...Dame Patricia Routledge!
At last.
New Year's Honour's List.
CAMP: "A cornucopia of frivolity, incongruity, theatricality, and humour." "A deadly, winking, sniggering, snuggling, chromium-plated, scent-impregnated, luminous, quivering, giggling, fruit-flavored, mincing, ice-covered heap of mother love." "The lie that tells the truth." "Ostentatious, exaggerated, affected, theatrical; effeminate or homosexual; pertaining to or characteristic of homosexuals."
Saturday, 31 December 2016
Wednesday, 28 December 2016
A rather dusty icon
“I think there is an accepted way that a face should be, and I’m not like that.”
“It’s what turns up, quite honestly. When I started out I didn’t have any of this in mind. Not a scrap of it. I just thought it was going to be all theatre and wonderful.”
"Old, old mad women... they seem to be the one thing I can do now. You know, it's funny to be pigeonholed so late in life, but there we are."
“If you have been around long enough you are an icon. A rather dusty icon... or a national treasure.”
Dame Margaret Natalie Smith, CH, DBE (born 28th December 1934)
Tuesday, 27 December 2016
Glamour is assurance
"Glamour is assurance. It is a kind of knowing that you are all right in every way, mentally and physically and in appearance, and that, whatever the occasion or the situation, you are equal to it."
"It takes too much time to be a well-dressed woman. I have watched others. Bags, shoes, hats. They must think of them all the time. I cannot waste that time."
Dietrich.
Jewellery.
These are a few of my favourite things.
Marie Magdalene "Marlene" Dietrich (27th December 1901 – 6th May 1992)
Saturday, 24 December 2016
A Camp Diva Xmas
Cheers from Jean Dawnay, Princess George Galitzine, last of the 50s "supermodels" (22nd March 1926 - 21st December 2016).
Seasons Greetings from Cher (and the Lennon Sisters):
...from the marvellous Noele Gordon:
...from Signorina Raffaella Carrà:
...from Conchita Wurst (with a little help from Dame Shirley Bassey):
...from Miss Mitzi Gaynor:
...and from Miss Bette Davis [actually 'Miss' Jimmy James, but we shan't quibble]!
Now that's what I call a carol service!
Wednesday, 21 December 2016
Light squibs
The sun is spent, and now his flasks
Send forth light squibs, no constant rays;
The world's whole sap is sunk;
The general balm th' hydroptic earth hath drunk,
Whither, as to the bed's feet, life is shrunk,
Dead and interr'd; yet all these seem to laugh,
Compar'd with me, who am their epitaph.
- John Donne
Winter Solstice - the longest night - is today.
Roll on Spring...
Tuesday, 20 December 2016
I think today should be...
Giacomo Lauri-Volpi (11th December 1892 – 17th March 1979)
...a "Say Something Hat" day! Don't you?
Dan Leno (born George Wild Galvin, 20th December 1860 – 31st October 1904)
Yvonne Arnaud (20th December 1890 – 20th September 1958)
Irene Dunne (20th December 1898 – 4th September 1990)
Alicia Alonso (born 21st December 1921)
Monday, 19 December 2016
Goodnight, 'dahling'
"How many husbands have I had? You mean apart from my own?"
"I never hated a man enough to give him his diamonds back."
"I don't remember anybody's name. How do you think the 'dahling' thing got started?"
"I am a marvellous housekeeper. Every time I leave a man, I keep his house."
"I want a man who's kind and understanding. Is that too much to ask of a millionaire?"
RIP Zsa Zsa Gabor (born Sári Gábor, 6th February 1917 – 18th December 2016).
Sunday, 18 December 2016
The girl with the million-dollar legs
Another centenary to celebrate today - the "girl with the million-dollar legs", Miss Betty Grable.
"I'm a song-and-dance girl. I can act enough to get by. But that's the limit of my talents."
"The practice of putting women on pedestals began to die out when it was discovered that they could give orders better from there."
"You're better off betting on a horse than betting on a man. A horse may not be able to hold you tight, but he doesn't wanna wander from the stable at night."
"It's loud, it's cheap, it's gaudy. It's like everything I've ever done - I LOVE IT!"
"There are two reasons why I am successful in show business and I am standing on both of them."
