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Ava Gardner Museum to get Reynolds Costumes

The Ava Gardner Museum in Smithfield, North Carolina has just received five costumes and accessories from the Debbie Reynolds` Hollywood Motion Picture Museum. The costumes are from MGM`s 1951 production of `Show Boat`. Ava Gardner, Howard Keel, Kathryn Grayson and the dance team of Marge and Gower Champion wore these costumes on the show, and are the centerpiece of an exhibit that was unveiled at the Ava Gardner Festival held October 1st. The successful festival included free Ava Gardner movies at the historic Howell Theatre, where a young Ava Gardner watched her first movies starring legends such as Clark Gable, an art fair, live jazz, and tours of Gardner`s birthplace and gravesite.

`If it were not for the efforts of Debbie Reynolds and her son Todd Fisher to purchase and preserve this huge collection of motion picture memorabilia it would otherwise be lost to future generations,` said Angela Lawson, Executive Director of the Ava Gardner Museum. `We hope to continue to work with Ms. Reynolds to showcase other motion picture artifacts pertaining to Ava Gardner and her co-stars.`

The `Show Boat` costumes are exquisite examples of the tailoring and dressmaker`s arts from MGM`s famed costume department. Designer Walter Plunkett, who is best known for his costumes for `Gone with the Wind` and `Singin` in the Rain`, also had his costumes displayed.