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

by 7 Comments

“Say anything you like, but don’t say I love to work. That sounds like Mary Pickford, the prissy b***h. Just say I like to pinch babies and twist their legs. And get drunk.” -Mabel Normand (1892 - 1930)
“Say anything you like, but don’t say I love to work. That sounds like Mary Pickford, the prissy b***h. Just say I like to pinch babies and twist their legs. And get drunk.”
—Mabel Normand (1892 – 1930)

Painting by Vilhelm Hammershøi
Painting by Vilhelm Hammershøi

 

JAY DeFEO Untitled 1987 Acrylic, oil and graphite on paper 11 1:16 by 13 7:8 in.
Jay DeFeo
Untitled 1987 Acrylic, oil and graphite on paper 11 1:16 by 13 7:8 in.

 

Marlene Dietrich to Orson Welles, Touch of Evil, 1958 Screenplay by Orson Welles Based on“Badge of Evil” 1956 novel by Whit Masterson
Orson Welles, Marlene Dietrich, Touch of Evil, 1958
Screenplay by Orson Welles
Based on “Badge of Evil” 1956 novel by Whit Masterson

 

touch of evilposter

 

Paul Delaroche, The Execution of Lady Jane Grey, 1833. Collection of the National Gallery
Paul Delaroche, The Execution of Lady Jane Grey, 1833. Collection of the National Gallery

 

Tim Walker Karlie Kloss and broken Humpty Dumpty, Rye, East Sussex, 2010 Archival pigment print on Moab slickrock metallic pearl paper 108 x 132 cm
Tim Walker, Karlie Kloss and broken Humpty Dumpty, Rye, East Sussex, 2010 Archival pigment print on Moab slickrock metallic pearl paper 108 x 132 cm

 

Ralston Crawford, Third Avenue El, 1949 oil on canvas 30-3/8 x 40-5/16 x 1-1/2 in. unframed Collection Walker Art Center Gift of the T. B. Walker Foundation, Gilbert M. Walker Fund, 1951
Ralston Crawford, Third Avenue El, 1949
oil on canvas
30-3/8 x 40-5/16 x 1-1/2 in. unframed
Collection Walker Art Center
Gift of the T. B. Walker Foundation, Gilbert M. Walker Fund, 1951

 

“'Garbo didn’t have ‘an ounce of humor in her, but Lubitsch had cleverly utilized ‘all her eccentricities for comic effect. She was tremendously meticulous about her hair, makeup, lighting, jewelry, and costumes. I’d never been so impressed. She knew exactly were the lights were to be set for her.“ - Melvyn Douglas
“Garbo didn’t have ‘an ounce of humor in her, but Lubitsch had cleverly utilized ‘all her eccentricities for comic effect. She was tremendously meticulous about her hair, makeup, lighting, jewelry, and costumes. I’d never been so impressed. She knew exactly were the lights were to be set for her.”
—Melvyn Douglas

 

Francisco Goya (Spanish artist, 1746-1828) The Parasol
Francisco Goya (Spanish artist, 1746-1828) The Parasol

 

Édouard Boubat, France, 1978
Édouard Boubat, France, 1978

 

William John Leech (Irish artist, 1881-1968) The Sunshade, 1913
William John Leech (Irish artist, 1881-1968) The Sunshade, 1913

 

Manny Farber “Check the Leader”, 1984 oil on board, 45 x 84 inches Many farmer was one of our greatest film critics. His collection, Negative Space, is a must read. He was also a wonderful painter.
Manny Farber “Check the Leader”, 1984 oil on board, 45 x 84 inches
Manny Farber was one of our greatest film critics. His collection of film writings, Negative Space, is a must read. He was also a wonderful painter.

 

Michael Kenna Pathway, Sceaux, France, 1998, from the book ‘France’
Michael Kenna
Pathway, Sceaux, France, 1998, from the book ‘France’

 

Paul Newman & Joanne Woodward vacationing across Israel during the filming of Exodus (1959) Photographer, Leo Fuchs
Paul Newman & Joanne Woodward vacationing across Israel during the filming of Exodus (1959) Photographer, Leo Fuchs

 

Robert Motherwell Untitled, 1971 Dimensions unframed 108 × 144.125 × 1.75 inches Materials acrylic on oil-sized cotton Walker Art Center
Robert Motherwell
Untitled, 1971
Dimensions unframed 108 × 144.125 × 1.75 inches
Materials acrylic on oil-sized cotton
Walker Art Center

 

Catherine Deneuve in Repulsion (1965, dir. Roman Polanski) (via) “My aim was to show Carole’s hallucinations through the eye of the camera, augmenting their impact by using wide-angle lenses of progressively increasing scope. But in itself, that wasn’t sufficient for my purpose. I also wanted to alter the actual dimensions of the apartment — to expand the rooms and passages and push back the walls so that audiences could experience the full effect of Carole’s distorted vision. Accordingly we designed the walls of the set so they could be moved outward and elongated by the insertion of extra panels. When ‘stretched’ in this way, for example, the narrow passage leading to the bathroom assumed nightmarish proportions.” -Roman Polanski, (1984)
Catherine Deneuve in Repulsion (1965, dir. Roman Polanski) 
“My aim was to show Carole’s hallucinations through the eye of the camera, augmenting their impact by using wide-angle lenses of progressively increasing scope. But in itself, that wasn’t sufficient for my purpose. I also wanted to alter the actual dimensions of the apartment — to expand the rooms and passages and push back the walls so that audiences could experience the full effect of Carole’s distorted vision.
Accordingly we designed the walls of the set so they could be moved outward and elongated by the insertion of extra panels. When ‘stretched’ in this way, for example, the narrow passage leading to the bathroom assumed nightmarish proportions.”
-Roman Polanski, (1984)

