& as a movie-mad young man I loved the Blackglama ads. this one of Judy Garland was one of her most memorable poses. & of course Andy Warhol appropriatd it for his famous print.
I still remember the poses of Gloria Swanson & Claudette Colbert & Lana Turner. but my all-time fave was that of Barbara Stanwyck who displayd her great spirit with such flare. now there was a legend.
the reason I dredge all this up is the current issue of Vanity Fair. it includes a new "what becomes a legend most?" ad. & boy do I feel old. I had no idea who the young woman in the ad was. I had to go to the company's website to discover it was Elizabeth Hurley. I rememberd she was a model who used to live with Hugh Grant before he pickd up the hooker but I had to google her to discover she's actually appeard in some movies. I don't think I've seen any of them.
Elizabeth Hurley is a lucky young lady. joining the ranks of Garland & Stanwyck. perhaps after I'm dead she'll actually become a legend. but right now I'd say Blackglama is really stretching.
6 comments:
I never thought I'd see the day when Liz Hurley became a legend! She's a beautiful woman and has been a successful model for 14 years, but she's definitely NO legend in the old Hollywood movie star sense. I'm perplexed about this - I'm sure they could have found someone more worthy of the legend tag to model for them.
It's a bad move for the fur company. Her film credits are humble. How wonderful that you did not know of her.
Yet I have to say that your post (the photo of Garland) had the opposite of the desired effect on me. I pondered for a moment the photo of my second favorite celebrity of all time, observing how she looked drugged and disoriented and might as well have been stamped "past prime." And I think of Winehouse's accelerated demise and wonder Why the vogue of self-destruction. Once Garland had begun it, she was truly diminished, unglamorously so. Yet she was one of a single handful of the talents of our century. Why the vogue of flushing it away?
the only time I saw Judy perform live was at the Palace 2 years before her death. if she was "past prime" at that time I sure didn't know it. the electricity in the theater was palpable. there was no diminution of her talent that particular nite.
How fortunate that you saw Judy Garland perform. How very lucky. Seriously, for someone like me who was too young in the 1960s ... well, there is genuine envy.
Yet no one can talk me into believing the Billie Holiday of the 1950s and the late Judy Garland were anything but train wrecks compared to their prior, actual talent. It was a matter of choice, it seems to me.
perhaps I'm the only one but I love the late recordings of Holiday. I suspect it was because I heard & adored "Don't Worry Abt Me" before I heard the early disks. but the drama of her voice near the end remains so heartbreaking to me. her whole life & story is in each quavering note.
I have to agree about the last Holiday recording Lady in Satin, can't tell you how many times I've listened to it, and it always always moves me, many times to tears. Raw, rough sure, but she was a true artist. I also saw Garland at the Palace two years before she died and I recall the concert being great. I was thrilled to have seen her. I'm still hoping that Winehouse will back a comeback down the road, for to me she was the first great singer of the 21st century. Really a shame. I don't understand "the vogue of self destruction" either, but sure wish some of the many no talents in film, music etc would self destruct. Ditto for the overrated no talented artists that fill the galleries.
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