“I would prefer to live forever in perfect health, but if I must at some time leave this life, I would like to do so ensconced on a chaise lounge, perfumed, wearing a velvet robe and pearl earrings, with a flute of champagne beside me and having just discovered the answer to the last problem in a British cryptic crossword.”
—Edith Head
Moonlight, 1895
Lost Child in a Department Store, New York
1955
Chanukah 3
1978
Oil on canvas
“I am endeavoring to find that blush of light over light and the color within the light; the depths through which we see when we look into and not at color.”
Young Woman On The Shore
1896
aquatint, zinc
219 x 288 cm
The Munch Museum
Paris, 1953
“Lois Lane, bless her heart, was pretty much a working girl like I was.”
R.I.P. Noel Neill (November 25, 1920 – July 3, 2016)
— Marlon Brando
“New York Office”
1962
Oil On Canvas
40 1/2 x 55 1/8 in.
102.87 x 140.02 cm
Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts
The Blount Collection
On display in the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Errol Flynn to Olivia de Havilland in “They Died With Their Boots On” (1941)
Screenplay by
Æneas MacKenzie
Wally Kline
Lenore J. Coffee
Sterling Silver Tzedakah (Charity) Box
Walking & Talking & Garages, Flushing, Queens, N.Y. 2016
Is it just my imagination, or has the photograph with Jimmy Stewart been subtly censored?
Whatever her relationship with her sister–and aside from sniping in person or in print, did they ever come out with really harmful, nasty revelations about each other? did they break up the other’s marriages (I don’t want to know!)–it is to Ms. deHavilland’s credit that after her divorce from her husband Pierre Galante, they stayed friends and she took care of him during his final illness.
As a child I saw her movies before seeing any starring Joan Fontaine, and frankly, most of Olivia’s movies were a lot more enjoyable to watch. (Rebecca–I can’t stand Olivier and wish Ronald Colman had played deWinter). She seems to have had a better sense of humor. Ms. Fontaine always seemed a little peeved about something. Given a choice of an hour in Ms. deH’s company or Ms. Fontaine’s I know what I would have picked.
They are both serious and deserving parts of Hollywood history
Indeed; just stating a personal preference–perhaps affected by the fact that I’d also rather read Rafael Sabatini than Daphne du Maurier.
On a different tack: Were some of the pictures picked for their Jewishness? At first glance the stained window characters looked like men wearing talleisim, and the stones in the gun handle remind me of the stone-studded silver covers of siddurim, etc. that my grandfather z”l used to bring us from Israel in the ’60s. Thanks for the memories!
“No, no, Jean, the t is silent, as in Harlow.”
Serene:
I confess I did not see the Jewish content in the stained glass window or the pistol—but now I do:-)
BTW Robert I read an interesting factoid on Vivien and GWTW.
At the time of the movie’s inception she was in love with Laurence Olivier and followed him to California from Britain.
At the urging of her agent she managed to get in contact with David O Selznick and have a screen test for the role of Scarlett O’Hara. If I remember the story right Paulette Goddard at the time had the inside track.
Selznick had a problem with Paulette though. She was living with Charlie Chaplin across the street from Selznick and he wondered if that would be a big negative in public acceptance.
Vivien got a reading and of course the rest is history
Olivia seems to have aged a lot better than Marlene Dietrich. I forget who was trying to interview her for something – he was a German actor – Maximilian Schell? – but Dietrich lived like a Howard Hughes recluse in her Paris apt.
The premier of GWTW reminds me that I saw somewhere that MGM had a test screening of it in a Riverside CA theater before the “premier” and they knew they had a winner.
You own photos are, as always, excellent. Are you in the movie business? 😉
Bill,
The whole point is Dietrich was apparently sensitive about her appearance. She may have looked just fine, but we don’t know. She hid from the camera. And she is not the only former star to shun the spotlight. ASs for Olivia, I agree she looks well and healthy, but clearly is not vain relative to her appearance.
I have a DVD of “They Died With Their Boots On.” I’ll have to watch it again.
The one movie I wish she had not made was “Snake Pit” which was very harmful to mental health. It, plus “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest,” destroyed mental healthcare just as we were getting past psychoanalysis and getting some drugs that worked.
The “Homeless” problem is the result.
Michael:
Hollywood message pictures are almost always bad movies with bad messages. As LB Mayer said: “If you want to send a message, use Western Union.”
I haven’t much time to comment, but kudos on another wonderful Friday Photos edition, Robert!
Joe:
Thanks so much. Have a lovely Shabbat.
Better now!