| Hollywoodland | Aug 11 2019 |
Hayworth enjoys a not-so-light snack in Santa Monica.
Published today in 1941, we love this Life magazine cover of Rita Hayworth on the beach in Santa Monica, California. But we love the second photo even more. Movie stars will do just about anything to avoid being photographed unhinging their jaws to cram in a pile of food. You can't blame them. Paparazzi lurk in hope of getting exactly this type of shot, which they sell for big money to websites that specialize in making celebs look bad. Hayworth turns the idea into comedy while simultaneously looking appetizing herself. That's star power for you.
| Intl. Notebook | May 14 2019 |
Going for a stroll in the city where feet and pavement rarely meet.
Above, random photos made from the 1930s through the 1960s of women on the streets of Los Angeles. Most of the subjects are regular people, but some are models, and you may recognize a celebrity or three. A couple of these are from a collection of photos documenting the city's killer smog, which is why you see a few people seemingly crying. Want more L.A. walkers? We have a set of Vikki Dougan shocking Angelenos with a dress cut down to her asscrack, and a single image of Ingrid Bergman strolling quietly in Bunker Hill. Check here for the former, and here for the latter.
Los AngelesDonna Mae BrownLana TurnerMarilyn MonroeRita HayworthJoan BradshawJune WilkinsonJayne MansfieldNancy Wilson
| Hollywoodland | Dec 8 2018 |
And you think America is polarized today.
The iconic polar bear rug. What can you say about them? Well, it's not a good look nowadays, but back then people thought these sorts of decorations were quite chic. When did that end? Possibly shortly after the three-hundredth Playboy model posed on one, or when many people began to see trophy hunting as the obsession of vain and unsavory millionaires. One of those two. Personally, we blame Hefner. In the shot above Jayne Mansfield and Mickey Hargitay take polar bear style to its pinnacle. Just look at that room. Besides the bear they have a copper ceiling, satin curtains, and a white shag rug. It's a pimp's wet dream and all of it must have cost a fortune. We like to imagine what the look on Jayne's face would have been if anyone walked in with a brimming glass of red wine. We bet she'd have turned whiter than the bear.
We have more photos in the same vein below. If you need help identifying the stars, their names are in our keywords in order of appearance. Looking at the entire collection, we tend to wonder if there were three or four bears that ended up in all the photos. You know, like bears owned by certain photography studios or prop departments. Just saying, a couple of them look suspiciously similar. But on the other hand, how different from each other do bears really look? You'll notice that the poor creatures were generally posed to look fierce. But by contrast Inger Stevens' bear, just below, strikes us as a bit reflective and melancholy, which is understandable. Elizabeth Montgomery, meanwhile, gets extra points for wearing her bear. We have twenty-plus images below, including another shot of Mansfield, sans Hargitay.
We have more photos in the same vein below. If you need help identifying the stars, their names are in our keywords in order of appearance. Looking at the entire collection, we tend to wonder if there were three or four bears that ended up in all the photos. You know, like bears owned by certain photography studios or prop departments. Just saying, a couple of them look suspiciously similar. But on the other hand, how different from each other do bears really look? You'll notice that the poor creatures were generally posed to look fierce. But by contrast Inger Stevens' bear, just below, strikes us as a bit reflective and melancholy, which is understandable. Elizabeth Montgomery, meanwhile, gets extra points for wearing her bear. We have twenty-plus images below, including another shot of Mansfield, sans Hargitay.
Jayne MansfieldMickey HargitayInger StevensAnn MillerAnn SheridanNichelle NicholsCarol BakerClaudia DellPat KirkwoodLupe VelezElizabeth MontgomeryLizabeth ScottEvelyn NesbittDorothy SebastianJean HarlowMarilyn MonroeSophia LorenVeronica LakeRita HayworthDiana DorsOlga BaclanovaJoan Collins
| Hollywoodland | Nov 19 2018 |
Sorry about that last shot, Rita. I get overaggressive sometimes. Is your face okay?
We'll admit it. When we play table tennis we love it when one of our smashes hits someone in the face. Victory is secondary. In the two photos above we imagine Hollywood legends Carole Landis and Rita Hayworth vying for table tennis supremacy on a warm afternoon. The two were born only a couple of months apart as Frances Ridste and Magarita Cansino, and had similar career arcs in Hollywood, which at one point led to Landis being aced out of the lead in 1941's Blood and Sand by Hayworth. Landis probably wasn't too happy about that, but the two later acted together in 1942's My Gal Sal. If they still had issues after that, at least they finally settled them in our imaginary pairing. Both photos are from around 1943.
| Hollywoodland | Aug 5 2018 |
What does Rita Hayworth wear under her skirt? Advertising!
This unique Columbia Pictures promo image was made for Rita Hayworth's 1952 thriller Affair in Trinidad. It reunited Hayworth with co-star Glenn Ford in a attempt to recapture the magic of their 1946 blockbuster Gilda. It didn't quite work, but this promo is inspired.
| Vintage Pulp | Jul 9 2018 |
I know I'm an unorthodox teacher, officer. But if she thinks this is tough how is she ever gonna handle a left turn in traffic?
