Readers, I sewed today -- not much, but I sewed. I have decided that I must finish my harem costume by Tuesday. I don't know when it will be worn or where, but it must be completed and soon.
Today at the flea market I picked up a pile of Christmas beads -- one simply cannot have too many beads and these can be cut to different lengths without the beads coming loose.
I don't think I ever showed you the sequined flowers I bought for $1 apiece in the Garment District the week before last. Glitzy!
You're probably wondering what Michael and I did last night given that we didn't go to the Halloween Costume Ball, which had been rescheduled due to Hurricane Sandy. We actually stayed home and watched the unforgettable Leave Her To Heaven, a very high-quality copy of which is currently posted on YouTube.
This is one of the most disturbing films of classic Hollywood. Some have called it a technicolor noir; it's actually more like a monster movie. It has great period decor and terrific costumes and Gene Tierney is superb in it. There really was no one else like Gene Tierney: gorgeous but a little creepy.
If you've never seen Leave Her to Heaven and have one and three quarter hours to kill, watch it now. You never know when these YouTube films are going to get taken down.
I've decided that, since Michael and I no longer have a Halloween party to go to, I may just let Cathy model my harem costume and avoid having to shave my armpits. I'd love to know where you'd like Cathy to model it -- I'm open to any ideas you may have. She can traipse around the neighborhood if she must, but surely we can do better than that. Thoughts?
In closing, please watch Leave Her to Heaven -- or have you seen it already?
Have a great day, everybody!
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Ooooh, Cathy should model the harem costume in a hookah lounge!
ReplyDeleteSo glad you are feeling a bit better Peter; you cant keep a good man down !
ReplyDeleteThose beads are a bit OTT though, you are so daring.
Peter:
ReplyDeleteYou might like to know that one of Tierney's husbands was the late, great Oleg Cassini - he of the Jackie Kennedy White House wardrobe. He designed for Tierney for some of her Fox pictures, though not Leave Her to Heaven.
Anyone watching the movie should not watch it with the DVD commentary by Darryl Hickman (who played the boy who gets - well, that would be a spoiler) turned on. It is clear that even all these years later, Hickman didn't like Tierney worth a damn, and some of his comments border on the scurrilous.
Tierney's costuming and the movie's decors are alone worth a viewing! And Peter's right - it's a monster movie. It's just that the monster is gorgeous.
I'm glad to see you're finishing the costume. While I understood why you were considering abandoning it, it made me a little sad, too as you had put so much energy into its planning and execution. And there's always next year--such a gorgeous costume (as I'm sure it will be) deserves to be worn.
ReplyDeleteIn the meantime, I am glad to hear that you and Michael are safe and have the necessities. I know how depressing the aftermath can be, as I was living in Baton Rouge after Katrina. It really changed the feel of things and "getting back to normal" took a long time.
The great tragedy of Gene Tierney's life was the fact of her firstborn being born blind, deaf and mentally retarded due to German measles she contracted during her pregnancy...in Oleg Cassini's autobiography he recalls how a woman came up to him a while after their daughter was born and happily told him about how she had sneaked out of a German measles quarantine area in order to attend a "meet-the celebrity' event featuring (pregnant)Gene; apparently she also met up with Gene as well and told her the same thing. As a result of this tragedy, Gene became mentally unbalanced.I don't know if this movie was made before or after this event, but if it was made 'after", then it might explain why the guy didn't like her...the fact of the tragedy was hushed up and nobody outside of the family and the studio knew anything about it, but Gene was never the same afterwards.
ReplyDeleteGood grief, that is the plot to the Agatha Christie book, The Mirror Crack'd! I wonder if it inspired her to write the book...
DeleteYes, the German measles incident was Christie's direct inspiration for The Mirror Crack'd. The daughter, Daria Cassini, spent a lifetime in institutional care, and passed away earlier this year.
DeleteWell, there's always the Temple of Dendur at the Met - except that they may not allow photos there.
ReplyDeleteAnyhoos, since the weather is turning colder, it might make sense to wait until the spring to wear the costume out and about. Maybe by then this place will have re-opened:
http://www.taginedining.com/
I wonder if they'd be offended...
DeleteI second the Dendur suggestion. And the last time I was there (3 months ago) they allowed non-flash photography for non-commercial use.
DeleteI second the Dendur suggestion. And the last time I was there (3 months ago) they allowed non-flash photography for non-commercial use.
DeleteMan Sewing in Film Alert!
ReplyDeleteThis morning on TCM "Sidewalks of London" 1938 has a scene with Charles Laughton using a hand crank machine with Vivien Leigh standing by watching. I believe she made a comment about men sewing, but it was pretty quick. It was in the first thirty minutes of the film.
And yes, still no blog AND off today.
"Leave Her to Heaven" is a great movie and very creepy! But Tierney is gorgeous in it and the technicolor does nothing but enhance that beauty.
ReplyDeleteLove the beads!!
Heidi Klum's Halloween bash on Dec. 1. Would Cathy and Heidi bond or have a little cat fight?
ReplyDeleteA.
Love the tagline-- "hers was the deadliest sin"! Sounds juicy!
ReplyDelete