My Week With Marilyn.

One of the most beautiful pictures
of Marilyn.

A new movie is out that I will be going to see, it's called My Weeek With Maryilyn. It's released in England on the 25th November.
It's a British film drama by director Simon Curtis and centres around Marilyn Monroe being escorted around England in 1957 by Colin Clark after her then husband Arthur Miller had already left the country at the end of their Honeymoon.
Colin Clark who was an assistant on the film The Prince and The Showgirl, starring Monroe and Laurence Olivier , later wrote two books about his experience when he was asked to escort the famous actress for a week while she tried to escape the Hollywood dramas around her.


Michelle Williams as Marilyn. Picture by
the Weinstein Company.



Michelle Williams stars in the leading role as Marilyn Monroe with Kenneth Branagh and Emma watson supporting. The film opens in the United States first and then comes over to the U.K. 

Can't wait to see this film or all those vintage period costumes. x 

The Thin Lady - Myrna Loy.

As a child I loved murder mystery movies, I avidly read Agatha Christie's book and devoured every Sherlock Holmes novel along with the Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce world war 2  patriotic movie revival renditions. One of the first detective movies I ever watched was  The Thin Man.

Nick, Nora and Asta.

Surprisingly in today's culture private detectives Nick and Nora Charles have it would seem vanished. I can mention them to my peers and few if any would have a clue who they were, not even the mention of The Thin Man films would stir a jot in their memory banks. Why should they? These films were made and finished at least forty years before I was born and in some respects they seem to have got lost in the fog of time.

After watching the endless Summer holiday repeats of the series of films called  The Thin Man, I was highly delighted to find as a teenager in the library one day that they were based on a novel by Dashiell Hammett. He who created other such classic novel characters as Sam Spade,  from his most famous novel The Maltese Falcon. Which EVERYONE and his dog seems to know. Yet I think The Thin Man  is far superior in quality and character both in film and book form......but as the advert says "But that's just me".



"Oh that's alright, we're married!" - Just look
at that GORGEOUS coat!



There were five Thin Man movies made in all : The originial The Thin Man 1934, After The Thin Man 1936, Another Thin Man 1939, Shadow Of The Thin Man 1941, The Thin Man Goes Home 1945 and lastly but certainly not least the Song Of The Thin Man 1947. The films are littered with other famous actors such as Maureen O'Sullivan, Cesar Romero (minus Joker makeup) and Elissa Landi.

An interesting little known fact: Most people think that the title the Thin Man is conferred on William Powell's character, Nick Charles. It isn't, it's actually the soubriquet of the victim in the original novel.



"Waiter will you serve the nuts, I
mean will you serve the guests the
nuts?"



I never thought Nick Charles was terribly convincing or attractive, but Nora now there was a woman who knew her man inside and out. She was the real brains of the outfit and gorgeously dressed along with it. They had the kind of lifestyle and she the wardrobe I desperately desired, along with their cute dog Asta. He was a talented detective she a fabulously rich  Heiress who had indulged in marrying for love. As the films grew we were shown Nora's connections via family and friends to the fabulously wealthy of society's and Nicks charming celebrated acquaintances with the criminal underclasses.

The subtle humour and struggle for power between the two characters was not wasted on my youthful years, I lapped it up. This was the serious business of murder with an under current of relationship humour. Perhaps it shaped my formative mind in more ways than one, but it has since always appealed to me in humour that the woman allow the man to feel he's in charge. As a loving married couple Nick and Nora Charles solve crime and mysteries whilst all the while exchanging a sharp and witty repartee.

Nora patiently putting up with Nick's less than desirably quirks and ways is part of the charm and beauty of the pace of the film. Their constant sarcastic bantering and one up-man-ship of each other jolts the film along with it's sassy trope attitude. Something I'd never seen before, and I liked it! The mixture of old fashioned (back then it was hip and in fashion) slang and street speak mixed in with their upper class accents and characters was a heady eclectic mix of fire and water. Throughout the films there is an onscreen chemistry between the two actors was the key to these films success. In fact most of it was improvised on set and their harmony jelling often led the public to believe that William Powell and Myrna Loy were a married couple off screen as well. Aided by the perfectly adorable white schnauzer, Asta - as loyal and intelligent as Tin Tin's snowy.

