Archive for the ‘literature’ category
HARLOW’S HOLLYWOOD – AN INTERVIEW WITH DARRELL ROONEY & MARK VIEIRA
An MGM crew member once said of Jean Harlow, “We weren’t just workers on her set, we were real to her. If you were sick, she was the first one to notice. The first one to send flowers.” She was also the first one to tell her director ‘Let’s work late tonight so the boys can get to the football game tomorrow.’ And when a studio executive cut crew coffee breaks, she stormed to the office demanding ‘either they get a coffee break or I don’t work.’
While it was her platinum hair, sensuous body and brazen sexuality that made the Jean Harlow image an icon– it was her sincerity, warmth and gentleness of spirit that made her truly beautiful. And it is that beauty– the woman beneath the platinum locks– that the new book Harlow in Hollywood: The Blonde Bombshell in the Glamour Capital, 1928 – 1937 valiantly endeavors to present in a most unprecedented fashion. Read more ►
Out of the Vaults: Lois Moran
Lois Moran was, briefly, an actress in silent films. But she is better known for the literary character she inspired: the vivacious red-headed starlet Rosemary Hoyt in F. Scott Fitzgerald’s 1934 novel Tender is the Night. Fitzgerald became enamored with Moran, whom he called the most ‘beautiful girl in Hollywood,’ and carried on an intense affair with her. Fitzgerald’s own wife, Zelda, had been in and out of sanitoriums for the better part of 4 years by the time the book was published, and the aching lust that protagonist Dick Diver has for the scintillating Rosemary, is textbook sublimation.
Judging from these sultry George Hurrell shots, it isn’t hard to see why.
Lois Moran: 1909 - 1990
by George Hurrell, 1931
Los Angeles: Portrait of a City
Taschen is the Rolls Royce of pictorial anthologies… with a price tag to match. But, I finally got my hands on a copy of Taschen’s new Los Angeles, Portrait of a City and have been thoroughly giddy with delight at this truly epic retrospective. Kevin Starr of USC is my personal favorite California historian and his insightful essays give this ever-so-beautiful pictorial history the sort of depth and complexity that is rarely associated with a city known for shallow gloss. But Jim Heimann’s inspired editing, along with Starr’s intimate understanding of this misunderstood city, and David Ulin’s literary intonations (the text is salted with words from Aldoux Huxley, Fitzgerald and the like), gradually unveil the surprisingly complex sociological, political and industrial ramifications that birthed a modern metropolis out of a barren desert.
It’s quite pricey, but if you ever have the opportunity to flip through its pages, please do treat yourself and prepare to be truly impressed with some of the most striking spreads I’ve seen in a long time.
Many of these photos have never before been seen and have been culled from archives and collections and universities all over the world. Some of my favorites are found below.
Hollywoodland, circa 1924 – COPYRIGHT PROTECTED, TASCHEN 2009
View from Spring Street, 1902 – COPYRIGHT PROTECTED, TASCHEN 2009
Movie Star maps for sale, Sunset Blvd. 1937 – COPYRIGHT PROTECTED, TASCHEN 2009
Ocean Avenue, Santa Monica 1955 – COPYRIGHT PROTECTED, TASCHEN 2009
A matinee @ The Avalon Theater in Wilmington, 1948 – COPYRIGHT PROTECTED, TASCHEN 2009
Broadway, Christmas 1928 – COPYRIGHT PROTECTED, TASCHEN 2009
Carpenters @ Sunset & Vine, 1929 – COPYRIGHT PROTECTED, TASCHEN 2009
Yuca & Vine Market, Hollywood 1928 – COPYRIGHT PROTECTED, TASCHEN 2009
Wilshire Blvd., 1928 – COPYRIGHT PROTECTED, TASCHEN 2009
Wilshire & La Brea, 1930 – COPYRIGHT PROTECTED, TASCHEN 2009
LA’s whimsical eateries – COPYRIGHT PROTECTED, TASCHEN 2009
The Brown Derby in 1954 – COPYRIGHT PROTECTED, TASCHEN 2009
Simons Drive In, Wilshire Blvd. 1939 – COPYRIGHT PROTECTED, TASCHEN 2009
The “Red Riots”, Downtown LA 1930 – COPYRIGHT PROTECTED, TASCHEN 2009
Hollywood Party @ Bebe Daniels’ Beach House, 1926 – COPYRIGHT PROTECTED, TASCHEN 2009
Long Beach before and after 1933 earthquake – COPYRIGHT PROTECTED, TASCHEN 2009
LA’s Red Cars waiting for demolition in 1951 – COPYRIGHT PROTECTED, TASCHEN 2009
South Main Street, Downtown LA 1952 – COPYRIGHT PROTECTED, TASCHEN 2009
Hells Angels premiere, Hollywood 1930 – COPYRIGHT PROTECTED, TASCHEN 2009
Hollywood Blvd., 1959 – COPYRIGHT PROTECTED, TASCHEN 2009
Ballroom @ the Hollywood Palladium, 1946 – COPYRIGHT PROTECTED, TASCHEN 2009
Jane Withers (2nd from bottom left) Halloween Party, 1948 – COPYRIGHT PROTECTED, TASCHEN 2009
Grand opening of the CBS building, 1938 – COPYRIGHT PROTECTED, TASCHEN 2009
Interior of designer Richard Spencer’s home, 1950 – COPYRIGHT PROTECTED, TASCHEN 2009
Charles and Ray Eames at home, 1958 – COPYRIGHT PROTECTED, TASCHEN 2009
New Chinatown, 1938 – COPYRIGHT PROTECTED, TASCHEN 2009
Christmas in Hollywood, 1955 – COPYRIGHT PROTECTED, TASCHEN 2009
John Huston directs Monty Clift on The Misfits, 1961 – COPYRIGHT PROTECTED, TASCHEN 2009
Pool Party at Terry Gibb’s House, 1960 – COPYRIGHT PROTECTED, TASCHEN 2009
The Doors @ The Hard Rock Cafe, 1969 – COPYRIGHT PROTECTED, TASCHEN 2009
Announcing: The Pictorial Press
The Kitty Packard Pictorial is absolutely thrilled to introduce a brand-new feature designed to and promote creative expression amongst Pictorial readers: The Pictorial Press.
Stanny, Coop and The Pictorial Press!
The Pictorial Press will feature original prose, serials, poetry and critical essays from you, the Pictorial public. Since The Kitty Packard Pictorial is a lifestyle blog that fuses past with present, with a focus on classic film, music and literature, submissions adhering to the spirit of that manifesto are encouraged… but it is by no means the rule.
Visit the Packard Press now for full submission guidelines and details!
I Can Read Movies
On Monday, the Guardian tipped me off to Spacesicks’ I Can Read Movies series.
Since this project has been up since the January, I am feeling woefully unhip over the fact that I have just discovered the wide, wonderful, dizzying world of Spacekick. I actually don’t know QUITE how to describe this mind-bending experience so all I can say is you have to see it to believe it.
The concept: give cult classic and popular films the 1960s pop art book cover treatment.
The result: sweeeeeeeeetness.
