Yves Saint Laurent Style

The Style King

Easily one of the most recognizable figures in fashion history, by the end of his life, Algerian born Yves Saint Laurent had managed to make his name synonymous with elegant style.

A precocious adolescent, Laurent began designing clothes professionally at 17, while working as a couturier to an assistant of fashion great Christian Dior. Over a career that spanned over fifty years, before his death in 2008, he revolutionized several aspects of the high fashion industry and influenced a host of designers who came after him.

Saint Laurent's rise to fame was phenomenally rapid; at 21 he was named Head of Dior and his first major collection in the spring of 1958 brought him international acclaim - his Trapeze dress, in particular had wowed the industry and public alike.

Bobby Womack

Once a back up guitarist for the legendary Sam Cooke, Bobby Womack began his career back in the 1960's, singing in the family R&B band, The Valentinos. Based in Cleveland where Womack was born, the line-up included Bobby's four brothers, Cecil (of Womack and Womack fame), Harry, Friendly and Curtis, all of whom were songwriters. Notably, Bobby Womack wote the Rolling Stones hit It's All Over Now,which topped the UK singles charts.

It was Cooke who 'discovered' the band and offered them a contract with his SAR Records label, much to the chagrin of the boy's father, Friendly Womack Senior, who considered Cooke's brand of music sinful. At that time in the US there were two kinds of black singers - gospel and mainstream secular and to cross over to the latter was seen by some as selling out to the devil. Although Curtis was the lead singer, Sam had singled Bobby out for attention, remarking that he "sang with authority, and commanded attention on stage".

Zsa Zsa Gabor

The Gabors Flee Europe

World War 2 created flux and turmoil in Europe. It was a time of change and disorder; families were uprooted, homelands abandoned and for some, a chance for new beginnings in strange lands. Amongst those uprooted and thrown into flux, were sisters Zsa Zsa, Eva and Magda Gabor who, with their parents Vilma and Jolie, made their way from Budapest, Hungary, after the Nazi invasion, to America, sometime in the mid 1940's.

In Budapest, the family had been relatively well-heeled and the girls well-educated; they spoke several languages. In addition, Jolie Gabor, who was a kind of Hungarian Mrs. Bennett, saw to it that her daughters were well-versed in the essential charms a woman needed in order to catch a suitable husband.

Hayley Mills: 60s Teen Icon

Hayley Mills: a golden glow

Hayley Mills made her acting debut at the age of thirteen, when she appeared in the 1959 film Tiger Bay,with her famous actor father, John MIlls and which she won a Bafta Award for, as Best Newcomer. Originally, a boy had been planned for the role but since director, J Lee Thompson was having trouble finding the right boy, Mills suggested his daughter Hayley for the role.

Tiger Bay had an authenticity to it, which Hayley's performance enhanced and her natural charm, beauty and unaffected attitude caught the eye of Walt Disney's wife, Lilian, who suggeted her for the role of Pollyanna (1960) which led to a string of work with the Disney Studio, including The Parent Trap(1961), Summer Magic and That Darn Cat (1965).

Hayley Mills in a still shot from Tiger Bay

Hayley Mills in her Pollyanna days

A Star

As a young performer, Hayley proved to be very popular with baby-boomer audiences world-wide and wonan Oscar for Best Juvenile Performance for Pollyanna. Visually, the camera loved her and her soft, English wispy voice was innocently seductive. Not so great for singing however and although she made it to number 8 on the charts with the theme for The Parent Trap and had some success with a few other promotional songs, after her debut album, Let's Get Together, her singing career went not much further. Her chart success had more to do with her personal charms and popularity than her vocals.

Mills came from an established show biz family herself. Her father John Mills was already an established star long before she appeared in Tiger Bay, her elder sister Juliet Mills, is also an actress and her Mother Mary, Hayley Bell was an authoress, who wrote Whistle Down the Wind (Hayley starred in the film version),Sky West and Crooked, and The Winged Boy. Playwright Noel Coward and consumate actor Laurence Olivier were her god fathers.

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Hayley's debut musical album

Most Popular Teen of the Decade

Hayley's star rose in paralell with the sixties generation and she was in some ways an amalgamation of two eras. An attractive style and modern parlance and clothes ensured her relevance but she was also a darling of the older generation - polite, squeaky clean, respectful and mannered in a way that was reminiscent of the fifties. It was only when she began to lose her innocence and take on more adult character roles that her luminous star waned.

