PEOPLE | Lisa's History Room

Archive for the ‘PEOPLE’ Category

Sinatra: Pants on Fire!

Posted in Frank Sinatra, John F. Kennedy, Kennedys, the, Pat and Peter Lawford, PEOPLE, tagged Beverly Hills, biographies of singers, Frank Sinatra's temper, Gary Cooper, Hollywood history, John F. Kennedy, Natalie Wood, Palm Springs, Pat Kennedy Lawford, Peter Lawford, Robert Wagner, Romanoff's, Santa Monica, sinatra by al hirschfeld, Sinatra's Rancho Mirage Compound on December 2, 2009| 3 Comments »

L-R: Actor Robert Wagner, his wife Natalie Wood (1938 - 1981) and host Frank Sinatra (in eyepatch) pose together during a surprise 21st birthday party held for Wood at Romanoff's, Hollywood, California, July 20, 1959. (Photo by Murray Garrett/Getty Images)

It was New Year’s Eve, 1958, and Peter and Pat Kennedy Lawford were celebrating at a private party at Romanoff’s in Beverly Hills, a popular spot with Hollywood stars. The Lawfords sat at the most prestigious table in the room with Frank Sinatra, Natalie Wood, and Robert Wagner. Pat was dazzled by Sinatra’s charm and basked in his attention. Sinatra was thrilled to be in the presence of the sister of the fast-rising Senator John F. Kennedy of Massachusetts.

Host Frank Sinatra (L) wears an eyepatch, laughing with actor Peter Lawford and his wife Patricia Kennedy (1924 - 2006) during a surprise 21st birthday party held for actor Natalie Wood at Romanoff's, Hollywood, California, July 20, 1959. (Photo by Murray Garrett/Getty Images)

Pat had only known Sinatra since August, when she met him at a dinner party at the home of Gary and Rocky Cooper. Since then, Sinatra had swept the Lawfords up into his orbit.

“Sinatra suddenly stood at the center of Pat’s and Peter’s lives.” [1]

Sinatra had become such a fixture in Pat’s world that, by the time she gave birth on November 4, she decided to give new baby Victoria the middle name of Francis, in honor of her newest and dearest friend, Francis Albert Sinatra.

The Lawfords not only saw Frank at least twice during the week, but, on many weekends – at Frank’s insistence – they made the 120-mile drive from their Santa Monica home to his Palm Springs estate. The Lawfords always kept the same bedroom at Sinatra’s Rancho Mirage compound. Frank made the Lawfords so at ease that they left some of their casual clothing in the bedroom closet.

Back at Romanoff’s, the new year was blowing in chilly and Pat was wearing a low-cut gown. As the night worn on, she and Natalie grew weary. But Sinatra didn’t want the night to end. He suggested they move the party to his place – two-and-half hours away at Rancho Mirage! Pat gasped at the dread thought. It was only a fifteen minute drive from Romanoff’s to her home!

Peter Lawford recalls the evening:

Teen idol Frank Sinatra, caricature by Al Hirschfeld

When [Sinatra] went to the gents’ room, the girls said that it was too chilly to go that night. They preferred driving in the morning, but then we said, ‘Who’s going to tell him?’ Knowing his temper, Pat out and out refused to say anything, and Natalie didn’t even want to be in the same room when he was told. Finally, R.J. [Robert Wagner] insisted that I be the one to do it, so when Frank got back to the table, I explained as gracefully as I could that we’d prefer joining him in the morning.

Well, he went absolutely nuts. ‘If that’s the way you want it, fine,’ he said, slamming his drink on the floor and storming out of the restaurant.

I rang him up the next morning and his valet…answered and whispered hello. He said that Frank was still asleep because he hadn’t gotten to bed until five a.m. Then he said, ‘Oh, Mr. Lawford. What happened last night? I better tell you that he’s pissed. Really pissed off. He went to your closet and took out all the clothes that you and your wife keep here and ripped them into shreds and then threw them into the swimming pool.’ That gives you an idea of Frank’s temper….” (2)

Evidently, Frank first tried to make a bonfire of the Lawford’s clothes. But the fire wouldn’t get going, so, frustrated, he tossed everything in the pool. (1)

Peter was distraught at the loss of his favorite aged blue jeans. Pat consoled him. “We’ll age another pair. Just make sure you don’t take them down to Frank’s.” (1)

(1) Leamer, Laurence. The Kennedy Women: The Saga of an American Family. New York: Random House Publishing Group, 1994.

(2) Kelley, Kitty. His Way: The Unauthorized Biography of Frank Sinatra. New York: Bantam Books, 1986.

Readers, for more on Frank Sinatra on Lisa’s History Room, check out: “Sinatra: From Donkey to Elephant”

Readers, for more on Natalie Wood on Lisa’s History room, click here.

