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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Anna Lee in How Green was My Valley, 1939. Lee was among the most prominent female members of the John Ford stock company. Ford's pate name for her was Boniface, her middle name (joanna Boniface Winnifrith). Ford's feelings for Lee were cemented when she had a miscarriage while shooting How Green Was My Valley, brought on, it was believed, by collapsing during the scene where she learns her husband has died. She hadn't told Ford that she was pregnant, but he nevertheless, blamed himself. The result was that on every picture Lee worked on with him, Ford would assemble the cast and crew, then ask her if she was pregnant. ”No sir,” she would reply. “I just wanted to make sure.” —Source: Print the Legend, by Scott Eyman
Anna Lee in How Green was My Valley, 1941.
Lee was among the most prominent female members of the John Ford stock company. Ford’s pet name for her was Boniface, her middle name (Joanna Boniface Winnifrith). Ford’s feelings for Lee were cemented when she had a miscarriage while shooting How Green Was My Valley, brought on by collapsing during the scene where she learns her husband has died. She hadn’t told Ford that she was pregnant, but he nevertheless, blamed himself. The result was that on every picture Lee worked on with him, Ford would assemble the cast and crew, then ask her if she was pregnant.
”No sir,” she would reply.
“I just wanted to make sure.”
—Source: Print the Legend, by Scott Eyman

Hashiguchi Goyo Kamisuki Hair, 1920 Taisho era
Hashiguchi Goyo
Kamisuki Hair, 1920
Taisho era

 

Eva Watson-Schütze 1898 Platinum print Image: 17.3 x 12.4 cm Mount: 36 x 20.5 cm Inscription(s):recto (printed label): 97 verso (handwritten in pencil): Ligine Study \ Eva Watson \ …Mathilde… Source: Eastmanmuseum
Eva Watson-Schütze
1898
Platinum print
Image: 17.3 x 12.4 cm
Mount: 36 x 20.5 cm
Inscription(s): recto (printed label): 97
verso (handwritten in pencil): Ligine Study \ Eva Watson \ …Mathilde…
Source: Eastmanmuseum

 

Calli McCaw Imagine That
Calli McCaw
Imagine That

 

Georgia O’Keeffe (1887-1986) Pelvis Series 1947 Oil on canvas 101.6 x 121.9 cm © Georgia O’Keeffe Museum/DACS 2016, courtesy Eykyn Maclean
Georgia O’Keeffe (1887-1986)
Pelvis Series
1947
Oil on canvas
101.6 x 121.9 cm
© Georgia O’Keeffe Museum/DACS 2016, courtesy Eykyn Maclean

 

Brigitte Bardot, 1958 Photo by Nicolas Tikhomiroff
Brigitte Bardot, 1958
Photo by Nicolas Tikhomiroff

 

Edgar Degas The Millinery Shop, 1879-1886
Edgar Degas
The Millinery Shop, 1879-1886

 

“Life seems to be a never-ending series of survivals, doesn’t it?” —Carroll Baker
“Life seems to be a never-ending series of survivals, doesn’t it?”
—Carroll Baker

 

Marsden Hartley Storm Clouds Maine 1906-1907 oil on canvas 30 x 25 inches
Marsden Hartley
Storm Clouds Maine 1906-1907
oil on canvas
30 x 25 inches

 

Andy Galsworthy Sycamore leaves edging the roots of a sycamore tree, Hampshire, November 1, 2013
Andy Galsworthy
Sycamore leaves edging the roots of a sycamore tree, Hampshire, November 1, 2013

 

Hedy Lamarr photographed by Clarence Sinclair Bull, 1939
Hedy Lamarr photographed by Clarence Sinclair Bull, 1939

 

Lucas Cranach the Elder The Death of Holophernes, 1531© Foundation Schloss Friedenstein Gotha
Lucas Cranach the Elder, The Death of Holophernes, 1531© Foundation Schloss Friedenstein Gotha

 

Photo by Jean Loup Sieff
Photo by Jean Loup Sieff

 

Kim Novak in Vertigo, 1958
Kim Novak in Vertigo, 1958

 

Horst P. Horst Lisa with Turban, New York, 1940
Horst P. Horst
Lisa with Turban, New York, 1940

 

Georgia O’Keeffe (1887-1986) Winter Road I 1963 oil on canvas © Georgia O’Keeffe Museum/DACS 2016
Georgia O’Keeffe (1887-1986)
Winter Road I
1963
oil on canvas
© Georgia O’Keeffe Museum/DACS 2016

 

Pierre Bonnard, "Self-Portrait of the Artist," 1930. Watercolor, gouche and pencil on wove paper. 65 x 50 cm.
Pierre Bonnard, “Self-Portrait of the Artist,” 1930. Watercolor, gouche and pencil on wove paper. 65 x 50 cm.

