Tuesday, April 20, 2010

Hairpiece to Heaven


The premiere of Madame X (1966): a slightly-soused Lana Turner (wearing a gown of her own design), Elke Sommer, Ann Miller, Zsa Zsa Gabor, Maureen O'Hara and Marie Wilson, all trying to out-do (no pun intended) one another in the bouffant wars, while Anne Francis is surprisingly soignee in understated chinchilla and Lizabeth Scott does the sleek lesbian bit and shows off a dangerously chic pageboy. We want to live in this video.

11 comments:

  1. Wow. Elke's ensemble kinda knocked me out.

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  2. too fabulous!
    I miss Elke. She was completely gorgeous.

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  3. That was so much fun to watch! Where do you find this stuff?!
    P.S. Miss Lana and I share the same birthday - Feb. 8.

    XOXO
    Deb

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  4. Kinda cheap-it was a buffet, no table service. Guess those union waiters would have cost too much

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  5. Loved Lana's hair. LOVED Cheryl Crain's appearance. Hated Zsa Zsa in RED hair. Just not my Zsa Zsa.

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  6. We want to live in this video.

    In our minds you DO.

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  7. "The women dry their eyes and the festivities begin"

    Sounds about right.

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  8. Was Zsa Zsa's hair dyed for Picture Mommy Dead? I think she stepped in for Hedy LaMarr and couldn't be blonde because Martha Hyer was? Not sure about that.

    Neat to see the lemons everywhere in the clip. Lana loved lemons, even preferring them in her dressing room to fresh flowers. When she and Ross Hunter had a blowup during filming, he brought her a peace offering of a lemon arrangement (from the sounds of it in this clip, she may have been putting slices into a drinky-winky or two!)

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  9. Felix - I just adore fur-trimmed anything. Except vintage Sean Connery, where the fur should be allowed to roam free.

    Jason - I wonder if she and Zsa Zsa ever mended their fences, now that St. Zsa Zsa of Gabor is 106, and Elke is 98. It's like the road company version of the Joan Fontaine/Olivia de Havilland feud.

    Debbie - Feb. 8 is a glamorous day! Next year, I'll be sure to whip up a Miss Jennie original in your honor.

    Labuanbajo - Ross Hunter spent all of the money on Lana and Constance Bennett's wardrobes, methinks.

    Cookie - Cheryl was a stunner in the mid-1960's, and is still a very attractive lady.

    MJ - Who am I, then: Lana, Elke, or Ann Miller? On second thought, don't answer that.

    FlowerBell - And the gay men dry their pants. You know some queen wet himself the first time he saw those Jean Louis gowns, David Webb jewels, and Ben Kahn furs flouncing across the screen.

    Fashion Serial Killer - Makes today's premieres seem so... blah, doesn't it?

    Poseidon3 - Yes, definitely for Picture Mommy Dead. I had no idea she had replaced Hedy Lamarr, though! As always, you're a treasure trove of information. And boy, I'd never heard Lana tipsy in public before, but from the sound of it, the interviewer probably caught a buzz from her breath!

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  10. TJB, I was looking something up in my mini-library last night and saw Zsa Zsa's auto-bio One Lifetime Isn't Enough (a VERY easy and catty read, BTW) and she states that she was called in late in the game to replace Hedy due to her having been arrested for shoplifting. She mentions, though, wearing a red wig for PMD, but in this clip it looks more like she dyed her hair to me! Who knows.....

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