Read Full Post »

Sinatra: From Donkey to Elephant

Posted in Frank Sinatra, John F. Kennedy, Marilyn Monroe, Pat and Peter Lawford, PEOPLE, tagged Bing Crosby and Kennedy, biographies of singers, Bobby Kennedy, Frank Sinatra and Kennedy, Frank Sinatra Democrat, Frank Sinatra Republican, Marilyn Monroe and Kennedy, Palm Springs, Pat Lawford, Peter Lawford, Sinatra and the Mafia, Sinatra tears up helipad, Sinatra with sledgehammer, Sinatra's mob connections, Sinatra's temper on November 23, 2009| 10 Comments »

President John F. Kennedy and singer Frank Sinatra at the 1961 Inaugural Gala

Singer and film star Frank Sinatra (1915-1998) grew up poor and lower class in Hoboken, New Jersey. Once he made it big in showbiz (thanks to help from his Mafia cronies), he obsessed about fitting in with the upper class. He wormed his way into politics, using his Hollywood star power to campaign and fundraise for Democratic heavyweights such as Franklin Roosevelt and John F. Kennedy. In attaching himself to men of honor, Sinatra hoped to achieve the respectability he craved.

Sinatra had cultivated a relationship with President Kennedy through movie star Peter Lawford, who was married to the president’s sister, Pat.

Pat Kennedy Lawford and British actor Peter Lawford

In March 1962, the president was scheduled to fly to Southern California. Peter Lawford asked Sinatra to be the president’s host at his Palm Springs estate. Sinatra was thrilled. He went straight to work. At his own expense, Sinatra installed a helicopter pad, cottages for the Secret Service, and even a flagpole for the presidential flag.

But the president’s brother Bobby Kennedy wasn’t having it. He was the Attorney General of the United States at the time. When he heard about his brother Jack’s proposed stay at Sinatra’s, he went ballistic. Bobby was making the “most single-minded attack on organized crime in American history” and could not abide Jack associating with someone with mob connections. (1) Peter was the one chosen to tell Sinatra that the president would not be staying with him.

Sinatra did not take the news well. He had a notoriously explosive temper:

“Sinatra vented his spleen by destroying the concrete landing pad with a sledgehammer. He applied a different kind of sledgehammer to his friendship with Peter and Pat [Lawford], banning them from his company….Jack ended up staying at the home of Bing Crosby. Marilyn Monroe flew down to be with the president, spending the night in his bedroom….”

Peter Lawford, Frank Sinatra, and Marilyn Monroe ca. 1961-62

(l. to r.) Peter Lawford, Frank Sinatra, Marilyn Monroe, ca. 1961-62

…and Frank Sinatra became a Republican.

(1) Leamer, Laurence. The Kennedy Women: The Saga of an American Family. New York: Fawcett Books, 1994.

For more on Sinatra, check out “Sinatra: Pants on Fire!”

Read Full Post »

General MacArthur Had a Helicopter Mom

Posted in Douglas MacArthur, PEOPLE, tagged Douglas MacArthur, Douglas MacArthur's mom, General Douglas MacArthur, helicopter parent, overparenting, Pinky MacArthur, surrender of Japan, U.S. Medal of Honor, West Point, World War II on November 23, 2009| 9 Comments »

General Douglas MacArthur and his mother, Pinky

“Overparenting had been around long before Douglas MacArthur’s mom Pinky moved with him to West Point in 1899 and took an apartment near the campus, supposedly so she could watch him with a telescope to be sure he was studying.” (1)

Prior to his acceptance at West Point in 1898, Douglas MacArthur had been rejected twice due to curvature of the spine. Once he was finally accepted, his mom Pinky was not about to let him flunk out. She packed her bags, left her family in San Antonio, Texas (where her husband, also a military man, was stationed), moved across the country, and checked into a hotel suite overlooking the West Point Academy grounds forty miles north of distant New York City. Pinky MacArthur was determined that her son would be a success. (Her middle son had died six years earlier.)

MacArthur did not disappoint his mother. In 1903, he graduated first in his class of 93. Brig. General Douglas MacArthur then went on to become superintendent of West Point in 1922.

U.S. General Douglas MacArthur smoking his corncob pipe

Douglas MacArthur (1880-1964) continued his meteoric rise in service to his country. He fought in three major wars – World War I, World War II, Korean War – and was one of only five men ever to rise to the rank of General of the Army. For his leadership in the defense of the Philippines in World War II, he was awarded the Medal of Honor – a decoration for which he had twice previously been nominated. Allied forces under General MacArthur’s strategic command brought about the surrender of Japan. (3)

To see the full list of MacArthur’s decorations, click here.

Good job, Pinky!

(1) “The Growing Backlash Against Overparenting,” Time, November 20, 2009.

