Seraphic Secret

Robert J. Avrech: Emmy Award winning screenwriter. Movie fanatic. Helplessly and hopelessly in love with my wife since age nine.

Joan Collins

Friday Photos: True Hollywood Confessions

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Joan Collins, c.1958
“I never thought I was particularly good looking. But when I see old photographs, I realize that I was. I do wish I had known that at the time because beauty is power. I didn’t realize how lucky I was to be young, beautiful and in Hollywood. It didn’t hit me. Every day I woke up, went to the film studio and just got on with it.”
—Joan Collins

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Friday Photos: True Hollywood Confessions

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“The problem with beauty is that it’s like being born rich and getting poorer.”
—Joan Collins

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Friday Photos: True Hollywood Confessions

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Gene Tierney, 1952 in court during her divorce proceedings against Oleg Cassini.. “I had appalling taste before I met Oleg”, she wrote in her 1979 autobiography Self Portrait. “In my early days in Hollywood, I tried to be economical. I worked with a dressmaker and designed my own clothes, much to my mother’s distress. I had a good deal of fun whipping up what I now realize were atrocities. One night when Oleg came to call I was wearing one of my own creations. I shudder to think of it: a navy blue and pink striped dress, with a navy wool cape lined in the same print. I had on a straw hat, floppy and pink, decorated with a pink rose. I wore pink suede gloves and matching bag, and navy shoes. Oleg strode in the door, took one look at this ice cream confection, and almost passed out. “I won’t take you out dressed like that!”, he bellowed. “First, take off the hat and cape and then go and get a navy bag. Forget the gloves, if you don’t have any navy ones.” Oleg winked at my mother, which made me furious, but I began to suspect that my clothes were getting to be a bit much.” Gene and Oleg Cassini remained friends after their divorce, and Tierney continued to wear his designs for the rest of her life.
“I had appalling taste before I met Oleg [Cassini]”, writes Gene Tierney in her 1979 autobiography Self Portrait. “In my early days in Hollywood, I tried to be economical. I worked with a dressmaker and designed my own clothes, much to my mother’s distress. I had a good deal of fun whipping up what I now realize were atrocities. One night when Oleg came to call I was wearing one of my own creations. I shudder to think of it: a navy blue and pink striped dress, with a navy wool cape lined in the same print. I had on a straw hat, floppy and pink, decorated with a pink rose. I wore pink suede gloves and matching bag, and navy shoes. Oleg strode in the door, took one look at this ice cream confection, and almost passed out. “I won’t take you out dressed like that!”, he bellowed. “First, take off the hat and cape and then go and get a navy bag. Forget the gloves, if you don’t have any navy ones.” Oleg winked at my mother, which made me furious, but I began to suspect that my clothes were getting to be a bit much.” Gene and Oleg Cassini remained friends even after their divorce, and Tierney continued to wear his designs for the rest of her life.
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Take #1: The Meaning of Leaning in Hollywood

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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.

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