[2] She was born in 1880 in New York City, the daughter of Rebecca (Goldsmith) and Joseph Frankau, an actor.

Joseph was a cousin of London cigar importer Arthur Frankau and thus, by marriage, of novelist and art historian Frank Danby, whom Aline recalled visiting as a child when Joseph Frankau was performing in London.

[5] Bernstein was a theater set and costume designer for the Neighborhood Playhouse on the Lower East Side, volunteering her work to make her name.

The book included a series of three stories in which three very different men wear the same blue serge suit.

In contrast, the blue suit stories reveal Bernstein's ability to discern how critical details of costume evoke, and interact with, a character, and ultimately her skill as a costume designer at making this happen effectively.

[8][5] Although that production of Regina (it would be regularly revived in the 20th century) ran for only a month and a half, Bernstein won a Tony for her costume design in 1950.

One of Wolfe's last phone calls, when he was dying of a brain tumor at age 37, was to tell Bernstein he loved her.