(2) “Memorial Day Memory: General Douglas MacArthur

(3) “Douglas MacArthur,” wikipedia

Read Full Post »

Frida Kahlo: Prisoner in a Corset

Posted in Diego Rivera, Frida Kahlo, PEOPLE, tagged biographies of HIspanic women, biographies of sick women, biographies of women, biographies of women artists, Diego Rivera, Frida Kahlo, Frida's accident, Frida's corsets, Frida's health, Frida's operationsbiographies of artists on November 16, 2009| 12 Comments »

"The Broken Column," by Frida Kahlo (1944). This self-portrait shows the artist's spine as a broken Ionic column. Frida's health had deteriorated to the stage that she had to wear a steel corset.

"The Broken Column," by Frida Kahlo (1944). This self-portrait shows the artist's spine as a broken Ionic column. By 1944, Frida's health had deteriorated to such a degree that she had to wear a steel corset to sit up. Her persistent health problems stemmed from childhood polio, a traffic accident, and botched spinal surgeries.

For her entire adult life, artist Frida Kahlo (1907-1954) suffered unbearable pain from her spine and foot. (See “Frida’s First Bad Accident.”) She endured over thirty surgeries to correct the problem (in both Mexico and the U.S), was subjected to batteries of tests, X-rays, and spinal taps, given blood transfusions, physical therapy, and strong medicine . Yet, despite such extreme measures, Frida’s health continued to deteriorate.

After 1944, Frida’s doctors prescribed months of bed rest, encasing her tortured body in a succession of plaster or steel corsets that helped her to sit or stand. Frida described these corsets and the treatments that accompanied them as “punishment.”

“There were twenty-eight corsets in all–one made of steel, three of leather, and the rest of plaster. One…allowed her neither to sit nor to recline. It made her so angry that she took it off, and used a sash to tie her torso to the back of a chair in order to support her spine.

There was a time when she spent three months in a nearly vertical position with sacks of sand attached to her feet to straighten out her spinal column. Another time, Adelina Zendejas, visiting her in the hospital after an operation, found her hanging from steel rings with her feet just able to touch the ground. Her easel was in front of her. “We were horrified,” Zendejas recalls. “She was painting and telling jokes and funny stories….”

Yet another gruesome tale comes from Frida’s friend the pianist Ella Paresce. A Spanish doctor who knew nothing about orthopedics put a plaster corset on Frida….”[D]uring the night, the corset began to harden, as it was supposed to do. I happened to be spending the night there in the next room, and about half past four or five in the morning, I heard a crying, nearly shrieks. I jumped out of the bed and went in, and there was Frida saying she couldn’t breathe!….The corset had hardened…so much that it pressed her lungs. It made pleats all around her body. So I tried to get a doctor. Nobody would pay any attention at that hour…so…I took a razor blade…and made about a two-inch cut [in the cast over her chest] so that she could breathe….[S]he painted the corset, which is still visible in the museum in Coyoacán.” (1)

Diego Rivera kisses his wife Frida Kahlo at the ABC Hospital in Mexico City, 1950

Diego kisses Frida at the ABC Hospital 1950

In the photo here, Mexican muralist Diego Rivera tenderly kisses his wife Frida Kahlo at the Hospital Ingles ABC in Mexico City, 1950. Frida’s botched spinal fusion of 1946 began the “calvary that would lead to the end,” said her friend Cachucha Miguel N. Lira. Her leg was in constant pain. Four toes on her right foot had turned black; gangrene had set in. An amputation was advised. Frida spent a year in the hospital. In the photo, notice that Frida had painted the Communist symbols, a hammer and sickle on her plaster corset. Visitors also signed Frida’s corsets and decorated them with feathers, mirrors, photographs, pebbles, and ink. When Frida’s doctors removed her paints from her sick room, instead, she used lipstick and iodine to paint her cast. (1)

(1) Herrera, Hayden. Frida: A Biography of Frida Kahlo.New York: HarperCollins Publishers Inc., 1983.

READERS: For more posts on Frida Kahlo, click here.

Read Full Post »

Frida Gets Dressed

Posted in Frida Kahlo, PEOPLE, tagged biographies of artists, biographies of HIspanic women, biographies of sick women, biographies of women, biographies of women artists, Frida Kahlo, Frida Kahlo clothes, Frida Kahlo fashion, Frida Kahlo hair, Frida Kahlo jewelry, Frida Kahlo photographs, Frida photos, Frida pictures, Nickolas Muray photos of Frida on November 12, 2009| 3 Comments »

Frida Kahlo sits on a white bench, wearing traditional Mexican clothing, in her heavily ornamented and embroidered signature look. Photographed in 1939 in New York by her friend and lover, Nickolas Muray.

Frida Kahlo, New York, 1939, photo by Nicholas Muray. She sits on a white bench, wearing traditional Mexican clothes in the heavily ornamented and embroidered style that became her signature.