Today we have another issue of our favorite men's magazine Adam, this time from July 1971. Inside there's the usual fiction, true adventure, and cheesecake, including British model Susan Shaw. But this issue is also a little different—it dips into celebrity waters with a write-up on Aly Khan, the Muslim prince whose romantic hook-ups included Gene Tierney, Bettina Graziani, and Rita Hayworth, who he married in 1949. The cover illustration is paired with the short story "Blonde for Bait," by Dick Love. Yeah. Dick Love. This makes the 56th issue of Adam we've uploaded to our website. Enjoy Dick and more in thirty-two scans below, and see all the other issues just by clicking the keywords at bottom.
AustraliaAdam MagazineAly KhanGene TierneyRita HayworthBettina GrazianiSusan ShawDick Lovemagazine artliterature
| Hollywoodland | Jun 22 2018 |
Comic book icon Stan Lee goes Hollywood.
Nostalgia Illustrated was a New York City based magazine published by none other than comic book kingpin Stan Lee. It debuted in November 1974, with the issue you see here coming this month in 1975. It's exactly as its title suggests—a collection of vintage photos of American icons. We imagine Lee wanted to get into the burgeoning tabloid market, but one that didn't go full Hollywood gossip. Instead the stories are more along the lines of respectful bios, which makes it less tabloid than fanboy publication.
Except for the cover, its design is nothing special, but it contains a wealth of old Hollywood photos we haven't seen before, which makes it worth a share. You get John Garfield, Betty Grable, Marilyn Monroe (because what's a nostalgia magazine without her?), a youthful John F. Kennedy, and many other celebs. There's also a story on John Lewis Roventini, the “world's smallest bellhop” at four feet in height, who was famous in New York City for a time. All in thirty scans below.
Except for the cover, its design is nothing special, but it contains a wealth of old Hollywood photos we haven't seen before, which makes it worth a share. You get John Garfield, Betty Grable, Marilyn Monroe (because what's a nostalgia magazine without her?), a youthful John F. Kennedy, and many other celebs. There's also a story on John Lewis Roventini, the “world's smallest bellhop” at four feet in height, who was famous in New York City for a time. All in thirty scans below.
Nostalgia IllustratedMarvel ComicsStan LeeMarilyn MonroeJohn F. KennedyJohn Lewis RoventiniJohn GarfieldMarilyn MonroeRaquel WelchBetty GrableGreta GarboMarlene DietrichJane RussellRita HayworthMae West
| Intl. Notebook | May 17 2018 |
Redhead risks serious sunburn to get a base tan.
Belgium's Ciné-Revue is one of the best film magazines of the mid-century era. It's also one of the hardest to scan. Not only do the pages need to be scanned in halves and joined via computer, but the tiny text makes lining the halves up a real challenge. We didn't think about that when we bought a stack of these in Paris several years back, and now the sheer effort involved causes us to doubt we'll ever get them all uploaded. But we managed to carve out a few hours, so today we have this issue from May 1975 with French actress Marlène Jobert doing a little topless boating on the cover, hopefully well slathered in sunscreen. Jobert also features in the beachy center spread wearing even less clothing (and theoretically more sunscreen), but the real star of this issue is Bette Davis, who receives a career retrospective with shots from seemingly every movie she ever made. You also get William Holden, Jane Birkin, Dominique Sanda, Sidney Poitier, Sophia Loren, Rita Hayworth, Agostina Belli, a feature on Steven Spielberg's Jaws, and much more, in forty-plus scans.
BelgiumCiné-RevueJawsWilliam HoldenJane BirkinMarlène JobertSidney PoitierAgostina BelliOrson WellesRichard DreyfussRoy ScheiderRobert ShawBette DavisDominique SandaLee MarvinRoger MooreMaud AdamsSerge GainsbourgMonica VittiKatherine RossSophia LorenVirginia BellEsther AndersonRita HayworthSteven Spielbergcinema
| Femmes Fatales | Apr 6 2018 |
I shot my alarm clock. After years of abuse it was long overdue.
Above, a nice image of a nightgown clad, gun accessorized Rita Hayworth in her rare platinum blonde incarnation. The photo was made as a promo for her film noir The Lady from Shanghai, 1947.
| Vintage Pulp | Dec 23 2017 |
Hayworth hits land and a storm soon follows.
Party girl Rita Hayworth is bound for New Caledonia to start a new job, but makes a stopover on Pago Pago along the way, where her wild ways make a splash at a military garrison and nearby village. A pompous missionary who was on the same boat seems to think Hayworth was run out of Honolulu because she was a prostitute. He has no problem spreading this rumor, but is the point to punish her, save her, or bed her? In style Miss Sadie Thompson is classic Hayworth, with her fun-loving ways raising eyebrows and smiting men around the heart, but in execution the movie falls short of her best. No fault of Rita's, though. She makes the film worth watching, even if it's pretty much guaranteed to leave you going, “Huh?” when the credits roll. Maybe the real value here is the lesson the movie provides about the perils of censorship. Read the W. Somerset Maugham source material and you'll see what we mean. Miss Sadie Thompson premiered in the U.S. today in 1953.
I really don't want to think about what I did in Honolulu.
But I want to think about it. I'm thinking about it right now. That's why I'm using a hat to cover my little missionary.
Sadie comes.
And Sadie goes.New CaledoniaPago PagoHonoluluMiss Sadie ThompsonRita HayworthJosé FerrerW. Somerset Maughamposter artcinemamovie review
