Lazlo Philip Czettel

Born Lazlo Fulop Donath (1895) but was officially adopted by his widowed mother's second husband and became Ladislav Czettel. He matured into a famed designer of women's clothing and theatrical costumes. Many internet sources incorrectly give him a birth year of 1904.

Ladislav Peter Czettel (actually Ladislav Philip Czettel) was the adopted son of Odon Czettel. He was a Hungarian Jew, born in Budapest on 12 March 1895. Vain and effeminate, he gave many the impression his birth year was 1904. He was recorded obtaining a pass to cross the western border of Austria at Feldkirsch during WW1, was listed as a clothing supplier in Vienna, and became a German émigré who entered the USA from London in 1938. His half-brother (Imre Emerich Czettel an actor) was killed in Blsen and he committed suicide in New York in 1949.

He worked as a costume designer for the German film industry and the Follies Bergères, and became the head costume designer at the Vienna Opera House.

As, ‘Czettel of Vienna’ in 1939 he emigrated to America and his arrival in New York was announced by an exhibition of his opera costume designs (reported in New York Times, 2nd November 1939). In tandem with designing costumes for the American film industry (Pygmalion) and numerous Broadway shows, he became renowned as a dress designer for the stars. Immediately after WW2 he began producing clothing designs for large retail outlets. These days, his original drawings for clothing and theatrical costumes are highly collectible..

Films and plays on which he worked Einbrecher (1930) aka Burglars (English title) aka Der Einbrecher (Germany) aka Murder for Sale (USA) Tagebuch der Geliebten (1935) aka Affairs of Maupassant (USA) aka Maria Baschkirtzeff (Austria) Diario di una donna amata, Il (1935) aka Affairs of Maupassant (USA) Pygmalion (1938) (as Professor L. Czettel) aka Bernard Shaw's Pygmalion (UK: complete title) Rosalinda (1942-1944) [Original, Musical, Operetta] Costume Design by Ladislas Czettel Helen Goes to Troy (1944) Play Costume Design by Ladislas Czettel La Vie Parisienne (1945) Revival, Musical, Comedy, Opera Costume Design by Ladislas Czettel

USA Report mentioning his dress designs

      “Marian Anderson's triumphant return to the New York stage on 30 December 1935—specifically to the Town Hall, the site of her first New York concert, was complicated by an accident that occurred during her Atlantic crossing on the Ile de France. She broke a bone in her leg, but insisted the scheduled performance should not be cancelled. She was carried on stage before the curtain rose wearing this white satin gown designed by Ladislas Czettel in Vienna.”

In her AUTOBIOGRAPHY, MARIAN ANDERSON added: “I realized that it would be wise to have dresses that would not be seen on someone else. A Philadelphia shop, no matter what it advertised, could not make just one dress of any design. The solution was a designer.

“Madam Cahier introduced me to Ladislas Czettel in Vienna. He had told her that he wished to design some dresses for me, and I went to his studio. He had three sketches ready and I ordered the first. This dress was white satin. Its only decoration was a long panel on the left side, which could be thrown over the shoulder where it hung to the floor and formed a suggestion of a train. The panel could also be draped around the arms and shoulders, and it could be worn as a collar. I wore that dress at every opportunity. Only a year ago someone asked me what had happened to it. Naturally I still have it. I can't get into it any longer, and I doubt that I ever shall, but I would not give it away. It represents too much to me. That one dress cost seventy-five dollars. When Mr. Czettel came to the United States later, his prices went up, as they should have, for in Europe the poor man never charged enough to make his business sufficiently profitable. In time his dresses came to three hundred and fifty dollars. The gown I wore in the New York concert in 1935 was designed by him.”

His apartment
http://digi.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/diglit/kende1937_10_28/0001?sid=f1...