“Frida was often heard to say, ‘I look like a lot of people and a few things,’ as if everything that made up her personal appearance was a matter of chance. In fact, it was quite the opposite. Dressing each day was an almost ceremonial affair during which she would try innumerable combinations of blouses and skirts. Her clothes were always immaculately clean and freshly ironed; she was meticulous about the appearance of her pleated petticoats, pure white and starched. She wore native Mexican costumes long after her sophisticated friends had given up this nationalistic gesture, in part for the long skirts that hid her thin leg [from childhood polio] and orthopedic shoe [from a bus accident]….

Frida selected her jewelry each day with equal care, especially the rings she wore on the fingers of both hands. She meticulously applied her make-up and painted her fingernails, sometimes purple, green, or orange….Only a little over 5′ 2″ tall, she seemed taller bcause of the heightening effect of her long skirts, accentuated even more by her elegantly long neck and her upswept hairdo with bows and flowers arranged on top of her head. Her olive skin was covered with a light fuzz; her upper lip had a pronounced moustache, which she made obvious in her self-portraits. The heavy dark eyebrows that grew together across her forehead she turned into a trademark….

When she was finally finished dressing, she looked “like a princess, like an empress’….Scrupulously clean and heavily perfumed…” (1)

Frida Kahlo smoking, photograph by her friend and lover Nickolas Muray, ca. 1940

Frida Kahlo smoking, photo by her friend and lover, Nickolas Muray, ca. 1940

Frida was a heavy smoker and is often photographed holding a lit, unfiltered cigarette. She seldom smiled for the camera – with good reason. The few photos that have caught her laughing reveal blackened teeth.

(1) Zamora, Martha. Frida Kahlo: The Brush of Anguish. San Francisco: Chronicle Books, 1990.

READERS: For more posts on Frida Kahlo, click here.

Read Full Post »

Frida Kahlo: An Accidental Artist

Posted in Frida Kahlo, PEOPLE, tagged biographies of artists, biographies of HIspanic women, biographies of sick women, biographies of women, biographies of women artists, Frida Kahlo, Frida Kahlo paints in bed, Frida Kahlo photos, Frida Kahlo's bus accident, Frida Kahlo's New York exhibition 1938, Frida Kahlo's special easel, Julien Levy on November 10, 2009| 17 Comments »

Frida Kahlo photographed by New York art dealer, Julien Levy (1938)

Mexican artist Frida Kahlo as photographed by New York art dealer, Julien Levy (1938)

“I am not sick. I am broken. But I am happy as long as I can paint.”

To Julien Levy, who prepared Frida Kahlo‘s 1938 New York art exhibition, Frida wrote (in English):

“I never thought of painting until 1926, when I was in bed on account of an automobile accident. I was bored as hell in bed with a plaster cast (I had a fracture in the spine and several in other places), so I decided to do something. I stoled [sic] from my father some oil paints, and my mother ordered for me a special easel because I couldn’t sit down [she means “sit up”], and I started to paint.” (1)

Frida Kahlo paints in bed.

(1) Herrera, Hayden. Frida: A Biography of Frida Kahlo. New York: HarperCollins Publishers, Inc., 1983.

READERS: For more posts on Frida Kahlo, click here.

Read Full Post »

Elizabeth Taylor: Burton Called Her “Lumpy”

Posted in Eddie Fisher, Elizabeth Taylor, PEOPLE, Richard Burton, tagged "Cleopatra", 1970 Oscar, biographies of actresses, biographies of women, Chanel, Debbie Reynolds, Dick and Liz, Dior, Dorothy Kilgallen, Eddie Fisher, Edith Head, Elizabeth Taylor, Elizabeth Taylor biography, Hedda Hopper, Hollywood, Hollywood biography review, How to Be a Movie Star: Elizabeth Taylor in Hollywood by William Mann, Liz Taylor marries Burton, new Elizabeth Taylor biography, Paris, Richard Burton, Rome, Sybil Burton, Taylor and Burton, Taylor divorces Fisher, Taylor-Burton diamond, Twentieth Century Fox's Cleopatra, Yves St. Laurent on November 5, 2009| 7 Comments »

Elizabeth Taylor as Queen of the Nile in "Cleopatra" (1963)

There’s a delicious new Elizabeth Taylor biography on the market: How to Be a Movie Star: Elizabeth Taylor in Hollywood by William Mann. I’ve been reading juicy excerpts online. The book is so good, so rich in scandalous detail, that I’ve ordered a copy to be sent to my doorstep.

I’m devouring the chapter on the early 1962 filming of “Cleopatra,” when Elizabeth famously ditches husband #4 Eddie Fisher for her Welsh costar Richard Burton. Author Mann paints Elizabeth Taylor as quite the pampered diva, ensconced in her Italian villa, filming in Rome by day. Her butler, for example, was one of many charged with satisfying her every frivolous need.

