Seraphic Secret

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

Friday Photos: True Hollywood Confessions

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“People think that if you look fairly reasonable, you can’t possibly act, and as I only care about acting, I think beauty can be a great handicap.”
—Vivien Leigh

Andrea Mantegna
Camera Picta
Ducal Palace, 1465-1474, Mantua

 

A very young Myrna Loy, c. 1910s.

 

Poster for Dawn Patrol, 1938

 

Errol Flynn in his AC16/80 Convertible. There were very few of these special 1936/37 AC16/80 models distributed by the English Motor Car Company. Flynn got one, Cooper had one, as did Frank Lloyd Wright. This photo was taken at 601 North Linden in Beverly Hills, where Flynn lived when he separated from his first wife, actress Lili Damita,’37. 
H/T Bill Brandt for identifying the car.

 

A woman sewing an American flag, ca 1910. The photo is not colorized, but is the product of an early color process called Autochrome Lumière. Photographer unknown.

 

“Like most people, I secretly hope that it’s true — that there are witches like Samantha, and that families like hers really do exist.”
—Elizabeth Montgomery (1933-1995) on her hit TV series Bewitched which ran from 1964 -1972.

 

Statue of Elizabeth Montgomery as Bewitched star Samantha, Salem, Mass.

 

The Pantages Theater, located at Hollywood and Vine. Designed by architect B. Marcus Priteca, it was the last theater built by the vaudeville impresario Alexander Pantages. The palatial Art Deco theater opened on June 4, 1930, as part of the Pantages Theatre Circuit. And it’s still standing.

 

Robert Mitchum photographed with his wife Dorothy and sons Christopher and James, c. late 1940s.

 

Joanne Woodward and Paul Newman, 1958
“I’ve repeatedly said that for people with as little in common as Joanne and myself, we have an uncommonly good marriage. We are actors, we make pictures — and that’s about all we have in common. Maybe that’s enough… Husbands and wives should have separate interests, cultivate different sets of friends — and not impose one upon the other.”
—Paul Newman

 

 

David Seymour
Young Jewish girl preparing for sentry duty, Haifa, Israel, 1951.

 

“Soldiers of the Sky” photographed by Nickolas Muray for Vogue, 1940

 

Lauren Bacall’s responses to a Parade Magazine questionnaire, late 1940s.

 

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

 

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Comments

  1. Is the Pantages restored Robert? Up in Oakland is the Paramount – and it is beautiful. We took an extensive tour and even the original furniture is there. I bought a book they were selling and regrettably sent it to a very distant relative some time ago; I would have rather sent it to you.

    Particularly of interest to me was a parking-meter like device that told ushers where blocks of X seats were when seating families and couples.

    http://www.paramounttheatre.com/

  2. I’ve always liked Mitchum’s answer when asked why his wife stayed married to him all those years. “Lack of imagination.”

    I think I’ve already recounted the story of when he rented a Hollywood Hills home from a family friend for a year. She was in Europe for a year and then, after her return, her next door neighbor Hugh O’Brien stopped by and suggested she have her gardener pull out all the marijuana plants Mitch had planted on her hill before the sheriffs found them.

  3. Where do you find these rare pictures of Myrna Loy? She was adorable! You know she is one of my favorites, but I also had a crush on Elizabeth Montgomery when I was a kid.

    Your b & w photo of the Pantages Theater does not do it justice. Perhaps you could post a color photo next week so we could see the beautiful red seats, the blue ceiling and the ornate gilded trim. It is a stunning Art Deco design.

    I’m not sure if I agree with Paul Newman’s ideas about marriage… but it seemed to work for them.

    Lauren Bacall didn’t mince words, or suffer fools, did she?

    Finally, when I see a photo like the David Seymour photo, I want to know the circumstance and the outcome. Who was she, did she survive the tumultuous period, did she marry and raise a family?

    Have a wonderful Sabbath, Robert and Karen.

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