Elizabeth Ruth "Betty" Grable (18th December 1916 – 2nd July 1973)
Friday, 16 December 2016
A thing of strange beauty
“In his glory days of the 1920s, he entered the vaudeville stage or circus ring like a Ziegfield showgirl, swathed in ostrich feathers, stunningly gowned, bejewelled and bewigged. He then removed his headdress, cape and gown, and garbed in as little as possible to suggest near nudity but not run afoul of the law, Barbette began the acrobatic part of his act. He walked a tight wire, slack wire, and performed on the rings and the trapeze. He was a master of the dramatic, seeming to fall only to catch himself by a last second hook of his foot. He kept his audience aghast and amazed until he left the stage. When he returned to acknowledge the sustained applause, he doffed his wig, revealing his bald head and reminding all that they had marvelled at a man playing a woman.” [from Old and New: An Encyclopedia of Variety Performers by Frank Cullen]
“I’d always read a lot of Shakespeare…and thinking that those marvellous heroines of his were played by men and boys made me feel that I could turn my speciality into something unique. I wanted an act that would be a thing of beauty - of course it would have to be a strange beauty” - Vander Clyde, aka the great Barbette.In 1923 Vander Clyde took to the stage of the Folies Bergère in Paris dressed in full drag as Barbette. During the show Clyde performed incredible acrobatic stunts such as walking a high wire and dangerous trapeze-related tricks. Clyde’s appearance was so convincing that it left people to ponder the ambiguous performer’s true sexual identity.
Members of the French avant-garde community were captivated by Clyde’s portrayal of Barbette including one of France’s most influential creative minds the great Jean Cocteau, who was allegedly linked to Clyde romantically. Cocteau was so taken with Barbette that he commissioned surrealist photographer Man Ray to take a series of photographs showing Clyde’s metamorphosis into the ethereal, androgynous Barbette.
Ill-heath forced Barbette to hang up her trapeze in 1938, but she went on to provide inspiration for up-and-coming performers as well as collaborating with with some of Hollywood’s greatest stars – Orson Welles, Vincente Minnelli, Judy Garland, Jack Lemmon, Tony Curtis and the legendary producer and director Billy Rose.
Judy stole this "look"
More on Barbette at Dangerous Minds, and also (of course) at the marvellous Queer Music Heritage archive.
Sadly, after years of dealing with chronic pain, Barbette committed suicide on 5th August 1973. RIP.
Wildflower: The Dramatic Life of Barbette is a biography of the great showgirl by Kyle Taylor.
Sunday, 11 December 2016
Saturday, 10 December 2016
This weekend, I am mostly dressing casual...
...like today's birthday girl, the glorious Miss Dorothy Lamour (10th December 1914 – 22nd September 1996)!
Saturday, 3 December 2016
Wednesday, 30 November 2016
Art tart
Who would ever have thought it?
In addition to being a spectacular performance artist, counter-tenor vocalist and 80s icon, the wonderful Klaus Nomi was a fully-qualified pastry chef!
And (of course) the faboo people over at Dangerous Minds have located one of his recipes for Lime Cheesecake, which he once demonstrated on Cable TV...
- Step 1. The crust. It needs a 9-inch pie pan to make the tart in. Take 1 1/4 cups fine 'Graham cracker' [that's 'Digestive biscuits' to us Brits!] crumbs, 1/3rd cup brown sugar, and 1/4 melted butter to make crust. Mix the ingredients together and shape the crust into the pie pan. (Klaus Nomi mentions that it may not seem like the crust will hold together, but if it is packed tightly enough and when it sits overnight, it should hold). The artist also cautions about making the crust too sweet; you may not need to use as much brown sugar.
- Step 2. The filling. It needs 4 eggs, 1 can sweetened condensed milk, and 1/2 cup lime juice. First the eggs have to be separated; placing yolks in one bowl and whites in the other one. Klaus uses the egg shell to actually separate the whites from the yolk by putting the yolk on one side of the cracked shell and letting the whites drip into a separate bowl. Take the bowl with the egg yolks and add the sweetened condensed milk and lime juice. Mix together. Then, in the bowl with the egg whites, whip them until the whites are very, very stiff. Once the whites are stiff it dramatically increases in volume. Slowly fold the whites into the other bowl. Once mixed together, place the filling into the crust.
- Step 3. Take lime peel and cut it into thin strips. Place the lime peel on top of the pie. This has two purposes; a beautiful presentation but also the flavour. The zest really adds a punch to the taste and is meant to be eaten. Then place the tart into the refrigerator for at least several hours, but overnight is recommended in order to firm the tart, make it easier to cut and better consistency.
Tasty.
Monday, 28 November 2016
One must be amused
"I am sometimes bored by people, but never by life."
"I think young people have an awful feeling that life is slipping past them and they must do something - catch something - they don't quite know what, whereas they've only got to wait and it all comes."
"When the loo paper gets thicker and the writing paper thinner, it's always a bad sign, at home."
"Nothing makes people crosser than being considered too old for love."
"If one can't be happy, one must be amused."
Nancy Freeman-Mitford CBE (28th November 1904 – 30th June 1973)
Wednesday, 23 November 2016
Night time is my time for just reminiscin’
You might find the night time
The right time for kissin’
But night time is my time
For just reminiscin’
Ruth Etting (23rd November 1897 – 24th September 1978)
Friday, 18 November 2016
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