The series of films lasted from 1934 until 1947, and always throughout them all it was Nora Charles that caught my heart and beady fashion adoring eyes. Not least because she made the 'old lady name' of Nora glamorous, but for her power, brains, humour and OMG her wardrobe!

She had the most gorgeous arched eyebrows I had ever seen, that incredible vision of loveliness and intelligence with just one small raise of her brows and tight purse of her flawlessly painted lips was Myrna Loy. One of the things I still wish I could do, and I have a little secret practise of every now and then, is to be able to wink with such credibility and seductive flirtacious humour as Myrna whilst playing Nora.

Myrna Adele Williams was born in 1905 in Montana, America. The movie studio changed her name to the charistmatic sounding Loy and she was often type cast in vamp, femme fatale and exotic roles, one of her first being spotted by the great Rudolph Valentino. She was a small time bit actress but this changed in 1934 after the film she was playing in, Manhatten Melodrama, (with actors Clark Gable and coninsidentally William Powell)  was attended by the infamous gangster Johnny Dillinger (recently played in a movie by Johnny Depp) and upon leaving the Chicargo movie theatre he was gunned down by federal agents and died on the pavement outside, bringing the film much publicity after some newspapers reported that Myrna was Dillinger's favourite actress. From then on in her screen luck grew from strength to strength after her first Thin Man movie.

Myrna Loy & William Powell.

Loy was married four times, and never to William Powell despite their on screen chemsitry and audience appeal. Her first husband was movie producer Arthur Hornblow Jnr and her next husband was John Hertz jnr of the Hettz car rental family. Her subsequent husbands were the producer Gene Markey and UNESCO delegate Howland H. Sargeant. Although Loy never had any children of her own she was extremely close to her first husband's children. In later years she had a double masectomy for breast cancer and died during surgery aged 88, on the 14th of December 1993.

There are rumours I heard that they are going to film a remake of the Thin Man. I am going to reserve my judgement. I haven't even looked into who will be playing Nick and Nora, lest I prejudice myself. I recently decided and refused to watch the New Shelock Holmes, because I felt it would never match my childhood memories of Basil Rathbone, but I was more than pleasantly surprised when Mud Boy insisted I watch it and further more that I would love it. He was of course right, darn it! So I shall recieve the film with an open mind, whilst watching my re-runs of the orginals before hand in preparation, so I can scrutinize....carefully. x

Now bring me some more martinis an line 'em up right here.................

The Mystery Of Natalie Wood.

Splashed all over the news this morning was that Detectives have re-opened their investigation after almost thirty years into the mysterious death of Hollywood starlet and glamour puss, the stunningly beautiful Natalie Wood.

She was born Natalia Nikolaevna Zakharenko in July of 1938 in America to Russian parents and grew up fluent in both languages. Their father changed their name to Gurdin , it was RKO Radio Pictures who changed her name to Wood later. The eldest of two daughters, ( Her sister was called Svetlana - better known as Lana Wood, who also became a famous actress ), Natalie was one of Hollywood's child actors beginning at the tender age of four in such classic films as Miracle on 34th Street 1947. She grew to star in some of the most well known movies along side the biggest stars of the Twentieth Century - Rebel Without A Cause 1955, West Side Story 1961, Gypsy 1962, All the Young Cannibals 1960, The Searchers 1956,  and one of my favourites The Ghost and Mrs Muir 1947.

Wagner & Wood in 1960.

Wood always claimed that she had a crush on actor Robert Wagner and on her 18th birthday the studio arranged a date with the then 26 year old actor. They married a year later in 1957 against Natalie's mother's wishes. The couple divorced in 1962 and eight years later in 1969, Natalie married British film producer Richard Gregson. Together they had a daughter Natasha in 1970, but divorced in 1972.

It was in 1972 that Natalie resumed her relationship with her ex husband Robert Wagner and the couple married just months after her new divorce. Their own daughter Courtney was born shortly after in 1974.

On November 29th 1981 her lifeless body was found floating in waters near Santa Catalina Island, South California. She was aged just forty three and was mid way through filming her latest movie with actor Christopher Walken, Brainstorm, which was released posthumously in 1983.

Today, November 18, 2011 the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department announced it had decided to re-open the case of her death after they were made aware of comments made by the skipper of the yacht that he deliberately misled investigators at the request of the actor Robert Wagner, Wood’s then husband.

