ARTISTIC INTERPRETATION

Maybe for the final touch I'll add a wisp of mustache, just so she isn't as pretty as me.

Artists are often adept at more than one art, so it’s never a surprise when a Hollywood performer shows talent in another area. This photo features Linda Darnell, star of such notable films as No Way Out, Unfaithfully Yours, My Darling Clementine, and the excellent Hangover Square, finishing a pastel portrait of fellow screen star Lana Turner.

Darnell was a serious and capable painter. There are photos floating around online of her working on portraits of Clark Gable and her husband Peverell Marley. She also painted landscapes and still lifes, working in both pastels and oils, and was the subject of at least one painting herself—a Justin McCarthy portrait that resides in the Smithsonian Institute.

We don’t have a date on this shot, but Darnell looks very young, so that makes it no later than the 1940s. According to Hollywood rumor, she and Turner became friends after Turner learned about being the subject of a portrait, possibly this one. Since they’re known to have become friends in 1942, the photo could be from that year.

Smithsonian Institute, Hangover Square, No Way Out, Unfaithfully Yours, My Darling Clementine, Linda Darnell, Lana Turner, Clark Gable, Peverell Marley, Justin McCarthy

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HISTORY REWIND

The headlines that mattered yesteryear.

January 17

1950—The Great Brinks Robbery Occurs

In the U.S., eleven thieves steal more than $2 million from an armored car company’s offices in Boston, Massachusetts. The skillful execution of the crime, with only a bare minimum of clues left at the scene, results in the robbery being billed as “the crime of the century.” Despite this, all the members of the gang are later arrested.

January 17

1977—Gary Gilmore Is Executed

Convicted murderer Gary Gilmore is executed by a firing squad in Utah, ending a ten-year moratorium on Capital punishment in the United States. Gilmore’s story is later turned into a 1979 novel entitled The Executioner’s Song by Norman Mailer, and the book wins the Pulitzer Prize for literature.

January 16

1942—Carole Lombard Dies in Plane Crash

American actress Carole Lombard, who was the highest paid star in Hollywood during the late 1930s, dies in the crash of TWA Flight 3, on which she was flying from Las Vegas to Los Angeles after headlining a war bond rally in support of America’s military efforts. She was thirty-three years old.

January 15

1919—Luxemburg and Liebknecht Are Killed

Rosa Luxemburg and Karl Liebknecht, two of the most prominent socialists in Germany, are tortured and murdered by the Freikorps. Freikorps was a term applied to various paramilitary organizations that sprang up around Germany as soldiers returned in defeat from World War I. Members of these groups would later become prominent members of the SS.

January 14

1967—Summer of Love Begins

The Human Be-In takes place in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park with between 20,000 to 30,000 people in attendance, their purpose being to promote their ideals of personal empowerment, cultural and political decentralization, communal living, ecological preservation, and higher consciousness. The event is considered the beginning of the famed counterculture Summer of Love.

DON GIOVANNI

Giovanni Benvenuti was one of Italy's most prolific paperback cover artists. His unique style is on display in multiple collections within our website.

WALKING AFTER MIDNIGHT