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By: JOHN TAYLOR Omaha World-Herald
Date: 05/16/93
OMAHA, Neb. - Bill and Nancy Kirk led the cheers when an
outpouring of fan support got the television shows "Homefront" and
"Brooklyn Bridge" back on the air after both were on the brink of
extinction.
Their reaction was partly personal but mostly professional. The Kirks,
who are married, watch the dramas, but their Omaha business is
intimately tied to such shows.
Because those programs are set in the recent past - "Homefront" in
the late 1940s and "Brooklyn Bridge" in the 1950s - their characters
obviously need costumes with the look of those decades.
And although "Homefront" has since been canceled, the 6-year-old
Kirk Collection provides the antique fabric that creates the look that
many other television series, films and theater productions demand.
The Kirks buy and sell fabric, as well as antique quilts, from their
shop, a 69-year-old building that was formerly a grocery store and a
catering business.
One of the newest films to make use of their fabric is "This Boy's
Life," set in the 1950s. Other TV shows that have featured Kirk
fabrics include "Thirtysomething" and "Quantum Leap. "
The couple's business is equally divided among costumers and
designers for movies and TV, individuals and companies who make
gift items such as pillows and quilters, Bill Kirk said.
"As far as we know we are the only ones in the country who handle
this much antique fabric," said Kirk, former artistic director of a local
children's theater. "We usually have 4,000 yards of cottons. Now we
have 8,000 to 10,000 yards of wool. "
The Kirks started the business buying and selling old quilts.
"But one day I was at an auction and bought 800 yards of fabric that I
knew was from the 1920s to the 1950s," Kirk said. "I told my wife
that I had done either a very smart thing or a very stupid thing, but I
thought someone would want this. "
As it happens, old fabric is much sought after by movie and TV
costumers, the best of whom often insist that actors wear costumes
made of period fabric to add to the authenticity.
"If you saw a film that, as a period film, had costumes designed with
newer fabric, you would be able to tell the difference," Kirk said.
The Kirks' inventory was increased substantially recently when the
couple acquired a warehouse full of period fabrics from Warner Bros.
They also got 100 boxes of trim ranging from gold bands to rickrack
that was used to sew onto costumes.
"Warner Bros. decided to sell the period fabric collection when a
study showed that it cost more to store than the fabric was worth,"
said Nancy Kirk, former associate director of Omaha's Metropolitan
Arts Council.
The Kirks arranged with Warner Bros. to take the fabric - all 7,500
pounds of it - to Omaha and to sell it on consignment. Included were
bolts of gray, black and brown wools, perfect for the
black-and-white films of the 1940s.
Bill Kirk calls those the "celebrity bolts" because they carry tags that
identify the stars whose costumes were made from the fabric. Written
on the yellowing tags are such names as Henry Fonda, William
Powell, Rock Hudson, Jack Webb, Errol Flynn and Robert Mitchum.
Unfortunately, he said, there is no way to match the star and fabric
with a particular movie. One bolt of black wool already has been
sold. It was used, Kirk said, to make a costume for Audrey Hepburn.
Nancy Kirk said some of the fabric will be acquired by Hollywood
costumers, some will go to theaters around the country,
and some will find its way into clothes and quilts in the region.
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