The married couple had been spending the Thanksgiving weekend together on their yacht, The Splendour, with actor Christopher Walken, when she died. Walken has never spoken publicly about the actress' death to this day.

According to Wagner at the time, they had all been drinking and Natalie had  left to go to the master cabin's bathroom after an argument erupted between the husband and wife. He said when he went to bed later she was not there. At the time of her death being reported there was wide speculation in the press that foul play was involved, but the Los Angeles Coroner ruled that the actress had died from "an accidental drowning".

The coroner's office wrote that Wood had been drinking and was "possibly attempting to board the dinghy and had fallen into the water, striking her face". The dinghy that had been previously attached to the couple's yacht was later found in a Catalina cove.

Today the Los Angeles County Sheriff , Lee Baca, announced to the eager press that they wish to interview the then captain of the yacht, a  Mr Dennis Davern, after he himself recently recounted the case in an interview given to mark the 30th anniversary of Natalie Wood's death. "He made comments worthy of exploring," the Sheriff commented.
According to CNN, the autopsy report at the time said that Natalie Wood had two dozen bruises on her body, including a facial abrasion on her left cheek and bruises on her arms.

However, none of the controversy that surrounds her death has ever been alluring to me. It was always a terrible tragedy to read. To me, Natalie Wood will always be a mystery of Beauty. She will always be the little girl in the Ghost and Mrs Muir with her childish charm and pigtails, or the wild teen in Rebel without a cause. Seeing photos of her and James Dean goofing about on set during filming, or the glamorous woman she grew up to be in the most magnificent photo shoots throughout the Sixties. She was sooooo beautiful, perfectly poised with her almond eyes and pencilled eyes. Luscious glossy dark hair and sweet inviting upturned mouth. A vision of loveliness to behold. Dressed by the studios and turned out with charm, grace and style. I have long envied her. She carried herself with a trace of mystery making beauty look easy and effortless.

Her big doe eyes were in my opinion her best feature. How did she apply her eye makeup was always one of life's biggest mystery's to me and I would spend hours in front of the mirror as a teenager poised with liquid eyeliner in hand and a photo of her taped to my bedroom mirror, trying desperately to get my eyes as perfect as hers and not to poke one of mine during the unsteady hand process of gaining a perfect black straight line. Nerve wrecking stuff for a novice. Even to this day I will have her eyes in mind as I apply my 'everyday look' liquid liner and mascara.
For nearly thirty years a dark mystery has hung in the air surrounding one of Hollywood's most beautiful and fragile stars, who knows - perhaps 2012 will be the year that she can finally rest in peace without any more controversy..... and the truth will finally be revealed to the satisfaction of the world once and for all.

Natalie Wood 1938 - 1981.

Edith Head - the designer who spoke womanese with ease.

One cannot even think of Hollywood 1930's glamour movies without thinking of the legendary influential Edith Head. Not only did she design for the films but the actresses themselves. There is no one more iconic than she. She was costume designer extordiaire!
An yet somehow whilst dressing the top Hollywood stars and seeing them stripped down before her large mirror in just their bare necessities she still managed to stay humble to the core, graceful in her taste and style and remain in the background, which is exactly where she felt the most comfortable. This was a woman who believed and I quote,
"You can achieve anything in life if you dress for it".

Her career spanned six decades of Hollywood style and she dressed over 1,000 films. Which when you work it out is roughly about 35 films a year. She was prolific in her designs and dedication. This means if you think about it she would have dressed just about every movie star who graced the silver screen. She was a woman who dominated a world ran by men and commanded respect, all this she did in her own quiet yet determined way.

With everyone the world over admiring her taste and good measurements Edith wrote two books in her long career, The Dress Doctor and How to Dress for Success. She was the first and original Trinny and Susannah rolled into one. The Great Auntie to Auntie Gok. Being so intimate with the movie stars gave Head inside knowledge to their real sizes and insecurities, after all she was the one paid to hide them boasting that she was 'magician' , saying,
 "I accentuated the positive and camouflaged the rest".

Head had the talent to spot the best feature in a person and flaunt it, often making them a star in the process. Certainly she made them a pin up and their clothes something to be copied and desired by American and English audiences alike, producing sewing patterns and ready made store pieces.

