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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“There’s a fine line between acting and not acting at all. And not acting is what a lot of actors are guilty of. It amazes me how some of these little numbers with dreamy looks and dead pan are getting by with it. I’ve seen a couple of them – I won’t mention names – with Oscars in their hands. I’d hate to see them on stage with a dog act.”
– Joan Blondell (1906-1979)

William Merritt Chase (American, 1849-1916)
Spring Flowers (Peonies) (1889)
Pastel on paper, prepared with a tan ground, and wrapped with canvas around a wooden strainer 48 x 48 in.

 

Bettina Graziani at the Place de la Concorde, 1953, photo by Jean Philippe Charbonnier
Bettina Graziani, along with Dovima, was one of the first “supermodels”. Bettina was not her birth name. Her parents named her Simone. Designer Jacques Fath said: “We already have a Simone. You look to me like a Bettina.”

 

Cary Grant and Eva Marie Saint in North by Northwest, 1959
Screenplay by Ernest Lehman

 

Irving Penn
Collapse, 1980

 

The MB&F Grant Robot Clock will set you back about $22,900. Visit MB&F here.

 

“The sadness of our existence should not leave us blunted, on the contrary—how to remain thin-skinned, vulnerable, and still alive.”
—Montgomery Clift (1920-1966)

 

William Merritt Chase, Portrait of Dora Wheeler (1882-1883) oil on canvas, 62 7/8 x 65 1/2 in. Cleveland Museum of Art

 

Myrna Loy, 1940s

 

Jean Simmons, 1950s

 

A dress fitting at the fashion house of the Sorelle Fontana in Rome, 1953.
The Fontanas were three Italian sisters and designers: Zoe, Micol and Giovanna. They set up their atelier in Rome in the Via Liguria in 1943. Six years later Linda Christian selected one of their dresses for her wedding to Tyrone Power in Rome, 1949. After that the sisters were asked to design outfits for Ava Gardner, Grace Kelly, Elizabeth Taylor and scores of other Hollywood and European stars.

 

1935 Bugatti Type 57, Grand Raid Tourer

 

“I never knew until I came here to Hollywood that somebody could be really nice to you for years and really hate your guts. Happens all the time here.”
—Jean Seberg (1938-1979)

 

Dorothy
by William Merritt Chase
1902
oil on canvas, 72  x 36 in.

 

Carole Lombard, 1930s

 

“Hey, Wait a Minute, Haven’t I Seen This Movie Before?”
by Robert J. Avrech
Oil, Acrylic on Baltic Birch, 2015
Base: 24″ X 12″
Relief Panels: 8″X 6″

 

Capucine in coat and hat by Christian Dior, Paris, 1949, photo by Richard Avedon

 

Page from the illuminated Worms Mahzor, 1272

 

Irving Penn
Tower of Babel, 2006. India ink with gum arabic over graphite on paper. © The Irving Penn Foundation

 

Maayan Ariel wishes all our friends and relatives a lovely and meaningful Shabbat.

 

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Nice post, Robert.

    I’m not familiar with Jean Simmons… time for some research!

    Love the Bugatti. Love the Avrech and Chase paintings.

    Myrna looks heavy in the face in this photo… or perhaps it’s just the angle of the photo.

    The clock is interesting… but $23K…. really?

  2. They did a great interview of her a few years ago for the defunct icons radio hour. Apparently in filming the big country, they allowed her to bring her own horse

    And you guys are right; she was a great unrecognized beauty.

  3. I was crazy about Jean Simmons. She seemed to be a down-to-earth actress, too.

    Carole Lombard – I heard stories of her at Hearst Castle – she was supposed to be a bit of a Tomboy and a wicket sense of humor. Able to beat most of the men at billiards.

    • Simmons – she’s the Great Beauty that nobody seems to talk about. I remember seeing her in films on TV when I was a boy and being floored; always amazed at how little she’s mentioned in the context of other actresses of the same era.

      • Jean Simmons was a favorite of mine and she did a wonderful job of going back and forth as a star in England and here. Her first husband, Jimmy Stewart (Stewart Grainger to avoid the obvious confusion) is another favorite. He was always more obviously British. She was superb in “The Big Country.”

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