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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“If I had to do it all over again, I’d go into genetic medicine.”
—Dawn Wells, RIP (1938 – 2020)

Edward Hopper
Two Puritans, 1945
Oil on canvas: 76.2 X 101.6 cm
Private collection

 

In 1964 Ringo Starr took a picture of five high school students who had skipped class to see The Beatles in concert. Fifty years later the students reunited and recreated the photo.

 

Rick McGinnis
2559 Bloor St. West, Toronto, July 2020
From his series: Art Deco Toronto

 

Steve McQueen on location for the motorcycle chase scene for The Great Escape, 1963.

 

Joan Bennett in Secret Beyond the Door, 1947
Screenplay by Silvia Richards, Story by Rufus King

 

Robert J. Avrech
“Pico Boulevard; the Painting Not the Boulevard” 
acrylic on linen: 36 X 24 inches, 2020

 

Brigitte Bardot, age 12, waiting at her ballet class, 1946.

 

Edgar Degas (French, 1834–1917)
Waiting c. 1882
Pastel on paper
Height: 19.01 in; Width: 24.01 in.
Collection: Getty Center

 

“The best movie you’ll ever be in is your own life because that’s what matters in the end.”
—Tina Louise (born Tina Blacker; 1934)

 

Jean-Honoré Fragonard (French, 1732 -1806)
Young Girl Reading, c. 1769
oil on canvas
31 x 25 1/2 in.

 

Photo by Walter S. Myers, Halfway Down, 1937

 

Imagine walking through a museum and coming face to face with, well, yourself—perhaps from another life—in a 100 year old painting by William Bouguereau, The Broken Pitcher, 1891.

 

Julian Wasser
Whiskey A Go-Go
West Hollywood, 1964
Love the Jag!

 

The Konstatin Chaykin Cinema wrist watch should be wrapped around my wrist. However, even if you can find one on the pre-owned market the cost is stratospheric.

 

Ava Gardner in a snapshot taken by a fan, 1940s.

 

“The Dyckman House, now the Dyckman Farmhouse Museum, is the oldest remaining farmhouse on Manhattan island, a vestige of New York City’s rural past. The Dutch Colonial-style farmhouse was built by William Dyckman, c.1785, and was originally part of over 250 acres of farmland owned by the family. It is now located in a small park at the corner of Broadway and 204th Street in Inwood, Manhattan.”

 

“Gilligan’s Island is wherever you want it to be in your mind.”
—Bob Denver (1935 -2005)

 

Frank Weston Benson (American; 1862–1951)
In Summer, 1887
oil on canvas mounted on panel
Height: 24 in; Width: 20.8 in.
The model is Ellen Perry Peirson, whom Benson married a year after painting this portrait.

 

Ida Wyman
Snap, Crackle, Pop,
The Bronx, New York, 1946

 

1949 Jaguar XK 120 Alloy Roadster

 

This is a snapshot of my parents, Rabbi Abraham Avrech z’l, and Mina née Keiler, z’l. Soon after they were married, my father, a Chaplin in the 42nd Rainbow Division, was stationed in Texas, where this picture was taken, 1945.

 

Charlotte Birdie wishes all our friends and relatives the best Shabbat ever.

 

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Comments

  2. I think the E-Type coupe was the most beautiful. When they made the 2 + 2, completely ruined the lines with a back seat nobody could use. On Tina Louise, I read that she expected to be the star of Gilligan’s Island – but I can see how that type casting ruined her career.

    Among adolescent boys of that era the question was “Ginger or Mary Ann”?

    Ginger.

    On the Steve McQueen photo, always thought it funny that he escapes on a British motorcycle with German markings. The Germans, of course, rode BMWs. I suspect he felt more comfortable on the (BSA?). Musta drove the movie insurance company nuts with his stunts.

    The Ringo Starr photo – interesting!

    The Broken Pitcher ,/i> – eerie.

  3. I’ve wondered about the Dyckman House, but never visited it.

    Jan Nagel was the partner of Jan Dyckman. Together they owned much of the northern part of Manhattan Island. Jan Nagel was married to Rebecca Waldron. After Jan Nagel died relatively young — in his early 40s I think — his widow married Nagel’s partner, Jan Dyckman, in 1690. So far as I can tell, her 2nd son with Dyckman was Jacob Dyckman, who was the father of William Dyckman. William Dyckman built the Dyckman house in 1783. (https://npgallery.nps.gov/NRHP/GetAsset/NHLS/67000014_text)

    Jan Nagel and Rebecca Waldron are my great(9x)-grandparents.

  4. Another nice collection. Can that photo of BB at age 12 be taken as an attempt to recreate the Degas painting? Hmmm.

    Tina Louise was once described as the most beautiful redhead of all. According to her Wiki bio, Gilligan’s Island did ruin her career. She did not get another movie role.

    I’m trying to remember another gorgeous actress who has a similar name. She was in a film too recent to be that woman. She took a shower in the movie but I can’t remember the rest. The shower scene was the one thing I remember.

  5. I really like your painting, Robert. My art teacher uncle never cared for what he called “non-representative” art, but it has pleasing colors and I’d certainly hang that in my house.

    Tina Louise never seems to have accepted her “Gilligan’s Island” stardom, unlike Wells and Denver. From accounts I’ve read, she seems to have spent most of her life hating the show. As an aside, rumor has it that the part of Ginger Grant was first offered to Jayne Mansfield, but her agent told her that TV wasn’t worthy of a star like herself.

    That Bouguereau painting and living girl is eerie. IIRC, it’s actually one of a series of “doubles” portraits where people who resemble the paintings’ subjects stand in front of them.

    And may I ask what “z’l” means after the names of your parents? I presume it’s something along the lines of “of blessed memory,” but my Hebrew is even rustier than my Yiddish!

    A lovely weekend to you and yours.

    • Glad you like my painting. My work is sort of simple : What you see is what you see. Shape, color, texture. No secret meanings, no metaphors. Just another view into the universe.

      z’l = may his/her memory be blessed.

      Thank you for asking.

  6. I’m surprised by the remarkably down to earth comments by both Dawn Wells and Tina Louise.

    I love the Cinema watch by Konstantin Chaykin. It is whimsical, innovative and meticulously designed. I did a cursory searched for a price and I didn’t even find one for sale.

    Both of the Jaguars are beautiful cars, but the XKE is in a class by itself.

    I really like your painting, Robert. Are these series of “The painting, not the . . .” going to be a part of a larger work like your Tribes paintings were, or are they strictly stand alone pieces?

    I’ve meant to ask you. Months ago, you photographed the Motel Grand on Le Cienega Blvd. when it was painted blue. I occasionally check Google Street View and see that it has been remodeled and is now white (except the original sign?). Is it still in operation as a motel? (I don’t know why I have a minor fascination with the particular business!)

    Any idea why BB was recreating the Degas painting?

    Your family photos are very nice. My wife has spent the better part of this winter creating scrapbooks for our kids. Each tells a story.

    Have a nice weekend!

    • I have seen the Cinema watch on sale on pre-owned sites like Chrono 24 for about 100k. Yikes. I’d be frightened to wear something so expensive.

      I have not checked out the motel recently, but last I looked, a few years ago. it was totally derelict and ready for the wrecker’s ball.

      Each painting is a stand-alone.

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