Starlet Showcase

4/13/08

Lupe!

We returned to the Wayback Machine and
found some more photos of Lupe Vélez.

4/12/08

Biker Chicks

(I gave this a "Cars" label, because I don't really
have a "Misc. Starlet Transportation" category.)

Happy Birthday, Ann Miller

(I like her best when she's NOT singing in a

1950s color musical.)

4/11/08

Russian Hands and Roman Fingers

Or is it "roamin' hands and rushin' fingers"?

I forget.

4/10/08

So I'm watching the final episode of Alfred Hitchcock Presents, Season Three, right? We've talked about what fun Alfred Hitchcock Presents is before. And I see Julie Adams (sometimes called "Julia") strutting around in a sort of V-neck lamé Capri pantsuit sort of outfit, which in real life color I imagine is probably a shiny green lamé and black thing. This episode is called Little White Frock, but Julie Adams isn't wearing a frock. And she's not actually "strutting." She just has a really nice walk. Anyway, so I flashblack to an earlier episode from the same season, one called The Disappearing Trick, with Betsy Von Furstenberg. And I rewind, and I find that, sure enough, Betsy's wearing the same outfit. The costume designer added a sash belt and some kind of cameo or broach to the V-neck for Julie Adams, but otherwise it's the same outfit. And Betsy Von Furstenberg has a great walk, too. So I'm thinking. . .
What a thrifty costume designer!
What a lovely couple of struts!
What a LUCKY pair of pants!

KITTIES!!!

(This post is for Frank, Jesse, and Ellie, who fill

my home with fur and my catboxes with turds.)

4/8/08

O Death Where Is Thy Spring?

Okay, Weatherman, listen up damnit!
I can't see any more snow. It's true.
I don't have to wear long underwear
and boots on a daily basis. It's true.
I'm not scraping my windshield and
brushing snow off my coat. So true.
But 41 degrees and a stiff friggin' wind
is NOT my idea of springtime.

Let's get going with some warmer weather!
NOW!

Anny Ondra, Hitchcock Blonde

In case you think that we haven't gone far enough back in the Wayback Machine recently, we present actress Anny Ondra for your viewing pleasure. I have only seen Anny Ondra in one film, Alfred Hitchcock's Blackmail (1929), but I was really impressed. Blackmail is said to be both Hitchcock's and England's first talkie, although I'm certain there are scores of film scholars out there who will debate this. Anyway, she was a Polish-Czech-Austrian-German-French singer, film and stage actress and a Hitchcock blonde. Anny Ondra started in the silent era in 1920, married Max Schmeling (the German boxer who lost the World Heavyweight title to Joe Louis), and appeared in films as late as 1951. What is it about German actresses anyway? Alas. . .