Capitol Hill Mourns The Passing Of The Costume Lady
CAPITOL HILL MOURNS THE PASSING OF THE COSTUME LADY -- (Extensions of Remarks - December 05, 2006)
* Ms. NORTON. Mr. Speaker, I rise to pay tribute to Lola Beaver, a longtime Capitol Hill resident who owned and operated The Costume Shop for 34 years after an equally long and successful career as a dancer, choreographer and dance instructor. She died at home in her sleep on Tuesday, November 28. When she died at 96, Lola's sharp wit, sparkling intelligence and high-spirited spunk had not deserted the woman whose loyalty and love were treasured by countless friends, customers and neighbors.
* Born Luola (Lola) Murchison Hurkamp in Fredricksburg, Virginia, on July 5, 1910, she moved to the Washington area after her mother committed suicide when Lola was four years old. After five long years as a boarding student at the National Cathedral School, she graduated in 1929, came into her inheritance and promptly hopped on a Holland American liner headed for Europe. At summer's end, she returned to the States and arrived in New York City in a Chevrolet roadster that boasted a rumble seat and an item she had picked up in a Paris flea market and screwed onto the outside of her car: a French horn.
* The 1929 stock market crash forced Lola, a student at NYC's Grand Central Art School, to earn a living as a dime-a-dance girl. She met and married a struggling actor, Andy Beaver, who was sharing an apartment with Henry Fonda and Burgess Meredith. When her husband joined the Marine Corps, the couple moved to Washington, DC. After twin boys died within two months of their birth, Lola opened the Lola Beaver Dance School in downtown Washington.
* While her husband was fighting overseas, she performed for the troops at Washington's Stage Door Canteen and with the USO, traveling from the Caribbean to the Arctic with dancers from her school. A White House request that Lola create handmade bow ties to match President Lyndon Johnson's navy blue tuxedo marked her career move into costume design and rental. She moved to Capitol Hill in 1972 and converted a dry cleaning shop at the corner of 8th and A streets NE into The Costume Shop. ``I liked Capitol Hill,'' she told an oral historian. ``It had a nice small-town atmosphere. The people on the Hill are people you wouldn't mind knowing.'' Donna Brazile, my former chief of staff, moved across the street from Lola about 10 years ago. They became fast friends, and Lola knew that Donna was a friend to have. Donna virtually adopted Lola, cooking for her and nurturing Lola with friendship until the end.
* Along with the city's most prestigious live theaters and Halloween revelers of all ages, members of Congress and burlesque queens, Lola's customers included every president from Johnson to Bill Clinton. During the height of the Watergate scandal, the lifelong Democrat took particular glee in outfitting then Indiana Sen. Birch Bayh as a burglar and his wife as a bug for Halloween. The ever-slim beauty with a thick mane of white hair never hesitated to render her opinion on a customer's choice of costume or actual weight. ``You're too fat for that dress'' or ``You should be a pirate/princess/clown--you look like one'' were the price of rental at The Costume Shop. Regarding the elegant turn-of-the century cutaway Bill Clinton rented, Lola recalled, ``He was bigger than I thought he was. He must've worn a corset when he had his picture taken.''
* It was considered a high honor to be invited to join Lola, a grandmother figure for countless Hill residents, children and adults alike, for a bourbon-soaked ``teatime'' that lasted until the wee hours of the morning. Many a glass of Jim Beam will be raised in her honor at a luncheon that will immediately follow a memorial service to be held December 9 at Christ Church, noon, 620 G St., SE.
* In lieu of flowers, Lola, a lifelong animal lover, asked that contributions be made in her name to the Washington Humane Society (washhumane.org) and The Elephant Sanctuary (elephants.com).
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