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Post by NoShear on Aug 2, 2024 18:34:19 GMT
^ ...to the jungles of Southern California.  |
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Post by Fading Fast on Aug 2, 2024 18:35:17 GMT
Agreed. I believe those are from "The Thin Man" and she never looked cuter. Plus, those are adorable hats. Yes, Fading Fast; it seemed moot to mention to its subject... Animal Magnetism: Soon tiring of high society, Maureen O'Sullivan was soon off again -
 
P.S. I like the Steve Miller Band. Don't know why, but have always really liked "Jet Airliner." Plus, anyone who can write the line, "Cause I speak of the pompatus of love," gets my vote for something. |
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Post by NoShear on Aug 2, 2024 18:44:09 GMT
Yes, Fading Fast; it seemed moot to mention to its subject... Animal Magnetism: Soon tiring of high society, Maureen O'Sullivan was soon off again -
P.S. I like the Steve Miller Band. Don't know why, but have always really liked "Jet Airliner." Plus, anyone who can write the line, "Cause I speak of the pompatus of love," gets my vote for something. Yes, Fading Fast, I took a little of the proverbial Hollywood license with the release timeline there. I was afraid that song was maybe a bit risque for the thread and, sure enough, you felt compelled to post some of the pre-Code movie's scandalous shots in response! |
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Post by Fading Fast on Aug 2, 2024 18:53:55 GMT
Yes, Fading Fast, I took a little of the proverbial Hollywood license with the release timeline there. I was afraid that song was maybe a bit risque for the thread and, sure enough, you felt compelled to post some of the pre-Code movie's scandalous shots in response!  |
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Post by jamesjazzguitar on Aug 2, 2024 19:59:51 GMT
Steve Miller had very musical parents. Tal Farlow, one of the best 50s jazz guitarist, recorded at the Miller home in the 50s.
Steve was able to meet many musicians like T-Bone Walker and Les and Mary Ford, and Charles Mingus (who was playing with Farlow at the time).
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Post by christine on Aug 5, 2024 6:57:19 GMT
I loved Julie Andrews' outfits in THOROUGHLY MODERN MILLIE 1967!
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Post by BunnyWhit on Aug 6, 2024 3:24:52 GMT
Yes, Jean Louis did such a wonderful stylized wardrobe for Thoroughly Modern Millie. He was Oscar-nominated for the film but lost to John Truscott for Camelot. He did indeed keep Andrews looking modern, Mary Tyler Moore looking feminine, Carol Channing looking glamorous, and Beatrice Lillie looking exotic. Keeping Andrews nearly always in black and white really made her stand out against everyone else, which was entirely the point!
The gray with green beads has always been my favorite.
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Post by christine on Aug 7, 2024 20:00:14 GMT
I've had MEMOIRS OF A GEISHA 2005 on my mind and the magnificent costumes that were designed by Colleen Atwood that won her one of her Academy Awards!
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Post by NoShear on Aug 10, 2024 16:34:46 GMT
Fading Fast, thought of you while watching Holly Hunter wearing a beret-ish hat in THE FIRM... Found this BONNIE & CLYDE shot for you instead:  |
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Post by christine on Aug 11, 2024 6:19:56 GMT
I'm going to complete my list of five actors who I admire - in a very timely manner - since Cary Grant is the SUTS honoree today.
Number five on my list is Cary Grant. As Fading Fast said about Grace Kelly - Cary is kind of the cream of the crop, the top of the heap, "pie'ce de re'sistance" (as the French would say). When you say Cary Grant - even people who know nothing about classic film/Hollywood, know who Cary Grant is. He was the epitome of tall, dark and handsome.
I, of course, adore him for even more than that. I've always been amazed that he never won an Academy Award during his entire career. He seemed to have that something special that makes a real movie star. He could become a character in a dramatic role and just as wonderful in a comedic role. He could break that 4th wall and you're right along with him - and when he had his arms around his leading lady . . .well!
My favorite Cary Grant film is Alfred Hitchcock's NOTORIOUS 1946.
Another Cary Grant movie I love to watch is TO CATCH A THIEF 1955 - also a Hitchcock film.
THE AWFUL TRUTH 1937 has me in stitches every time I watch it.
England gave us a treasure when Archibald Leach came to Hollywood!
Oh, I probably don't have to say it but. . . Dean's still my number one!!!
. . and always will be . . .
So may treasures they left behind for us - that's the power of film!
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Post by christine on Aug 15, 2024 4:44:48 GMT
Award winning designer Edith Head designed the costumes for all the Martin and Lewis movies released by Paramount studios.
