The ultimate hustle

"I have a woman's body and a child's emotions."
Elizabeth Taylor, attributed to Ken Danvers, 1959

To conclude this week's special focus on The Glamour of the Gods photographic exhibition, it is only fair we turn to the subject of sex!

Although nowadays the lines are more often than not blurred - "glamour model" has a whole different connotation to its original definition, for example - it was always the intention of the studio system, and therefore their employed photographers, to "sell" a star's sexual allure as much as their beauty and exoticism. Innocent maybe, but it is undeniable that even the icy gaze of Garbo or the shimmering luxury of Gloria Swanson in regal costume were masks for their unattainable, desired, sexiness.

By the end of the War, in the late 40s and early 50s this mask was slipping somewhat, and the sexual imagery in Hollywood photography was becoming more obvious - in tandem with the inexorable rise of the "teenager" as a new audience for publicity-hungry studios. In today's featured photographs, the young Miss Taylor and Mr Brando are not doing anything in particular, but we know what they are ostensibly offering the viewer.

So, apparently, did John Kobal (whose extensive collection is the foundation for the exhibition). According to reviewer Martin Gayford: "By Marilyn Monroe’s era, Kobal’s enthusiasm was running out. He was a star-struck romantic, and in his view the “gods” and “titans” of Hollywood belonged to the 20s and the 30s."

And I agree. Hollywood today is a lesser place than when most of the photographs on display were taken; its stars are certainly less glamorous, and the balance between sex appeal and style is all but lost in the majority of cases.

"If you want something from an audience, you give blood to their fantasies. It's the ultimate hustle."
Marlon Brando, photographed in 1950 by John Engstead:



Glamour of the Gods exhibition at The National Gallery continues to 23rd October 2011.

A classic work of art

Joan Crawford by George Hurrell, 1934

Joan Crawford was possibly one of the most photogenic of all the stars of Hollywood's "Golden Age". Certainly the master of the glamour photo George Hurrell appeared to think so, and it was mainly his work that preserved Miss Crawford's beauty as an everlasting work of art.


Clark Gable and Joan Crawford for Dancing Lady, 1933 by George Hurrell

Some say that Clark Gable was the love of Joan Crawford's life. Some even say that the two were close to being married. Some speculate the affair never happened at all. Whatever the case there was no denying the onscreen chemistry between Crawford and Gable. Their affair lasted off and on for over 20 years and they remained close right up until Gable's death in 1960.

Legendary Joan Crawford

Glamour of the Gods exhibition at The National Gallery

First you're another doe-eyed vamp...

circa 1925: Headshot portrait by Eugene R. Richee of American silent film actor Clara Bow (1905 - 1965)

Captured to perfection in this photo, Clara Bow was possibly the one star who personified "The Roaring Twenties" - the doe-eyed flapper, the independent woman, the simmering seductive beauty.

She was also one of the casualties of the "boom and bust" that occurred in the early days of Hollywood. Catapulted from a dreadful upbringing to become one of the biggest stars of the the glittering silent silver screen in films such as Mantrap in 1926 and It (hence her nick-name "The 'It' Girl") in 1927, she received rapturous reviews. Variety enthused thus: "Clara Bow! And how! What a 'Mantrap' she is! And how this picture is going to make her! Miss Bow just walks away with the picture from the moment she steps into camera range."

However, jealousy and perverse morality led to a huge backlash against her. It probably didn't help that her uninhibited "flapper" attitude collided head-on with the Great Depression and all that brought with it. One of the longest lasting (and by all accounts false) accusations against Miss Bow was that she single-handedly "serviced" an entire football team at an orgy, including a young John Wayne! Would that it were true.

Already wounded by the rumour mill, and by court cases accusing her of husband-stealing, the final blow to her career (from which she never recovered, ending her days in a secure sanitorium) was the arrival of the "talkies". For it was Clara Bow, with her dreadful Brooklyn accent totally unsuited to sound, that formed the basis for Miss Jean Hagen's fantabulosa performance as "Lina Lamont" in Singin' in the Rain...

Glamour of the Gods exhibition at The National Gallery

Clara Bow on IMDB

I just used my hair

"I never did cheesecake; I just used my hair."
Veronica Lake

George Hurrell's 1942 portrait of star Veronica Lake shows her glossy blonde tresses splayed out like a halo, highlighting her trademark asset that she often wore loose and brushed over one eye. In fact, her hairstyle became such a huge trend in America that health alerts were issued claiming the style was causing accidents among female factory workers during World War Two. (Vintage Seekers)

Her icy beauty is encapsulated forever in Mr Hurrell's photos, and despite her sad physical and mental decline and untimely death in the 1970s Miss Lake's beautiful image lives on forever.

Glamour of the Gods exhibition at The National Gallery

Veronica Lake on AllRovi.com

An Art Deco ornament

Michèle Morgan by Ernest A. Bachrach, 1940

One of the most beautifully stylised of all the photographs featured in the Glamour of the Gods exhibition, this embodiment of Art Deco symbolism portrays the otherwise largely unknown French actress as part of a statue or sculpture - merely an ornament.