An example: Elizabeth was a pack-a-day smoker – despite the fact that she was recovering from pneumonia and a tracheotomy that had seriously delayed the movie’s production and almost cost Elizabeth her life. Nevertheless, she smoked, and with a cigarette holder. She never used the same holder twice.

“Fresh ones – at least ten a day – had to be at the ready, and they had to be color-coded. A green dress called for a matching holder – and Madame changed outfits quite frequently as her moods shifted. Every morning Oates [her butler] prepared a box of cigarette holders based on what Elizabeth would be wearing that day and evening, and not only did the holders have to match her outfits, they couldn’t clash with the tablecloth.” (1)

Richard Burton as Mark Antony with Elizabeth Taylor as Queen of the Nile in "Cleopatra" (1963)

Richard Burton as Marc Antony with Elizabeth Taylor in "Cleopatra" (1963)

But Richard Burton wasn’t dazzled by Liz’s Hollywood fame. Twentieth Century Fox was paying her $1 million to play the Queen of the Nile in their production. Elizabeth Taylor was the highest-paid actress of the day – but Richard Burton called her “Lumpy” – and to her face. She was intrigued by his dismissive attitude toward him.

Burton was a heavy drinker. In his first big scene with Taylor, he appeared on the set with a terrible hangover. Elizabeth, although the mother of 3 children at the time, with an adoption of a fourth child in the works, had never been particularly maternal. Yet when she saw how sick Burton was, she felt an overwhelming need to take care of him. It was the turning point. They began a hot-and-heavy and very public romance.

Rumors seeped out and crossed the Atlantic, creeping into gossip columns by Hedda Hopper and Dorothy Kilgallen, scandalizing the film industry and the public who were just recovering from Liz’s latest romantic acquisition, when she stole the married Eddie Fisher from actress wife Debbie Reynolds.

In early 1958, Fisher embraces wife Reynolds in Las Vegas, though his eye seems to be on Taylor, his best friend Mike Todd's wife. In March, Todd dies in a plane crash, and Fisher soon leaves Reynolds for Taylor.

Meanwhile, back on the “Cleopatra” set, Eddie Fisher learned of his wife’s affair. Their marriage had already been on shaky ground but was not yet in complete tatters. He wanted to salvage it. On February 5, at the suggestion of his wife’s secretary, he took Elizabeth shopping. He chartered a flight to Paris. The international press followed their every move, as the former nightclub crooner Fisher and his gorgeous celebrity wife visited Parisian fashion houses such as Yves St. Laurent, Chanel, and Dior, where Eddie wrote check after check for gowns, jewels, and furs for his flagrantly unfaithful wife. Eddie Fisher once said,

“To keep Elizabeth happy, you have to give her a diamond before breakfast every morning.”

Delighted with her new trinkets, Elizabeth promised Fisher she would stop seeing Burton. A rupture was temporarily averted; they flew back to Rome.

Two weeks passed yet things did not go better for Fisher. Liz did not keep her word. She continued seeing Burton. On February 17, 1960, drinking heavily, Elizabeth swallowed 14 sleeping pills and passed out cold. She was hospitalized for what was considered a suicide attempt. She was distraught over her personal life. She could not make the break with Burton. She had fallen head-over-heels in love with him.

A little over a week later, she turned thirty, and her parents flew to Rome for the celebration. Shortly afterward, Burton confronted her in front of Fisher and told her she must choose between her two men. On the spot, she chose Burton. Richard divorced his wife of 13 years, Sybil Burton. In 1964, Elizabeth divorced Fisher and married Richard Burton.

: Richard Burton escorts wife Elizabeth Taylor to the 1970 Oscars. Taylor wears an Edith Head gown that matches her violet eyes and displays her assets, particularly her own 69-carat, pear-shaped Cartier diamond — which later became known as the Taylor-Burton diamond.

Twice married, twice divorced to one another, the love affair between Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton remains one of the most famous – and tempestuous – of the Twentieth Century.

(1) Mann, William J. How to Be a Movie Star: Elizabeth Taylor in Hollywood. New York: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2009.

Read Full Post »

The King of Funk: James Brown & The Cape Routine

Posted in James Brown, PEOPLE, tagged Eddie Murphy, funky music, funky soul music, I Feel Good by James Brown, James Brown, James Brown's Celebrity Hot Tub, King of Funk, Please, please please please, rhythm and blues, Saturday Night Live on October 30, 2009| 5 Comments »

The King of Funk: James Brown (1933-2006) bustin’ some moves

Growing up in the 1960s, I saw a lot of the Sunday night television program, “The Ed Sullivan Show.” I was eleven years old when James Brown appeared on the variety show in 1966. I’d never seen anyone perform like him before. He just came all apart on stage. He sang and sweated and scooted around the floor like he was on fast skates. But the part I couldn’t believe was when he became so overwrought with emotion – pleading, crying – that a fellow musician saw fit to intervene, come on stage, throw a cape over Brown’s shoulders, and escort him offstage.

