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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“Living is like tearing through a museum. Not until later do you really start absorbing what you saw, thinking about it, looking it up in a book, and remembering — because you can’t take it all in at once.” —Audrey Hepburn
“Living is like tearing through a museum. Not until later do you really start absorbing what you saw, thinking about it, looking it up in a book, and remembering — because you can’t take it all in at once.”
—Audrey Hepburn

Utamaro, Woman Wiping Sweat, Woodblock print, 1798.
Utamaro,
Woman Wiping Sweat, Woodblock print, 1798.

 

Andrew Follows 1930s Chevrolet hotrod 2016 From the series Carmania 2 Digital photograph
Andrew Follows
1930s Chevrolet hotrod
2016
From the series Carmania 2
Digital photograph

 

Thomas Eakins American painter and photographer (b. 1844, Philadelphia, d. 1916, Philadelphia) Clara c. 1900 Oil on canvas, 61 x 51 cm Musée d'Orsay, Paris
Thomas Eakins
American painter and photographer (b. 1844, Philadelphia, d. 1916, Philadelphia)
Clara
c. 1900
Oil on canvas, 61 x 51 cm
Musée d’Orsay, Paris

 

Saul Leiter “Remy, c. 1950”
Saul Leiter
“Remy, c. 1950”

 

Self Portrait by John Collier (early 1900s) Plymouth City Museum and Art Gallery, Plymouth, England
Self Portrait by John Collier (early 1900s) Plymouth City Museum and Art Gallery, Plymouth, England

 

Robert Motherwell, Beside the Sea No. 22, 1962, Oil on Strathmore Paper,73.7 x 58.4 cm 3y
Robert Motherwell, Beside the Sea No. 22, 1962, Oil on Strathmore Paper, 73.7 x 58.4 cm.

 

“My god, I had black hair — it was photographed blue-black it was so dark — and thick bushy eyebrows. And my mother and father had to stop them from dying my hair and plucking out my eyebrows. The studio even wanted to change my name to Virginia. They tried to get me to create a Joan Crawford mouth when I first began using lipstick at fifteen. They wanted, you know, Joan Crawford, the ‘40s and everything. Every movie star, Lana Turner, all of them, painted over their lips: and I’m sure that some of them had perfectly fine, full lips — but thin eyebrows were the fad…and God forbid you do anything individual or go against the fad. But I did. I figured this looks absurd. And I agreed with my dad: God must have had some reason for giving me bushy eyebrows and black hair. I guess I must have been pretty sure of my sense of identity. It was me. I accepted it all my life and I can’t explain it. Because I’ve always been very aware of the inner me that has nothing to do with the physical me.” —Elizabeth Taylor
“My god, I had black hair — it was photographed blue-black it was so dark — and thick bushy eyebrows. And my mother and father had to stop them from dying my hair and plucking out my eyebrows. The studio even wanted to change my name to Virginia. They tried to get me to create a Joan Crawford mouth when I first began using lipstick at fifteen. They wanted, you know, Joan Crawford, the ‘40s and everything. Every movie star, Lana Turner, all of them, painted over their lips: and I’m sure that some of them had perfectly fine, full lips — but thin eyebrows were the fad…and God forbid you do anything individual or go against the fad. But I did. I figured this looks absurd. And I agreed with my dad: God must have had some reason for giving me bushy eyebrows and black hair. I guess I must have been pretty sure of my sense of identity. It was me. I accepted it all my life and I can’t explain it. Because I’ve always been very aware of the inner me that has nothing to do with the physical me.”
—Elizabeth Taylor

 

Maarten van Heemskerck Portrait of a Lady Spinning c. 1531
Maarten van Heemskerck
Portrait of a Lady Spinning c. 1531

 

Saul Leiter Rabbi Wolf Leiter, my father, 1948 8 7/8 X 13 inches Gelatin silver print; printed 1960s
Saul Leiter
Rabbi Wolf Leiter, my father, 1948
8 7/8 X 13 inches
Gelatin silver print; printed 1960s, Howard Greenberg Gallery

 

 

John Frederick Peto American painter (b. 1854, Philadelphia, d. 1907, New York City) Tom's River 1905 Oil on canvas, 59 x 41 cm Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid
John Frederick Peto
American painter (b. 1854, Philadelphia, d. 1907, New York City)
Tom’s River
1905
Oil on canvas, 59 x 41 cm
Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid

 

Since Humphrey Bogart was shorter than Ingrid Bergman, he wore these platform shoes during the filming of Casablanca.
Because Humphrey Bogart was shorter than Ingrid Bergman, he wore these platform shoes during the filming of Casablanca.