Still alive today, aged 91, Mlle Morgan's French film career was cut short by WW2 and she moved to Hollywood. There she starred in some less-than-successful movies with the likes of Paul Henreid and the young Frank Sinatra, and after failing to land the lead in Casablanca returned to Europe, where she continued to have a hugely successful film career for the next few decades.

The photographer, Ernest Bachrach, also photographed Marilyn Monroe, Katherine Hepburn and Gloria Swanson – the latter hailing him as “the only photographer in the world".

Glamour of the Gods

Lulu in Hollywood

Louise Brooks by E.R. Richee Modern platinum print from the original negative, 1929.

"A well dressed woman, even though her purse is painfully empty, can conquer the world."
Louise Brooks

Eugene Robert Richee, Paramount’s then head of portrait studio, took the picture above, and in doing so created an Art Deco icon and a style sensation. Women of the 1920s queued up to get their hair cut in Miss Brooks' classic "flapper" style, and the image influenced such disparate later stars as Liza Minnelli and Siouxsie Sioux.

As one reviewer puts it: "The porcelain-like complexion and white necklace against the pitch-black surroundings create a striking composition and image of the silent film star. This simplicity beautifully captures the spirit of the 1920s and reflects the eccentric character of the American actress."

Miss Brooks certainly was an outspoken and interesting character in her day:

"Love is a publicity stunt, and making love - after the first curious raptures - is only another petulant way to pass the time waiting for the studio to call.

When I am dead, I believe that film writers will fasten on the story that I am a lesbian... I have done lots to make it believable. All my women friends have been lesbians. But that is one point upon which I agree positively with Christopher Isherwood: There is no such thing as bisexuality. Ordinary people, although they may accommodate themselves for reason of whoring or marriage, are one-sexed. Out of curiosity, I had two affairs with girls – they did nothing for me."
Louise Brooks

The photograph is one of the most magnificent on display at the Glamour of the Gods exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery until 23rd October 2011.

The Allure of Louise Brooks

Miss Brooks' biography Lulu in Hollywood

The epitome of glamour

Marlene Dietrich on the set of Manpower, 1941 by Laszlo Willinger © John Kobal Foundation, 2011

In a special series this week, I intend to add as exhibits to The Museum of Camp some of the iconic images we went to see at the Glamour of the Gods exhibition yesterday.

Laszlo Willinger was a Hungarian photographer during the 1930s and 40s who took photographs of celebrities including Marlene Dietrich, Sigmund Freud and Hedy Lamarr. Marlene cemented her androgynous appeal with several images such as the above.



The second photo of Miss Dietrich in the collection is by George Hurrell. Recognised as the "Grand Seigneur of the Hollywood Portrait", he photographed every star at M-G-M, from Joan Crawford, Clark Gable and Greta Garbo to Wallace Beery and Marie Dressler. His work set a new standard for Hollywood portraits. It even inspired a new name for the genre - glamour photography.

The Glamour of the Gods is provided courtesy of the John Kobal Foundation:

John Kobal was a pre-eminent film historian and collector of Hollywood film photography. The author of over 30 books on film and film photography, he was known for his creative and exuberant personality, as well as his voracious knowledge of the minutiae of film and photography lore. He is credited with essentially 'rediscovering' the great Hollywood Studio photographers - George Hurrell, Laszlo Willinger, Clarence Sinclair Bull, Ted Allan et al - who were employed by the movie studios to create the glamorous, iconic portraits of the most famous and intriguing stars of the day that now epitomise Hollywood. Kobal's mission in the 1970's and 80's was to reunite these forgotten artists with their original negatives and produce new prints for exhibitions he then mounted worldwide.

http://www.npg.org.uk/glamour/

Gods and Monsters

"The problem with beauty is that it's like being born rich and getting poorer."
Joan Collins



The eternally glamorous Joan Collins is featured as "Photograph of the Month" this July at The National Portrait Gallery with this beautiful portrait by John Swannell.

The display of this portrait coincides with the opening of the exhibition Glamour of the Gods: Hollywood Portraits today. Two portraits of Joan Collins are included in the exhibition.

From the National Portrait Gallery website:

Glamour of the Gods is a celebration of Hollywood portraiture from the industry's 'Golden Age', the period 1920 to 1960. From Greta Garbo and Clark Gable to Audrey Hepburn, James Dean and Marilyn Monroe, it is these portraits that transformed actors and actresses into international style icons. In many cases these are the career-defining images of Hollywood's greatest names and help to illustrate their enduring appeal.

Featuring over 70 photographs, most of which are exquisite vintage prints displayed for the first time, the exhibition is drawn from the extraordinary archive of the John Kobal Foundation and demonstrate photography's decisive role in creating and marketing the stars central to the Hollywood mystique.

Glamour of the Gods is on from 7 July to 23 October 2011.