Compartmentalinked

creativity is not a waste of time
Laz Marquez amazing freshly imagined Hitchcock movie posters [heads up]
The Awl a conversation about Lady Gaga's "Telephone"
Gallery of the Absurd Lindsay is a "milkaholic"
Very Important Pixels how great are these simple movie director drawings? You can recognize them instantly!
Pop Eaters Mad Men dolls? Me want


classics
Self Styled Siren on Merle Oberon and her hidden mother
Old Hollywood 'subtle moments in American cinema' with Jayne Mansfield
If Charlie Parker... two bitches

oscar night
Towleroad more lingering (gay) questions from Oscar night
The Hot Blog has a few (harsh) words on the media's reaction to Farrah Fawcett's absence from Oscar's 'In Memoriam'. I personally think she should have been included since Michael Jackson was. I mean if we're opening it up to celebrities who weren't movie stars, shouldn't they be treated equally?

coming soon
The Big Picture Leonardo da Vinci, action hero. Oh dear
I Need My Fix Dakota & Kristen premiere The Runaways. In hideous clothing.
V Magazine The Art of Being Kirsten Dunst (Can we expect a comeback? *crosses fingers*)
LA Times more females behind the scenes in Hollywood? We can hope. It's still VERY much a boys club


the state of moviegoing
LAist I have shushed people in movie theaters. Fortunately I've never been stabbed with a meat thermometer for doing it
Erik Lundegaard statistics on moviegoing for the past 100 years. Crazy how the attendance is the same but the population has grown enormously. The 70s had the least amount of moviegoing. No wonder all those great directors got away with so much.

Valentina !

Mobile post sent by nathanielr using Utterli. Replies.

Visited the Valentina exhibit at the Museum of the City of New York today. The gloved gown to the left was for exotic Hollywood beauty Merle Oberon. The green gown was designed for Lillian Gish who apparently wore Valentina both on and off stage. Finally to the right this Katharine Hepburn ensemble was for The Philadelphia Story. Valentina declared "At last, I made her look like a woman."

To your left are three Greta Garbo pieces. Apparently Garbo was pretty damn specific about what she wanted. The coat to your left she asked that it be

...a combination of The Duchess of Windsor, Lady Mendl and George Bernard Shaw

You can't see the details too well here but the gown to your right, the "petal pink and black floral medallion silk brocade" is amazing.

Valentina was quite a high society character (why no biopic of her?), a young immigrant who became a self made celebrity carefully controlling her image and lying about her past. She was one of the original superstar designers, on equal fame footing with her clients and fond of delivering eminently quotable soundbites like

My salon is like a clinic where I treat clients for bad taste

The exhibit also had a clip of a fun televised interview between her and Edward R Murrow which brought back memories of David Straitharn's Oscar winning* performance in Good Night, and Good Luck. Good night, good luck and good times.

*I like to pretend sometimes
*

Don't you wish old photos came with audio tracks?

Or that you could time travel into the room as they were being taken.

[photo src]

And if either of those things were possible, wouldn't you grab every Old Hollywood candid you could find in order to listen in or join the party? What exactly would Rosalind Russell, Greer Garson and Merle Oberon chat about anyway? Roz only cares about the camera but who are Greer and Merle all smiles about?

I mean just fantasize for a moment about a night at ... on the bar with Marlene Dietrich and Claudette Colbert.

[photo src]

How much would you have to drink to not be starstruck and join right in. Too much. Too much I say. The mind clouds. The hangover would be epic.

Here's a photo I've cherished my whole life from an old out of print Natalie Wood book from the 80s. It's Dennis Hopper and Wood discussing acting styles as they screen A Streetcar Named Desire in the 50s. (Vivien Leigh was Natalie's favorite actress)


Imagine how many times "Method" and "Actor's Studio" were invoked in that conversation. Imagine the names that were casually dropped.

Blog challenge!
If you have a blog, post a hollywood candid or three you'd most like to hear the accompanying audio track to. I'll link up right here. Spread the namedropping / eavesdropping love.

first responders
Opportunistic Cinephile imagines that Bette Davis cares
Film Awards Watch goes on set with Jane Fonda and to theater with Orson Welles
A Blogwork Orange wonders if Liza Minelli was faking her laughter. Robert DeNiro can be so touchy. 'You talkin' to him?'
My New Plaid Pants gets kinky with Hitchcock and Kim Novak. Throw in Brando and Dean while you're at it.
Extra Criticum has a laugh with Monty & Liz. (sigh... How much do I love these two together? As much as kittens chasing their tails. Yes, that much)
Wipe That Smirk... attack of the princesses: Grace & Audrey
got here as soon as they could
Situated Laundry chooses Bette Davis and Joseph Cotton on the set of Beyond the Forest (I haven't seen this movie, have you?)
Culture Kid doesn't think Judy G needs that much cake. And what the hell are Queen Latifah and Meryl Streep doing?
The Silver Screening Room goes for Peter O'Toole and the "ladies", two Dames and confessions of a shopaholic?
Oscarvations wonders if DW Griffith was an the alpha male of United Artists? (I'm guessing it was Mary Pickford)
backup has arrived
StinkyLulu Sophia, Sal Mineo and Mae West. Oh my.
Stale Popcorn goes mental with Liza and Liz. Ha!
Reel Artsy Dorothy Dandridge wonders...