Poster by Paul Wenzel, 1963, for Walt Disney's "Summer Magic"

Hayley, Roy and son Crispian

Hayley's Marriage to Roy Boulting

In 1971 Hayley Mills stirred the pot by marrying film direct Roy Boutling, thirty-three years hers senior. The pair had met on the set of The Family Way (1967) , which Roy directed and it was a milestone film, not only because of their relationship but it had shattered the sugary sweet, innocent image of Hayley Mills - it was her first real adult film.

Along with his identical twin brother John, Roy was a part of the directing team known as The Boulting Brothers, who produced some classic comedies in the late 1950's and 1960's. Roy and Hayley divorced in the late 1970's and produced a son, Crispian from the union. A second son, Jason Lawson, was born in 1977, the result of a subsequent relationship with British actor Leigh Lawson, who went on to marry Iconic sixties model Twiggy.

Of relationships, Hayley once remarked: “You are either old souls who connect and share the same interests... or you are not.”

Adult Career

After starring in the weird little thriller,The Twisted Nerve in 1968 with Hywell Bennett, Hayley's career began to slide. Apart from the fact that she was now all grown up and a busy mother, her adult performances lacked the zing and charisma of her teen performances. Although she continued to work on stage and in the odd film, plus made-for-TVParent Trap sequels and like many fading stars, dutifully appeared onThe Love Boat (four times... she never matched those early heights of her career again. Perhaps she never felt the need to.

In the 1980's Hayley Mills returned to the small screen with a successful British miniseries The Flame Trees of Thika (1981), and keeping up the African theme, also starred in an ITV series, playing an expatriate British vet's mother-in-law in Wild at Heart(2007) .

Hitler's Filmmaker: Leni Riefenstahl

Photographer and film-maker, Leni Reifenstahl

Triumph of the Will and Olympia
In 1936, under the auspices of German dictator Adolf Hitler, Berlin played host to the Summer Olympic games. It was a grand event and the Germans went all out to impress. A new 100,000 seat track and field stadium, six gymnasiums and a host of smaller arenas were created, along with state of the art high-tech equipment, closed circuit TV and a radio network that broadcast internationally.

Hitler saw the games as an opportunity to showcase the 'glory' of Germany and in a world first, decided to produce a documentary film to mark the event.  He wanted an inspired work that  both elevated the German sense of pride and awed the rest of the world and he hired young German photographer and film-maker Leni Riefenstahl to make it. 

Mrs Simpson

 

Profile of a seductress - Wallis Simpson

When the freshly crowned King Edward VIII announced to the world in December, 1936 that he had decided to abandon the throne of England in favour of marriage to "the woman I love" there were in essence, two reactions - outrage or a kind of romantic empathy and intertwined with both was a sense of shock.

As most of us know, the woman Edward loved was forty year old American divorcee, Wallis Simpson. To the romantics, Edward was making  a supreme and noble sacrifice for love, while to the outraged he was spurning respectability, his duty, the people of England and the Church for an absurd, puppy-like passion that was nothing short of embarrassing.  

What mysterious qualities did Mrs. Simpson posses that would make her so powerfully alluring that a man would toss aside one of the greatest glories that could be bestowed upon him? Could it really be the force of her personal charms or was it a case of Edward looking for the excuse he needed to shirk the cumbersome responsibilities of monarchy?

Greta Garbo Style

Hello Sailor - Greta Garbo publicity shot for MGM

One of the best ways to garner publicity is to eschew it and when Greta Garbo famously told the world she wanted to be alone, the moody Swedish actress immediately became an object of fascination. In the 1920s, she was cast as the eternal vamp and temptress and her male co-stars, mere incidental chattels overwhelmed by her dangerous beauty. In these romantic melodramas, her clothes were that of the seductress - dripping with sensual glamour.

Jayne Mansfield

Guest Post by Imogen Reed

Blonde ambition - Jayne Mansfield

The Original Pink Princess
The story of the life of Jayne Mansfield (originally Vera Jayne Palmer) is filled with both the glamour and tragedy that seem to be ubiquitous to the vintage Hollywood starlet. Born in 1933, she lead a reasonably normal and stable childhood, coming from a fairly affluent family and spending her early years in the town of Phillipsburg, New Jersey. Mansfield’s first bout of tragedy came to her quite young, at only 3 years of age; Jayne and her parents were traveling in their car, when her father suddenly suffered a serious heart attack, which lead to his untimely death. Three years after the death of her father, Jayne’s mother remarried, upped-sticks and moved the remaining family unit to a new home in Dallas, Texas, where Jayne was then known locally as Vera Jayne Peers.