Quote: "You dress should be tight enough to show you're a woman but loose enough to show you're a lady".

Hired by the studio at Paramont Pictures as a sketch artist she eventually became head designer with her sketches. Edith won eight oscars in her life for her creations on screen, later quoting ,
"There were eight men in my life, they were all named Oscar". That's more than any other woman has in Hollywood has ever won.

Edith Head dressing Sophia Loren.

Born Edith Claire Posener in 1897 California, USA  she was talented enough to gain entry to art college where she met and married Charles Head, a brother of one of her classmates, although the marriage ended in 1936 due to divorce Edith still kept her professional names as Head right up until her death in 1981 when she passed aged 83.
She worked at Paramount Pictures for forty three years before moving to Universal Pictures and evntually Universal.
Edith married studio set designer Wiard Ihnen in 1940, their marriage lasted until his death from prostate cancer in 1979.

Quote: "Good clothes are not a matter of good luck"

Audrey Hepburn dressed by E.Head
for Sabrina.

Edith was well known for her low-key working style and, unlike many of her male contemporaries, she usually worked exculsively with the female stars of the studio. As a result she was a favorite among many of the leading female stars of the 1940s and '50s such as Ginger Rogers, Bette Davis, Barbara Stanwyck, Shirley McLaine, Grace Kelly, Audrey Hepburn, Elizabeth Taylor , Mae West, Karman Miranda, Veronica Lake, Ingrid Bergman, Dorothy Lamour, Rita Heyworth, Sophia Loren and Natalie Wood are but a few. Edith even on occasion 'lent out' by the studio to other studios on the insistent request of their female stars.

From concept to design Edith Head's understanding and sympathy for the female form is clear. She dresses not for the clothes, but for the woman inside the clothes. Seeing the potential that is there and unleashing it with a fanfare., making the most shrinking of violets into a Princess.
When she designed for a woman she designed for the whole woman. Hiding her inner fears and insecurities while pushing her best assests forward. I have yet to see a badly dressed woman by Edith Head. She knew that each woman was an individual and designed accordingly, tailoring everything to her personal needs in the minutest of detail. When she dressed Sophia Loren, long a heroine of mine for her hourglass figure, Edith knew how hard it was to compliment her shape without making it too trashy with the fitting. Edith hid Audrey Hepburn swan's neck and broad shoulders making her appear petite and waif like, all doe eyes and boyish charm.

Grace Kelly 1954's  Rear Window.

and we ALL know this iconic actress, film
and dress!

I have seen this film hundreds of times and everytime I see this LBD dress I cannot help but marvel at how perfect a dress it is for Hepburn. With her broad shoulders this dress has small just the right size medium straps to come inwards, the necklace hides and draws your eye to the centre, but it is the back that does all the work to complete the illusion. It's those cut out's with side to show us her shoulder blades and then the thin line drawing our eyes inwards to the centre of her spinal column. Perfection in classic black, whether it is the dress  that made her doesn't matter, it is the dress she will forever be remebered for. That in a nut shell is what's so phenomenal about Edith Head's work. She makes statement individual pieces that are so iconic it is the dress that makes the image. It's the dress that wears the wearer and not the other way round. Her designs speak so loudly for themselves that Edith Head never needed to take the limelight, she let them speak for her instead.

Exotic Dressed Beauty - Gene Tierney.

Gene Tierney, a woman I gazed at awe in whilst watching her old movies as I grew up. Her grace, beauty, those eyes, her hair, those shoes, her makeup, those dresses, hats, jewels - she was grace personified. It wasn't so much her presence on screen as what she wore on screen that captivated me. Oh those clothes......(whistles loudly)....beautiful.

Laura 1944.

Funnily enough the films that I admire Gene Tierney in don't contain Tyrone Power. She has a most magical presence in the film The Ghost and Mrs Muir, 1947 which was the first film I ever saw her in. It is my favourite Gene Tierney film for her acting and the script. Not one for beautiful dresses or elaborate costumes, it is a film to nourish the soul. Tierney plays a young widow who moves into a lonely old house on a cliff, by the sea called Gull Cottage, which is haunted by a handsome young sea captain called Daniel, and with whom she falls in love. This is the house I desire to build, I love it so. I have watched and cried at this film easily over a thousand times. It touches my soul deeper than I can ever possibly explain.

