“I walked on the “Philadelphia Story” (’40) set just as they were shooting the last love scene between Katie Hepburn and Jimmy Stewart. I must say they were both in the mood–especially Jimmy, who had suggestions for improvement until they’d taken five takes. After each he sheepishly exclaimed, “And I’m getting paid for this!” I congratulated him on the improvement of his love technique and asked him to light my cigarette. His hand shook so much he could hardly manage it.”
—Hedda Hopper (1940)
Vincent Van Gogh
The Old Tower (1884)
Gertrude Käsebier, “Lollipops.” Mina Turner and her cousin Elizabeth in Waban, Massachusetts. 1910. Dry plate glass negative.
Barnett Newman (American, New York 1905–1970 New York)
Concord, 1949
Oil and masking tape on canvas
89 3/4 x 53 5/8 in. (228 x 136.2 cm)
Kyōko Kagawa, and Kazuo Hasegawa In The Crucified Lovers, 1954, a powerful movie about love, duty, honor and courage in 17th century Japan. Hint, the ending is not happy.
Japanese poster, The Crucified Lovers, 1954
Robert J. Avrech
Karen Catches Light
2016
“If an audience didn’t like us we had no trouble finding it out. We were pelted with sticks, bricks, spitballs, cigar butts, peach pits and chewed-out stalks of sugar cane. We took all this without flinching – until Minnie [their mother] gave us the high-sign that we’d collected our share of the receipts. Then we started throwing stuff back at the audience and run like hell for the railroad station the second the curtain came down.”
—Harpo Marx, on the Marx Brothers’ early days as traveling vaudevillians.
Pieter Claesz (Berchem 1597/98-1660 Haarlem), Still Life with Roemer, Tazza, and Watch, 1636, oil on panel, 44 x 61 cm (17 5/16 x 24 in.), Royal Picture Gallery, Mauritshuis, The Hague
Gunnar Smoliansky Sodermalm, Stockholm, 1959
Sean Scully
‘Pale Fire’, 1988
Oil on linen, 243.8 x 372.1 cm.
Harold Eugene Edgerton
Cutting the Card Quickly 1964
Francesca Woodman, Untitled, 1979
Randall Model #27, “Trailblazer” with stainless 5-3/4″ blade, nickel silver hilt, with ivory center section and a Randall Duralumin butt cap.
Leonardo da Vinci
Study for the Head of Leda
Rick McGinnis
Earlscourt Park, February 2017
“Nothing in the world can be compared to the human face. It is a land one can never tire of exploring. There is no greater experience in a studio than to witness the expression of a sensitive face under the mysterious power of inspiration. To see it animated from inside, and turning into poetry.”
—Carl Theodor Dreyer, Thoughts on My Craft
Lisbeth Movin in Day of Wrath, 1943, directed by Carl Theodor Dreyer, one of the greatest movies ever made.
Written by Carl Theodor Dreyer, Poul Knudsen, Mogens Skot-Hansen
Based on Anne Pedersdotter by Hans Wiers-Jenssen
Picasso
Self-Portrait (1901)
oil on canvas
My mother
Mina Keiler Avrech, z’l 1923-1989
1954 MG TF 1250
Charlton Heston and Janet Leigh in Touch of Evil, 1958
Screenplay by Orson Welles, Based on Badge of Evil, 1956 novel by Whit Masterson
Passover Set
Artist/Maker: Ludwig Yehuda Wolpert
American, b. Germany, 1900-1981
Place Made: New York, United States
Date: 1930 Frankfurt, produced 1978
Silver, ebony, and glass
Seder Plate: 4 1/16 × 13 5/16 × 11 7/16 in. (10.3 × 33.8 × 29.1 cm) Cup: 6 3/16 × 2 7/8 in. (15.7 × 7.3 cm)
Gift of Sylvia Zenia Rosen Wiener to The Jewish Museum, N.Y.
Livia and Maayan wish all our friends and relatives a beautiful and inspirational Shabbat.
Ariel Chaim Avrech, ZT'L, May His Righteous Memory be a Blessing.
10 Comments
I usually notice a difference between Jimmy Stewart’s acting in pre-war roles compared to the many movies he made after coming back from from flying bombers. The younger Stewart always seems like just another happy-go-lucky naive young actor. After the war he seemed to have a depth, a certain edginess below the surface that hadn’t been there before. I think this is why Hitchcock liked to cast him in his films.
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I missed the fact that it is a TF model. I didn’t even know there was one. I knew people with the TC model and the TD but have never seen a TF before. It looks exactly like the TD.
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Without looking it up I think the TF was the last MG before the MGA.
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I want the MG TD. One of my fraternity brothers had one and I used to drive it. I loved it and still think about getting one.
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I don’t know if you would like it on the freeway
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On the story of Jimmy Stewart and the five retakes of the love scene, it reminded me of William Wyler
If I remember correctly actors had ambivalent feelings towards him.
He would order take after take. Many times his back would be turned to the set and he would just be listening. I’m told the making of some like it hot with Marilyn Monroe was excruciating. But by the same token I believe as a director more actors have won Academy Awards with him then any other director. Of course Jimmy Stewart’s retakes were more along the fun line.
Wonderful photograph lollipops. It’s strange to think that those two little girls are most likely gone now but they showed the eternal simple joy the children have.
With the four Stockholm girls that had to of been a serendipitous moment with the photographer
I love to hear the background story of that but I really doubt that that was posed
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Some Like It Hot was directed by Billy Wilder, not William Wyler. Or did I misinterpret your comment?
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Yes, Bill did mistakenly refer to “Some Like It Hot”, directed by Wilder, not Wyler, but Wyler was known for repeated takes and was called names like “40-take Wyler” and “Once-More Wyler”. However, he probably directed more actors to awards than any other director and supposedly taught Laurence Olivier how to act for movies instead of stage. So, Bill’s main points were correct.
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I had more than just an idea about those things.
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Robert, a lovely photo of your mother. If my math is correct, she was probably 17 at the time. Somehow I think the 1940’s hair styles and fashion made teenagers look older and more sophisticated than today’s youth. That includes my generation in the 60’s/70’s — tie-died t-shirts and cut-offs didn’t exactly look sophisticated.
As for the rest of your post… par excellence, sir!
Have a lovely Sabbath everyone…
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