Adrian

Friday Photos: True Hollywood Confessions

September 14, 2018 by Robert J. Avrech 4 Comments

“The trouble with Hollywood is that the producers and agents are the aristocrats… which made actors who make their living in Hollywood usually feel they are some sort of scum. They looked for other means of showing off and were great on rallies for political candidates.”
—James Mason

Friday Photos: There is No End of History Edition

March 6, 2015 by Robert J. Avrech 6 Comments

Jewish children wearing Purim costumes are guarded by Israel soldiers in the Jewish city of Hebron, currently under occupation by Arab Muslim colonials. — Jewish children wearing Purim costumes are guarded by Israeli soldiers in the indigenous Jewish city of Hebron, currently under occupation by Arab Muslim imperialists.

Benjamin Netanyahu, in his devastating deconstruction of disastrous Obama’s Iranian policy was, in spite of Obama’s unprecedented assault on the Jewish State’s Prime Minister, a Churchillian attempt to preserve Western civilization against the onslaught of IslamoNazis.

Obama’s White House would have you believe that Obama’s problem is a personal beef with Bibi. In fact, Obama’s problem is with Israel, the Jewish State.

Obama views the world as a place where there are no evil people — only those who have legitimate grievances against various power groups. For Obama, Israel is a colonial aggressor against the poor folks of Palestine. And the reason the Palestinians are terrorist barbarians is because the Jews have made them so. This is the ideology of a provincial, dogmatically rigid community organizer who guilted America into electing him to the world’s most powerful office.

Israel will, said Netanyahu, act alone if she must, because once again, the Persian kingdom is on the march and is an existential threat to the Jewish people. Netanyahu’s goal with this declaration, which received one of 42 standing ovations, was to cement Congressional support for an Israeli strike against Iranian nuclear facilities, thereby neutralizing Obama’s poisonous hostility to the Jewish State.

Make no mistake about it, the leader of the free world is Benjamin Netanyahu.

Barack Obama is choosing to take a break from history. And if there is one thing loyal Jews have learned from the Torah it is that history never stops, cycles and patterns never change because human nature never changes. There is good and there is evil, and at some juncture, decent people must make the choice to name, confront, and destroy evil before it is ascendant.

Anyhoo.

Time to enjoy some wonderful photos. Hopefully, there is something for everyone.

Take #1: The Meaning of Leaning in Hollywood

October 2, 2014 by Robert J. Avrech 10 Comments

Jean Harlow relaxes on the set of Dinner at Eight. 1933 Costumes by Adrian, b. Adrian Adolph Greenburg. — Jean Harlow relaxes on the set of Dinner at Eight (1933). Costumes by Adrian, b. Adrian Adolph Greenburg.

Leaning boards ( also called Slant boards) were invented for Hollywood players to relax between takes. Frequently, the costumes were cut on the bias, and tailored so snugly that the actor could not sit down without bursting a ladder of seams. In fact, most of the time, there were no zippers or buttons on the costumes. Actors were sewn into their garments.

So, when you see Jean Harlow in Dinner at Eight, and marvel at the impeccable fit of the famous white silk gown, be aware that Harlow’s mobility was severely limited. In fact, just breathing was something of a chore.

These days, leaning boards are still in use, but they are the exception rather than the rule.

Friday Fashion: The Female Animal

June 15, 2012 by Robert J. Avrech 7 Comments

automotivator(100) — George Hurrell's legendary photo of Jean Harlow on a bearskin rug is the iconic image of the female animal.

In last week’s Friday Fashion post we observed that designers frequently clothe women utilizing fur, feathers and animal patterns.

For as long as fashion has existed, animal metaphors have been an indispensible part of the designer’s lexicon. Hollywood, during its golden age, a leading arbiter of taste, heightened and refined the animal analogy with brilliant costume designers turning ravishing movie stars into expressions of animal desire.

Friday Fashion: The Female Animal

June 8, 2012 by Robert J. Avrech 12 Comments

automotivator(99) — Joan Blondell as leopard woman with the real thing, 1930's Warner Bros. publicity still.

For as long as fashion has existed, animal metaphors have been an indispensible part of the designers language. Hollywood, during its golden age, a leading arbiter of taste, heightened and refined the animal metaphor with brilliant costume designers turning ravishing movie stars into expressions of animal desire.