Having watched her in the films where she starred alongside Tyrone Power, her appeal lessened and she seemed thin and insipid along side his charms, but that may of course be an immense personal preference on my part.........er hem...(coughs).
I didn't warm to her as an actress in any other film until I saw her in Laura, 1944. Where she played alongside Cliffton Webb, he of Mr Belvadere fame. It is a murder mystery as Tierney's character is the victim, and we the audience are asked to unravel the plot through her letters, friends and personal diaries, along with the policeman investigating her death - who soon becomes obsessed with the deceased character.

My favourite red Tierney dress.

Born in 1920, American actress Tierney died in 1991 aged 70 of emphysema. She suffered from mental health issues after the birth of her first born child and was treated with electric Shock therapy, something that she later claimed took large portions of her memory away. Married twice, her first husband whom she married in 1941 and divorced in 1952, was the noted fashion designer Oleg Cassini, who for several years designed exclusively for his movie star wife. He was assistant costume designer to the legendary Edith Head in the 1930's and later in the 1960's became the favourite designer for the classic American first lady Jackie Kennedy, JFK's wife.
Oleg and Tierney had two daughters together. During her first pregnancy in 1943 Tierney contracted Rubella (German measles) from a brief autograph signing of a fan meet and greet at a movie studio held event. Her daughter was born with severe disabilities due to the illness and had to be intitutionalized. All her daughter's medical bills and life long care were paid for by Tierney's good friend billionaire Howard Hughes.

I love this red dress that Tierney wears in this late 1940's photo shoot, no doubt designed and created by her loving husband Oleg Cassini. It is beautiful. Especially with the lilac sash. It's one I hope to recreate for myself one day very soon. I have a huge stash of old movie clips and photos and hoardes of dress sketches I wish to sew, but it's that old enemy time. Until then I shall just keep collecting and drooling......looking for similar at the Vintage Fairs.
This look on the right with the black and whole striped gloves and head band/turban/wrap are what I am on the lookout for at the moment. It is on my list - all except for the pink corsage flower as the finishing touch, for me I think it should be scarlet red. I love EVERYTHING about this photo apart from that pale pink flower. Her hair, lips, coat - just that flower lets it all down. It is a small bug bear, but there we have it.
I ask you, what woman couldn't fail to look timeless, elegant and absolutely stunning with a genius like Cassini exclusively designer for her?!


Tierney and her designer husband Oleg Cassini.



After their divorce Oleg went onto become engaged to Grace Kelly. He was obviously a man who had an eye for style and beauty, not just on the clothes rail but off as well. He even went on to design and produce a fashion doll named after Gene and his second daughter, Tina. Something that is quite sort after by collectors I am told, although I never had one as a child - I think the doll looks suspiciously like his ex-wife Gene, but then maybe it is more than likely to be modelled on their daughter. It's a shame she didn't end up rivaling Sindy or Barbie for their titles, along with Mary Quant's Daisy doll.

I love the delicate neckline of this outfit. Cupids and their hearts. It reminds me of the latest butterfly cardigans that you see around now in the Vintage and retro boutiques in Brighton. Something that would go well with high waisted slacks, a full circle skirt, pencil skirt or cropped jeans. It is cute not matter what the style of occasion you wish to dress it for, with almost a bedtime peignoir lure to it.

Yes, I am afraid it is her designer husband and his creations that fascinate me more about Gene Tierney, than Gene Tierney herself. Even though she had by some standards a tragic life and one of some hardship, I myself see her more as a stunning clothes horse for her husband's genius creations. Perhaps I am being too harsh on her, but really it is not so much Tierney I notice or watch in films, as her dresses that glide by my vigilant eyes.
Yes she is beautiful, yes she is a good actress, but her appeal is more for a male audience I think. All those fluttering eyelashes and demure smiles. No, my interest alone is her outstanding wardrobe - one that I envy with a clear passion. Would that Oleg Cassini design for me! x

Gowns galore to have a hissy fit over. One of the types of gowns Cassini is known for today is his Wedding gowns, of which he had a line out when he died in 2006. Beautiful, elegant and understated, almost echoing the ball and evening gowns of his ex wife Gene Tierney. What a muse she must have been for him, along with Grace Kelly and Jackie O.
If Tierney is wearing an outfit between 1941 and 1952 you can bet it will be have been designed by her clever husband. What better way to advertise your creations than on one of the most beautiful women in the world.

