cocktail: The Marriage of The Banana and Mad Men

Coming soon to a mall near you will be the sixties style fashions from AMC's popular hit series Mad Men. Emmy winning costume designer Jane Bryant teamed with the venerable retail chain to design a 65 item collection that includes everything from suits and dresses to men's hats and a leopard coat. I have always loved the tailored classics of the sixties and for those of us who love nostalgia, great lines and retro fashions, it's a closet godsend.

The collection sprung out of a friendship with Banana creative director Simon Keene and Bryant who clearly appreciate the intrinsic value of a good white shirt. And it's all here -- the two button men's suit, trench coats, high waisted skirts and leopard print pumps just to name a few. Items will range from 198.00 for a faux leopard coat to 450.00 for a men's suit. Information on the collection is  available on Facebook  and the AMC website and for those of you on Gilt Groupe, the fashions will also be offered here on Monday, July 25th for 36 hours beginning at noon - a full three weeks before the fashions hit the stores.

This is not the first time Mad Men mania has influenced styles -- Brooks Brothers designed a men's suit last year and Nailtini teamed with Bryant to come up with nail polish colors such as the Garden Party Collection below.

Throw on a cluster of pearls and leather gloves and you too can channel your inner Betty or Joan. Toss on a crisp white shirt and a trilby hat for a Sterling Cooper/Don Draper look when the collection hits stores August 10th.

Thankfully we have the Banana to remind us of all things Madison Avenue sixties as  Season Five series will not resume until 2012. Until then, get your fix with some Doris Day/Rock Hudson movies and Dean Martin television show reruns.

And speaking of Mad Men, stay tuned for my interview/Array Magazine cover story with the show's Bryan Batt (who played Salvatore Romano, closeted art director) and his upcoming design book big, Easy Style (Clarkson Potter, October, 2011). He is thoroughly charming, entertaining and very multi-talented and if you haven't read it, I highly recommend his first book/loving and hilarious tribute to his late mother, She Ain't Heavy, She's My Mother as well as his New Orleans store Hazelnut. I just hope the powers that be at Mad Men (are you listening Matt Weiner?) bring him back on the show next year. As Batt noted, "Well Matt says my character is not dead" which is always a good sign.

Photo Credits: Banana Republic, Clarkson Potter

Designing Actor and Author

His mother Gayle  knows him as a wonderful and beloved son who shared her story (and brought her cancer struggle to life) in a "momoir," the residents of his hometown New Orleans value him as a supportive store owner who continually gives back to their unfairly battered city and fans of AMC's enormously popular Mad Men love him as Salvatore Romano, the former Art Director of Sterling Cooper.

I chatted with actor, designer and author Bryan Batt this past Friday afternoon (who is enormously engaging and bordering on the point of wickedly witty I might add) about his recent book, his departure from Mad Men and his designing pursuits.

Bryan recently published a chronicle of his life growing up in New Orleans and his strong-willed straight-out-of-Steel-Magnolia mom Gayle who is battling cancer for the fourth time at the age of 70. The book She Ain't Heavy, She's My Mother (Harmony Books) is quite the entertaining read, particularly for those of us that grew up and/or live in the South and/or have supportive mothers. Apparently Bryan told so many of his mother's amusing anecdotes that it prompted a friend to warn him "if you don't write these down, I will" and a book was born. Part loving tribute/part memoir and many times part hilarity, Bryan talks of his life growing up gay in the Deep South (first hint, he asked for an Easy Bake Oven at an early age, second, he was into musical comedies) and showbiz as he shares tales of acting in Hollywood. The book has a somber yet hopeful tone as he details his mother's struggles with cancer which she faces now for the fourth time. Gayle is currently on protocol drugs and hopefully, it's a battle she will continue to win.

Bryan's character in Mad Men was a closeted art director who was outed and fired (after all, it was the sixties) this past season.  His performance as the talented yet tortured Sal was heart wrenching to watch -- and brilliant -- I only hope the Emmy voters take note and writers decide to bring him back for another season. Fans can also see him in the upcoming indie film Brawler and the comedy Sam, directed by none other than Mel Brooks son. He has a one-man play coming up called Batt on a Hot Tin Roof. He also starred in Broadway's Starlight Express (his mom threw him a "coming out party" at the Russian Tea Room) along with Cats, Sunset Boulevard, La Cage and Seussical just to name a few. And he's even be immortalized on the wall via characterture at Sardi's.

His talents don't rest with writing and acting as he is also adds accomplished interior designer to his resume. Bryan has designed homes in New York, Los Angeles and New Orleans (he resides in all three cities) and his design mantra is simply "If it looks right, it is." When pressed for some design pearls of wisdom he offers "don't be afraid of color, what has it ever done to you" and his look is eclectic as he believes in designing with "a great mix, like a martini shaken and stirred." Bryan's Magazine Street shop Hazelnut (co-owned with his longtime partner of Tom Cianfichi) is a design and gift shop that offers everything from Vietri tableware to frames, candles and pottery.

Of particular interest is his line of fabrics that pay homage to his native city and drawn by artist Sonia O'Mara based on his own original sketches - Toile (Delphine, Magnolia, Claret and Cafe au' Lait) and a Lily Pulitzer inspired Pontchartrain Beach. The fabrics can be found in everything from duvet covers and shower curtains to ice buckets and lacquered trays. And yes, the fabrics can be purchased by the yard. A portion of the proceeds from the fabrics and bedding lines will go to victims of the Gulf oil spill. He is also working on a book "Mad About Design" to be published by Clarkson Potter next year.

You can read more on my interview with Bryan and his book later this week on The Huffington Post (check the book section in the next several days). He is clearly someone who you'd love to sit down with several cocktails and endlessly chat and since that is not possible, his book is the next best thing. Here's hoping we see more of his talents on Broadway and the small and silver screen as well...and on the cast of this season's Mad Men as I don't like change and prefer to see the old Sterling Cooper gang intact. Fingers crossed!

Photos courtesy of Harmony Books, www.Bryan Batt.com, Hazelnut.

*****************************************************

While this may not be Cinema Style, it's somewhat movie related. I wanted to share with you my friend Amanda Soll  new line of home accessories called Ribbon Made (her labor of love when she is not promoting movies at Warner Brothers). A great source for everything from wedding to children's gifts and in between, items can be purchased through her Ribbon-Made site on Etsy. Her work can be custom and I especially like her trays -- course I have been mad for anything out of grosgrain ribbon since grammar school! Congrats Amanda!

Ribbon Cocktail Tray

Damask Bin

Letters for Children's Rooms