Friday, May 30, 2014

What's My Wednesday? #3 - Super Special Friday Edition!



Today we have a whole episode of What's My Line?, because while I have enormous admiration for the Mystery Challenger of the week (which was, for the record, March 29, 1959, and Easter), the wonderful writer and actress Miss Cornelia Otis Skinner (who were she still gracing us with her presence would be an I'm sure still elegant 115), she is in truth quickly guessed and really rather put in the shade by the other competitors.

Thursday, May 29, 2014

Memory Lane: The Love We Feel


Ah, the joys of 1990!  It was a remarkable year, for me at least - the first full year in a rather glam job, one that brought with it the first trips abroad, to London and Paris, Berlin (West and East) and Tokyo.  Not to mention a memorable cross-country car trip, New York to San Francisco, as '90 turned into '91.  Whatever the destination, this number was most definitely on the soundtrack...

Wednesday, May 28, 2014

Aye, Calypso!


A world figure, a towering woman both literally and figuratively; Oprah's mentor and the inaugural poet - but no matter how grand she got, I like that she was always ready to acknowledge the full range of her career, including her stint in cabaret.

Tuesday, May 27, 2014

Glamour: a Reminder


Hollywood, California, 59 years ago today:  Miss Edith Head revels in her own personal fabulousness - and (as was its wont) Life was there.

Saturday, May 24, 2014

Of Bad Brands, Bad Trips, and Bad Moods


Amelia Earhart luggage?  Really?  Isn't that something like trying to sell Sonny Bono ski-poles or Marie Prevost pet treats?

Thursday, May 22, 2014

File Under "Sidewalk Curiosities, Viennese"


What is one to make of this?  In Hindu mythology, I've just learned, this is Hayagriva, "an avatar of Vishnu."  How do you suppose he ended up in the Graben, playing wistful Mitteleuropische melodies on his battered accordion?

Sunday, May 18, 2014

Cathedral Bells


"St. Stephan deliver me to Opera Ring..." sings my inner Gooch, after a long night and day of travel, and lo and behold he has.

Friday, May 16, 2014

Birthday Boy: Leading Man


Some actors - like today's birthday boy (he would have been 109) - have images so seemingly immutable that it is simply disconcerting to discover that they didn't spring from the womb square-jawed and craggy.  For example, Henry Fonda started out a juvenile, and a really rather pallid one at that.

Thursday, May 15, 2014

What's My Wednesday #2: Now on Thursday!


The birthday celebrations may have thrown me off my rhythm, but I didn't want to deprive you of this week's quick glimpse into a more elegant past...

Tuesday, May 13, 2014

Birthday Girl: Bea Plus


Somewhere, in some celestial realm, three women are sitting down to some cheesecake in celebration of one of their birthdays.  A fourth, I hope, is raising a glass in her memory.

Sunday, May 11, 2014

Redux: M is For...



M is for... first appeared on May 10, 2009 and appeared again in 2012 and 2013.  And yes, I'm still getting over the surprise.  Happy Mother's Day, Mother Muscato, wherever you are...

Tuesday, May 6, 2014

"It's the Story...


...of a tubby lady / Who was bringing up three five very tubby girls..."

And not a blonde among them?  I call shenanigans on the whole lot of them.

Thursday, May 1, 2014

A View to a Month


A very happy May Day to all the Café's Gentle Readers, from Miss Grace and me...