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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“Virtue is not photogenic, so I liked playing bad guys. But, whenever I played a bad guy, I tried to find something good in him, and that kept my contact with the audience.”
—Kirk Douglas (born Issur Danielovitch; Yiddish: ישור דניאלאָװיטש‎; December 9, 1916)

Dante Gabriel Rossetti, “Proserpine”
1874
Oil on canvas. Tate. Photo- © Tate

 

Rick McGinnis
Poppy bud, Macdonell Ave., Toronto, 2000

 

Undone is a Hong Kong based micro brand. Their Basecamp 2.0 model has the unusual California dial which includes half Roman numeral and half Arabic hour markers. It’s a handsome and rugged automatic timepiece for $315.00. More here.

 

Ilse Bing
Movie Poster, Henry VIII, 1934

 

Hispano Suiza H6C Tulipwood Torpedo by Nieuport, 1924

 

“I was dancing in a show with Sophie Tucker and Tony Martin at the Bal Tabarin, and one night Lucille Ball came to the show with RKO talent scout Benny Rubin. I was 13, but because the nightclub served booze, they’d asked me my age and I lied and said I was 18….I stayed 18 for five years.”
—Ann Miller

 

Lucien Gaillard
Comb in the form of two dragonflies, ca. 1904. Courtesy of the Rijksmuseum.

 

Art deco lobby set for Grand Hotel (1932). Set design by Cedric Gibbons.

 

Robert J. Avrech
Surveyor symbols define a property line in a Los Angeles sidewalk, 2019

 

Endre Friedmann
On the way to school, 1964

 

Loomis Dean
Sophia Loren, 1957

 

“Audiences make stars, either they like you or they don’t like you. And if you are liked equally by men and women, you have a longer life than if you are just going to be liked by men.”
—Gloria Swanson

 

1940s Pennsylvania Railroad travel poster featuring the T1, the last steam locomotives built in the U.S.

 

Model with street signs, photo by Norman Parkinson, LIFE, c.1963

 

Laura Theresa Alma-Tadema, “Anna-Leafing Through a Portfolio of Prints” 1874.
Oil on panel. Dimensions: Height: 11.3 cm (4.4 ″); Width: 32.4 cm (12.7 ″) Courtesy of the Rijksmuseum

 

Son of Frankenstein (1939). Expressionistic set design by art director Jack Otterson.

 

Ariel Chaim Avrech Torah Dedication 8/22/19
Photo by: Steve Cohn Photography www.stevecohnphotography.com (310) 277-2054 © 2019

 

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

 

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Comments

  1. Robert,

    As I came back to review yesterday’s post, I made a few discoveries.

    I did not initially realize that the Hispano-Suiza was a one-off build for a race nor that it is now housed in the Blackhawk Museum in Danville, CA. Would you happen to know anything about the photo? I am curious about the Spanish Colonial house.

    I am curious about the Ann Miller story. She seems to be another star would never found the love she craved.

    I was reading the Kirk Douglas quote and was thinking… “I remember he had a stroke and had a hard time speaking at an awards show back in the 90’s, but what year did he die?” Imagine my surprise… he is still alive at 102!

  2. Great series today. On T1, we are going to see Big Boy, the restored locomotive today which is in Tucson.
    Hispano Suiza made airplane engines in WWI, about which I am reading right now, and machine cannon in WWII.
    Archie and Veronica had fans among computer geeks in the 90s. Two early search engines were named for them.
    I wonder how Gloria would do with the 14 year old boy movies of today?
    One quibble: “Arabic numbers” were invented by Hindus.

  3. First of all, I had no idea Archie was still alive and well among today’s youth!

    – Ann Miller is beautiful.
    – The watch is pretty cool, but my anal retentive nature might keep me enjoying it (mixed numbers!)
    – I love the T1 design and (especially) the art deco poster. The T1 looked so cool, but it’s outdated (steam) design combined with production differences from the 2 prototypes (which resulted in wheel slippage) doomed it to a very short life cycle. Of the 52 engines produced, all were scrapped.
    – The Hispano-Suiza was an all-wood body. Beautiful, but I’m not sure about how it would hold up over time, or in an accident. Incidentally, I love the Spanish style home in the background. That style may be common in your area, but here in the Midwest, we rarely see such an exotic design.
    – Sophia Loren can make barbed-wire look sexy.
    – The dragonfly comb is incredible.
    – The art deco design for the Grand Hotel lobby is awesome as well.

    Have a great weekend and a peaceful Sabbath.

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