PATCHING SUCCESSES TOGETHER : EX-KANSAN TOOK TURN WORKING FOR HOLLYWOOD BEFORE CHANGE TO TAILOR.Byline: Victoria Giraud Daily News Columnist The stitches of tailor Jerry Machgan's life form an interesting, colorful pattern. Owner of A Stitch N' Time for the past 18 years, Jerry has had several careers. As a young man, he had a brief acting career. To ensure he had steady work, he learned tailoring and was so successful he worked briefly with Oscar-winning costume designer Edith Head Edith Head (October 28, 1897 – October 24, 1981) was an American costume designer who had a long career in Hollywood that garnered her more Academy Awards than any other woman in history. . Before Jerry opened his own shop in Saugus, ``I wound up running five tailor shops (for Orbach's department stores This is a list of department stores. In the case of department store groups the location of the flagship store is given. This list does not include large specialist stores, which sometimes resemble department stores. ) for 20 years.'' When Jerry was ready to retire, owning his own business prevailed over an offer to run the tailor shops for Saks Fifth Avenue Saks Fifth Avenue is a chain of upscale American department stores that is owned and operated by Saks Fifth Avenue Enterprises (SFAE), a subsidiary of Saks Incorporated. It competes in the elite luxury department store market with Neiman Marcus, Bergdorf Goodman and Barneys New . Jerry began his story in the heart of Middle America Middle America 1 A region of southern North America comprising Mexico, Central America, and sometimes the West Indies. Middle American adj. & n. , growing up in Buhler, Kan., a town of about 1,000 people. The local high school, which drew its students from all the surrounding farm communities, had a good drama department. ``In the beginning, I hated school,'' Jerry reminisced. ``I never knew what I wanted to do. I took drama my junior year. I also liked doing set design and costumes.'' He went on to junior college and took drama, and after a year, the teacher secured him a drama scholarship to the Las Palmas Las Palmas: see Palmas, Las, Spain. Las Palmas or Las Palmas de Gran Canaria Seaport city (pop., 2001: 354,863), northeastern Grand Canary Island, Spain. Theatre in Hollywood. Jerry's first two years in California were successful. He landed a contract with producer Sam Melnick Sam Melnick is the fictional character in the Nickelodeon television series . He is the owner of an ice cream shop called the Candy Bar in Retroville. He is an overweight, bald middled aged man, and usually wears a white shirt with vertical black stripes (possibly in an that paid him $250 a week plus all expenses, and Jerry lived on Melnick's large ranch in Sunland. Recalling those heady years, Jerry described his appearance, with Mickey Rooney, on ``The Stars of Today Meet the Stars of Tomorrow,'' a TV show run by ``Variety'' newspaper columnist Noun 1. newspaper columnist - a columnist who writes for newspapers agony aunt - a newspaper columnist who answers questions and offers advice on personal problems to people who write in columnist, editorialist - a journalist who writes editorials , Jimmy Starr. ``He interviewed up-and-coming actors and filmed the interview in a Cadillac driving down the Hollywood Freeway. The camera was mounted on back of the Cadillac.'' One of his acting roles during these years was playing in ``My Sister Eileen.'' Jerry also was considered an eligible escort and was seen about town on organized dates with up-and-coming star Susan Kohner. ``We would go all over the place. A limo would pick us up, but I don't remember much talking with each other,'' Jerry recalled. ``We spent a lot of time in Dino's on the Sunset Strip.'' When Jerry tired of the film business and needed steady work, he applied at Orbach's tailor shop. Their tailor at the original store on Wilshire Boulevard took a liking to Jerry, and after teaching him what he knew, encouraged Jerry to take some tailoring courses at University of California, Los Angeles UCLA comprises the College of Letters and Science (the primary undergraduate college), seven professional schools, and five professional Health Science schools. Since 2001, UCLA has enrolled over 33,000 total students, and that number is steadily rising. . Working at Orbach's was exciting, Jerry remembered. ``Everybody who was somebody went to Orbach's.'' He did a lot of fitting for Zsa Zsa Gabor - ``We used to see her every day'' - and Marilyn Monroe. Red Skelton came in with his whole family, and Jerry got to know them. In the early 1960s, MGM MGM in full Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Inc. U.S. corporation and film studio. It was formed when the film distributor Marcus Loew, who bought Metro Pictures in 1920, merged it with the Goldwyn production company in 1924 and with Louis B. Mayer Pictures in 1925. shot scenes for a film at Orbach's and Jerry got to work with Head for about six months. ``Edith Head was a neat gal,'' he remembered and added that all her assistants, ``swore I was no more than 15. I used to get teased about it all the time.'' In his own tailor shop, Jerry still does some work with the studios. He's worked for ``Melrose Place'' on men's and women's jackets ``and stuff - nothing fancy.'' Ten years ago, he made a customized blue satin Playboy Bunny costume, including the ears, and more recently made a custom western suit for the Santa Clarita Valley The Santa Clarita Valley is the valley of the Santa Clara River in Southern California. It stretches through Los Angeles County and Ventura County. Its main population center is the city of Santa Clarita. The valley was part of the 48,612-acre (19,672. Boys & Girls Club Auction. It sold for $1,200. ``Tailoring has become a lost art,'' Jerry declares. But his own tastes have changed over the years as well. ``I'm not as particular today as I used to be. I have 30 to 40 custom-made suits in my closet (that he made), but now I'm more comfortable in jeans.'' Although he thinks about retiring and declares he could easily be a ski bum, Jerry says, ``I love doing what I'm doing. I have a nice family, great grandkids (five of them), and I wouldn't trade it for nothing. There's always something different. I love doing things for people.'' CAPTION(S): Photo Photo: (color in SAC edition only) Jerry Machgan, owner of A Stitch in Time
John Lazar/Special to the Daily News |
|
||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion