Jayne Busts A Move.....

...and a zipper. 

Miller And The Merm

When legends and their wigs collide.

Bronx Betty

LAUREN BACALL

September 16, 1924 - August 12, 2014

The Way We Were

"The best-dressed women in the world are to be found on almost any street in America. Without the small fortune it takes to outfit a fashionable woman abroad, women across the U.S. can outdress all others because of a unique $8 billion ready-to-wear industry which puts no price barrier on style. How well the American woman does is illustrated by the photograph at right. Here are 12 new American designs whose prices range from $10.95 to $1,020..." December, 1956

 

Click to enlarge!

To this we say... What the hell happened, America?!?!

We Survived Another Monday

This just about sums it up.

Lamour, Lamour...

...toujours Lamour.

A Most Suitable Occasion...

 

 

...to wish Doris Mary Ann Kappelhoff a Happy 90th Birthday!

Give The Lady A Hand

"Kisses on your opening." -- A telegram allegedly sent by Tallulah Bankhead to Bette Davis, at the premiere performance of one of the latter's stage shows

A Dahl's House

Yesterday, we dreamt that we paid a visit to Arlene Dahl's charming apartment, circa 1976, in the company of gossip columnist Shirley Eder. In the dream, we are waiting in the apartment (which we dream to be done all in white and Chinese yellow, to best set off Dahl's flaming red tresses) for Arlene to come home; when Arlene finally makes her entrance, Shirley is on the phone, "acting on a tip," so Arlene lavishes her attention on us. We and Arlene mutually exclaim over how gorgeous the other looks, and then giggle as we both admit that everyone always tells us the same thing. "Well, darling," we tell Arlene, "we have three things in common: good genes, good taste, and upkeep." Arlene nods sagely.

Royal Rocks

According to our beloved friend, Lango Aurelian, "Her Majesty's brooch is one of the original pieces of the Cambridge Emerald Parure (removed from the Duchess of Teck's stomacher in 1897)."

Now, show of hands, darlings:

 

How many of you were actually squinting at the screen, searching for an entirely different sort of flash of jewels?

Visit LANGO AURELIAN

SSUWAT Wishes You...

...a Texas-sized fabulous Friday, darlings!

I Could Go On Planting My Own Tree

"Do you think Barbara Parkins can make me sing??? Do you think YOU can...Do you think Ted Casablanca can make me sing??? You can build a crappy mobile, SURE, but can you make me SING under it???"

You Take The High Road...

"There is no feud. I have never had a feud with anyone. But if I ever considered having a feud, it would be with one of the stars of the film." -- Dorothy Lamour on being "replaced" in the Bing Crosby/Bob Hope film, Road to Hong Kong (1962), by Joan Collins

Miss Dinah Shore

With a Cockatoo and a cockamamie dress.

Here's To The Ladies Who Drunch

Which one are you?

Everything Is Beautiful At The Ballet

Miss Charisse's mink is just tutu much.

Get Smart, Come to the Cabaret

BARBARA "Agent 99" FELDON

March 12, 1933

LIZA "Keep it Together" MINNELLI

March 12, 1946

Charlotte Vale

Face Off

Constance Bennett in Madame X (1966, Universal)

"Her face was her talent, and when it dropped, so did her career -- right out of sight!" - Bette Davis on Constance Bennett

Bette Davis in Dead Ringer (1964, Warner Bros.)

The Fabulous Forties

The ideal American beauty, circa 1941

The great screen beauties of the 1940's are a peculiar bunch: for the most part, their stardom (which, in some cases, was extraordinary) failed to outlast the decade. The wartime sirens didn't become warhorse troupers, unlike those whose fame came to the fore in the 1930's, chief among them, Joan Crawford, Bette Davis, Katharine Hepburn, Barbara Stanwyck, Marlene Dietrich, Rosalind Russell, and Olivia de Havilland -- all of whom continued their careers with their stardom undimmed well into the future decades. And even the newer stars that followed in the 1950's, as television encroached and the studio system crumbled, seemed to have greater staying power: witness the longevity of Elizabeth Taylor, Audrey Hepburn, Doris Day, Sophia Loren.

Timeless faces, top to bottom: Joan Crawford, Bette Davis, Marlene Dietrich, Elizabeth Taylor, Audrey Hepburn

The number one box office attraction of the 1940's, Betty Grable, despite remaining a beloved star and icon of her time, was washed up in pictures by 1953. The decade's reigning musical star, Judy Garland, became an even greater legend by the 1950's and 1960's, but largely on the basis of her concert performances and personal triumphs and tragedies -- Garland only acted in four more films after 1950. Only Lana Turner emerged from the 1940's with her movie stardom intact -- and even that was badly waning throughout the entire 1950's, until a potentially damning scandal gave the former Sweater Girl such notoriety that her box office appeal suddenly went into a third act revival.

Lana Turner, a legend in three acts: superstar (1947), on the skids (1950), resurrection (1959)

Most of the celluloid goddesses of the 1940's are frozen in amber, forever shrouded in the shadows of film noir, or enshrined in the nobility of wartime pluck and determination. Unlike their supercharged 1930's predecessors, their glamour wasn't a fantastical illusion, but somehow more realistic -- while still more remote, moody and less approachable than those who inherited the mantle in the 1950's. Over the next few weeks, we shall showcase some of our favorites from the fabulous, fleeting, Forties. Most made films before and after, but the basis of their stardom is contained in that one unique decade. We inaugurate this series with the Most Beautiful Girl in the World...