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

by 8 Comments

“My first big break came when I was five years old. It’s taken me more than seventy years to realise that. You see, at five I first learnt to read. It’s that simple and it’s that profound. I left school at thirteen. I didn’t have a formal education… It has been a long return journey from my two-room Fountainbridge home in the smoky industrial end of Edinburgh opposite the McCowans’ toffee factory. There was no bathroom with a communal toilet outside. For years we had only gas lighting. Sometimes the light in the shared stairway would be out after some desperado had broken the mantle to bubble gas through milk for kicks.”
—Sean Connery, RIP 1930 — 2020
Uncredited Photographer, Sean Connery Appearing in “The Seashell,” King’s Theatre, Edinburgh, Scotland, 1959

Johannes Vespronck (Dutch, circa: 1600/1603 — 1662)
Portrait of Girl Dressed in Blue
1641
oil on canvas
Dimensions: Height: 82 cm (32.2 in); Width: 66.5 cm (26.1 in)
Collection: Rijksmuseum

 

In 1974, photographer Daniel Sorine photographed two mimes in Central Park. Thirty-five years later he realized that the performer on the right is Robin Williams, an unknown comedian at that time.

 

Rick McGinnis
Poppy, June 2020

 

Mickey Mantle, 1956
Photo by John Dominis

 

Photo by Gjon Mili, 1950

 

“I like women. I don’t understand them, but I like them.”
—Sean Connery
Connery and Brigitte Bardot co-starred in the very interesting but little seen western, Shalako, 1968.

 

Whimsical book benches in Bulgaria

 

Richard Avedon
Elaine May (born Elaine Iva Berlin; 1932 —)  and Mike Nichols (born Mikhail Igor Peschkowsky; 1931 – 2014) , New York City, 1960

 

1948 Chevrolet Woody

 

Cheerleading Practice, Norview High School, Norfolk, Virginia, 1958
Photo by Paul Schutzer

 

Steve McQueen with his first wife Nellie on a motorcycle, 1963
Photo by John Dominis

 

“There’s one major difference between James Bond and me. He is able to sort out problems!”
—Sean Connery

 

The stunning Bulgari Gerald Genta 50th Anniversary Arena Bi-Retro Watch watch with mechanical manufacture movement, bidirectional automatic winding, jumping hours, retrograde minutes and date, 41 mm platinum case, blue lacquered dial and blue alligator bracelet, retails for $61,000.00. More here.

 

“Gasworks”
Photo by David Fokos
Turkey’s abandoned ghost town of identical castles.
“No, this isn’t the beginning to the latest Disney movie — it’s more eerie than that: all of these Gothic-style buildings lie empty, forming an ethereal, abandoned ghost town. Burj Al Babas is a $200 million housing development, located near Mudurnu, in northwestern Turkey, roughly midway between Istanbul and Ankara. When the developers, Sarot Property Group, fell into recession-fueled financial difficulty in 2018, the hundreds of castle-style villas were abandoned, mid-construction…” More here.

 

Myrna Loy as she appears in The Mask of Fu Manchu 1932.

 

Ariel and Pinchas wish all our friends and relatives the best Shabbat ever.

 

Reader Interactions

Comments

  2. Even though there was some ridicule of Connery and his accent in “Red October” it is one of my favorite roles he played.
    The watch is interesting but I can’t imagine trying to quickly see what time it is. I am still nursing my 40 year old Rolex. I spent $500 to have it serviced two years ago but the shop is in California.
    Steve McQueen is still a favorite. I sat my kids down a few years ago and had them watch his version of “Thomas Crown.” They had not realized how good it was.

    • I have a Rolex bought in 1971 – for believe it or not, $125 in a Jewelry shop in Geneva. It cost me $1600 to have it overhauled a few years ago and it still is slow at times keeping time. But I like it. I was told that around the country there are only 125 or so Rolex-certified watchmakers.

      Steve McQueen – one of my favorites too! I think it is on Netflix, but there is a documentary on the making of LeMans – apparently that was a near disaster that almost broke McQueen. But I think it is one of the greatest car racing movies made.

      One of my favorite Connery movies is The Rock, although Red October is up there, too.

      He made a funny quote about difficult directors, but I don’t believe Robert would care for any vulgarity on his blog, so I shall refrain from posting it.

  3. I’ve seen those Turkish castles before. Depending on how things turn out here, they might be a good place for Americans to hide out for the next four or, heaven forbid, eight years.

    Sean Connery was, to me, the only Bond. Even at his roughest, there was always a flash of humor and wryness behind his eyes which no one – not Moore, Lazenby, Dalton, Brosnan or the dour Craig – ever captured. I like to think that he’s on the first tee of heaven’s country club now with Hawker, his caddy, and smiling at Gert Frobe as he asks, “Strict rules of golf, Goldfinger?”

    Those Bulgarian “book benches” are wonderful. I wish I had one in my garden.

    I’ve seen “The Mask of Fu Manchu.” Loy is – well, if you didn’t come away from that movie thinking you’d take her over the anemic Karen Morley, you just don’t have any red blood!

    I hope you and yours have a lovely weekend, Robert.

  4. Sean Connery was an enjoyable actor to watch. To me he was, in a way, like John Wayne. Perhaps he didn’t have the greatest range, but you knew when you saw a 007 film that the good guy was going to win, he’d get the girl, and there would be action galore. (see what I did there?) It was escapism at its finest. A predictable outcome, but easily worth the price of admission.

    I like the innovative dial on the watch, but I won’t be paying $61k for it any time soon.

    I may have to watch Shalako. If I can find it online.

    I have to admit that I have never heard to Nichols and May until now. Apparently quite the sensation, but the height of their popularity was just around my birth.

    The Turkish housing fiasco is interesting. I wonder how it will turn out. Will they re-purpose it and salvage the structures, will they bull-doze it and re-purpose the land, or will it be a really creepy place to visit in 2120?

    I would not have recognized Myrna from that photo.

    When I see your grandson wearing the Mets hat, my mind recalls the photo of you father wearing one.

    Have a wonderful weekend everyone.

    • Prophet Joe — Why the reference to range or lack of it? Movie stars do not exhibit range. No funny noses or padded tummies. They are cool guys and hot babes, which is at least part of the reason Agnes Moorehead was not one of them, nor Harry DAvenport. Know what I mean?

      • I understand perfectly, but to be fair, I referenced “actor” and you reference “movie stars”. They are not the same thing. Tom Cruise, Sean Connery, and John Wayne fall into the latter category. Agnes Moorehead, Harry Davenport, and J.K. Simmons are in the former category, and a few individuals, like Jimmy Stewart and Tom Hanks, fall into both. (IMHO)

Leave a Reply