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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“They give me feeble-minded parts. I don’t object, you understand, but when the writers tell me they wrote the part with me in mind, I begin to wonder.”
—Miriam Hopkins

George Hendrik Breitner (Dutch, 1857 – 1923)
Girl in a White Kimono, 1894
Oil on canvas
Model: Geesje Kwak
23 in × 22 in
Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam

 

Geesje Kwak in c. 1894, photographed by Hendrik Breitner

 

Joanne, Earlscourt, June 2020
Rick McGinnis writes:
“I hadn’t shot a portrait in months when the lockdown entered its third month. Then I realized that the most appropriate subjects were the people on my street, with whom I had become familiar as we got used to each other’s very abbreviated routines. It took a couple of weeks to set up and shoot the series, posing my neighbours in the front or back doors of the homes where they’d been sheltering in place since March.”

 

Bunny Hartley by Horst P. Horst, 1938

 

Most watch microbrands produce field or dive watches. Ophion, a Spanish independent, designs  and manufactures beautiful dress watches. The 786 Velos Radial nods to Art Deco while remaining a contemporary wrist watch. The movement is mechanical and finely calibrated. Prices are shockingly affordable by the insane standards of high horology.

 

I had an agent once who wanted me to make many more movies. I said, ‘I can’t. I can only do one a year, if that. I have children, young children.’ And he said, ‘Well, I guess you won’t be a superstar.’ And I said, ‘Well, I guess not.’
—Eva Marie Saint, photo by Philippe Halsman, 1954

 

George Hendrik Breitner
The Earring, c. 1893
oil on canvas
Height: 33.2 in; Width: 22.6 in.
Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen

 

Props for The Incredible Shrinking Man, 1957. Photo by Allan Grant

 

Georgia O’Keeffe, American, 1887–1986, Grey Lines with Black, Blue and Yellow, ca. 1923, oil on canvas, 48 x 30 in., The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Museum purchase funded by the Agnes Cullen Arnold Endowment Fund, 77.331, © 2019 Georgia O’Keeffe Museum / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York.

 

Anna May Wong
by Paul Tanqueray
whole-plate glass negative, 1929

 

The Eye of Horus was a magical amulet worn for protection and good luck in ancient Egypt; 5cm tall and 6.8cm wide. c. 664 – 525 BCE.

 

“My mother always called me an ugly weed, so I never was aware of anything until I was older. Plain girls should have someone telling them they are beautiful. Sometimes this works miracles.”
—Hedy Lamarr

 

Girl in a Red Kimono (Geesje Kwak), c. 1895-1896, George Hendrik Breitner. Gemeentemuseum, The Hague

 

Julius Shulman
Academy Theater, Inglewood California, 1940

 

1930 Ruxton – Front Drive, Sedan
Despite its technological excellence and ingenuity, the car was introduced during a rough part of history and the company struggled to find its financial footing. The final Ruxton automobiles were built in 1931.
Engine Type: L-head
Cylinders: 8
Horsepower: 100
Manufacturer: New Era Motors (St. Louis, MO)
Coachbuilder: Edward G. Budd Mfg. Co. (Philadelphia, PA)
Price When New: $3,195
Nethercutt Collection.  

 

Maayan Ariel wishes all our friends and relatives the best Shabbat ever.

 

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Rick, I m puzzled by 2 things in your photo- 1) what is the note in the letter drop? and 2) why is she barefoot? Many women would not pass up the opportunity to show off a fabulous pair of shoes in a portrait session with a talented photographer. By the way, It is an excellent portrait and she looks beautiful.

    Robert, regarding the Ophion watch. Blue is my favorite color, but, wow! that’s a whole lot of blue! I prefer the Anthracite model myself, but I still can’t afford it.

    Geesje Kwak. Her name sort of rolls off your tongue, doesn’t it? Dead at 22 from TB,

    What possessed Hedy Lamarr’s mother to call her an ugly weed? What sort of a parent does that?

    No matter what she was painting, Georgia O’Keeffe always included a lot of color and a (not-so-subtle) “female sensuality” in her paintings. With the Horst P. Horst photo it was all about the light and shadow.

    The Eye of Horus is interesting. As I read about it’s meaning, it seems like people attribute a lot of mystical symbology to it. Can’t it just be a good luck charm watching over you?

    Regarding the Academy Theater, is that a smoke stack, or just signage? If the latter, does it seems like it might be just a wee bit a phallic imagery there? It was originally built to host the Oscars, but it never did. Became a church in 1976, but they’ve kept much of the neon in tact. See color photo at night here: http://tinyurl.com/yc3427q

    Have a wonderful weekend.

  2. Nice portrait Rick!

    I’ll bet Eva’s children aren’t screwed up like many star’s children. AFAIK she still lives in Santa Monica. Love the story probably you told about her when filming North by Northwest. That Hitchcock didn’t like any of the studio selected clothes for her so he took her shopping in NY.

    Plain girls should have someone telling them they are beautiful. Sometimes this works miracles.”

    A kind word to anyone is many times remembered for years and can work miracles.

    Miriam had a sense of humor!

    There was an elegance to those 30s cars. Just saw a 1931-32 Packard Jay Leno reviewed that be bought from the late Phil Hill. Talks a lot about Packard engineering and Phil Hill.

    • Bill:

      I worked with one of Eva’s children. She was a studio exec. She is a lovely woman, normal, well adjusted, and a joy with whom to work.

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