Seraphic Secret

Robert J. Avrech: Emmy Award winning screenwriter. Religious Zionist. Republican. Movie fanatic. Gun owner. Helplessly and hopelessly in love with my wife since age nine.

Friday Photos: True Hollywood Confessions

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“Too many divorces for so small a town. But then you mustn’t forget that Hollywood is a hard place to be happy unless you’re so absorbed in your work that you haven’t time to get into mischief. I do believe what I say when I tell you that no married person should leave husband or wife alone in Hollywood. There’s too much temptation. Think of all the charming, intelligent people out there.”
– Dolores del Rio

Jules Olitski
Cleopatra Flesh
1962
Synthetic polymer paint on canvas
8′ 8″ x 7′ 6″ (264.2 x 228.3 cm)
MOMA

 

Richard Avedon
John Ford, film director, Bel Air, California
April 11, 1972

 


Pieter de Hooch (1629–after 1684) 
Title Interior with Women beside a Linen Chest 
1663
oil on canvas
Height: 70 cm (27.6 in). Width: 75.5 cm (29.7 in).

 

Dorothea Lange
Cable Car, San Francisco, 1956

 

Arthur Szyk
The Four Sons,’ 1934, from The Passover Haggadah.
Robbins Family Collection, Palo Alto, California

 

Bette Davis with her Bette Davis doll at the Film Advisory Board Dinner, April 3, 1982 at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills, California

 

Greta Garbo by Ruth Harriet Louise, 1925
“I’m a rather unreliable human being. As a traveling companion I don’t recommend myself —I’m too much of a menace. I’m not much company because when the evening descends I usually disappear. I wouldn’t have breakfast with you, either. Lunch and the whole day, but no morning and no evening. If you think you’re going to have company all day I may as well tell you now, you’re not. You’d be saying, “Hell, what do I do all day by myself?” So I don’t recommend myself. It’s not too good to go with maniacs.”
—Greta Garbo

 

James Nares
Untitled
2004
Oil on paper
59 1/2 x 45″ (151.1 x 114.3 cm)
MOMA

 

Richard Avedon
Brigitte Bardot
January 1959

 

Pieter de Hooch
The Bedroom
1658-1660
51 cm × 60 cm (20 in × 24 in)
Location National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.

 

Richard Avedon
Sunny Harnett in Paris, 1954.

 

Arthur Szyk (1894−1951). My People. Samson in the Ghetto, (The Battle of the Warsaw Ghetto), 1945 Watercolor, gouache, ink, and graphite on paper. Taube Family Arthur Szyk Collection, Magnes Collection of Jewish Art and Life, University of California, Berkeley

 

Delahaye type 165, 1938

 

Alfred Hitchcock frames Ingrid Bergman on the set of Spellbound, 1945.
“I have always thought I will go on acting and acting and acting because I belong to these people of the theatre and the movies and the make-believe world we create… After all, they always need an old witch in some production or other, especially around Christmas time. So at the end of my life, I’ll be ready and there.”
—Ingrid Bergman

 

Milton Avery
Sea Grasses and Blue Sea
1958
Oil on canvas
60 1/8″ x 6′ 3/8″ (152.7 x 183.7 cm)
MOMA

 

Rick McGinnis
Montreal, Sept. 2017

 

Pieter de Hooch
A Woman with a Child in a Pantry
1658
65 cm × 60.5 cm (26 in × 23.8 in)
Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam

 

Alternative movie poster for The Godfather by Marie Bergeron.

 

Tatsuya Tanaka
“Slanting Rain”
From the Miniature Calendar series

 

Richard Avedon, Dovima in an Evening Gown by Cristobal Balenciage, Harper’s Bazaar, UK, 1950

 

 

Arthur Szyk
Arsenal of Democracy,’ also known as ‘Democracy at Work,’ 1942.
Property of a Private Collector, New York.

 

Lauren Bacall for Royal Crown Cola, 1946.

 

Karen and I reflect upon our reflection in this outdoor sculpture in Jerusalem, October 2017.

 

Livia Yarden wishes all our friends and relatives a lovely and inspirational Shabbat.

 

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Comments

  2. My former shul in NJ had a full Arthur Szyk calendar made for 5778. I have selected a couple of the pieces to frame for my walls. Very distinctive style.

  4. “Too many divorces for so small a town. But then you mustn’t forget that Hollywood is a hard place to be happy unless you’re so absorbed in your work that you haven’t time to get into mischief. I do believe what I say when I tell you that no married person should leave husband or wife alone in Hollywood. There’s too much temptation. Think of all the charming, intelligent people out there.”
    – Dolores del Rio

    Not to mention lecherous studio heads.

    BTW Robert – I like to watch old Johnny Carson shows (is there any other kind?) and a fascinating one was with Elizabeth Taylor, just a few weeks before his show ended in 1992. She learned at an early age with Louis B Mayer that she was a commodity and not a person.

    Starts at 13:15

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mHgaRSegbK0&t=84s

    • Bill, of course she was a commodity as were her colleagues. An actor who is not works in Indianapolis. The big bucks are her compensation, and a pretty fair trade off.

  6. Robert, I found myself looking at that photograph of a stunning Ingrid Bergman, and it occurred to me to ask: What’s your favorite Hollywood film that deliberately picked very ordinary-looking actors for its lead roles?

    • Peter de Hooch was a popular painter of domestic scenes. He has often been compared to Vermeer, but he does not come close to Vermeer’s genius with color and he lacks the transcendent mystery that elevates Vermeer to the pantheon of one of the greatest artists who ever lived. Have a great weekend. It’s good to be home.

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