Bathing boxes, Brighton 1933, Melbourne
Oil on board
Raymond Hood, designer of 30 Rockefeller Plaza, the Daily News Building, and the American Radiator Building, planned a series of “apartment bridges” to reduce congestion and provide New Yorkers with a unique, water-focused lifestyle. His plan featured 50- to 60-story apartment towers for 50,000 people on either side of a broad roadway, built on a suspension bridge. There were shops, theaters, and walkways, while elevators gave residents access to the river. “Not to embrace this opportunity is to neglect the very pick of metropolitan locations,” said Hood.
—Jean Harlow
—Carole Lombard
Breakfast at Berneval, 1898
oil on canvas: 82 X 66 cm.
Scarborough Bluffs, Toronto, Sept. 2020
Carole Lombard’s comment, it is easier to die when the heart is full of gratitude, is the first film star quote that I’ve read which made sense and is not contrived by and for fools.
The Renoir painting immediately made me think of “The Godfather” and the scene where Vito’s wife is serving the three men spaghetti.
The apartment /suspension bridge would have been an engineering problem, especially if the cables were replaced with the structure. Maybe if just the pier and towers.
Ava Gardner reminds me of a near misadventure I had in college. I was at a party and two girls told my roommate and I they had never been to Vegas. This was before I became a serious medical student so the four of us took off at 2 AM for Vegas. We arrived about 7 AM and wandered around the casinos for a couple of hours and decided to go home. One girl announced she was not going. She had met a dealer and was staying. We returned, dropping then other girl off at her home on the way.
We went to bed to get some sleep only to be awakened by the host of the party, who was a Redondo Beach cop (Our apartment was on the Esplanade of Redondo) who wanted to know where the other girl was. He told us she was 15! She had been wandering around in casinos and had even been offered drinks by casino staff that was, if anything, tougher about underage then they are now.
Anyway, she showed up a couple of days later, told her parents to cool off and we were off the hook.
Read a biography of William Powell this week. Interesting life. The blows of Jean Harlow, Carol Lombard and then rectal cancer are almost more than one could bear. Then he was married for 45 years to a woman he met soon after. He was extremely lucky to be cured of that cancer. I looked up the details.
Speaking of Powell and Harlow, I read “Deadly Illusions: Jean Harlow and the Murder of Paul Bern” a few months back. The authors’ contention is that Bern’s former lover, Dorothy Millette, killed him and that MGM invented the story of Bern’s suicide to cover it up. Obviously, I can’t say whether the authors are on the right track, but it’s an intriguing little book if you have an interest in Jean Harlow.
I have to agree with Prophet Joe on that Ava Gardner photo. It is. . .unnerving, for lack of a better word. There is so much “knowing” in her look – or, perhaps that’s just us, looking at the 15-year old girl with knowledge of what was ahead of her.
I do love that Shell station. A time and a country that will never be again.
A lovely weekend to you and yours, Robert.
I so look forward to waking up early on Friday mornings to read your posts, Robert.
Loy, Harlow, Lombard, and Gardener are all stunning women. I would be remiss if I did not comment on Ava Gardener’s photo. Most women do not look that mature and alluring at 15 years old. I suspect many a man could have found himself in trouble with the Mann Act, or similar laws, trying to date the young Miss Gardener.
I love the Bugatti design, but yellow is not my color.
That Cartier watch is beautiful. I love the design, but seventy percent of the price is the Cartier name.
I love the Art Nouveau architecture you’ve been featuring lately. I was not familiar with the Casa Mila. I knew of Antoni Gaudi from Casa Batllo and his greatest masterpiece, Sagrada Familia. I love this building and I’m thankful it was saved and restored.
Finally, I am somewhat shocked that Raymond Hood’s idea of “apartment bridges” was not adopted. I love the Art Deco design depicted and this “waterfront design” does seem like a winning concept. I assume the problem is in the engineering. The building/bridge looks like a suspension bridge, but I suspect you could not create a cable large enough to support a skyscraper of that size/weight, so it would have to be a cantilevered design and I suspect that would be a “design difficulty” as well.
Have a wonderful weekend!
PJ:
I also look forward to curating Friday Photos.