At first, he looked like he was going to take the suggestion and leave. He’d take a few steps then throw off that cape. He’d fall back into his frenzied song, falling to the floor. Again the man would come – with a different cape each time, always fancy, sometimes leopard-printed, and, again, try to take Brown offstage before he became completely unglued.

The two videos here are from the days before James Brown hit the big time. They’re poor quality; you can’t really see Brown’s face well. But the footwork and raw energy in both performances is unsurpassed. In later performances, everything is so polished, and the costumes so over the top, the band and dancers so distracting, that you can forget to just keep your eyes on the great James Brown.

In this first video, James Brown sings “Please, Please, Please.” You’ll be able to see the full theatrics of the cape routine. Note how short Brown’s pants are.

In this video, you can see the fancy dancer Michael Jackson emulated. Go, James, go! “I Feel Good”

James Brown was recognized by numerous titles, including and foremost The Godfather of Soul, Soul Brother Number One, Sex Machine, Mr. Dynamite, The Hardest Working Man in Show Business, The King of Funk, Minister of The New New Super Heavy Funk, and Mr. Please Please Please Please Her.

Comedian Eddie Murphy did a parody of James Brown on Saturday Night Live,
strutting around a hot tub in a robe singing:

Sometimes it make me break out in a cold sweat!
One two three four!
Hot tub! Ha! Da!
Ah-full of water!
I say hot tub! Ha!
Day! Ba! Very, very hot… Very hot! Da!
Hot tub! Gonna get ya hot-a!
Gonna make ya sweat! Hey! Say!
Hot tub! Rub a dub in the hot tub!
Rub a dub with me!

At the end of the routine, “Brown” takes off his robe and reveals a very taut and muscular Eddie Murphy – in a gold lamé bikini. Click here to see this hilarious video.

Eddie Murphy impersonates James Brown on the Saturday Night Live skit, “James Brown’s Celebrity Hot Tub Party”

james brown

Read Full Post »

Annie Leibovitz Shoots the Obamas

Posted in Annie Leibovitz, Barack and Michelle Obama, PEOPLE, tagged biographies of women, famous photographers, First Family photos, history, Michelle Obama's fashion sense, Mrs. O, Obama family photo, photography, President Barack Obama, the Green Room, the White House on October 26, 2009| 2 Comments »

The Obama Family, the first official White House portrait shot by photographer Annie Leibovitz, Sept. 1, 2009

The White House has released the first official – and wonderful! – family portrait of President Barack Obama and his family. The photograph, taken by famed celebrity photographer Annie Leibovitz, was shot in the Green Room of the White House on September 1, 2009. It shows a happy First Family, from left to right, the President, his younger daughter Natasha (Sasha), wife Michelle, and older daughter Malia Ann.

The Lovely Michelle Obama

For those of you who can’t get enough of Michelle Obama’s fashion sense, visit the blog “Mrs. O.”

Read Full Post »

Dalí Atomicus

Posted in PEOPLE, Phillipe Halsman, Salvador Dali, tagged Dali Atomicus, Phillipe Halsman, Salvador Dali, Surrealism on October 26, 2009| Leave a Comment »

"Dalí Atomicus" a 1948 collaboration by Spanish artist Salvador Dalí and LIFE magazine photographer Phillipe Halsman

After meeting in New York in 1941, surrealist artist Salvador Dalí and Latvian-born photographer Phillipe Halsman began a three-decade partnership. The most notable and iconic of their projects is this playful tableau, “Dalí Atomicus,” in which Dalí, his canvas, furniture, cats, and water all appear suspended in air. It took 28 takes to complete the photograph, each time throwing cats, water, and the chair up in the air. The canvases were suspended by wire and, of course, Dalí had to jump each time. According to Halsman, everyone involved in the project was exhausted at the end – except the cats.

It was 1948 then and the world was afraid of nuclear war. Dalí was in his Nuclear Mysticism stage and obsessing over the atom. Initially, he and Halsman had considered blowing up a chicken and photographing it, but nixed it – for the obvious PR reasons.

Read Full Post »

Al Hirschfeld: Looking for Nina

Posted in Cary Grant, Katharine Hepburn, tagged Al Hirschfeld, Audrey Hepburn caricature, Audrey Hepburn with Hat by Hirschfeld, caricature, cary grant by hirschfeld, celebrity caricature, katharine hepburn by hirschfeld, Marilyn Monroe by Hirschfeld, Nina, Paul Newman by Hirschfeld, the Beatles Abbey Road by Hirschfeld, the New York Times Broadway reviews, the Nina mystery, TV Guide on October 23, 2009| 9 Comments »

"Audrey Hepburn with Hat," drawing by Al Hirschfeld

Albert “Al” Hirschfeld ( 1903 – 2003) was an American caricaturist best known for his simple black and white satirical portraits of celebrities. He had the unique ability to capture a person’s likeness with few and simple lines. His eight-decade career included drawing the entire casts of Broadway plays to include alongside reviews in The New York Times and illustrating the covers of newstand TV Guide issues.

