No commentary today.
No rants about politics and culture.
I am drained.
Here are some random pictures that will, hopefully, enliven a darkling plain.
Friday Photos: Just Photos
Hollywood Mirror
Friday Photos: Just Because the World is Burning…
All across the country protests, riots, and race-baiters doing what they do in order to disrupt civil society.
We don’t know about you, but here at Seraphic Secret we feel the need for some relief from the endless cycle of horrible, terrible, very bad news. We yearn for beauty, for images that, in one way or another, soothe the troubled soul.
We hope these images help carry our readers through the weekend.
[Read more…] about Friday Photos: Just Because the World is Burning…
Friday Fotos: Mirror, Mirror
The business of creating glamour was hard work.
And the Hollywood still photographers employed by the studios did a great deal of the heavy lifting. Thorugh their craft they helped manufacture stars by producing shimmering, glamorous images that hinted at beings who were human gods.
Who has not seen the stunning George Hurrell photo of Jean Harlow in a white silk gown lying atop a white bearskin rug? Harlow glows with an intensity that burns into our collective consciousness.
One of the most interesting poses used by Hollywood photographers was the mirror shot.
We all gaze into the mirror with a mixture of fear and fascination. We prepare our face to meet another face. But Hollywood stars prepared their faces for projection on a giant silver screen to be adored—or rejected—by millions of unseen voyeurs.
The following shots are carefully posed, but the photos are not completely successful as glamorous portraits because quite frequently the stars themselves seem strangely removed from their own reflections.
The photos make us wonder: Do they see what we see, or do they perceive an entirely different image, something hidden, something secret?
Above, Brigitte Bardot doesn’t even confront her double. Not surprising in that BB was deeply conflicted about her beauty. Thus stardom and inner demons nearly destroyed her. She attempted suicide several times, and finally, emotionally exhausted, retired from the screen in 1973, age 49. Ever since she has devoted herself to animal rights. Her only child Nicolas-Jacques Charrier said of the mother who did not raise him: “My mother loves seals and I love a Norwegian.” Nicolas lives in Norway with his wife.
Hollywood Reflections
Hollywood still photographers had a battery of standard poses for their iconic star photography. One of the most durable was the mirror portrait. Almost every female star was, at one time or another, captured studying her reflection in a mirror.
Most of the time the shots were carefully lit and composed. At other times, the stars were caught in an unguarded moment as they prepared their faces to meet the unblinking eye of the camera.
A great actress, an Oscar winner, once said me: “The camera is my enemy. It documents my mortality. I hate that damned monster.”
Let’s take a look at a few stars—and their reflections.
What are they thinking as they study the landscape of their faces?
Lillian Gish prepares for a scene in Hearts of the World, 1918.
The tragic Mary Nolan. Her beauty was ravaged by abusive
men and heroin.
Jean Harlow, a casual and earthy woman, with a portable
make-up case.
The perfect reflection for Carole Lombard, an actress with a
great sense of humor.
Marilyn Monroe did not see beauty. Just a vast architecture
of flaws.
And by the way, the true story of the rescue operation yesterday and the Obama spin is something you should all know about.