 

Joseph Cornell Untitled (Tilly Losch), c. 1935 - 38 Box construction 10 x 9 1/4 x 2 1/8 inches (25.4 x 23.5 x 5.4 cm) The Robert Lehrman Art Trust, Courtesy of Aimee and Robert Lehrman, Washington, DC Photograph by Mark Gulezian/QuickSilver, Washington, DC © The Joseph and Robert Cornell Memorial Foundation/Licensed by VAGA, New York, New York
Joseph Cornell
Untitled (Tilly Losch), c. 1935 – 38
Box construction
10 x 9 1/4 x 2 1/8 inches (25.4 x 23.5 x 5.4 cm)
The Robert Lehrman Art Trust, Courtesy of Aimee and Robert Lehrman, Washington, DC
Photograph by Mark Gulezian/QuickSilver, Washington, DC
© The Joseph and Robert Cornell Memorial Foundation/Licensed by VAGA, New York, New York

 

Bartolomeo Veneto Young Woman, 1510
Bartolomeo Veneto
Young Woman, 1510

 

Albrecht Dürer, Six Pillows, pen and brown ink, 1493. The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Albrecht Dürer, Six Pillows, pen and brown ink, 1493. The Metropolitan Museum of Art.

 

Roman Vishniac Vishniac’s Daughter Mara in Front of an Election Poster for Hindenburg and Hitler that reads “The Marshal and the Corporal: Fight with Us for Peace and Equal Rights,” Wilmersdorf, Berlin, 1933 “Fight with Us for Peace and Equal Rights” This sounds like the Democrat party whose obsession with equality is, in essence, the road to fascism.
Roman Vishniac Vishniac’s Daughter Mara in Front of an Election Poster for Hindenburg and Hitler that reads “The Marshal and the Corporal: Fight with Us for Peace and Equal Rights,” Wilmersdorf, Berlin, 1933
“Fight with Us for Peace and Equal Rights”
This slogan perfectly fits the Democrat party whose obsession with equality is, in essence, the road to fascism. I expanded on this idea here.

 

L

Above, the bell ringing scene in Black Narcissus (1947) as shot on the studio lot; below, the final scene with the addition of Walter Percer Day's glass matte painting of the Himalayas. (via)
Above, the bell ringing scene in Black Narcissus (1947) as shot on the studio lot; below, the final scene with the addition of Walter Percer Day’s glass matte painting of the Himalayas.

 

Paul Sample, Sand Lot Ball Game, 1938. Oil on canvas. The Arkell Museum, Canajoharie, New York.
Paul Sample, Sand Lot Ball Game, 1938. Oil on canvas. The Arkell Museum, Canajoharie, New York.

 

Robert J. Avrech Silent Picture, Superman Flip-Flop, LAX, 2016.
Robert J. Avrech Silent Picture, Superman, LAX, 2016.

 

Havdalah Spice Container by Bernstein, Bernard, United States 1980 Rosewood Accession #: 1992.036 The Mina Avrech Collection, Yeshiva University Museum, Gift of Robert & Karen Avrech
Havdalah Spice Container
by Bernard Bernstein, United States
1980
Rosewood
Accession #: 1992.036
The Mina Avrech Collection, Yeshiva University Museum, Gift of Robert & Karen Avrech. Karen and I endowed a permanent collection of fine Judaica to the Yeshiva University Museum in memory of my beloved mother.

 

Lielle Meital wishes all our friends and relatives a lovely and inspirational Shabbat.
Lielle Meital wishes all our friends and relatives a lovely and inspirational Shabbat.

 

Ed Ruscha, The Absolute End, dry pigment on paper, 1982.
Ed Ruscha, The Absolute End, dry pigment on paper, 1982.

 

 

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Why should it be so, that the painting by Jay DeFeo makes me think that I’m looking at a box full of crumpled tissue paper and could reach in and take some out, while the one by Robert Motherwell just looks like the wall after the pictures have been removed?
    Give me representational, or better yet, trompe l’oeil, any day.
    Nice group of parasol pictures. That last one is so obviously Irish!
    Pathway–very cool.
    And you could certainly put together a lovely catalog of Judaica!

  2. Today I was reading Peter Bogdanovich’s chapter on Marlene Dietrich. She told him that Hitler wanted to sleep with her and maybe she should have. Maybe it would have changed his view on life.

    • I think had be been accepted to the Viennese art school the world would have been better off 😉

      Dietrich to me was one of the more interesting classic Hollywood stars. I read somewhere that into the 60s when she would go to Germany Germans, who considered her a traitor, treated her with disdain.

  3. Lady Jane Grey: That was a real Game of Thrones. And while I haven’t studied the history in great depth, my superficial impression is that the wrong house won.

  4. Kudos, Robert…. again.

    – I love the display of the Black Narcissus comparison. I am always fascinated how the artists work their magic.

    – Dürer’s Six Pillows: I am terribly envious of people who can draw like this.

    – Goya — superb colors

    – The Execution of Lady Jane Grey — awesome painting.

    …and, of course, your granddaughter!

Leave a Reply