SAILOR BEWARE 1952
SCARED STIFF 1953
YOU'RE NEVER TOO YOUNG 1955
and THE CADDY 1953
These movies showcasing Edith's work will be shown on TCM this Saturday during the Summer Under The Stars festival when Jerry Lewis will be shining that day.
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Post by christine on Aug 17, 2024 2:12:45 GMT
I always like to watch GENTLEMEN PREFER BLONDES 1953 whenever TCM shows it. I adore the clothes that Jane Russell and Marilyn Monroe wear but never paid attention to who designed them. So after enjoying the film this evening I decided to research - William Travilla was the costume designer.
This is probably the most famous dress from the movie.
The everyday dresses were gorgeous (not that I look like that everyday LOL).
The colors used together were striking.
The suits are elegant looking.
These two gowns are my personal favorites - when Jane and Marilyn enter the room in these - they're breathtaking!
Beautiful coloring
The 1950's wedding dress - love it.
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Post by BunnyWhit on Aug 17, 2024 15:52:40 GMT
The everyday dresses were gorgeous (not that I look like that everyday LOL)
Travilla's work on Gentlemen Prefer Blondes is a great example of dressing two distinct body types, both to their va-va-va-voomiest.
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Post by BunnyWhit on Aug 17, 2024 16:54:30 GMT
I would like to say a word or two (or twelve -- you know me) about the beautiful orange gown Marilyn wears in the dinner scene in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953). This is one of those gowns that has a, shall we say, less than shining story.
First of all, the gown is beautiful. Travilla dressed Marilyn many times, and she always looked stunning is his creations. She wore this gown to a benefit or two after filming was completed, so obviously she liked it as well. This ruched chiffon gown trimmed with crystal beading is in the most beautiful orange, which is unexpected but perfect for Marilyn's coloring. (Orange is my favorite color; I wear it as a neutral because I think it goes with everything, but this story isn't about me.)
Only three years after the gown caused a stir on Marilyn, it was given to Abbey Lincoln to wear in The Girl Can't Help It (1956). This is where the story gets sticky.
Does Lincoln look gorgeous in the gown? Absolutely! As The Girl Can't Help It was Lincoln's debut film, the studio wanted to make her stand out in the film, thus she was dressed in the "orange Marilyn gown." To be clear, Lincoln is a lovely woman who was in the film to promote her singing. If the studio had wanted to give her a chance at stardom, they'd have given her a better song to sing in the film, and they'd have dressed her in a gown of her own. To make matters worse, there was a great public backlash at having dressed anyone else in the gown.
Lincoln felt being made to wear a gown that was designed for the most famous white sex symbol in movie history was Hollywood's way of forcing her to fit into the white ideal of what was desirable. In an interview with Nancy Wilson for NPR's Jazz Profiles, Lincoln said, "I made some waves [in Hollywood]. But I escaped it because it was about to ruin my life. It was insincere." She made only five films and guested on the same number of television programs. When asked about this by Charlie Rose in 1993, Lincoln replied, "A black woman -- a woman who is black -- who sees herself as an actress, is in trouble in this world."
As for the fate of the orange dress, Lincoln told The New York Times, "Shortly after the film, I burned it in an incinerator to make sure I’d never wear it again.” Though die-hard Marilyn fans viewed this as an act of vandalism and destruction of an icon, through its controversy it had become a symbol of something far less tasteful, and that is what Lincoln wished to eliminate. In the same interview with the Times, Lincoln said that it was her press agent who had pushed for the use of the gown, that he had "invented a portrait of [her] as an imitation of Marilyn Monroe" which made her feel like "a fake." Lincoln felt the gown was more important than she was, that audiences were looking at her figure and comparing it to Monroe's, and none of that had anything to do with her music.
When Lincoln left Hollywood for New York, she began writing her own music which was informed by her involvement in the civil rights movement. She was twice nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Jazz Vocal Performance, and she was awarded the National Endowment for the Arts Jazz Master Award in 2003.
Abbey Lincoln in The Girl Can't Help It (1956)
Abbey Lincoln with the Max Roach Quartet in Belgium (1964) -- "Driva Man" is in the tradition of the plantation folk song "Waterboy."
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Post by NoShear on Aug 17, 2024 17:07:55 GMT
EMPTY HANDS is said to have been first released one hundred years ago on this day... Norma Shearer is seen striking a vamp pose for our resident fashionista approval:  Having read the film's source, the above scene's still is a bit confusing to me and may never have an answer as the 1924 movie is listed as lost. This still is much more in keeping with the novel's storyline:  With her full face and light eyes, I can only imagine what Norma Shearer would've looked like in color motion: 
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