Back in September of 2011, I did a two part article about Jane Russell's singing career. Many people today don't know that Jane had a successful music career outside of her film career. She released a few albums, had a nightclub act, and even was part of Christian music group. Her albums (not in their original forms) are available on iTunes for purchase. If you like to relax to beautiful jazz tunes, you should check them out.
And here you are...
a Flashback Post from September 2011: Jane Russell Sings!
This post isn't really about Old Hollywood, but is about something inspired by Old Hollywood. My current music obsession is the gorgeously talented Lana Del Rey. The self-proclaimed 'Gangsta Nancy Sinatra' has released a video to accompany the release of her latest single 'National Anthem.' In the video Lana can be seen paying tribute to the fabulous Marilyn Monroe by singing her breathy, sultry version of Happy Birthday. Lana looks stunning in a gown very much inspired by the one Monroe wore in 1962.
The rest of the video is Lana's take on the relationship between Jackie O and JFK. She and rapper A$AP Rocky spend the video giving their best impersonations of the Kennedy's and the video ends with a very subtle nod to the President's assassination.
Lana looks remarkable in this video. Her hair, make-up, and wardrobe are all very 1960's inspired. I need this woman's hair! I need this woman's lips!
Sorry if this post doesn't interest someone you guys, but I had to share it because I simply adore it! And if you haven't yet heard of Lana Del Rey, now is your chance to discover a wonder new artist on the rise.
And as a little something extra, here is a photo of Lana standing in front of a portrait of Marilyn Monroe from the 1959 film Some Like It Hot.
Walk up to any check out lane at a grocery store and you will be surrounded by magazine covers full of beautiful stars. Stars people look up to for their perfect complexions and perfect figures. While most of these stars really do posses these qualities... it's just never to the degree that is shown on ads and magazine covers. As most of you know, a photo is never shown to the public these days without being touched by Hollywood's Photoshop masters.
In recent times quite a few of these naturally beautiful stars have went against 'the man' and had their non-Photoshopped photos shown to their fans. Among those who showed their original photos is one of my favorite singers... Britney Spears. Stars like Jessica Simpson and Taylor Swift have even done photo shoots without a stitch of make-up to show they are beautiful without these tools.
Which brings me to the point of this post... the 1940-1950's pin-up girls. In my downtime at work I like to browse the photography website pophoto.com. On there main page the other day was an article about how the altering of woman's bodies was around long before image editing software. The article shows many beautiful pieces of pin-up art along side their original photos. It is quite fun to see how the models were posed with a specific outcome in mind. Check them out here.
The difference between the pin-up girls and today's ads/magazine covers? The pin-up artist used their photographs to create a piece of artwork and not to alter a photo to fool the public. Now I know that no one in their right mind would compare the two (if you would then we have other issues here), but it is interesting to see how an industry took off from these master artists works.
Some of my favorite pictures of my fave blonde Marilyn Monroe are the photos she took with famed pin-up artist Earl Moran. She was still in full Norma Jeane mode and looks so care free and to be having so much fun. I also learned today Earl Moran even did paintings of my other favorite blonde Jayne Mansfield! Here are some of those pics...
