New Today! Our Forties Fashion Extravaganza on the Main Site

We've just put up a new page in our vintage fashion history section on our main site.  Be the first to learn all about how World War II affected women's fashion: http://www.photobombshell.com/forties.html

Mickey Rooney is in Edmonton...or at least in the Edmonton Area - Today Only!

There's a strange bit of synchronicity happening here on the blog this week.  Two days after I post about Ava Gardner, I find out that her first husband, Mickey Rooney, is making an appearance this afternoon at Sherwood Park's Festival Place.  If you've ever wanted to see Andy Hardy in the flesh be there at 2:00pm to see his One Man One Wife show.  If I wasn't working today I'd be there with bells on.

For more info on the man and the show visit his website : www.mickeyrooney.com.

A Bombshell for the Ages: Ava Gardner

Few women made the kind of impression that Ava Gardner did on the world.  Born on Christmas Eve on 1922, Ava Lavinia Gardner rose to fame in 1946 with a career-making role as femme fatale Kitty Collins in Robert Siodmak’s noir classic The Killers.  From that moment on the skies were the limit for Ava, and with her extraordinary good looks and often overlooked talent she became one of the great Hollywood stars of the late forties and fifties.

Ava was discovered in 1941 when a picture of her displayed in the window of her brother-in-law’s photography studio led to her being signed to a seven-year contract with MGM.  Once in Hollywood the studio went to work grooming Ms. Gardner to be a star.  During this time she also caught the attention of Mickey Rooney, whom she married soon after her arrival.  A year later they divorced, and she became involved for a brief time with Howard Hughes and later married bandleader Artie Shaw.  While on contract to MGM in the early stages of her career she was cast in bit parts, and spent a great deal of time posing for cheesecake pin-up photos for the studio.  Although, Ava’s photos never found the popularity of the iconic Betty Grable and Rita Hayworth pictures, her stunning beauty made them something special. 

Once her career took off after The Killers, and her marriage to Artie Shaw ended, Ava had many affairs with some of her famous leading men.  However it was her legendary affair and marriage to Frank Sinatra that immortalized Ava Gardner in the annals of great Hollywood beauties.  Theirs was a relationship of great intensity, made up of passionate love and volatile fighting.  Ultimately their marriage ended in 1957 after their long history of violent blow-ups had taken their final toll.  It is said that Ava was the great love of Sinatra’s life and he carried a torch for her up until his death.  The same has been said for Ava, who never remarried.

After her break-up with Sinatra, Ava left Hollywood for Spain where she befriended Ernest Hemmingway, became an avid fan of bullfighting (and bullfighters), took to drinking and dancing all night with bands of Gypsies, and became known for a wide range of bad behavior.  By the early sixties she was appearing in fewer pictures, and once Spain had lost its appeal she moved to London where she lived until her death in 1990. 

Some of Ava’s most famous films include Showboat, Snows of Kilimanjaro, Night of the Iguana, and Mogambo, for which she earned her only Oscar nomination.  Those who knew her loved her for her warmth, quick wit and salty language.   She was truly a bombshell for the ages. 

The Alberta Film Society is currently holding an eight film retrospective for famed director John Ford.  His 1952 film, Mogombo, staring Ava Gardner will be featured on October 18, 2010.  For more information visit their site at http://www.royalalbertamuseum.ca/events/movies/movies.cfm.

Retro Ad #1: B.V.D Slim Trim Swim Trunks

Hey All!  On the unofficial final day of summer I thought that I would find a retro ad with the summer spirit....

Behold B.V.D Slim Trim Swim Suits, control-top swim trunks for the well dressed beach bum of 1941.  According to this add, not only do these trunks offer "figure-form control," but they also help "support your muscles, giving greater energy, new pep and vim."  You also have to like the three tiers of figure-type design the use the whole military theme - something very topical in 1941.

It's kind of hilarious to think of men, especially the stereotypical, stoic men of the forties being that concerned with their figure, but I guess it goes to show that vanity affects both genders throughout history.  I also find it funny that the copywriters managed to use the word vim, not once, but twice. I think vim will be the next word that I rescue from obscurity.

Classic Romantic Comedies Vol. 1: It Happened One Night

Film critics have been mourning the death of the romantic comedy for almost twenty years.  While I do think that this is a slight exaggeration, I do believe that an inordinate amount of attention and money is invested in the bland, poorly written, sitcom-like Romcoms of the modern era.   There are few things I love more than classic cinema, and in an attempt to highlight some of the great classic romantic comedies of yesteryear, I have decided to write a continuing series about some of the best.  So, without further adieu…

It is unheard of for a modern comedy to win a major Oscar- flashback to 1935, when a comedy swept all of the main categories, including best screenplay, actor, actress, director, and best picture.  This feat was accomplished by today’s inaugural entry, It Happened One Night, directed by Frank Capra and starring Clack Gable and Claudette Colbert. 

Before I give a plot synopsis, I feel that it is only fair to give the uninitiated a frame of reference for depression era comedies.  Because, the world was in the throes of the Great Depression, films became a favored distraction from the bleak realities of depression life.  Comedies and musicals were two genres that really took off, because of they offered pleasant, uncomplicated escapist fantasies that helped people forget their troubles.  Most of the best comedies of the thirties almost always featured eccentric rich people and invited audiences to laugh at how ridiculous their opulent lifestyles were.  More often than not, the protagonist was a down-to-earth every-man who is forced to act off of the crazy rich people.  What these films tried to say was, sure look at how much the rich are, but their wealth causes more trouble than good.  This theme will become quite clear as this series continues.

It Happened One Night, features Claudette Colbert as a rich heiress who jumps off of her father’s yacht one day and goes on the run to meet her fiancé in New York.  The whereabouts of the wayward heiress become national news.  When she jumps a cross-country bus to New York she becomes entangled with an ace-reporter (played by Clack Gable) who agrees to help her get to her fiancé if he gets the exclusive story of her journey.  The rest of the film is devoted to the misadventures of the pair as they make their way to Colbert’s fiancée, with her father in hot pursuit.  As you would expect, romance blossoms between the heiress and the reporter. 

There are a couple of sequences in It Happened One Night, that have become classics, including the oft imitated, Walls of Jericho sequence and the hitchhiking sequence where Colbert puts the arrogant Gable in his place.  Though the comedy is simple and seems somewhat quaint in the modern era, the sophistication of the writing and the chemistry between the stars makes this a treasure.  If you’re tired of the same old idiotic modern Romcom, give it a shot.  You’ll be pleasantly surprised.