 

 

Charles Rennie Mackintosh (1868-1928) - "Argyle" Chair. Circa 1900
Charles Rennie Mackintosh (1868-1928) – Argyle Chair, Circa 1900

 

Tango in the East End, London - by Thurston Hopkins - 1954
Thurston Hopkins, Tango in the East End, London, 1954

 

“I was never one to think that because you are in the picture business, because you’re an actor, you’re a special person. Not at all… If you’re lucky, you bring a little excitement to the world. If you’re really lucky, you lend your fame to worthwhile causes… Apart from that, you’re just another human being, trying to make a living, doing it the best way you possibly can.” —Buster Crabbe
“I was never one to think that because you are in the picture business, because you’re an actor, you’re a special person. Not at all… If you’re lucky, you bring a little excitement to the world. If you’re really lucky, you lend your fame to worthwhile causes… Apart from that, you’re just another human being, trying to make a living, doing it the best way you possibly can.”
—Buster Crabbe

 

Edward Harrison May American painter (b. 1824, Croydon, d. 1887, Paris) Jewish Captives at Babylon 1861 Oil on canvas, 198 x 131 cm Private collection
Edward Harrison May
American painter (b. 1824, Croydon, d. 1887, Paris)
Jewish Captives at Babylon
1861
Oil on canvas, 198 x 131 cm
Private collection

 

Saul Leiter “Deborah at Tante (Yiddish: aunt) Esther’s, c. 1947”
Saul Leiter
“Deborah at Tante (Yiddish: aunt) Esther’s, c. 1947”

 

Poster for The 39 Steps (1935) - directed by Alfred Hitchcock and starring Robert Donat and Madeleine Carroll
Poster for “The 39 Steps” (1935) – directed by Alfred Hitchcock and starring Robert Donat and Madeleine Carroll

 

Channa Horwitz, Sonakinatography, Composition XVII, 1987–2004. Casein paint on mylar. Courtesy the Estate of Channa Horwitz. Photo: Timo Ohler.
Channa Horowitz, Sonakinatography, Composition XVII, 1987–2004. Casein paint on mylar. Courtesy the Estate of Channa Horwitz. Photo: Timo Ohler.

 

Gjon Mili Alfred Hitchcock, 1942
Gjon Mili
Alfred Hitchcock, 1942

 

Robert J. Avrech, Karen Discovers a Silent Picture, Jewel Avenue, Queens NY, 2016
Robert J. Avrech,
Karen Discovers a Silent Picture,
Jewel Avenue, Queens NY, 2016

 

Pinchas Tzi wishes all our friends and relatives a lovely and meaningful Shabbat.
Pinchas Tzvi, named after Karen’s beloved father, wishes all our friends and relatives a lovely and meaningful Shabbat.

 

Buster Keaton’s “The Frozen North” (1922)

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Comments

  1. Buster Crabbe’s daughter, Sandy was at USC with me in the 50s. She dated a fraternity brother of mine. She died of anorexia nervosa about 1957. Sad. Nobody knew much about it then.

  2. Elizabeth Taylor and Buster Crabbe seemed to have their heads on right.

    Didn’t realize that about Bogie! You never got the feeling he was walking awkwardly

  5. Pinchas. Splendid. This was my great-great-grandfather’s name, according to my great-grandfather’s gravestone. Reb Pinchas HalLevy of Zlatopol, now in the Ukraine.

  9. Elizabeth Taylor’s comment is one of the rare occasions we do not have self indulgent boiler plate from one of these people. A smart girl, and an honest one, although it should be no surprise that the two go together.

  10. Congratulations on the birth of your newest grandchild – Pinchas Tzvi! Such a content looking baby. Is that your finger in the photo, Robert?

    Again, a wonderful Friday Photos edition. A wonderful way to start my day.

    Now, on to see about the Brexit news. Have a wonderful Sabbath.

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