Down Here on a Visit

Oh, those pitiful mannish women - with their neat tailleurs, dress-for-success bow blouses, and ostentatious corsages!

Leading Man

Is it me, or is George Brent a little dishier than I remembered?

Birthday Girl: The Music (Wo)man

Courage comes in such unexpected forms...

Splendor at Twilight

Beauty is perhaps the least unconditional of gifts.

Party Like It's 1954

Sixty years ago tonight, Life magazine, as was its wont, went to a party.

Shameless Saturday Camp Explosion: Promises, Promises

Time liberates the work of art from moral relevance, delivering it over to the Camp sensibility.

- Susan Sontag, "Notes on Camp"

Now you know what an Abba song created and delivered without one scintilla of charisma might have sounded like.

And Now, a Word from Our Sponsor

It's true - the eyes have it.  I had no idea the Voldemort nose made such a splash in 1951 or so.

Little Girl Lost

Tania is 60 today.  Feel old?

Picture for an Exhibition

When we settled in our current tiny digs last summer, we left one wall empty.

Ladies, Among Others, Who Lunch

A moment with dear Mrs. Helen Hokinson and her trademark ladies, for no good reason other than it's been a mildly trying Tuesday.

When Queens Collide

Oh, Dame Helen - ought one really point at the sovereign?  Well, the lady herself seems unperturbed, as, for that matter, she mostly has for most of the past seven decades or so.

Shameless Saturday Camp Explosion: Mr. Music

What Camp taste responds to is "instant character"...

- Susan Sontag, "Notes on Camp"

Oh, Just about anybody can mark the birthday of the great Mr. Harold Arlen with Judy singing "The Man that Got Away" or Barbra blowing "A Sleepin' Bee" out of the water...

Happy Valentine's (Gun)day!

Let's usher in this Valentine's Day with a typical moment of introspective minimalism out of Bollywood...

Ou sont les neiges?

Where indeed?  Here, goddammit.  Poor, ill-fated Jon Erik Hexum is dressed for les neiges (captured by Mr. Hurrell in the full glory of his short-lived splendor), but frankly...

Twentieth Century Blue

You know, when you think about it, I very rarely ask much of you, Gentle Readers, so I hope you won't mind if today I do.

On the Sunny Beach of Peppermint Bay

She was, as all the obituaries today have reminded us, famous in a way that in these days of debased notoriety beggars imagination.

Back Porch Mama

I suppose it wouldn't be entirely a surprise were I to admit that I have something of a passing familiarity with back porch fiddlin' myself...

Shameless Saturday Camp Explosion: She Went Wrong

Camp taste identifies with what it is enjoying.

- Susan Sontag, "Notes on Camp"

Miss Dorothy Lamour may well wonder where exactly she went wrong; I would argue that it was when she agreed to appear in Pajama Party in the first place.

Birthday Girl: Time to Say Goodbye

Saint Zsa Zsa of Gabor is 97 today.  I cannot be alone both in wishing her well and in hoping that someday soon she'll be free.

Do Not Adjust Your Sex

I think it's safe to say that among the attributes with which modern cruise ship companies are hoping that passengers will associate their corporate presence, "unsettling" ranks fairly low.

Why Don't You...

...fight off the winter blues by going all Gorey all of a sudden?

Birthday Genius: Gertrude Gertrude Gertrude

Happy 140th to that very great woman and very great author, Miss Gertrude Stein.

For Those Who Care for That Sort of Thing

Apparently there's a football game today.

Shameless Saturday Camp Explosion: Oh, Go Ahead. Cry.

Camp taste turns its back on the good-bad axis of ordinary aesthetic judgment.

- Susan Sontag, "Notes on Camp"

Sometimes, all you can do is helplessly wonder: what were they thinking?