After graduating high school he moved to California, and
soon found work on a construction crew building movie sets. He was eventually
hired by Western Costume Co. as a costumer, and became an expert on historical
dress and costuming. He left Western Costume and went out on his own, being
hired as a costumer for such films as The Fighting 69th (1940) and Yankee
Doodle Dandy (1942).
His career was interrupted by a hitch in the Army Air Corps
during World War II, where he served as a combat cameraman in the Pacific
Theatre. After his discharge in 1946 he returned to the film business, and the
following year he was hired by Walt Disney as a costumer. He also freelanced as
a costumer on such films as Captain from Castile (1947) and Fort Apache (1948).
In 1955 he was made Chief of the Wardrobe Department at
Disney. Up to that time Disney didn't have a Wardrobe Department, so Keehne had
to set up the entire operation himself. He was assigned to create costumes for
the studio's new children's show, "The Mickey Mouse Club" (1955), and
it was he who came up with the final design for the famous "ears" on
the Mousketeers' caps.
Keehe stayed as head of Disney's Wardrobe Department until
his retirement in 1979, during which time he created and designed costumes for
such Disney series as "Zorro" (1957) and more than 70 feature films.
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