Belasco Floorshow Pieces

 Last Updated: 7/4/2012

At the same auction where my husband and I purchased Frank's dinner corset, we also purchased costumes from the original Broadway production at the Belasco: Frank's floorshow corset, fishnet and yellow sequin gauntlet, and underwear; as well as a red sequin floorshow gauntlet I was told was Brad's. At the same auction, someone else bought Frank's Belasco shoe; I have since acquired it from the original buyer. While these costumes weren't in the film, they look very similar (except for the shoe - shape is similar but it's just covered with glitter) and I presume they'll be of interest.

How We Got Them:
I purchased the costumes at auction from Dori Hartley at the 25th Anniversary on Oct. 13, 2000. Dori was given several of Tim's costume items from the failed Broadway production at the Belasco many years back. (I believe you can read the story in Bill Henkin's "Rocky Horror Picture Show Book.") I purchased the fabric items and another fan, Jeff Mace, purchased Tim's shoe. Three years later, I acquired the shoe from Jeff.

In the provenance letter Dori wrote for us, she writes:
"I received the dinner shirt as a personal gift from the costume designer herself (Sue Blane) after performing at a convention held at Roseland in New York City.....The year before I received a bag containing all the other costumes mentioned from Sal Piro who was a friend of someone who had worked on the Belasco production and had saved the costumes all those years."

So yes, these costumes are NOT FROM THE MOVIE. They are from a 1975 version of the play where Tim played Frank and Sue Blane did the costume design. They are posted here because people have asked to see them and I feel people may find some useful construction tips here. Sue Blane probably used similar techniques for the film items.

These photos are quite large and may take a while to load. I will be posting more...but for now, here is a start.

The Belasco Red Corset (click on photos to enlarge)

Corset interior, laid out flat.
Note the boning lines and how
the panels are assembled


Corset exterior. Yes, there are
four straps; they're just hard
to lay out flat.


Strap: Black shiny knit fabric and red satin serged together, then sewn down the middle onto black elastic (looped at the end to hold garter clip)
One of the back straps: The elastic shows better here. It is sewn directly onto the back of the corset. Red bias tape is sewn along the inside bottom edge.


Center bottom detail - Note the bias tape along the edges of the satin. Most of the eyelets have pulled out; this corset has one or two red eyelets left. 


Detail of lace on the bottom - Note the sequins are glued on (also the colors); many of them have come off. The black lace is sewn onto the body; the red ruffle is sewn on top so the black lace peeks out on top.

Bugle bead detail, Frank's right. 3 long red strands; one short one
1 long and 1 short black strand.
The ruffle is just stitched right on top of the corset.		Bugle bead detail, Frank's left.






The Belasco Yellow Gauntlet
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  • Yellow sequin gauntlet, laid out flat. There is only a little of the black feather trim still attached.
  • Closeup of the feather trim. It appears to have been the type of trim sold on cording.
  • The fingerloop. Made of twisted thread. Note the stitching that shows the sequin patterning on the "right" side of the gauntlet.
  • Buttons. The loop you see is a button loop, with gold metallic thread over a core. It might have been elastic once; it isn't now.
  • Closeup of the button loop.
  • The sequins. Cup sequins in a meandering pattern.
  • Inside elastic detail. I thought this was incredibly cool - there's elastic, fastened in a couple of locations to the inside of the gauntlet, to keep it from sliding down. The people I know in theater sort of sniffed at me and said "of course," so I guess this is fairly common. Note the word "Tim" written on the elastic - yes, this was our boy's.

The Belasco Red and Fishnet Gauntlets

The Belasco Shoe
The Belasco shoe has not aged well; theater is hard on shoes. A friend, Kevin, pointed out that the Roxy shoes have similar criss-cross straps to the ones on the Belasco shoes. It's possible they're the same pair. It's obvious from the first glance that Tim wore different shoes in the film.

  • The Belasco shoe, side view.
  • The Belasco shoe The other side view.
  • The Belasco shoe Back view.
  • Top insole "ND" in stylzed letters can be made out, and some diamonds (over to the right). Note the jury-rigged elastic for quick changes.
  • The Belasco shoe Top view.
  • Mid insole Another view of the diamonds printed on the insole.
  • Top view Another top view without my fingers in it.
  • Toe box, top view Note the stitching along the vamp edge. I'm not sure if this started life as a peep-toe shoe since the edges are rough; it's possible this is just part of the extreme wear visible everywhere on the shoe.
  • Bottom view The front sole has probably been replaced, either due to wear or to give the wearer more traction while dancing, etc. on stage.
  • Side view A three quarters showing the whole shoe.
  • Heel Heel is 5" at highest point.
  • Heel Most high heel connoisseurs measure the height of a heel from its shortest point, so technically, these are 4" heels. With the ~1" platform, they should feel like wearing only 3".
  • Shoe size The shoes are about 8.5" long.
  • More elastic Another closeup of the jury rigged elastic. It takes a strong needle to sew through shoe leather, but it can be done.
  • Closeup of the glitter on the shoe. Layers and layers of glitter. Note the shape; modern glitter is often square.
  • The elastic. Top view of the elastic straps, which look like they've been through a lot.
  • Closeup view, side.
  • Closeup of the elastic and the toe strap. Time has not been kind to this shoe.
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