Hirschfeld achieved additional fame for hiding the name of his daughter, Nina, in most of his drawings. The name “Nina” would be scrawled in the lace of a sleeve, the locks of an actress’s wavy hair, or somewhere in the background. On occasion, “Nina” would show up more than once in a drawing. In those cases, Hirschfeld would then add a number next to his signature, designating how many times “Nina” would appear. On a few rare occasions, Hirschfeld would write “Nina” flopped, creating a reverse image of the name.

Al Hirschfeld with daughter Nina, 1961

“Though Nina was a popular feature in his illustrations, with many enjoying the game of searching for them, on more than one occasion Hirschfeld would lament that the gimmick had overshadowed his art. On occasion he did try to discontinue the practice, but such attempts always generated harsh criticism. Nina herself was reportedly somewhat ambivalent about all the attention.

In…[an] interview with The Comics Journal, Hirschfeld confirmed the urban legend that the U.S. Army had used his cartoons to train bomber pilots with the soldiers trying to spot the NINAs much as they would spot their targets. Hirschfeld told the magazine he found the idea repulsive, saying that he felt his cartoons were being used to help kill people. In his 1966 anthology The World of Hirschfeld, he included a drawing of Nina which he titled ‘Nina’s Revenge.’ That drawing contained no Ninas. There were, however, two Als and two Dollys (‘The names of her wayward parents’).”

Paul Newman, drawing by Al Hirschfeld

Marilyn Monroe, drawing by Al Hirschfeld

The Beatles "Abbey Road," drawing by Al Hirschfeld

Katharine Hepburn by Hirschfeld

Cary Grant by Hirschfeld

To see more Hirschfelds, click here.

Read Full Post »

Queen Elizabeth with 12 U.S. Presidents

TIME magazine's 1952 Woman of the Year: Queen Elizabeth II of England (Jan. 5, 1953 cover)

In February 1952, Princess Elizabeth was touring Kenya with her husband Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh when she received the bad news that her father, King George VI of Great Britain, had passed away. Thus, at the tender age of 25, Elizabeth ascended the throne to become Queen of the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Pakistan, and Ceylon. She took the title Queen Elizabeth II although she was not a descendant of Queen Elizabeth I (1533-1603), who was the last Tudor queen. Queen Elizabeth II belongs to the Royal House of Windsor, formerly known as Saxe-Coburg and Gotha.

During the Queen’s reign, there have been 11 U.S. presidents. Queen Elizabeth II has met every one of them except Lyndon B. Johnson. She met Harry Truman before she became queen and Herbert Hoover when he was a former president.

Here is a photo gallery of Queen Elizabeth II and 12 U.S. Presidents:

The Queen with President Barack Obama in 2009

The Queen with President George W. Bush in 2003

The Queen with President Bill Clinton in 2000

The Queen with President George H. Bush in 1991

The Queen with President Ronald Reagan in 1982

The Queen with President Jimmy Carter in 1977

The Queen with President Gerald Ford in 1976

The Queen with President Richard Nixon in 1970

The Queen and Prince Philip with President John and Jackie Kennedy (early 1960s)

The Queen with President John F. Kennedy in 1961

The Queen with former President Herbert Hoover in 1957

The Queen with Presidents Dwight Eisenhower (top) and Harry Truman (1950s)

The Queen with Presidents Dwight D. Eisenhower (top) in 1957 and Harry Truman (bottom) in 1951

Readers, for more on the Queen, scroll down the right sidebar to “Categories” – “People” – “Queen Elizabeth II”

Read Full Post »

I Love Lucy: Lucy Meets Bill Holden, Part 3

Posted in PEOPLE, tagged 1950s television programs, Bill Holden, biographies of actresses, biographies of women, classic television comedy, Hollywood, I Love Lucy, L.A. at Last, Lucille Ball, Lucy Barbie dolls, Lucy Meets Bill Holden, Lucy Ricardo, Lucy's fashion, Lucy's putty nose, William Holden on October 15, 2009| 3 Comments »

i-love-lucy-fourth-season Readers: Read the two previous posts before continuing:

“I Love Lucy: Lucy Meets Bill Holden, Part 1”

“I Love Lucy: Lucy Meets Bill Holden, Part 2”

Doll maker Mattel has immortalized some of Lucy’s most famous roles by creating a line of collector Barbies. Mattel no longer makes the dolls but they are widely available for sale. One of the most popular dolls is the one shown below.

Lucy "L.A. at Last" Barbie doll by Mattel.

