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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Photo by Eve Arnold, 1959.
“Alcoholism is an occupational hazard of being an actor, of being a widow, and of being alone. And I’m all three.”
—Joan Crawford

‘Head of A Young Girl’ (early 18th century) by Maurice Quentin de La Tour
Pastel on paper

 

Elsa Martinelli models an ensemble by Givenchy in a photo by Clifford Coffin for Vogue, 1954

 

Master of the Female Half-Lengths (circa 1500–1530)
A lady writing at a desk
oil on panel
Height: 38.5 cm (15.1 in); Width: 25.1 cm (9.8 in)

 

Gail Patrick, b.Margaret LaVelle Fitzpatrick, (1911-1980) specialized in playing the frosty and rigid rival to the leading lady. Her performance in My Favorite Wife opposite Cary Grant and Irene Dunne, is pitch perfect. Whip smart and trained as a lawyer, she was never quite satisfied as an actress and retired from films in 1948. She became a highly successful producer of the Perry Mason series from 1957-1966.

 

Photo by Erwin Blumenfeld, 1950

 

Photo by Luc Kordas

 

“I have never thought of myself as a star. I’m a working lady who tries to be as good as she can at what she does. But “star” is a hokey word. I don’t know what it means. If I’m a star, then the expert upholsterer who does my couch is a star.”
—Doris Day

 

Van Nuys Boulevard, LA, 1972

 

József Rippl-Rónai (Hungary, 1861-1927)
Woman in Pink Dress and Black Collar, 1915
Pastel on paper

 

Myrna Loy photographed by Clarence Sinclair Bull, 1930’s

 

Gene Davis , Queen’s Gate, 1980, Acrylic on canvas, 95 x 124 inches

 

“She was amazingly pleasant and playful like a sister and not at all intimidating as I had imagined her to be. She sat beside me, laughed easily and made small talk, putting me at ease. I was young and did not know how to ask her to pose for the sexy image I hoped to get, but she simplified it all by suggesting she should get into bed with nothing on but white silk. We discussed the details and Marilyn said she wanted Frank Sinatra music and chilled Dom Perignon.“
—Douglas Kirkland, photographer

 

Eleanor Parker and Robert Mitchum in Home From the Hill, 1960
Screenplay by Harriet Frank, Jr., Irving Ravetch
Based on “Home from the Hill” by William Humphrey

 

Glen Lockett
Laurie, Hermosa
1977-78

 

Nola Hatterman
Amsterdam (Netherlands), 1899 – Brokopondo (Surinam), 1984
On the Terrace, 1930
oil on canvas

 

Erwin Blumenfeld
Veiled Face, 1932

 

Paper Cut Omer Calendar for Hevrah Mishnayyot, created by Baruch Zvi Ring in 1904 for his synagogue in Rochester, New York

 

Lielle Meital wishes all our friends and relatives a lovely and meaningful Shabbat.

 

Ed Ruscha, The End

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Comments

  3. “I never realized she played Lombard’s spoiled sister, Cornelia, in My Man Godfrey.”

    I didn’t realize that. That is one of my favorite movies. I have it on DVD and watch it from time to time. The father was Friar Tuck in Robin Hood.

    • Gene Pallette is the actor and, yes, he played Friar Tuck in Robin Hood. He also played the friar, Fray Felipe, in The Mask of Zorro as well. A talented actor with a bullfrog voice.

  4. The Glen Lockett photo reminds me of the Jan and Dean song “Sidewalk Surfing” where the words “Bust your buns” are a constant refrain.

    When that came out everyone I know broke something – usually the wrist – and one time or another.

    The wheels would hit the smallest pebble and lock up.

    They improved the wheel material now so they just roll over.

    This younger generation, all spoiled 😉

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jJJFuJFi0bQ

    Love the Doris Day Quote. AFAIK she lives the quiet life in Carmel, just south of Monterey. I suspect she is a very approachable person.

  5. Crawford’s observation is pitch perfect. Just brilliant. The Doris Day quote makes no sense. A star is bankable, and her upholsterer is probably not.

  6. Some very interesting topics this week (as always).

    I knew of Gail Patrick Jackson from the Perry Mason series and had read a little bit about her success as a female Producer in male-dominated Hollywood, but I never realized she played Lombard’s spoiled sister, Cornelia, in My Man Godfrey.

    Nola Hatterman’s On The Terrace is an interesting piece. She painted in the “New Objectivity” style where the objects in the painting tell some back-story about the central character. In this case, the model was Jimmy van der Lak, a boxer who fought under the name Jimmy Lucky. In the painting, his fist is closed suggesting his profession. He was also a bartender and an actor/model — note the beer and the newspaper open to an ad for the ROXY in which he appeared. I especially like the distortion of the tablecloth in the beer mug. I’m not sure why, but it caught my eye immediately — it doesn’t *quite* look realistic to me. 🙂

    Doris Day and Marilyn Monroe — two undeniably beautiful women, but neither seemed comfortable/happy in the “role” they were cast. Marilyn was the stereotypical Blonde Bombshell (or perhaps, “dumb blonde” or “sex symbol”) and Doris was the saintly, yet sexy, girl-next-door type.

    Myrna Loy — another photo I don’t recall seeing previously. Well done, Robert.

    The Van Nuys Blvd photo reminds me of an old commercial (for Nair, I think) in which the jingle asked “who wears short shorts?”

    The Glen Lockett photo is interesting as well. I’m not quite certain if the subject is doing a skateboard trick, or doing a back-flip! Regardless, it certainly is an interesting, and well-timed, photo!

    Your granddaughter, Lielle Meital, is very photogenic (as are all of your grandchildren). I hope 50 years from now, her grandchildren look at that photo and say “look how adorable you were grandma!!”

    Have a wonderful Shabbat.

    • I remember that Nair commercial also. It has been years, but I can still hear the jingle. I am too young to remember Marilyn, but no Doris. Born in 1960, so I was towards the end of the Vietnam war when I got old enough to understand what was going on. Sadly, at the time I was a gung ho supporter of America, no matter what. Never thought that our leaders would lie to us. Now of course, we know better. It is a good thing that Vietnam was done before I got out of high school, or I would have volunteered to go, and probably not have come back.
      As always, Robert, you always find fantastic photos to post here. My prayers for your family, that you will have a wonderful spring and summer.

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