Theda Bara (again)

"I have the face of a vampire, but the heart of a feminist." Theda Bara

You can read about her in this blog. It seemed pointless to repeat the info. I just wanted to show you the glossy pics.

I can only repeat that the journalist who recently wondered at her appeal must have been gorging himself on too much Kylie Minogue and other overly sugary treats.

For Pickfair

In exchange for that lovely story about Theda Bara being wicked because her name spells Death Arab backward (well almost), I'll share my pictures of Nazimova and Negri (and an extra Theda). There is so much to know! I'm still trying to fit Katharine Hepburn into my hectic schedule and she is just the tip of the iceberg. The days are too short!

Dinner at Eight

Last night I watched Dinner at Eight - a long film in its day, running at almost two hours.

I haven't seen it since I was in my twenties, and watching old movies again now, I'm always surprised how grown-up they are. I used to think they were anachronisms - pretend people living pretend lives, but the good ones really do resonate.

Dinner at Eight was particularly apposite because it was made shortly after the Wall Street Crash (it was released 1933, which must mean the script had been written closer to the Crash) and very much deals with the effect of the the financial collapse on business, who became the winners and who the losers in the clear-up afterwards. My favourite line came near the beginning when Lionel Barrymore is talking to Marie Dressler (who I want to be when grow old).



Marie plays a retired actress who has been living in Europe and who has returned to America to try and salvage her dwindling finances. Lionel sighs and points to the window: "those are your financiers, sitting out there on benches" (I paraphrase, but you get the idea. It reminded me of recent BBC footage of suited cityboys gathered disconsolately outside the pubs of London's Square Mile).



Of course Harlow was wonderful - I'm still trying to decide what makes her so sexy - I don't think she's beautiful and her figure isn't voluptuous like Munroe, but she has such a fleshy presence that even when she's sounding off like a fishwife or putting the final touches to her make-up you're always aware of her body.



Finally before I drone on, one note of irony: Billy Burke, who plays the wife of the shipping magnate whose business is sinking, only returned to Hollywood to make some money after her husband Florenz Ziegfeld lost everything in the Crash. Which makes the scene where she switches from silly socialite to loving-wife-on-an-economy-drive all the more poignant. I couldn't help feeling she'd been there and done that for real.

Theda Bara

I stole this photo from Parker because I loved it so much.
Theda Barra is on my to do list. I know little of her except for an article I read in a Sunday paper a year or so back in which the journalist wondered why she was considered such a beauty. Duh!

Mind you, Parker has also been considering a Danish silent actress called Asta Nielsen. Now she was a bit of a trout...although in this photo she does have something.



This picture of Lombard and Gable is a bonus, only thrown in because it has Walter Winchell who has been an object of interest for me for some time now. One can't help feeling Carole is hoping it stops soon.

Ava

Is this not gorgeous?

Guess the film

I have to deliver a ms by the end of October, so forgive me if my blogging gets a little intermittent. Personally, I'm increasingly loving short, photo-rich blogs. Much as I love Sheila O'Malley and the Siren's long thought-provoking essays, I can't help feeling that these super-women have more hours in the day than the rest of us (though the bitchy part of me simply assumes they're barren spinsters with sugar daddies to pay their rent and food. Which reminds me, any sugar daddies reading this may apply to the.iconista at gmail.com).

So here's a quick offering snatched from my current favourite blog (I'll tell you which one later, if I told you now, you'd cheat.)

Which film is this from?

I knew the moment I saw - which isn't boasting beacuse I'm usually crap at this kind of thing. I think my recognising the film from this single iconic shot is a testament to the quality of the movie, which I've seen only once, but which still plays regularly in my head.

P.S. The Deneuve photo at the top is by Richard Avedon. I threw it in just because it's so gorgeous it seemed mean not to share.

Pick of the Week

It's Sunday, so I thought I'd pull together and share some of the stuff Ive been enjoying this week. Just click on the pictures in the rest of this post to find out more.