"I Love Lucy Barbie doll by Mattel: "L.A. at Last"

“Hooray for Hollywood! At least that’s what Lucy thinks in the episode L.A. at Last™. But after a disastrous encounter with William Holden at the famed Brown Derby Restaurant, she’s not so sure. Especially when Ricky invites Holden up to their hotel room to meet his biggest fan, Lucy. Mortified by her previous encounter, Lucy runs to the bedroom and disguises herself with glasses, scarf, and an oversized putty nose, which she manages to catch on fire, and then comically extinguishes in a cup of coffee! Lucy wears an authentic re-creation of the episode’s costume, which includes a black chiffon coatdress with black dots over a tan jumpsuit. Silvery dots adorn her waistband and a large bow at the collar to coordinate with her dangling earrings. She has rooted eyelashes underneath tortoiseshell glasses that rest on an over-sized, protruding nose. Curls of her signature-red hair peek out from the tan kerchief that completes her disguise.” (Mattel)

Read Full Post »

I Love Lucy: Lucy Meets Bill Holden, Part 2

Posted in Lucille Ball, PEOPLE, William Holden, tagged 1950s television programs, Bill Holden, biographies of actresses, biographies of women, classic television comedy, Desi Arnaz, Ethel and Fred, I Love Lucy, Lucille Ball, Lucy Meets Bill Holden, Lucy Ricardo, Ricky Ricardo, the Brown Derby, the golden age of Hollywood, the Mertzes, William Holden on October 15, 2009| Leave a Comment »

Lucy Ricardo eyes Bill Holden at the Brown Derby in the "I Love Lucy" episode, "L.A. at Last!"

*Readers: If you haven’t already done so, read “I Love Lucy: Lucy Meets Bill Holden, Part 1” before continuing.

In my last post, I revealed that my absolute favorite “I Love Lucy” episode is

“L.A. at Last!”

and showed you a video of the first half, the famous scene when Lucy and the Mertzes spy actor Bill Holden in the Brown Derby.

The second half of the show takes place in Lucy and Ricky‘s Hollywood hotel room.

Click here to continue with “I Love Lucy: Lucy Meets Bill Holden, Part 3”

Read Full Post »

I Love Lucy: Lucy Meets Bill Holden, Part 1

Posted in PEOPLE, tagged 1950s television programs, Audrey Hepburn, Bill Holden, biographies of actresses, biographies of women, classic television comedy, Desi Arnaz, Ethel Mertz, Fred Mertz, Grace Kelly, I Love Lucy, L.A., Lucille Ball, Lucy Ricardo, Ricky Ricardo, the Brown Derby, the Cobb Salad, The Country Girl, Vivian Vance, William Frawley, William Holden on October 13, 2009| 5 Comments »

Lucy Ricardo from the popular, long-running, 1950s television comedy "I Love Lucy"

Zany Lucy Ricardo (played by Lucille Ball) from the immensely popular, long-running, classic 1950s television comedy "I Love Lucy"

Everybody has a favorite “I Love Lucy” episode and this is mine:

“L.A. at Last!”*

Lucy’s husband Ricky Ricardo is filming a picture out in L.A. and has taken Lucy and the Mertzes out to California with him. This scene opens with Lucy, Fred, and Ethel out star hunting. They are having lunch at the Brown Derby, a popular haunt for Hollywood movie stars.

As the three await their meal, Ethel mouth drops open. She is astonished to discover heartthrob William Holden being seated at the next booth. A video excerpt from “L.A. at Last!” is posted at the bottom of this post. When you view it, notice that Bill Holden asks the waiter to bring him a Cobb Salad. The Cobb Salad – now famous – was invented by the owner of the Brown Derby.

The original Brown Derby at 9537 Wilshire Boulevard. It was a landmark restaurant in Los Angeles, which was frequented by celebrities during the Golden Age of Hollywood. It was an example of novelty architecture, known for being physically shaped like a brown derby hat, for being the birthplace of the Cobb salad (which was named for the Cobbs, the owners of the Derby), and the home of hundreds of caricatures of celebrities.

The original Brown Derby at 9537 Wilshire Boulevard was a landmark restaurant in Los Angeles, which was frequented by celebrities during the Golden Age of Hollywood. It was an example of novelty architecture, known for being physically shaped like a brown derby hat and for being the birthplace of the Cobb salad (which was named for the Cobbs, the owners of the Derby), and the home of hundreds of caricatures of celebrities.

Audrey Hepburn and William Holden from "Sabrina," 1954. The next year, "Bill" Holden makes a guest appearance on the "I Love Lucy" show. This episode, "L.A. at Last!" still in reruns, is one of the all-time favorites. At the time of the filming, Bill Holden was filming "The Country Girl" with Grace Kelly.

Now enjoy 6 minutes of Lucille Ball’s comic genius.