—Myrna Loy
The Ford GT 40 MKII featured in the movie
PH – 782, Oil on canvas, 24 3/4 x 35 3/4 inches
1927. © City and County of Denver : ARS, NY.
The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of his country. —Thomas Paine, 1776, panel 7, 1956, of the series “Struggle… From the History of the American People” 1954–56. Egg tempera on hardboard, 12 x 15 1⁄2 inches
—Cary Grant
Park Road, Oshawa, ON, Aug. 2019
Written by Charles Brackett, Billy Wilder, D. M. Marshman Jr.
Helms Bakery trucks once delivered freshly baked goods to neighborhoods across Southern California. Here’s a truck and its driver in 1931, the year the bakery debuted its fleet.
—Barbara Eden, (b. 1931, Barbara Jean Morehead) Jeannie Out of the Bottle
From the book “Paradise Street”, Balham, London, ca. 1961
Arrest and Deportation, 1995.
Courtesy of the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, Madrid
Forest Edge, Hokuto, Hokkaido, Japan 2004
I saw Ford v Ferrari 2x, very unusual for me. Loved the movie and in the big things it followed Shelby’s story (and Ken Miles) accurately.
Really amazing what Shelby did with the small resources he had.
I heard it said that Ford couldn’t have won wothout Shelby and Shelby couldn’t have won without Ford.
Rick – nice picture!
Words or wisdom from Cary Grant.
“Ford vs Ferrari” was a very good flick and brought back memories. We used to go to the Palm Springs Road Races, which were held at the airport. We were driving in one time and Carol Shelby drove out just as we arrived and took off at about 100 mph in a Maserati, as I recall. Good times.
Thank you for that lovely picture of Pola Negri, Robert! She’s always been one of my favorites, even though Theda Bara will always be my girl. I used to wonder why Wilder didn’t approach Bara for the role of Norma Desmond, but I think she would have been too frightened to take it, having been away from the screen for so long. As I recall, Wilder also approached Mae West about playing Desmond, but West not only insisted on writing her own dialogue, she also said that the character of Norma couldn’t be over 40, as she (West) never played a woman of over 40. Weren’t we lucky to get Swanson?
ProphetJoe, there’s a documentary out on Negri, “Pola Negri: Life Is A Dream In Cinema.” It should be on YouTube. And I seem to remember reading somewhere that the Chicago Film Festival’s logo isn’t Negri’s eyes, but Theda Bara’s. I could be wrong, though.
And how I wish that Helms Bakery truck would pull up to my door. A wonderful world we’ll never see again.
Christopher, according to Pola’s wikipedia page:
“Negri, with Theda Bara and Mae Murray, were the actresses whose eyes were combined to form the Chicago International Film Festival’s logo, a stark, black and white close up of the composite eyes set as repeated frames in a strip of film. It was created by Festival Founder and Artistic Director Michael Kutza.[67]”
With the citation: [67] About Our Logo, chicagofilmfestival.com; accessed 29 July 2014.
But I don’t actually see that explanation on their web site currently.
Myrna Loy. What a nice way to wake up on Friday morning!
I remember the Ford GT 40 in those colors. I always associated the powder blue and orange color scheme with Gulf Oil. I’m not sure if it was, but as a kid, that’s what I thought and it still comes to mind 50+ years later.
An impressive watch. Not my style, but still impressive.
Pola Negri. I’ve certainly heard her name before, and knew she was a silent film star, but I didn’t really know much about her. After having read about her for the past 30 minutes I can say “Wow, what a story!” The first European star signed in Hollywood. Her lovers included Charlie Chaplin and Rudolph Valentino, whom she met at a San Simeon costume party hosted by Marion Davies and Wm. Randolph Hearst. She was a Countess, movie star, recording star, devout Catholic and, if you are to believe modern biographers, a bisexual. Perhaps she is best known for her eyes (see the Chicago Film Festival logo). I think she and Myrna Loy have a similar look and I don’t think either actress was cast as the virgin.
The Helms Bakeries truck seems like it would be a viable business model today. Home delivery of fresh baked goods would a great idea, but that truck, with the driver in the middle of the vehicle, seems a bit odd.
Finally, Barbara Eden… another object of my adolescent attention.
Well done, Robert. Have a wonderful Shabbat.
I remember Helm’s Bakery trucks still delivering when I was in college. They would put the loaf in the mailbox, if I remember correctly. Maybe not as I don’t think you are allowed to use the mailbox for anything but mail. Maybe there was a receptacle. I’m even old enough to remember milk deliveries to the back porch. During the war, there were horse drawn milk wagons. Probably due to gas rationing.