Britt Ekland

Beautiful Britt Ekland

Britt and Peter Sellers

Long Blonde Hair and Eyes of Blue
Swedish-born actress Britt Ekland had the kind of sensual, pouty, kittenish blonde looks that had worked such wonders for French bombshell, Brigitte Bardot and while the Swedish beauty never quite reached the Goddess stature of Bardot, she nonetheless left her mark on the swinging 60s set and beyond, acquiring some famous love-interests along the way.

Ekland's rise to International fame began while she was making a film in Rome in '63. Sitting in a side walk cafe sipping a cappuccino with an American  friend, she was approached by a stranger who, struck by her extraordinary beauty, asked her if she'd like to meet the then head of 20th Century Fox, Daryl F Zanuck. Following the whiff of stardom to the US, Britt was signed to a contract and sent off to drama school to sharpen her acting skills and ready her for the English speaking market.
Some of Ekland's more notable  film credits include The Man with the Golden Gun, The Wicker Man, After the Fox and The Bobo.

WC Fields

A Clown with a Voice

Born William Claude Dukenfield in 1883, WC Fields was one of the most popular comedians of the 1930's. His rotund physique, irascible visage, drawling, elongated voice and cynical, wisecracking personality was irresistable to depression-era filmgoers, looking for relief and a temporary escape from the harsh conditions of the time.

Margaret Rutherford

English actress, Margaret Rutherford

A stalwart of the post-war British film industry, Margaret Taylor Rutherford was a memorable character actress. Adored by her fans, she exemplified much that was lovable about the English eccentric. Her comic skill, essential 'Englishness' and general oddball character translated well from stage to screen and during her career she enjoyed some plum film roles, notably as the credulous psychic, Madame Arcati in David Lean's film adaption of the Noel Coward play, Blythe Spirit but perhaps her most famous, ongoing role was as Agatha Christie's sharp spinster detective, Miss Marple in a series of films in the 1960s.

Robert Baden-Powell

Founder of the Scout Movement

Robert Baden-Powell

The Englishman whose upright, good deed philosophy spawned a global legion of boy scouts and girl guides was a born organizer. Lord Baden-Powell had been a soldier in the 13th Hussars, serving in India, Afghanistan and during the Boer war, in South Africa.

During the famous Battle of Mafeking, when a large Boer army had taken siege of the town for seven months, Baden-Powell distinguished himself by organizing the boys of Mafeking as guides, messengers and first aid corp, thus freeing up more soldiers for fighting. In May, 1900 when the town was released, there was much rejoicing back home in England and Baden-Powell was publicly honoured.

Elizabeth Arden

Elizabeth Arden

There's big money in beauty. For proof, one need look no further than the compelling story of cosmetics giant Elizabeth Arden (born Florence Nightingale Graham), who, at the peak of her career, was considered the wealthiest woman in the world. Quite an achievement for a Canadian nursing school drop-out, at a time when few women could climb to the top in the male-dominated sphere of big business.

Arden's venture into cosmetics began in New York in the early part of the last century, when she worked as a book keeper for a pharmaceutical firm, picking up some valuable information about skincare along the way. This was followed by a brief stint working for Eleanor Adair, a beauty consultant, or as it was known then, a 'beauty culturalist'. In turn, this lead to a partnership with another culturalist, Elizabeth Hubbard. The partnership was dissolved soon after but in its place, Elizabeth Arden was born, run solely by its proprietor, Florence Graham. The name was a fusion, formed from Hubbard's Christian name and a narrative poem by Alfred, Lord Tennyson - Enoch Arden.

Nelson Eddy and Jeanette MacDonald

Tis Love and Love alone

If any couple can be blamed for unrealistic Hollywood notions of true love and eternal happiness, it's Nelson Eddy and Jeanette MacDonald. The two popular singers embodied an irrepressible optimism about life, love and the happy ending. Utilising their warmth, natural charm and  sweet voices, they sang and acted their way through a series of  films that played heavily upon the emotional strings of viewers.

In the 1930s, when the world was less cynical about such things, these two were a huge box office draw. Via beautifully contrived and poignant plot lines, they had audiences dabbing their eyes and leaving the theatre with an uplifting view that there might be hope for the human race after all. Even today, it's hard to resist them -at least for anyone with the remotest flicker of romantic yearning.

