Costume design inscribed “Helene,” showing an elegantly dressed woman in a green Victorian dress with an elaborate hat.

Signed and inscribed left margin:  “For Ruth Preston with deepest appreciation.”

Freddy Wittop was born Federico Rey in Holland and raised in Paris. When he was eleven years old, he began his career as a costume designer for the Brussels Opera. Later he worked for the Folies Bergere in Paris. He immigrated to the United States in 1942 and designed costumes for the French Casino in New York City, and was a professional dancer as well.  After World War II, he became one of the leading Broadway costume designers, his credits including George Bernard Shaw's Heartbreak House, Holiday on Ice, Carnival, Subways are for Sleeping, The Roar of the Greasepaint, The Smell of the Crowd, Bajour, and, most notably, Hello Dolly! for which he won the Tony Award for Costume Design.   He was nominated six times for the Tony for his designs.

The largest collection of Wittop’s works belongs to the Hargrett Rare Book and Manuscript Library at the University of Georgia, comprising a collection of 27 of his scrapbooks with sketches, photographs, and personal memorabilia from 1927 to 1988.

References:

“Freddy Wittop.” Internet Broadway Database.  2001-2004.  http://www.ibdb.com/person.asp?ID=24874 (11 May 2005).

“Freddy Wittop and Dear World.”Hargrett Rare Book and Manuscript Library.  20 September 2001.  http://www.libs.uga.edu/hargrett/pexhibit/wittop.html (31 July 2003).