Check-Out These Awesome Pin-up Glasses!

Isn't this the best retro ad for George Petty pin-up glasses?  Judging from the font and style of the ad this has to be from from the mid-to-late fifties.  I can just imagine a bunch of blue collar Joes smoking cigars, playing a game of poke using pornographic playing cards (at least as pornographic as playing cards got in those days) drinking hi-balls from these glasses.  Wouldn't it be great to track down a set of these?

Me-thinks I have a date with e-bay...

A Bombshell for the Ages: Barbara Stanwyck

Yes, I'm going to force you all to listen to me gush about Barbara Stanwyck again.  Take comfort though, if you're not on the Stanwyck bandwagon, after this weekend I don't have any plans to talk about her in the near future.  Just allow me two more indulgences.

For me no actress makes me think of Christmas more than Barbara Stanwyck (her male counterpart would probably be Jimmy Stewart) as she has made multiple holiday themed films, making her a natural for December's Bombshell for the Ages.  It is a funny thing to associate Ms. Stanwyck with a happy time like Christmas, given her penchant for playing duplicitous femme fatales, scrappy hardboiled dames who climb their way to the top, and tragic maternal figures; however, she could also deftly play wisecracking showgirls, screwy socialites, and charming con-women with equal vigour.  The bottom line is she did it all extraordinarily well, which is why she often referred to as being the greatest actress who never won an Oscar.  

Barbara Stanwyck was born Ruby Stevens in 1907 to working class parents.  When Ruby was four her mother was killed in a streetcar accident and her father abandoned her along with her four siblings.  Spending her young life bouncing between her sister's care and various foster homes, she fell in love with show business at an early age and spent her teenage years working various odd jobs while trying to find a way into the business (she left school at a very young age with a string of fights and low grades to her name).  At the age of fifteen she got a job as a chorus girl and spent the next few years as a member of several New York choruses, including the legendary Ziegfeld follies.  In 1926 she was give a small role in the Broadway play The Noose.  It was initially a flop; however, after the play was retooled to give the newly re-christened Barbara Stanwyck a larger part, the play became a major hit.  Stanwyck soon was getting lead roles in Broadway plays and in 1928, Hollywood came calling.

Though her first films were not particularly successful, Stanwyck became a sought after actress during the thirties, playing a variety of tough dames who triumphed against adversity.  In the forties, as films grew darker, so too did the roles that she inhabited.  By the late nineteen-fifties film roles began to dry up and Barbara moved to television, where her career continued to flourish into her twilight years.

Throughout her career she was able to imbue all the characters she played with a world-weary grit cultivated in her own troubled childhood.  In day-to-day life she was known as being incredibly kind and friendly to everyone who worked with her, from the most powerful directors to the lowly crew members.  No one else in Hollywood could touch Barbara's reputation of being total class act.  Her own familial life included two failed marriages.  Her first to actor Frank Fay in 1928 ended in 1935 (there are rumours that their marriage was the basis for the multiple versions of A Star is Born).  Stanwyck married actor Robert Taylor in 1939, with their union ending in 1950 after Taylor's many infidelities became common knowledge.

While she never won a competitive Oscar, Stanwyck was nominated for the best actress Oscar four times for the films Double Indemnity (1944), Ball of Fire (1941), Stella Dallas (1937), and Sorry, Wrong Number (1948).  She was awarded an honorary Oscar in 1982.  In spite of her lack of competitive Oscars, she did win a trio of Emmys for her television work as well as several other honours throughout her long career.

Stanwyck passed away in 1990, leaving a massive resume of film and television roles.  Her unusual beauty and sassy brand of tough intelligence has never been duplicated.  I've included a clip of a TCM tribute to Stanwyck narrated by Jennifer Jason Leigh, which describes the awesomeness that is Barbara Stanwyck far more eloquently than I ever could.

A Bombshell for the Ages: Dame Diana Rigg

Enid Diana Elizabeth Rigg, more famously know as Dame Diana Rigg, rose to fame in the nineteen sixties as the catsuit clad bombshell Emma Peel.  She is consistently mentioned on lists of the all-time sexiest women on television.  However, unlike many of the women who have the label of bombshell branded upon them, Dame Diana has the acting pedigree that has allowed her to excel beyond her days as John Steed's partner in crime fighting.   

Born in Yorkshire in 1938, Diana moved with her family to India during her infancy.  At the age of eight, her family moved back to England and young Diana was sent to boarding school.  Her boarding school days were marked with unhappiness, as Diana felt  like a fish out of water there.  She found solace on the stage, devoting her time to perfecting her craft.  Her efforts payed off, and in 1959 she joined the Royal Shakespeare Company, with whom she performed until 1964.  In 1965, she exploded onto television screens everywhere as Mrs. Emma Peel on the British television series The Avengers.

Emma Peel was the second partner to super agent John Steed.  She seemed to be a master of endless occupations, could fight with the best of them, and had an impressive mod wardrobe.  What made Emma Peel such a unique character was her blend of sex appeal, independence, wit, and intelligence.  Dame Diana was somehow able to combine her own regal baring with an irresistible sprightly charm which managed to help ground the show during it's more extraordinary flights from logic.

Diana left The Avengers in 1968 to pursue other acting opportunities.  Some of the other highlights of her long career include a stint as a Bond girl in 1969's In Her Majesty's Secret Service, hosting PBS's Mystery for several years in the late eighties and early nineties, and appearing alongside Kermit, Fozzie, and the rest of the Muppets in The Great Muppet Caper (1981).  Dame Diana has appeared on the stage consistently in the years since leaving The Avengers, culminating in winning a Tony for her titular role in 1994's Medea.  She also earned her title Dame Commander of the British Empire in 1994.

Here's a sampling of the old Peel and Steed magic, for the uninitiated:

Here's to a Speedy Recovery Kim!

It seems like there's a lot of synchronicity going on these days.  At least where this blog is concerned.  Not even a week after I posted my Kim Novak feature, People Magazine reports that she is currently undergoing treatments for breast cancer.  Fortunately, it seems that the cancer was caught early and she should make a full recovery.  We here at Bombshell Photography are all rooting for you Kim.  Good Luck!

If you haven't read my brief examination on the career of Kim Novak click here.

Today is Rita Hayworth's 92nd Birthday!

That's right!  Were she alive today, the legendary Love Goddess, would be celebrating her 92nd birthday.  You'll be hearing a lot more about the great Ms. Hayworth in the future, but today let's all raise a glass for the woman whose picture was said to be glued to the atom bomb that was dropped on Bikini Atoll.

Cheers Rita!