Birthday | Elizabeth Taylor

Book | Hollywood In Kodachrome

By day I work in a camera/photo shop here in New Orleans, so as you can imagine I have quite a love for photography. I'm not quite old enough to have had the full experience of film photography, but that doesn't mean I do not have respect and adoration for the art form. At the top of my list of favorite film mediums is Kodak Kodachrome. I help customers all the time with their old Kodachrome slides and they always produce the most gorgeous photos. Colors and sharpness so crisp the images jump off the print.

So when I came across the book 'Hollywood In Kodachrome' by David Wills while on my usual weekly mission at Barnes and Noble, I just had to have it! They must have just gotten these books in because it was wrapped in plastic and looked so perfect! Beautiful coffee table books full of Old Hollywood pictures will always be my drug of choice... 

The book opens with gorgeous photos and a foreword written by the lovely Rhonda Fleming. She talks about how she was discovered by talent agent Henry Willson and about her dislike of her Hollywood nickname, "The Queen of Technicolor." She also admits to not being a trained actress and that her main influences in Hollywood came from top model of the day Anita Colby. Honestly, I didn't know much of her before reading this, but I did appreciate her explanation of how the photography side of the studio system worked.

After we here from Rhonda there is a very informative introduction by David Wills where he discusses the beginnings and uses of color film in Hollywood during the early 1900's. One fact I didn't know before this book was that Kodachrome was the first sustainable color film to be made. Of course that came with a long list of cons, but it did produce some of the most vibrant photos ever produced. The lighting had to be bright, and make up had to be caked on, but the end result was phenomenal.

After the text, comes the real gems of this publication, over 250 gorgeously illustrated Kodachrome photos from 1940-1949. Everyone from Rita Hayworth and Veronica Lake to Lucille Ball and Betty Grable. My biggest surprise came toward the end of the book... apparently Marilyn Monroe's infamous nude 'Red Velvet' session by Tom Kelley was shot with Kodachrome! The color and vibrancy of these photos has always stood out to me and after seeing them in this book it all makes perfect sense.

I will forever have an admiration of the Old Hollywood style of photography. Whether it is the dramatic George Hurrell black and whites or the vibrant Kodachrome shots of the 1940's... the photos present the stars of that time as glamorous gods and goddesses. Even if only for a second, these photos share a little bit of that glamour with us mortals down here in the real world.

You can buy 'Hollywood In Kodachrome' at Amazon or Barnes and Noble. All of the photos used in this post were captured by me from my copy of the book.

Photo | Christmas Cheer With Liz

How about a little Christmas cheer with Elizabeth Taylor and an adorable kitten? I cant believe Christmas is only 11 days away! To get into the spirit of the season I will be watching Christmas In Connecticut (1945) and writing a review! I also want to do a post about what I would love to receive for Christmas... so please check back!

And in case you missed it, please stop by the last post and give your thoughts on the top gowns of Classic Hollywood!

Photos | Stars With Their Cameras

Before I continue with the post, I just wanted to point out that the side bar looks a little different [points to the right]. I have added some things, changed some things, and even removed some things. I would like to give a shout out to the three blogs featured on the side bar for their upcoming Blogathons [For The Boys - Hosted by The Scarlett Olive, Dueling Divas - Hosted by Backlots, Humphrey Bogart - Hosted by Forever Classics]. I love Blogathons!

So in my real life I work in a camera shop as a photographer and sales person, so it goes without saying that I love photography. I grew up with disposable film cameras and never had the chance to enjoy the experience of a manual film camera. I've recently acquired a few and I love them. I was excited to find pictures of some of my favorite Classic Hollywood stars using these great cameras... and even a few using old movie film cameras. Two of my favorite things, cameras and Classic Hollywood... sounds like a fun post!

STILL CAMERAS

Joan Crawford

Norma Shearer

Cary Grant

Bette Davis

Film | Classic Films Around The World

This post is for The Great Movie Project's World In Film blogathon. The challenge of this blogathon was to highlight films made in each of the 7 continents. I decided (for obvious reasons) to do this blogathon with a classic film twist...

Film | Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?

I guess I have been on an Elizabeth Taylor kick lately because this is my second film starring her that I have watched this week. I picked this film up for 40% off at Barnes and Noble right after Taylor's recent passing. The store had a 'featured' end cap with some of Liz's movies on mark down. My wife recently began reading a book where Stephen King described it as "the most riveting look at the dark side of marriage since Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?", which got us interested to pop in the DVD. And boy... I was not ready for what came after.

You are cordially invited to George and Martha's for an evening of fun and games.

Film | Suddenly, Last Summer

I had heard of the film Suddenly, Last Summer before, but it wasn't until the movie poster at my work sparked my interest, that I learned what this film was about. The picture of Elizabeth Taylor in the white swimsuit are famous, and are everywhere on the web, but they don't really get you excited to see the film.

It was just a few days ago, after seeing the movie poster that I looked the film up on IMDB to read reviews and watch the trailer. Well... I was hooked. I needed to get this film and it would have taken too long to get it from Netflix because I have a film at home already, so I went in search of buying the DVD. Thank goodness, Barnes and Noble had the movie and on top of that... it was only $9.99. It isn't often they have a movie in store I am looking for specifically.

A Classic Hollywood film about murder, homosexuality, lobotomy, pedophilia, incest, greed... count me in. I know that sounds sick, but I am always up for a movie with a juicy plot. I have also only seen Taylor, Hepburn, and Clift in one... maybe two other movies, so I was glad to see them in dramatic roles like this.

Reel Life | Suddenly, Last Summer Poster

I work in a camera/photo shop and today the framer was putting together a frame for a very large movie poster. It wound up being the french movie poster for the 1959 film Suddenly, Last Summer starring Elizabeth Taylor, Montgomery Clift, and Katharine Hepburn. 

Hipstamatic art of the poster