SUPERFICIALITY INDULGENCE GLAMOUR AND LUST. FOR HOLLYWOOD AT ITS BEST, CAMP AND KITSCH SUPREME. “Glamour is what I sell, it's my stock in trade.” MARLENE DIETRICH.
Showing posts with label flappers. Show all posts
Showing posts with label flappers. Show all posts

Monday, June 24, 2013

ROARING TWENTIES POSTCARDS : AT MY DESK : GATSBY JAZZ AGE SILENT SCREEN STARS


top LYA DE PUTTI, bottom 20's risque flapper postcards 
Top Left JOSEPHINE BAKER, Right LOUISE BROOKS, 20's smoking flappers
L to R : ALLA NAZIMOVA, BRIGITTE HELM, RAMON NOVARRO,
GEOEGE O'BRIEN, JOSEPHINE BAKER, ANNA MAY WONG. 
L to R: BEBE DANIELS, ALICE WHITE, POLA NEGRI,
BEBE DANIELS, BILLIE DOVE, LYA MARA.  
DORIS NILES, ESTHER RALSTON, BRUNO KASTNER
Smoking flappers, tinted lovers, romance
Risque flappers, tinted romance, flapper & flapper doll, lovers
IVOR NOVELLO, signed IVOR NOVELLO 
L to R: BRIGITTE HELM, GUSTAVE FROHLICH & BRIGITTE HELM,
JEAN BRADIN with cane, young CHARLIE CHAPLIN
Tinted romance boys
tinted vintage romance postcards
L to R: ALLA NAZIMOVA, COLLEEN MOORE< ALLA NAZIMOVA,
GRETA GARBO, notorious FATTY ARBUCKLE, GLORIA SWANSON
L to R: COLLEEN MOORE, GEORGE O'BRIEN, NILS ASTHER,
WERNER FUETTERER, GUSTAVE FROHLICH. 
L to R: GERARD AMES, RUDOLPH VALENTINO, OWEN NARES,
RUDOLPH VALENTINO, THEDA BARA, ALLA NAZIMOVA
L to R ANNA G NILSSON, BARBARA LA MARR, HELEN TWELVETREES,
RUDOLPH VALENTINO, BARBARA LA MARR, NITA NALDI
L to R: 20's Makeup/ Romance postcards, bottom : Both RUDOLPH VALENTINO
L to R: COLLEEN MOORE, RAMON NOVARRO, JEAN HARLOW
Risque 20's lovers French postcards.
L to R: CHARLIE CHAPLIN, RAMON NOVARRO in BEN HUR, ALLA NAZIMOVA.
RAMON NOVARRO in BEN HUR, MARIA PAUDLER with flapper dolls. 
L to R: WILLY FRITSCH signed, BUDDY ROGERS, LYA MARA.
LYA De PUTTI, LYA De PUTTI, BEBE DANIELS
L to R: MARIE PREVOST, LILY DAMITA, LILY DAMITA.
RICHARD CROMWELL, RAMON NOVARRO, ANTONIO MORENO. 
I collect vintage postcards from the teens right through to today. When they arrive in the mail I arrange them on my scanner with backgrounds, and do a send out called 'AT MY DESK', in various themes. Above are a few examples of 1920's Jazz Era Silent Film Star postcards, and 20's flappers and gents. Some may be earlier or slightly later.  I particularly like vintage 'ross', 'iris', Picturegoer,  Beagles and Real Photo postcards. Also I like to collect on certain stars, that I like because of their films, or because of their notoriety, or sad deaths. Some of the stars who had sad deaths here include Ramon Novarro (murdered and robbed by male rent boys), Marie Prevost (died a sad lonely death with her beloved dog, who chewed off her leg to survive because the body was not found for days), Rudolph Valentino (died very young at the height of his career, Nazimova made a grand entrance at his funeral)  Nita Naldi some say died a heroin addict looking quite scary. Fatty Arbuckle's career of course ended in Hollywood's first major scandal. He was accused of manslaughter of starlet Virginia Rappe at a wild party that got out of control. The newspapers particularly published many supposed sordid tales of rape with a bottle. But he was eventually acquitted, his career in tatters. He died in his sleep at 46.
Lya Mara died in 1931 from pneumonia, after an  operation to remove a chicken bone from her oesophagus. Helen Twelvetrees died of a drug overdose. Beautiful Barbara La Marr made over 30 films in her short career. She was adored by fans and received fan mail by the sackful. But she also lived a life of too many late nights and excessive parties. This after all was the roaring twenties, drugs and alcohol eventually took their toll. She died of tuberculosis at only 29.
Ending on a happy note, flapper star Colleen Moore, retired young, knowing her style of movies had run their course.  She had put the majority of her fortune from her silent movie career, into  building the world's most expensive doll house, using the top Hollywood technicians of the time. The doll house toured the world, and raised money for Colleen's children's charities. Colleen Moore's Fairy Tale Castle, or Doll House can still be seen today in a museum in Chicago in all its glory.  It is an exotic remembrance in miniature form, of a great era in history. A wild glamorous outrageous time, called the Roaring Twenties.

