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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“You get tough in this business, until you get big enough to hire people to get tough for you.”
—Natalie Wood, posing on her 1956 Ford Thunderbird

Uknown Artist; Doctor Schnabel, Plague Doctor, Rome c.1656
The beak was filled with flowers and spices.

 

Micha Bar-Am
Coffee in Kalandia, West Bank, 1967

 

Owl door, Copenhagen

 

 

Mario De Biasi
Amore in Periferia, 1952

 

Daniel Mascolo
Kissing with Facemasks, Milan, March 8, 2020

 

Unknown Photographer, Walter Knott’s Roadside Boysenberry Stand, Western Ave, Orange County, CA, 1926. This stand eventually grew into the Knott’s Berry Farm Amusement Park.

 

Rick McGinnis
Mississauga, ON, May 2019

 

“I’ve begun to think there’s something to the law of compensation. I’ve had all of the good things any woman could ever desire – and most of the bad things no woman wants.”
—Linda Darnell

 

James Tissot (French, 1836-1902)
Tea, 1872
oil on wood
Dimensions: 26 x 18 7/8 in. (66 x 47.9 cm)

 

Ginger Rogers stepping out of her car, 1930s.

 

American muscle sculpted in steel: The 1969 Dodge Charger R/T-SE; 425 Horsepower, 490 ft-lb of Torque.

 

Frédéric Brenner
Purim, Mea She’arim, Jerusalem, 1978

 

I spotted this poignant sidewalk chalking just a few blocks from our home.

 

 

“The first time I remember women reacting to me was when we were filming Hud [1963] in Texas. Women were literally trying to climb through the transoms at the motel where I stayed. At first, it’s flattering to the ego. At first. Then you realize that they’re mixing me up with the roles I play — characters created by writers who have nothing to do with who I am.”
—Paul Newman
Photo by Chim (b. Dawid Szymin; 1911 – 1956)
Sophia Loren, 1955 on location for The Miller’s Beautiful Wife.

 

Carl Sutton
Smog in London, 1953

 

Rolex Prince, 1930

 

Alfred Eisenstaedt, Children at a Puppet Theater, Paris, 1963

 

Lielle, Maayan, and Livia wish all our friends and relatives a peaceful and virus-free Shabbat.

 

Ed Ruscha, The End, 2003

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Comments

  1. We used to see Natalie and RJ’s boat, “Splendor” at the Isthmus all the time. They had a mooring just east of the channel to the gas dock. I assume this is where they were that Thanksgiving weekend she drowned. Lots of conspiracy theories but getting drunk on the water is not a good idea. I did it a couple of times in the years I spent over there and was lucky. She wasn’t.

    I was at Corsair Cove, just West of the Isthmus, one time and had too much to drink. I decided to paddle a sabot back to the boat and go to sleep. My son, who was about 5 at the time, decided he wanted to go with me. We paddled out to the boat and got aboard. When I realized in the morning what I had done, I decided to never drink too much again on the water. Yesterday was his 51st birthday.

  2. The owl door – should have on the floor mat “Who’s There”

    I think that ’68-68 Charger was one of the best looking cars Chrysler made – it was the bad guy’s car in the famous Bullet chase scene.

    Wise words from both Natalie and Paul.

    Knott’s Berry Farm – So Cal in the 20s was something. I told my father once he really grew up in an idyllic time in LA, Still remember your Hollywoodland sign from the 20s with the little road.

    Interesting picture Rick – and wonderful colors – at first I thought that blue was a tape but it looks further back

  3. I have a plague doctor mask I bought in Venice years ago. The beak was certainly filled, as you wrote , with flower petals and spices to hide the smells of death.

    Linda Darnell and her husband lived across the road from me in the 1950s in Redondo Beach. It was The Esplanade and her house was the last one on the ocean side of the street. My roommate used to run across the street every morning and swim in the ocean which was right there. She was another example of the stage mother pathology.

    I love the owl door.

  4. Another interesting and thought-provoking post (as usual), Robert.

    – Natalie Wood sitting on a T-bird in front of the (Art Deco-ish) Griffith Observatory. It just screams “Hollywood” to me.
    – As an owl lover, the door is pretty cute.
    – I never knew that about Knott’s Berry Farm.
    – I like the Linda Darnell quote, but what a horrible way to die and at only 41. I didn’t know a lot of her works, but I remember her from Zorro, Clementine, and Blackbeard.
    – The ’69 Charger is classic Mopar. As a child of the muscle car era, I think the ’67 – ’72 time span had arguably the greatest lineup of cars in history.
    – Paul Newman always seemed grounded in reality. And he was quite the hunk. My mother had a definite crush on him.
    – Sophie Loren… classic Italian sensuality (and I think Dad had a crush on her).
    – The Rolex is a beautiful Art Deco design (and out of my budget, I’m sure).
    – The Puppet Theater photo is fascinating. Contrast the reactions of the 2 kids in the front-center in dark clothing (screaming, uncontrollable excitement) versus the 2 girls in the lower right in light clothing (shock, awe, disbelief). Perhaps the best reactions are the girl in glasses at far right and the boy (?) at far left covering his ears. Obviously, something loud was happening, but I would love to see a split screen of what they were watching.

    As I said, another thought-provoking post, Robert. Well done. Have a safe, healthy, and happy Shabbat!

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