Assorted Beauty
Kay Francis
Alice Faye
Barbara Stanwyck
Constance Bennett
Clara Bow
Claudette Colbert
Carole Lombard
Fay Wray
Ina Claire
Joan Blondell
Joan Crawford
Jean Harlow
Marion Davies
Nancy Carroll
Sylvia Sidney
Thelma Todd
posted by jtk at 1:08 PM
19 Comments:
Splendid photos, thank you! Thelma Todd doesn't really look like herself, though.
Hi Lolita,
Glad you like them! Thelma is hiding too much of herself in that photo.
jtk
Holy moly, was Ruby Catherine Stevens ever really that young? What a knockout! I did sound on an interview with Barbara S. (regarding Henry Fonda, perhaps?) in the '80s and found her quite charming… and saucy, even at her (relatively) advanced age.
Did they just stop making gals like that, or am I simply not looking hard enough? Sheesh.
I especially like the Kay and Ina ones.
oh that fay wray on is gorgeous! well they all are arent they??
thanks for these! oh im sure i'll come back many times to have another and another and another look! :)
elenalu
Hi Huck,
Stanwyck was indeed a knockout! Charming and saucy! Care to elaborate? We'd love ot hear more about the great Ms Stanwyck
They really don't make em like that anymore--at least not for me, anyway. If I looked like Robert Taylor - maybe.
jtk
Hi Elsie,
Wish there were more pics of Kay as a blonde. Really like that look. Also wish there were more pics of the usually regal Ina looking so sultry.
jtk
Hi elena-lu,
Glad you like the photos! Yes, Fay Wray and the others were very beautiful women. They had faces.
Please, stop by often - we're open 24 hours :)
jtk
see i told you, here i am again taking another look! so so lovely!!
When I first started as a boom operator, I went out of my way to take any gig involving "old" Hollywood talent, as I knew some of those folks weren't going to be around too much longer. LA was busy back then (unlike now!), so most technical crew members (myself included) had plenty of feature work—but I had hooked up with a sound mixer who also appreciated stars from the not-so-distant past, so we did a fair amount of interviews with such people between movie projects. Jimmy Stewart, Richard Widmark, Billy Wilder, Myrna Loy, Stewart Granger, Cary Grant, Claudette Colbert—oh heck, lots of people whose work I had admired for years—allowed film crews into their homes for various interviews. Of course, this was back in the day when production budgeted in a boom operator; now, somebody just clips on a lavalier mic and hopes for the best.
Anyway, I boomed two interview pieces (two days, about a week apart) with Babs (someone suggested we call her Missy, but I don't think anyone felt comfortable enough to do that) and I must say… she was a hoot. I wired her as well as boomed her, and she was quite frisky every time I reached up under her blouse to place or remove her lav. She did her own make up and made everyone in the crew laugh with her tales of days gone by. She talked with me at length about "The Lady Eve" and said she was always sorry she'd never done another picture with Preston Sturges. (I'm pretty sure the purpose of the interview was to talk about Henry Fonda who, of course, costarred in "Eve."). This was not too long after the fire that destroyed her home, so she was a little skittish and seemed to realize that her time on the planet was limited. Still, she sat and answered my many questions (between setups) about "Christmas in Connecticut" (she thought the director Peter Godfrey was kind of a dud), "Forty Guns" (LOVED Samuel Fuller) and "The Strange Love of Martha Ivers" (Janis Wilson went into a tizzy and kicked Babs in the shins on Janis' last day of shooting; hey, I just report the news!).
Personally, I thought the lovely Miss Stanwyck was just swell, and (literally) everyone in the crew fell in love with her. Barbara was a wonderful, sexy gal with one hell of a laugh and charm that came easily and naturally. I'm glad I had the chance to met her.
Apologies in advance to all offended parties, but what a broad.
I've gone and left you a Splash Award over at my site Movietone News.
Is it me or is Fay Wray the most beautiful woman ever? (I don't mean is it me that's the most beautiful woman ever. Perhaps you realised that without me having to say. I meant isn't Fay Wray the most beautiful woman ever. )
Oops, not Claudette Colbert—I don't think she spent much time in the US after '61 or so (*wish* I'd met her!)—I was thinking of interviews I worked on with Bette Davis. Yes I know, kind of hard to confuse Bette with Claudette Colbert but I did just the same. Sheesh.
Hi elena-lu,
Welcome back! What took you so long? Fay Wray and I were waiting for you!
jtk
Hi Huck,
WOW, that is great, great stuff! Thank you very much for sharing that with us. I'd really like to move your comment to the main blog under Stanwyck so that more people might read it - if that's okay with you - if not, thats okay too. That is some long list of talent there. With all this material on all these stars you've worked in the past I do hope you have a book in the works.
jtk
Hi Matthew,
Thank you very much! After my last miserable failure at passing an award on I will certainly do my best to pass this along.
No, it's not just you. Fay Wray is something else indeed. Glad to see the Fay Wray fans come out!
I Look forward to reading your upcoming book.
jtk
Feel free to move my comments wherever you wish! Me, write a book? Boy, compared to many crew members I've worked with over the years, I've met next to nobody!
It can be surprising to do a project with someone like say, Ruta Lee, who most might not think of as a big star—but she has *amazing* stories of the people she's worked with: Bing Crosby and Donald O'Connor ("Anything Goes"); Audie Murphy ("Bullet for a Badman"); Frank, Dean and Sammy ("Sergeants 3"); Audrey Hepburn and Fred Astaire ("Funny Face"); and Billy Wilder, Tyrone Power, Marlene Dietrich and Charles Laughton ("Witness for the Prosecution"). Angie Dickinson was someone else who was very happy to talk about her experiences with Howard Hawks, Sinatra, John Wayne, Kirk Douglas, etc.
People like Angie and Ruta are the ones who should write a book!
Hi Huck,
Okay, not a book then, but perhaps you could blog about it occasionally. Inquiring minds want to know - and all that!
There sure are some legendary characters that Ruta and Angie have worked with throughout the years. I'll bet Ruta and Angie just recounting the escapades of Bing, Frank Dean, Sammy and Marlene Dietrich would fill several very large books. Now that would be some read!
jtk
Gorgeous... love your site!
Hi Gabbi,
Thank you very much. Glad to have you as a guest. I haven't been posting much lately and hope to correct that soon.
I'd like to apologize to Matthew at Movietone as I haven't been able to post re the SPLASH.
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