“She was the only American film actress who reminded me of reality.”
—James Baldwin
“Lindsay”
2019
oil on linen 15 x 21 inches
Lemons, June 2020
Rancho Drive-in Theater
San Diego, 1948
—Rock Hudson
The Blue Veil
1898
Oil On Canvas: 29 x 24 in.
Jean Shrimpton in Madame Paulette hat, 1963.
The Kiss, 1950
—Sean Connery, photo from 1962 as the first James Bond was leaving his London apartment to play golf, his favorite pastime. Connery recently turned 90 years old. His best movie is The Man Who Would Be King, 1975.
Written by Charles MacArthur, Ben Hecht
Based on Wuthering Heights, 1847 novel by Emily Brontë
Louis Armstrong, Tanglewood, MA 1960
As you can see, Armstrong is wearing a Star of David around his neck. This was in honor of the Karnoffsky family his neighbors in Storyville, New Orleans. The warm and generous Jewish family took Armstrong in as a child, and lent him money to buy his first cornet.
Some have claimed that the James Bond character Miss Moneypenny was modeled after a real person, Vera Atkins, who was head of Intelligence for Special Operations Executive “F” section, responsible for sabotage operations in occupied France. (Though there are several other nominations for the real-life prototype)…also, the character ‘M’ may have been modeled after Maurice Buckmaster, F section’s director.
(Vera Atkins was born in Romania as Vera Maria Rosenberg; as the name she took indicates, she aspired to become more English than the English. It was Atkins who briefed many of the agents before their missions, from which many of them did not return. After the war, she was very active in tracking down their killers)
“The most dangerous thing for an actor is to refuse to listen to anyone else, to feel you know more than anybody.”
—Rock Hudson
True in all professions, I think.
Sean Connery will always be **the** Bond. Just read something interesting about Ian Fleming. His father was killed in WW1. He joined the Army, like so many others, in 1914 full of adventure and patriotism. Like so many others, the conditions soon changed him. His son Ian ended up in Naval intelligence in WW2. I forget who he modeled Bond after.
I think the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen was his worst movie.
I can’t think of Gene Tierney without thinking of what that measles-infected selfish fan did to her and her baby.
Sorta reminds me today about people – having signs actually telling you “if you feel sick don’t come in”.
That Hupmobile is a good looking car. I was thinking today, “what gives a car a look of timelessness?”
I think the styling that tells you what period it came from, but still looks good decades later. Then some, like the C2 Corvette (1963-1967) or E-Type Jaguar (1961-1967 – the Series 1) , seem to have a timeless appeal without looking dated. They could have been designed today.
Bill,
It is generally believed that Ian Fleming based much of his James Bond character on a Serbian double agent named Dusan “Dusko” Popov. Popov came from a very wealthy family, had a playboy’s passion for wine, women, and gambling, and was keenly intelligent.
I find his looks to be average (certainly not Sean Connery handsome), but his MI6 code name – Tricycle – was supposedly given because of his proclivity for engaging in menage a trois with beautiful women. Apparently the women flocked to him. At one point he was linked to a french actress named Simone Simon, who was stunningly beautiful.
It is reported that Popov personally warned J. Edgar Hoover of Nazi interests in Pearl Harbor defenses prior to the attack, but Hoover distrusted the double-agent playboy and ordered him out of the US.
Joe,
As it turns out the Nazi’s did not bomb Pearl harbor, and the world owes Japan a debt for having done so, otherwise, the United States, with its much-maligned military and industrial complex, would have continued on the sidelines.
Joe –
There was a good British series on Fleming on Netflix or Amazon and apparently he himself had a few episodes of derring-do in Naval Intelligence. IIRC he had to go into France for something just as the Nazis were coming in.
I hadn’t heard of the Popov angle; interesting.
This book on WW1 is interesting, too.
Normally, I list my comments in (somewhat) order of appearance above, but in this case, I must begin at the end. That photo is Charlotte is absolutely adorable. I sense that those bright, inquisitive eyes are the eyes of a formidable woman in the making.
Is it just me, or does Louis Armstrong looks sad in this photo?
The Oak & Oscar watch is very nice, but I prefer the navy blue dial myself.
I feel like Sean Connery is a parallel to John Wayne in some ways. I feel like both were mocked by the critics as macho neanderthals playing (essentially) the same role over and over again — big tough guys who win the day with brute force over brains. I think the audience saw them as heroic roles — the good guys do the right thing and win the day and get the girl. I’ve enjoyed so many of Connery’s films (he is the original Bond and the only one I see in my mind’s eye). I so wanted A League of Extraordinary Gentlemen to be good… alas.
I want to know what the building is in The Kiss I would love to see it in greater detail.
The hotel is interesting, but (and I’ve said it before) give me Art Deco architecture and Art Nouveau jewelry.
Sylvia Sidney was not a name I recognized, but as I research her, I’ve seen some of her work. Of course, she worked for 70 years in the industry so…
Have a wonderful weekend!