 

“You know, when I first went into the movies Lionel Barrymore played my grandfather. Later he played my father and finally he played my husband. If he had lived I’m sure I would have played his mother. That’s the way it is in Hollywood. The men get younger and the women get older.” —Lillian Gish
“You know, when I first went into the movies Lionel Barrymore played my grandfather. Later he played my father and finally he played my husband. If he had lived I’m sure I would have played his mother. That’s the way it is in Hollywood. The men get younger and the women get older.”
—Lillian Gish

 

Clara Peeters Table with Cloth, Salt Cellar, Gilt Standing Cup, Pie, Porcelain Plate with Olives and Cooked Fowl (1611). Image courtesy of Museo del Prado.
Clara Peeters
Table with Cloth, Salt Cellar, Gilt Standing Cup, Pie, Porcelain Plate with Olives and Cooked Fowl (1611).
Image courtesy of Museo del Prado

 

Paul Outerbridge Kitchen Table 1921
Paul Outerbridge
Kitchen Table
1921

 

Sketches by Marilyn Monroe left, Lover Watching His Love Sleep, c. 1960 Right: Marilyn Monroe, I Must Concentrate, c. 1960. Images courtesy of Julien’s Auctions.
Sketches by Marilyn Monroe
Left: Lover Watching His Love Sleep, c. 1960
Right: I Must Concentrate, c. 1960. Images courtesy of Julien’s Auctions. You can bid on these and more MM memorabilia here.

 

Fred MacMurray and Barbara Stanwyck, Double Indemnity, 1944 Screenplay by Billy Wilder, Raymond Chandler Based on Double Indemnity by James M. Cain
Fred MacMurray and Barbara Stanwyck, Double Indemnity, 1944
Screenplay by Billy Wilder, Raymond Chandler
Based on Double Indemnity by James M. Cain

 

When George Washington wanted a new watch in 1788, he wrote his fellow Founding Father Gouverneur Morris, asking him to buy one for him in Paris. Morris, who would become U.S. minister to France three years later, was making a business trip there. Washington asked for a simple, gold watch of good quality, similar to the big, slender one that Thomas Jefferson had gotten for James Madison. He sent Morris 25 guineas, saying he would pay more if necessary. (This is according to the book Jean-Antoine Lépine, Horloger by Adolphe Chapiro.) Three months later, Morris wrote Washington from Paris that Jefferson had warned him against the maker of Madison’s watch, claiming he was a crook. Jefferson instead recommended that Morris go to another watchmaker, named Romilly. Sadly, Romilly turned out to be a bad apple, too, Morris explained to Washington. Morris then asked a merchant for yet another recommendation, and was given the name of a watchmaker named Gregson. He was no better than the first two. Finally, Morris hit paydirt. He went to Jean-Antoine Lépine, watchmaker to King Louis XVI and one of the greatest watchmakers who ever lived. He bought from him two identical watches, one for Washington and one for himself. They were large, simple, keywound watches with virgule escapements. Washington’s was numbered 5,378. It remained in Washington’s family until 1935. The watch’s cuvette is engraved with the inscription “Remontez à droite/Tournez les Equilles/Lepine Hger du Roy/A Paris.” Source:
“When George Washington’s  wanted a new watch in 1788, he wrote his fellow Founding Father Gouverneur Morris, asking him to buy one for him in Paris. Morris, who would become U.S. minister to France three years later, was making a business trip there. Washington asked for a simple, gold watch of good quality, similar to the big, slender one that Thomas Jefferson had gotten for James Madison. He sent Morris 25 guineas, saying he would pay more if necessary. (This is according to the book Jean-Antoine Lépine, Horloger by Adolphe Chapiro.) Three months later, Morris wrote Washington from Paris that Jefferson had warned him against the maker of Madison’s watch, claiming he was a crook. Jefferson instead recommended that Morris go to another watchmaker, named Romilly. Sadly, Romilly turned out to be a bad apple, too, Morris explained to Washington. Morris then asked a merchant for yet another recommendation, and was given the name of a watchmaker named Gregson. He was no better than the first two. Finally, Morris hit paydirt. He went to Jean-Antoine Lépine, watchmaker to King Louis XVI and one of the greatest watchmakers who ever lived. He bought from him two identical watches, one for Washington and one for himself. They were large, simple, keywound watches with virgule escapements. Washington’s was numbered 5,378. It remained in Washington’s family until 1935. The watch’s cuvette is engraved with the inscription: Remontez à droite/Tournez les Equilles/Lepine Hger du Roy/A Paris.”
Source: Watchtime

 

Robert J. Avrech Silent Picture
Robert J. Avrech
Silent Picture

 

Andy Galsworthy Earth art Oak leaves and hole
Andy Galsworthy
Earth art
Oak leaves and hole

 

Melania Trump, America's First Lady
Melania Trump, America’s First Lady

 

Ori Resheff Hanukkah Dreidel. silver, patinated copper, cast, punched. Gift of Robert & Karen Avrech to the Mina K. Avrech Judaica Collection, Yeshiva University Museum.
Ori Resheff
Hanukkah Dreidel.
silver, patinated copper, cast, punched.
Gift of Robert & Karen Avrech to the Mina K. Avrech Judaica Collection, Yeshiva University Museum

 

Pinchas Zvi (Finn) wishes all our friends and relatives an enchanting and restful Shabbat.
Pinchas Zvi (Finn) wishes all our friends and relatives an inspirational and restful Shabbat.

 

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Comments

  2. I love mechanical watches. I have two and bought my wife a nice Concord wrist watch for Christmas on eBay. Last year I got her a gold charm bracelet which she loves. Both are “Estate” items. That Washington watch is exquisite.

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