Costume World Inc. of Deerfield Beach, Fla., has acquired the nearly half-million-item costume inventory of New York's Dodger Costumes.
Costume World has moved the collection to its theatrical center near Fort Lauderdale, Fla., according to John Capobianco III, the company's Internet marketing manager. Combined with its present inventory of 600,000 items, the Florida firm's collection now totals over 1 million rental costumes. Capobianco said the monetary value for the combined inventory stands at over $1.2 million.
The New York company's inventory includes the wardrobes from Dodger Theatricals' Broadway productions of "Dracula: The Musical," "How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying," "Titanic," and "Once Upon a Mattress."
Dodger Costumes began in 1863 as the Eaves Costume Company, located on East 12th Street in Manhattan. In 1981, Eaves acquired the Brooks-Van Horn Costume Company and was renamed the Eaves-Brooks Costume Company. It relocated to an 11,000 square-foot, six-story building next to what is now Silvercup Studios in Long Island City. In 1998, Dodger Theatricals, a New York-based producing company, and Amsterdam's Stage Holding acquired Eaves-Brooks and changed its name to Dodger Costumes.
But in late February of this year, Dodger Costumes shut down, with the owners saying in a Feb. 28 press statement that they were "working to pass on the business and its inventory to another management."
With its corporate headquarters in Deerfield Beach, Costume World also has rental centers in Dallas and Pittsburgh. Marilynn A. Wick is the company's owner and president. According to Florida Department of State records, other officers of the company are Kimberly A. Wick and Kelly J. Wick.
On its website, www.costumeworld.com, the company says that it also maintains an archive of costume plots and research materials -- with 20 plots available online -- and offers construction services.