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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“When I die, my epitaph should be: I died a thousand deaths. That was the story of my film career. Most of the time I played in mystery and intrigue stories. They didn’t know what to do with me at the end, so they killed me off.”
—Anna May Wong

 

Dirck Jacobsz. (circa 1497 –1567)
Jacob Cornelisz. van Oostsanen Painting a Portrait of His Wife (Jacobsz’s parents), 1550
oil on panel
Height: 24.4 ″; Width: 19.4 ″
Toledo Museum of Art

 

Elliott Erwitt
California, 1955

 

Rick McGinnis
Pears (Gossip), Toronto, May 2020

 

“They say there’s a thin man trying to get out of every fat man. Well, with me it’s always been the actress trying to get out of being a star.”
—Jane Russell

 

N. C. Wyeth, Saturday Evening Post, cover (Bucking Bronco), 1903. Courtesy of the Brandywine River Museum of Art.

 

Brassaï
The Kiss, c. 1935-37

 

Art Nouveau doorway, Belgium

 

Carl Mydans
Poster of a cinema repertoire In the USSR, 1960

 

 

The Longines Heritage 1945 is a tribute model that has a robust automatic movement. By the insane standards of high horology the watch is almost not insanely priced at $1,800.00. The preowned market will get you a much better deal.

 

Art Deco poster for Longines watches, 1930s.

 

“I was, I am afraid, wildly infatuated with love. At the age of sixteen – when I looked about twenty four – I was playing Robert Taylor’s wife. I’d finish a passionate love scene with him and then the tutor would drag me away to study mathematics. I mean it really kind of made your eyes go crossed.”
—Elizabeth Taylor

 

Félix Vallotton
The Ball (Le Ballon), 1899.
Oil on cardboard. 48 x 61 cm. Musée d’Orsay.

 

John Gutmann
Kids Reading Comics, San Francisco, 1938

 

1953 Morgan Plus Four Roadster

 

Philip Jones Griffith, Cinema display, Thailand, 1977

 

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

 

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Comments

  1. If you can imagine it I remember in 1958 my parents rented a house on Balboa Island and I can remember driving down the PCH (Pacific Coast Highway) and seeing predominately fields…

    • I used to drive down from LA to Newport Beach on weekends. Between the ocean and the city of Santa Ana was nothing but bean fields. It would get so foggy at night that the center lines in the streets had a wavy pattern for 50 feet or so before an intersection to warn the driver. A fraternity brother’s parents lived on Lido Isle. His father owned a hardware store in Costa Mesa on Harbor Blvd.

  2. Jane was a friend and a nice person, but her comment is nonsensical. A star gets the money, an actress works in the middle west or even worse, south Jersey.

  3. I do love that Art Nouveau door. I don’t know that I could live in a completely Nouveau house, but I do like little touches here and there.

    I suppose I ought to know more about Russian cinema, but beyond “Battleship Potemkin” and “Man With A Movie Camera,” my knowledge is pretty much blank. I did buy the series “Miss Mend” from Kino a couple of years back, but have never watched it all the way through.

    And I don’t know what it is about Jane Russell, but she scares me. She’s beautiful, don’t get me wrong, and I love her in “The Paleface,” but she seems to have been the type of woman who didn’t waste time and would tell you off without a second’s hesitation.

    A lovely weekend to you and yours, Robert.

  4. I have to agree with Bill about the Morgan, but I wish the color was a deeper green. This shade reminds me of the Wehrmacht’s green uniforms.

    The Longines Heritage watch is very nice. The blue hands and the simple, clean face. I’m not sure about the band though.

    I do, however, love the Longines Art Deco poster. It is splendid in every detail.

    Elizabeth Taylor was sexy. It apparently didn’t matter if she was posing in a designer gown with her diamonds or just wearing a simple knit top. She had that sex appeal and it showed through the lens of the camera.

    Pinchas and Ariel have the same smile, and Miss Charlotte looks very happy!

    Have a wonderful weekend Robert and Karen.

  5. That Morgan looks as good now as 67 years ago! I would think a 16 year old girl playing a wife would mess most girls up. Particularly when their tutors drag them away.

    Just about every little girl on Russia – at least the USSR – has a giant bow in their hair.

    Profound quote by Jane Russell. Wonder how many people aspire to be a star with acting secondary?

    California in the 50s was paradise. Imagine an affordable home on the ocean, or anywhere (most anywhere).

    • Jane had a weird career, starting as a teen in “The Outlaw.” Married Bob Waterfield, her high school boyfriend. “The Outlaw” was not released for years so she was a star without an acting role until 1946.

      I’ll second California as paradise in the 1950s. I can remember driving across LA from SC to UCLA to pick up a date and then making the trip again to get her home. Freeways were rudimentary. The Harbor Freeway ended at Century Blvd and the Hollywood freeway ended at Barham Blvd. Girls had to be in the dorm or sorority by 12 midnight so we would listen to “Lucky Lager Dance Time” on Saturday night. When “Good night sweetheart” started to play it was 5 to 12 and we had to hurry.

      • Absolutely right about Jane’s career. Her first film in wide release was Young Widow opposite Louis Hayward, which came about in a peculiar way. Originally to star Louis and Ida Lupino, but as the marriage fell apart, Ida opted out, Hayward remained as Howard Hughes took control, and William Dieterle, the original director was gone, with Ed Marin essentially taking over. I like the film, but Jane was not quite up to it, but at its level, it worked well enough. She and the Hayward’s, especially after Dana was born, stayed in touch, which is how I came to meet her.

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