 Oh, don't be such a chicken. I'm a nice girl, I promise. Now get that sweet ass of yours up there. 
Ukrainian actress Anna Sten looks so femme fatale in this promo image made for her 1934 movie Nana that you could easily think it's satirical. In fact, she reminds us of the unknown model from Whitey Schafer's famous polemical image “Thou Shalt Not.” Maybe the photo even influenced Schafer a little, considering it predates his by six years. You never know about stuff like that. In any case, Sten may look shady but bad girls need love too. See a little more of her here and here.
 The shorthand version is her talent never translated. 
This promo photo shows Ukrainian actress Anna Sten, who's someone we've talked about before. She was a big star in Europe, but an inability to conquer her heavy accent curtailed a ballyhooed attempt at Hollywood success. It's a story with a fascinating footnote, which we talked about here. The image dates from 1932.
 They only have eyes for you.
We were researching our recent post on fascist-era femme fatale Isa Miranda when we stumbled across fourteen sets of eyes from some of the most famous starlets of the 1930s. They were on a Brazilian fashion blog called Cajon DeSastre, now defunct, and we gather they came from a book—Fashion at the Time of Fascism—which we’d love to read if we could find a copy. Anyway, just a little eye candy for Friday.
 
 She fizzled on the screen, but achieved immortality in song. A nice piece of Chinese pulp fell into our hands. It’s a shot of Ukrainian actress Anna Sten, née Anna Stenska or Anna Sudakevich, from a Chinese newspaper circa 1934. Sten began in silent movies in Germany, transitioned smoothly into talkies, but saw her career founder after mogul Samuel Goldwyn brought her to Hollywood to make her a star. It was the accent that did her in. She tried like hell but couldn’t shake it. But even if she never wowed them in Tinseltown, and her roles are mainly forgotten, she lives forever in song thanks to Cole Porter, who mentioned her in his timeless hit “Anything Goes.” Anna’s bit comes in about two thirds through, with the lines: When Sam Goldwyn can with great conviction, instruct Anna Sten in diction, then Anna shows, anything goes. Not quite a star on the Walk of Fame, but as consolation prizes go, it’s pretty damned good. Anna Sten died today in 1993, aged 84.
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The headlines that mattered yesteryear.
2003—Hope Dies
Film legend Bob Hope dies of pneumonia two months after celebrating his 100th birthday. 1945—Churchill Given the Sack
In spite of admiring Winston Churchill as a great wartime leader, Britons elect
Clement Attlee the nation's new prime minister in a sweeping victory for the Labour Party over the Conservatives. 1952—Evita Peron Dies
Eva Duarte de Peron, aka Evita, wife of the president of the Argentine Republic, dies from cancer at age 33. Evita had brought the working classes into a position of political power never witnessed before, but was hated by the nation's powerful military class. She is lain to rest in Milan, Italy in a secret grave under a nun's name, but is eventually returned to Argentina for reburial beside her husband in 1974. 1943—Mussolini Calls It Quits
Italian dictator Benito Mussolini steps down as head of the armed forces and the government. It soon becomes clear that Il Duce did not relinquish power voluntarily, but was forced to resign after former Fascist colleagues turned against him. He is later installed by Germany as leader of the Italian Social Republic in the north of the country, but is killed by partisans in 1945.
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