Clifton Webb

On screen, actor Clifton Webb was as crisp and clear as a freshly pressed sheet of paper  - his well modulated voice, impeccable appearance and sharp wit gave him an edge in Hollywood and although he was not considered romantic lead material, throughout the 1940s and 50s he was rarely out of work.

Clifton Webb. Source

Webb was a fine character actor, much in demand and appeared in a number of classic films alongside some of the screens most beautiful actresses, including Laura (1944) and The Razor's Edge (1946) with Gene Tierney,  Sitting Pretty (1948) with Maureen O'Hara and Cheaper by the Dozen (1950) with Myrna Loy.

Born in Indianapolis in 1889, the versatile Webb began his professional life as a ballroom dancer, while still in his teens. With the encouragement of his mother Maybelle, Webb's creative and artistic talents manifested early, beckoning him away from school and academia, toward a theatrical life.

Margaret Lockwood

Dark beauty, Margaret Lockwood

Queen of the British melodrama, vintage actress Margaret Lockwood was born in exotic Karachi in what was then British India - the daughter of an English Administrator father and an Irish mother. However, the young Margaret spent only the first three and a half years of her life in India, having moved to London's Upper Norwood with her mother and brother in 1919.

Her luscious dark hair and dramatic, smoldering looks made her the perfect romantic foil for the type of steamy potboilers and period romances that were popular in the 1940s.

After training at RADA and some stage work, Lockwood's first significant foray into screen acting was in 1935, playing a supporting role in Basil Dean's, Lorna Doone, alongside John Loder and Victoria Hopper. However it was her appearance with Micheal Redgrave in the title role of  Alfred Hitchcock's The lady Vanishes, four years later, that propelled her to British stardom. The film was a big success, not just for Lockwood, as it also provided Hitchcock with  the necessary impetus to make the move to Hollywood.

Dick York

Eternally Darrin

Dick York

Actor Dick York is perhaps best remembered for his stint as Samantha's (Elizabeth Montgomery) husband in the 60s TV show Bewitched. York played the mere mortal -  king of his castle but threatened by his wife's supernatural powers,  pressured at work and belittled by his worldly mother-in-law. In many ways he was the representative male of white, affluent, middle-class America. Not that the average guy is married to a witch but Darrin Stephens was the essence of conservative ordinariness.

Darrin wanted his wife submissive in the kitchen and less powerful than himself -  he longed for normalcy but was surrounded by mayhem. Interestingly, the show was made on the cusp of the feminist revolution, when notions of a wife subverting her natural gifts for the sake of her husband's insecurities would be seriously challenged.

The Grey Gardens Cult

The Bizarre Beales

Grey Gardens on DVD

Take a pair of financially strapped, mother and daughter socialites...aunt and cousin to the Bouviers (Jackie O), a ramshackle East Hampton country house, some highly eccentric behaviour and you have the subject of a much discussed 1976 documentary called  Grey Gardens. Since its airing three decades ago the bizarre Beales, both called 'Edie' -Big and Little,  assumed a kind of cult status and though they are now dead, they still have their fans. The story of the two Edies eventually spawned an HBO film,  a Broaday musical and various Grey Gardens fanclubs.

Articles in the early 70s and the low budget, Mayles Bros. documentary had incited much curiosity.   For one thing, viewers wanted to know how a family with such wealthy connections could be living in such extraordinary squalor? Yet it was perhaps, the very juxtaposition of this squalor with the still retained but badly peeling patina of former glamour and wealth that was so oddly compelling....like looking at a chipped Ming vase lying abandoned on a junk heap.

Rudy Vallee

Me and my Megaphone

Rudy Vallee and his megaphone

Musician, singer, screen actor, radio star and comedian Rudy Vallee was a bit hit in the 1920s, 30s and 40s - with his softly intimate voice, tousled hair and non-threatening, boyish features, he cultivated a distinctive crooner image and personality that made him stand out from the regular popular singer crowd.

'College boy' Vallee had been a bandleader and saxophonist in the 1920s, who made a name for himself by singing through his trademark megaphone, often in a university sweater and singing Ivy League ditties such as the Yale drinking song, Whiffenproof.

The Eternity Man

2000 Olympics fireworks display over Sydney Harbour

 When the evocative word 'eternity' lit up the Sydney skyline during the harbour fireworks display at the close of the opening ceremony of the 2000 Olympics,  not everyone realised the word was a homage to a long deceased Sydney resident and local legend, Arthur Stace - a down and out, non-conformist, hard drinking WWI veteran. However while the man himself may have been humble, he possessed one grand concept that he clung to with an obsessive grip - eternity.