Thursday, January 31, 2013

DECO FLAPPERS AND 'IT' GIRLS : THE ROARING TWENTIES STYLE Post 1


The flapper was a girl who just wanted to have fun
Louise Brooks
Louise Brooks
 
Louise Brooks appeared in Diary of a Lost Girl and Pandora's Box
Clara Bow The 'IT' Girl
Lila Lee
Clara Bow
Clara Bow
 
Barbara La Marr
Evelyn Brent
 
Barbara La Marr
Colleen Moore spent her money building an expensive doll house
Louise Brooks
A young Joan Crawford appeared in Our Dancing Daughters
 
Nancy Carroll
Barbara La Marr
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Tuesday, June 26, 2012

20 FAVORITE ILLUSTRATED VANITY FAIR COVERS: Vanity Fair 100 Classic covers (postcards box) Conde Nast 2011


VANITY FAIR Aug '23 Eduardo Garcia Benito:  This well to do 'stage door Johnnie' certainly had his eye on this young awestruck theatre dancer. It makes you realize how flowers and a few kind words could turn a young girls heart for an older man. This artist is one of my favorite Vanity Fair cover artists of  the period.  
VANITY FAIR March '27 Eduardo Garcia Benito:  The stunning stylized artwork here shows the courtship of the glamorous smart set, he offering her a proposal, she showing her true feelings by letting down her mask. This bold cut-out Art Deco style was very attention seeking, and suited Vanity Fair at the time. It managed to stand out on magazine stands, as a magazine of glamour and excitement. It stood for a new exciting era that escaped the shackles of the past. 
VANITY FAIR Oct '27 Eduardo Garcia Benito:  Going to the theatre in the 20's was a way to meet eligible  men, and also to show off your finery. Broadway was booming, and so was elegant nightlife like never before. These illustrated modernist covers gave hope to a new life of nightlife and leisure, acceptance and freedom. 
VANITY FAIR March '28 Eduardo Garcia Benito:  In the 20's women found a new sense of equality and freedom, New York was the center for creativity and a new found excitement. Glamour and sophistication truly came into its own. Also it was a period of relaxed morals and forward thinking. This Art Deco modernist illustration applauds luxury and sophistication, in a futuristic world that never sleeps,  a metropolitan city of skyscrapers and success. 
VANITY FAIR Aug '29 Eduardo Garcia Benito 
VANITY FAIR Dec '30 Eduardo Garcia Benito:  The stock market crash of '29 heralded in the great depression. The once innocent girl is now wide eyed and  doesn't know where her next husband is coming from. In order to survive she is prepared to be supported by less desirable men with shady connections. 
VANITY FAIR July '20 William Bolin:  The new excesses and loose morals of the 1920's also broke a few hearts. Some people looked down upon the degenerate decadence that accompanied the new found courage and youthful expression. With the excess of alcohol and drugs many people started on a downward spiral, not often addressed at the time. Unwanted pregnancies and drug addiction were the downsides all too evident to me in the Pierrot Clown's face. 
VANITY FAIR October '20 William Bolin:  In the 20's the Arts flourished, sexuality's were explored, and 'the bright young things' lived life to the fullest. 
VANITY FAIR Jan '26 William Bolin:  It was the cocktail age, as well as mixing drinks, the mixing of classes races and sexes was revolutionary. 
VANITY FAIR Feb '32 Miquel Covarrubias:  By the early 30's the untouchable 'Love Goddesses' of the silver screen had arrived. Aloof exotic European stars like Garbo and Dietrich were worshipped by millions, and Hollywood films influenced fashions and lifestyles. During the depression people wanted to see their unattainable dreams on the screen, and Hollywood delivered. 
VANITY FAIR March '21 A.H. Fish:  After the 1st World War  the world could never go back to how it had once been. Women had attended the wounded and lost loved ones, men had seen and lived unforgettable horrors. Now old disciplines were discarded, with this new found freedom,  women emulated a more boyish look by throwing away their girdles, and bobbing their hair. 
VANITY FAIR May '25 A.H. Fish
VANITY FAIR Feb '27 A.H. Fish
VANITY FAIR Jan '27 A.H. Fish:  With shorter skirts came looser morals and a much more open minded age was born. Flappers wore strings of pearls around their necks,  smoked and drank and danced the night away. It was the jazz age, and everyone emulated energetic youthfulness, because who knew how long this new found hope would last?
VANITY FAIR Feb 1914 Frank X Leyendecker
VANITY FAIR Jan 1915 Ethel M Plummer 
VANITY FAIR Oct '23 Joseph B. Platt
VANITY FAIR Nov '26 Victor Bobritsky:  I love this cover because it shows the 'smart set' coming out of a glamorous nightclub in the early hours of the morning. For the first time, the wealthy upper class could stay out all night, and sleep all day, which in past generations would've been scandalous. Women still needed to be escorted, but they often went shopping with their drivers or other women, and lower class females even worked in shops and factories. The classes were mixing, and the big cities were a way of escaping the past. 
VANITY FAIR June '29 Marion Wildman:  With the new found austerity, people found they had more time for relaxation and sports. Tourist resorts became popular, and the really affluent usually escaped to Europe for the holidays.  
VANITY FAIR Sept '30 Jean Carlu: After the frivolties of the bright young  of the 20's, 1930's graphics became more stark and sleek with new age modernism's aggressive grip on design. 
Posted by PicasaAll comments here are written by me, and are my own personal opinions about the art and style of the  great classic covers from Vanity Fair magazine.