Mistaken Identities, Avatar Edition

A gentle reader - yes, that's you, Larry! - perhaps inspired by our several posts recently on Mistaken Identities, has queried whether the Avatar I've chosen in lieu of a more representative likeness (who these days might best be Sebastian Cabot, or perhaps late-middle period Orson Welles) is in fact the lovely and talented Miss Mary Astor.

To which I can only reply:

No! It is, of course, a headshot of Miss Kay Francis, of blessed memory. The Divine Kay is seen here in one of her triumphs, Mandalay, in which she played the Fallen Woman known as Spot White.

Now, don't get me wrong - Miss Astor, in her way, is quite wonderful, and at least our GR didn't mistake me for Loretta Young. There would have been no dealing with me in that awful eventuality. No, it's just that, for me, Kay is the star who most inspires. Can you imagine Mary Astor in that getup?

Mistaken Identities, Mogul Edition

Behold the Eos, at 93 meters said to be the largest sailing yacht in the world. It apparently came through these parts recently, giving rise to the following converation at brunch this weekend:

Mr. Archaeologist: Yes, it was huge - beautiful thing. X at the Yacht Club said it's owned by someone called Barry Diller.

Mrs. Archaeologist: Some kind of producer, I think, isn't
he?

[beat]

Mrs. Archaeologist: He wasn't ever married to Phyllis Diller, was he?

Muscato: [after prolonged startled silence] Only in the most metaphorical of senses.

Actually, now that I think about it, more surprising even than that memorable image is the idea that the largest, fastest, tallest, or newest anything isn't owned by a sheikh. Kind of reassuring, somehow...

Mistaken Identities, First Lady Edition

Of course, I know this is the effervescent Miss Ruby Keeler in her late-in-life triumph in No! No! Nanette! in the early 70s.

But when I stumbled across the image recently, my first thought was that it was Nancy Reagan on one last Happy Pill binge, having her final Helen Lawson moment.