Maharam Costume Sketches; Maharam, "The House of Service", 107 West 48th St., 6 East Lake St

New York, 1940. Envelope. Very Good. N.d., circa 1940s. 40 color plates, unbound, as issued, promoting the company's line of costumes for chorus girls. Costumes are full of whimsy, and of course, suggestiveness, to complement the fetching figures of chorines, and as befitting chorus line-ups of the day. Costumes are given evocative, and sometimes provocative names, and ones which might not pass muster with more modern notions of correctness: "Hot Stuff", "Musical Comedy", "Aloha", "Miss America", "Coolie", "Oriental", "Little Hollander", etc. etc. One costume is named "Novelty Costume", of all things, as if that term didn't apply to the vast majority of other designs equally. Presumed complete. Leaves, 28 by 21 cm, with envelope slightly larger. No numbering to the plates or leaves. Coloring process is stencil or pochoir. The colors actually are slightly raised off the page, which would suggest color printing was not employed. Captioning lists the garments being modeled and imparts a few words describing of what they are made. Also, under the costume titles are parentheticals in which a type of dance or dancing is suggested as befitting the costume and the imaginary model. The designs speak to forms of entertainment, vaudeville, burlesque, variety, musical cabaret, etc., once ubiquitous and mainstream, now far scarcer, other than in Las Vegas perhaps, and to a species of entertainer, the "showgirl", no longer encountered. The elaborate costumes speak to the importance of fantasy and escape to the chorines' acts. It wasn't just about shapely young women who could shimmy and high kick. The series is scarce -- no institutional holdings of this folio found on OCLC First Search, and two holdings of the company's 1939 catalogue issued in conjunction with the 1939 New York World's Fair, but this earlier publication was both not identical and also a bit smaller, with 36 plates -- this earlier issue held by Penn State and U. of Montreal. Condition: the outer portfolio is in fragile, delicate condition, with chipping and loss by the vertical folds and some unattractive repairs using scotch tape in these areas. The portfolio has additional closed tearing, etc. However, its visual content -- the black and gold collaging of choriines in a wide selection of costumes -- has survived uncompromised.