Teacher, Teacher

Is it just me, or does Clark not look particularly thrilled to be there? Not his brightest shining hour...

Incendiary Blonde

It's nice to be reminded, now and again, that even though we live in fallen times, still the occasional goddess walks among us.  Of that small number, it's even nicer to discover that one of them is, all indications to the contrary, sane, funny, wise, and really kind of a hell of a writer.

The legend in question may never have reached the uppermost heights of fame, even at her most notorious as a blonde sex bomb, but Mamie Van Doren has something over every one of her competitors, from the truly Olympian (Monroe) to the more than faintly risible (not just Jayne - think Joi Lansing and Cleo Moore):  she survived.  And she is, against all odds, in Mr. Sondheim's phrase, Still Here.

And more than that, she's online.  She recently relaunched her blog, Inside/Out, and after just a few entries it's become one of my favorite reads.  Whether talking about her clandestine nights with Joe DiMaggio or writing fondly of her (many) dogs, Mamie proves herself to be a good old girl, a broad of the classic type.  With the apparent goal of proving that 80-something is the new 30, she muses about everything from the end of the world next December to the next greatest catastrophe of 2012, MDNA, and she does so with wit and a wry, bemused eye for the absurd.

And, as you might not be too surprised to learn, she's still rocking some bodacious tatas.  Give her a read - I suspect you'll like her as much I've just come to...

Birthday Girls: Glamour Overload

Wow! What are the odds that two such divinities could have shared a birthday? Strange as it is, it appears to be true:

Sari Gabor Belge Hilton Sanders Hutner Cosden Ryan O'Hara Alba Lichtenberg, known these days as Princess Zsa Zsa von Anhalt, was born this day somewhere in Mitteleurope sometime toward the end of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and basically the world hasn't had a tranquil moment since.

The only comparatively less tempestuous Mamie Van Doren is also celebrating today.

It deeply gratifies me that both these remarkable creatures continue to grace this low world in which we find ourselves. Until they depart for Fabulon, we are lucky indeed to be able to savor a kind of ultrastyle in all too short supply these days.

And wouldn't Zsa Zsa Van Doren make a great drag name?