Saturday, September 28, 2013

Blind Item


From Earl Wilson's column, February 4, 1966: "The feud on the picture, The Group, started when there were only two make-up women for eight stars. One young gal said, 'Let _______ go first, because she's the oldest and will take the longest time.' After that, it got worse."

6 comments:

  1. I just adore the authentic 1930's hair styles and make-up, darling, especially Miss Candace's, just too Dorothy Arzner for words.

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  2. How bizarre! The movie is set in the early-1930s. Shirley Knight looks like she stepped out of 1945. Elizabeth Hartman has long, loose, flowing hair. Probably no woman in the early-1930s walked out of her front door with that style. People would have thought she just rolled out of bed. The others are classic mid-1960s - some glamorous, others less-so. And did women walk around in leather vests in the early-1930s? And, more specifically, leather vests with no blouse on underneath? I think the answer to both questions is "no."

    It is amazing how it was only fairly recently that period movies and TV shows (and maybe even plays) tried to replicate the actual hairstyles and makeup and clothing of the period in which they were set. Another movie that is as bad as "The Group" as far as no regard for the period is "Ship of Fools." That also takes place in the early-1930s. The costumes and hairstyles are all over the place. There is a scene on deck and a young woman in the background is wearing a cute outfit with capri pants. Capri pants! It looked like Mary Tyler Moore as Laura Petrie had wandered onto the set. Seriously!

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  3. When it comes to period costume films from the sixties, the worst culprit is Daisy Clover. The Carpetbaggers runs a close second.

    I'm guessing Carrie Nye said, "Let Candace go first, because she's the oldest and will take the longest time.' After that, it got worse."

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  4. So many '60s-ish period pictures are nearly unwatchable because of the anachronisms - my own peeve is Nicholas and Alexandra, with the Empress and her daughters tottering around under huge beeives, batting artificial lashes of a length not seen since Nita Naldi...

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  5. What a wonderful cast to pull together. What a nightmare it must have been for anyone trying to corral them.

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  6. According to the internet Joan Hackett is the oldest (1934). So if the speaker was correct about the person being the oldest they would be talking about Joan. The younger actresses are Candice Bergen (1946), Elizabeth Hartman (1943), Joanna Prettet (1942), and Jessica Walters (1941).

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