—Olivia de Havilland
Turquoise Strokes (detail) 2020
Acrylic on canvas
20 in. x 20 in
—Rita Hayworth
“Seaside”
1878
oil on fabric
87.5 X 61 cm
Cleveland Museum of Art, Ohio
Screenplay by Harry Ruskin, Niven Busch
Based on “The Postman Always Rings Twice,” 1934 novel by James M. Cain
Office in a Small City
1953
Oil on canvas
Dimensions: 28 x 40 in. (71.1 x 101.6 cm)
A fitting image of isolation for all of us living through this pandemic.
—Kim Novak
Woman at Window, 1822
oil on canvas; w73.0 x h44.1 cm
Approaching Shadow, Hong Kong, 1954
In 1954 my father owned a golf driving range south of Chicago. One of his regular customers was a man who owned a Jaguar XK 120. I think his father in law owned part or all of the Fontainebleau hotel in Miami Beach that opened that year. That summer, he rolled it over on a curve just north of the golf range. I was really upset to see that beautiful car ruined by reckless driving.
Around the same time, I was in school with a girl and her brother whose mother had been Victor Mature’s personal representative.
Re. Rita Hayworth – imagine being at that level of fame & fortune and complaining that no one cares about what a good dancer you are – poor her.
Did not realize Vinton was still alilve.
That is a bittersweet picture of Ruth and Jackson. Jackson was kicked out of baseball after that season, and Ruth was headed for the top. I wonder if they were friends and had any contact over the years. As always, Robert, a great collection of photos. Thanks so much for this treat every Friday.
Olivia de Havilland is 103 — I guess playing the “good girl” was better than all of those “bad girl” roles.
I find Olivia’s comments interesting compared to those of Rita Hayworth and Kim Novak. Rita felt overlooked/under appreciated by Hollywood and Kim seemed to mostly play herself (which isn’t a bad thing, John Wayne made a quite a career out of playing the same character).
I agree with you about the Hopper painting. The Fan Ho picture feels like the current situation too.
In regard to the Mangoni photo — 3 months ago you would have guessed she was a nurse (or some other health professional) checking the weather. Now it could be a stay at home mom expecting Door Dash or Grub Hub.
I can picture you and Karen tooling along Highway 1 in that XK120.
Stay well and be safe.
Nice pictures, Robert. If I had the plague in the 1500s and saw a Dr over me with that mask, I’d figure I was done.
I need to clean out my house too. I have so many clothes – good clothes – and boxes of new ones received last Christmas. Too much stuff. Too much clutter. Clutters the mind. And I should alphabetize my DvD collection. Terrible having to go over 1 x 1 300x to find what I am looking for.
I remember when Blue Velvet was playing on the radio.
I think Kim Novak would be interesting. A reminder we are getting older: I was driving up Hwy 1 last year and stopped at a small rustic restaurant in Big Sur.
I was making small talk with the waiter and mention that Kim Novak used to live here.
“Kim Who”?
I think she moved up to Oregon and a fire destroyed her house with all of her Hollywood memorabilia.
When I was about 6 or 7, a family friend bought a BRG (that’s British Racing Green) XK-120. He gave me a ride down the street and what a memory. It had low doors like a Triumph TR-3. You could probably reach out and touch the pavement.
Sir William Lyons – founder of Jaguar Cars, was known for really giving value to his cars. A 1963 E-Type was functionally the same as a DB-5 Aston Martin at over 2x the price. And even Enzo Ferrari proclaimed the E-Type as the most beautiful car in the world.
Well, time to turn in.