—Martin Scorsese, photo by Nadav Kander 2016
From the Book “Paradise Street”, Balham, London, ca. 1961
Christie Lake, 2019
—Alfred Hitchcock, photographed on the set of Foreign Correspondent, 1940.
Carpenter’s Drive-in Restaurant, Sunset and Vine, Hollywood, Los Angeles. 1932
“Stroke of Brilliant Blue”
2019
Acrylic on canvas, 20 in. x 20 in.
—Billy Wilder, photo by Yousuf Karsh
Where Are Our Gypsies? 1995
Courtesy of the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, Madrid.
Designed by Christopher Dresser, made by James Dixon and Sons, 1879.
How about a post on Kirk Douglas? I loved a number of his pictures and still watch “The Bad and the Beautiful” from time to time. It was Lana Turner’s best and almost Gloria Graham’s best. I would love to hear the back story. There has to be one. The glory days of Hollywood.
Those were the days when the mimics could do impressions and everyone recognized them, Rich Little was only one of them, Kirk Douglas was a favorite.
The Shelby KR (King of the Road” I heard had an interesting history.
“The “KR” nameplate stood for “King of the Road,” which suggested that this was the most powerful Mustang ever built as of 1968. According to various sources, the Shelby GT500 KR got its name before the car was ever designed/slated to be built. Allegedly, Carroll Shelby got wind that Chevrolet was planning on trademarking the name “King of the Road”, so he got on the phone with his lawyer immediately and had him trademark the name before the folks over at Chevy could.
FoMoCo dropped the GT500 KR after ’68, right before Shelby stopped modifying Mustangs, ending production at a little over 1,200 units. Today, the King of the Road is regarded as the ultimate Shelby Mustang ever produced and it’s among the most expensive muscle cars when it hits the auction block.”
Love the Paul Kaye photo
That chain was before my time but I do remember spending time at a drive-in at Wilshire and Figueroa. I can’t find the name any more. There was a Carl’s Jr at Figueroa across from the Coliseum and a Carl’s restaurant behind it. A fraternity brother was dating a girl who had a congenital deafness (her mother was also deaf so it was genetic) but she could read lips so well, nobody noticed. She would entertain us by lip reading what people in the other cars were saying.
One of the things I like about Raymond Chandler novels is the Los Angeles history in them,
I don’t think I’ve ever seen “In a Lonely Place.”
I can’t afford $30,000 watches but the last time I had my 40 year old Rolex serviced and cleaned it was 500 bucks.
I loved In A Lonely Place as an angsty young man. Have it on DVD on my shelf; wonder how it would play now, nearly forty years later.
I have mixed feelings about the film. Gloria Grahame delivers a fantastic performance. But Bogart as a screenwriter is, um, miscast. Nevertheless, it’s a fascinating look into how Hollywood viewed itself at a particular moment in time.
Looking at the imdb site for the movie, I see Frank Lovejoy was in it. I liked him for some reason and did not realize he had died so young. He was only 50. Always a supporting actor but Hollywood had lots of good ones in those days.
The watch is very functional; allowing 2 disparate time zones to be displayed, It has a clean visual design, but still presents a refined quality. $30K is a lot for a watch, but not the highest you’ve shown over the years! My initial thought was “that’s not as high as I thought it would be”.
The Mustang is awesome. I grew up on pony cars… my mother owned 3 Camaros and a Mustang during my formative years.
The drive-in photo is awesome and led me to investigate further. Apparently, Carpenter’s was a small chain in LA. They had at least 4 locations at one time. You can see more – including the same drive-in at night – at: https://martinturnbull.com/2015/01/29/carpenters-drive-in-restaurant-corner-of-sunset-blvd-and-vine-st-hollywood-1930s/
Lastly, I am struck by the diversity of the 3 directors’ quotes. Martin and Billy see their craft in terms of a work of art (which it is). Alfred’s purpose was to make people uncomfortable and apparently he did so very well — including many young actresses. I love many of his films, but the more I read about him, the more I believe he was a turd.