NYC Nostalgia Train

Merry Christmas

A 1950's Christmas with my dad, left, and two aunts.

Merry Christmas!

Dogway Melody, 1930

Greatest thing ever!

PART 2

Book Giveaway Winner

The winner for the book My Week With Marilyn & promo poster is:

Madrina from Savannah GA!!

Thank you to everyone who entered!

Sidenote: I just discovered random.org which I will use next time... so I don't have to bother a friend to 'pick a number between 1 and...'

Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade

Today is the 85th Annual Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade! Here are some photos of balloons past. Click to enlarge :)










Photos courtesy NY Daily News

Book Giveaway: My Week With Marilyn

I have a very exciting giveaway!! I have partnered up with the wonderful people at the Weinstein Company, producers of the upcoming film, My Week With Marilyn. The film is based on the book of the same title written by Colin Clark who spent one unforgettable week as Marilyn's escort and close confidant during the 1957 filming of The Prince and the Showgirl.

Weinstein Books is giving away a copy of Clark's My Week With Marilyn and promotional movie poster to coincide with the release of the film, this Wednesday November 23rd! To enter, please email me your name and address and one winner will be drawn at random (by a trust worthy assistant) and I will forward the winner's info to the publishers who will ship directly. The giveaway ends Friday November 25th. Unfortunately, this is open to US residents only.

So far, the film has been receiving positive reviews and lots of Oscar talk for Michelle Williams. The spectacular cast also includes Eddie Redmayne (as Colin), Kenneth Branagh, Emma Watson and Julia Ormond. There was an interesting article in this week's Entertainment Weekly wherein Williams submerged herself in research in hopes of capturing her soul, which she found the true foundation for transformation. Just the body language alone was a daunting task as well as mastering the iconic wiggle-walk. Marilyn Monroe the Star, Williams discovered, was actually a character Marilyn played in hopes of casting a wide net to bring in as much love as possible.

I am looking forward to this film as I would love to discover something new that hasn't been uncovered in the seemingly endless parade of books, photos and letters. She was obviously a complex and fascinating person and spending this week with her will hopefully bring us closer to a star without tumult; a star that never fades.

Hopefully you will enter the contest and see the film! Check out the websites at the end of the post for more information on the film. Thank you to Karen, Andy and Yosub!




Synopsis (via The Weinstein Company):
In the early summer of 1956, 23 year-old Colin Clark (Eddie Redmayne), just down from Oxford and determined to make his way in the film business, worked as a lowly assistant on the set of ‘The Prince and the Showgirl’. The film that famously united Sir Laurence Olivier (Kenneth Branagh) and Marilyn Monroe (Michelle Williams), who was also on honeymoon with her new husband, the playwright Aurthur Miller (Dougray Scott).

Nearly 40 years on, his diary account The Prince, the Showgirl and Me was published, but one week was missing and this was published some years later as MY WEEK WITH MARILYN – this is the story of that week. When Arthur Miller leaves England, the coast is clear for Colin to introduce Marilyn to some of the pleasures of British life; an idyllic week in which he escorted a Monroe desperate to get away from her retinue of Hollywood hangers-on and the pressures of work.













Photos courtesy of The Weinstein Company

http://myweekwithmarilynmovie.com/
https://www.facebook.com/myweekwithmarilyn

Lulu on SNL

Melissa McCarthy on SNL

The Gangster Squad

About two months ago, I fell in love with Ryan Gosling. I've never seen any of his movies; just came out of the blue. I'm going with it.

The Hollywood Reporter
9/28/2011 by Pamela McClintock

"Warner Bros. and Village Roadshow Pictures will open Ruben Fleischer's Gangster Squad -- starring Sean Penn, Ryan Gosling, Josh Brolin and Emma Stone -- on Oct. 19, 2012.

The period crime drama is based on a seven-part Los Angeles Times article written by Paul Lieberman centered on how in the 1940s, amid corruption and chaos, the LAPD created a unit called the Gangster Squad to keep the East Coast mafia out of the city."



photos- x17
text- The Hollywood Reporter

39 Candles

Happy Birthday Dita!

photo credit unknown

Michelle as Marilyn

Michelle Williams is Vogue US' new October 2011 cover girl. What is interesting is that she is in character as Marilyn Monroe for her upcoming film, My Week With Marilyn, in US theatres November 4th, 2011. The film chronicles one week with Marilyn in 1957 while she stars in The Prince and the Showgirl.









Photos Annie Leibovitz

Cameo

Grace Kelly, Marlene Dietrich and Marilyn Monroe make appearances in Dior's new J'adore short film. Good use of CGI, although Marilyn looks questionable. What are your thoughts?

Slide

Jill Scott's music video 'Slide' was the first music video I worked on and was tentatively titled 'Mr. Trombone'. I cannot recall the date, but I believe it was before I moved to Los Angeles so maybe...2002?

The theme was 1940's Cotton Club, so there was a lot of MAC Ruby Woo lipstick and lashes! I was assisting makeup artist Nick Roques; the director was Jeff Kennedy. This filmed in Philadelphia at the jazz club Zanzibar Blue and since I was the assistant I did not tend to Jill, but worked on the three main girls and most every female extra.

Doppelganger: Lauren

Karlie Kloss for Dior S/S 10 and Lauren Bacall

Dior photo by Steven Meisel

Scarlett

Scarlett Johansson bringing to life screen icons of the past in W magazine, June 2011.

Buster Keaton

Giulietta Masina

Marlene Dietrich

Sarah Bernhardt

Photos- Tim Walker
Stylist- Jacob K.
Hair- Orlando Pita
Makeup- Val Garland
Manicure- Yuna Park
Set Design- Rhea Thierstein

Life in Hollywood 1927

1920's Los Angeles

Fall TV

NBC's upcoming Playboy Club (Sept. 19th) and ABC's Pan Am (Sept. 25th) look pretty good! They join HBO's Boardwalk Empire and AMC's Mad Men in a growing trend of vintage and period television. More please!