Tyrone Power - My Smooth Moustachio Hero.

In honour of the month and movement of Movember I thought I would write about one of the only men I feel can carry off a decent stubble and dashing or rugged 'tash, my ultimate screen God, Tyrone Power.
In fact he could do anything in my books and still come out smelling of roses.....it's those long eye lashes, smouldering dark looks and lips of his, that smile, he could make anything seem ok, if he just smiles. Swoon.

I have long had a crush on Mr Power, since I was a small girl. It never bothered me that he died long before I was conceived, or even before my parents could tie their own shoe laces in fact. He will always and forever be immortal on the silver screen.
Born Tyrone Edmund Power Jnr, to Theatrical acting parents and often referred to just as Ty, he was born on 5th May 1914 in Cincinnati, Ohio, America and sadly aged just 44 he passed away on November 15th 1958 from a heart attack. That's nearly 53 years ago this year, almost to the day. His own father Tyrone Power snr died in his sons arms in 1931, also from a heart attack, whilst waiting to go on stage.
Tyrone Power Jnr, was a  versatile actor and in 1936 he starred in his first Hollywood film, the lead role in Lloyd's of London. He had walked into that movie premiere an unknown actor, he left a movie star, a role he remained for the rest of his life. Throughout his full career he played strong character roles from film noir to light romantic comedies, each with his own rougish charm.

I love Tyrone Power's films, I'm drawn to his strength and romantic portrayals. I am an optimistic romantic soul at heart. The first film, and one of my favourites, that I saw Tyrone in was 'The Black Swan', based on the novel of the same name by Rafael Sabatini. He played the lead role as swashbuckling Captain Jamie Waring, a pirate and Buccaneer with Maureen O'Hara in 1942 in glorious Technicolour.
Set in the Caribbean around the life of the infamous pirate Captain Henry Morgan. It was the first film that stirred my young romantic heart in the school summer holidays and turned pirates, previously seen by my young self as smelly dirty and ragged, into dashing, courageous hero's with a cheeky tongue and a heart that knew when he had found his one true love. To me, it was a romantic fairytale on the historic high seas, a place I was very unlikely to ever visit and therefore this helped it make all the more impressionable imprint on my tender immature heart.

Tierney and Powers in Son Of Fury. 1942.

Later on I discovered that he played alongside on the screen with one of my favourite female actresses, Gene Tierney, in three films and typically for Hollywood they had a love affair whilst filming their first film together, being Son Of Fury: The Story Of Benjamin Blake (1942). Another period swashbuckler, based on the novel Benjamin Blake by author Edison Marshall.
There is something so intense about this movie that it literally makes my heart skip a beat. Gene Tierney has long been a screen Goddess of style, grace and glamour to me. Her sultry exotic looks made her the perfect choice to play Eve, Benjamin Blake's islander wife and love interest as a marooned sailor. I personally, think this photo of them together with it's deep intensity is enough reason alone to make any red blooded gal wanna watch it! 



Tierney and Powers in The Razor's Edge.

The Razor's Edge, (1946), another film based on a novel of the same name, came along next as their starring roles together. It was on this film that it is rumour 'got out' about their love affair together. It is a tale about salvation and trying to find life's answers.



In 1948 they filmed a comedy together That Wonderful Urge. A love rivalry with lots of innuendos. A rich Heiress and a newspaper reporter are thrown together by circumstances.
 I will not bore you with the writing of  the synopsis of these films in too much depth, in case I spoil them for you. They need to be watched to be fully appreciated as the plot unfolds before you. I dislike watching trailers of movies lest they spoil it all for me. I'd much rather watch the movie for the movies sake not for a part I am imagining will happen on screen, on that pathway leads disappointment. Much better to settle down and watch with an open mind I say. The only thing I have done for you, is to allow the films and actors to talk for themselves with a brief clip for those of you who do like to take a sneek peek, thus leaving the choice entirely up to you, the viewer.

Over the years since his death there has been much written about Tyrone Powers love affairs and sexuality, albeit he was married several times, and even though there is no proof many have claimed that he was bisexual. Do you know what, I don't care either way, to me he will always be my silver screen hero. x