Andrea King as Lillian Russell in “My Wild Irish Rose.” Warner Bros., 1947.
Andrea King was pleased and proud to portray Lillian Russell, the legendary early-1900s Broadway star with the “hour glass figure,” in the Warner Bros. 1947 Technicolor musical “My Wild Irish Rose.” Aside from singing and dancing in the picture, and working opposite Dennis Morgan again, Andrea adored the costumes and jewelry. Miss Russell had been famous for, among other things, her courtship with the notorious Diamond Jim Brady, and Warners saw to it that she reflected that little bit of history. Andrea was dripping with diamonds in her scenes—and some of these jewels were real! As part of a publicity agreement with Van Cleef & Arpel’s, those costly gems were on loan during her weeks in front of the camera, and there were two armed guards present at all times on the set. The rest were supplied by Joseff of Hollywood, and several items have come up for auction in recent years, including a rather large brooch worn by Andrea in this film.
To achieve Lillian Russell’s much-ballyhooed “hourglass figure,” Andrea’s costumes had to be padded, primarily below the waistline, to fill her out in all the appropriate places. The extra padding, along with the weight of the layered costumes and the hot Technicolor lighting made filming at times very difficult. She got through it like a trooper however.
Publicity photo of Andrea King, stepping on the scales to demonstrate the weight of her costume as Lillian Russell in “My Wild Irish Rose.” Warner Bros., 1947.
One interesting point of note: the nice woman playing Lillian Russell’s maid Della in several scenes was none other than Ruby Dandridge, the real-life mother of film star Dorothy Dandridge (“Carmen Jones”).