Brigid Murphy’s handbag–big and structured, made of attractively worn black leather and sporting red handles–is not by Marc Jacobs, Chloe, or any other must-have designer, but everyone seems to think it is. “If I go in a fancy store, they think it’s Prada,” she says. In fact it’s Sears Roebuck, an old bowling bag that belonged to her now-deceased father-in-law. When she kept getting stopped by people demanding to know where she got it, a friend suggested last fall that she start refurbishing and selling them. A few months later Murphy’s basement was full of old bowling bags, which she got from thrift stores, eBay, and people who’d heard about her venture. Once Murphy started cleaning and relining them, Brigid’s Bags was born.
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Murphy’s ideas usually have to do with art, not commerce. Since the debut of Milly’s Orchid Show 19 years ago she’s become legendary as its host, the wisecracking wannabe country star Milly May Smithy. She teaches screenwriting at Columbia College and performance on her own, and this Saturday she’s being honored by Live Bait Theater for her contributions to solo performance. She’s also working on several new projects, including a play about her bout with non-Hodgkins lymphoma in the mid-90s and a Harry Nilsson tribute at the Old Town School of Folk Music in October.
Some people suggested reproducing her original bag. “That would be a more conventional, more lucrative way to go,” says Murphy. “‘Let’s just go someplace and reproduce these bags and patina them.’” But one reason she had the idea in the first place was that she wanted to recycle the old bags in people’s garages and basements. She also likes the one-of-a-kind nature of these vintage items. “By the time these bags get to me, the people who owned them may be gone,” she says, pointing out her father-in-law’s name tag and another on a white vinyl bag that shows it once belonged to an Irma in Cleveland. Murphy always leaves such personal touches intact. “I like that these actually hung out in bowling alleys and they’re being rediscovered,” she says. “I love knowing who gets them.”
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