Smoking

Iconista has not smoked for fifteen hours.

It is Hell.

Pola Negri

Take a drag for me, Bette

Deneuve

Lamarr

Romy, bless her

Tallulah. Do you suppose she's waiting for someone to come lift her fingers to her lips?

Here's a dame that doesn't need any help.

Bette

Iconista promises herself daily to find out more about the admirable Davis. But frankly there's only one thing she wants to know: did Davis wish she was prettier? Hell, I hope not. Lauren Bacall irked Iconista enough complaining about being gawky one minute, bemoaning the curse of beauty the next. Frankly I admire women who don't give a damn about the packaging. We all get unwrapped eventually and then it's the filling that counts.

I hate to say this

But all hail the Siren. Overly wordy though she is, the Siren occasionally makes Iconista stop to read.

Iconista liked this post. She didn't read all of it, but concentration has never been one of her good points. I mean it's simply bad manners to devote one's attention to a single guest at a party. (Iconista doesn't linger too long lest her champagne grows flat.)

But the combination of Old Hollywood tittle-tattle and phrases like "waves of crazy" and "sea of batshit" left Iconista blinking with admiration. Read it yourself and share any juicy bits I may have overlooked.

While you have my attention, didn't I promise you big dresses a while ago? Suck these up, sweeties, and if they're not your thing, you can always take what Iconista refers to at dinner parties as "The Vegetarian Option".

Vivien Leigh, Waterloo Bridge

Peggy Fears. You name the movie. I hadn't even heard of the dame.

Bette Davis hamming it up, no doubt in Jezabel

Marlene in The Scarlet Empress, a deliciously weird and gorgeous movie

Garbo pretending to be sweet in Camille. Yeah, right.

Norma Shearer as Marie Antoinette. Sugar-wouldn't-melt bitch playing sugar-wouldn't-melt bitch. Delicious.

Merle Oberon in Wuthering Heights. Bless.

Do I need to tell?

Bette with wisecracks (her's not mine)

OK, I have five minutes before I have to wake the man and feed the boys. How many Bette photos and quotes can I post?




I do not regret one professional enemy I have made. Any actor who doesn't dare to make an enemy should get out of the business.



I was thought to be 'stuck up.' I wasn't. I was just sure of myself. This is and always has been an unforgivable quality to the unsure.



It has been my experience that one cannot, in any shape or form, depend on human relations for lasting reward. It is only work that truly satisfies.



My passions were all gathered together like fingers that made a fist. Drive is considered aggression today; I knew it then as purpose.



To fulfill a dream, to be allowed to sweat over lonely labor, to be given the chance to create, is the meat and potatoes of life. The money is the gravy. As everyone else, I love to dunk my crust in it. But alone, it is not a diet designed to keep body and soul together.





Love is not enough. It must be the foundation, the cornerstone - but not the complete structure. It is much too pliable, too yielding.



This became a credo of mine...attempt the impossible in order to improve your work.