I Am Big

The higher the hair...

Today's birthday girl Miss Diana Ross (born 26th March 1944)

Simone Signoret (25th March 1921 – 30th September 1985), whose centenary it was yesterday.

Fanny Ardant (born 22nd March 1949)

Aretha Franklin (25th March 1942 – 16th August 2018)

Gloria Swanson (27th March 1899 – 4th April 1983)

Kelly Le Brock (born 24th March 1960)

Pearl Bailey (29th March 1918 – 17th August 1990)

Chaka Khan (born 23rd March 1953)

Sarah Vaughan (27th March 1924 – 3rd April 1990)

It's Diva Season!

Sic Transit Gloria

Art Deco and Miss Swanson. Made for each other.

Gloria Swanson (born Gloria May Josephine Svensson, 27th March 1899 – 4th April 1983)

This weekend, I am mostly dressing casual...

If it's good enough for Miss Gloria Swanson, it's good enough for me..!

This weekend, I am mostly dressing casual...

...like birthday girl Miss Gloria May Josephine Swanson (27th March 1899 – 4th April 1983)!

She paid the bills

"All they had to do was put my name on a marquee and watch the money roll in."

"When I die, my epitaph should read: She Paid the Bills. That's the story of my private life."

"Nobody gets anything for nothing."

Gloria May Josephine Swanson (27th March 1899 – 4th April 1983)

Sweetly and beautifully mixed

Miss Gloria Swanson posing among the rubble of New York's Roxy Theatre, a venue in which she made her name.

For the full story, read this fabulous article by Philip Mershon at Felix in Hollywood blog.

It was apparently this particular photo that was the inspiration for Hal Prince and Stephen Sondheim's classic musical about the demise of old-style theatrical grandeur, Follies...

"Fame was thrilling only until it became grueling. Money was fun only until you ran out of things to buy."

"I didn't want to spend the rest of my life playing Norma Desmond over and over again."

"Life and death. They are somehow sweetly and beautifully mixed, but I don't know how."

Gloria Swanson (27th March 1899 - 4th April 1983)

Birthday broads

Birthday girls Carol Channing (born 31st January 1921) and Tallulah Bankhead (31st January 1902 – 12th December 1968) dish the dirt with Gloria Swanson...

We three Queens

Gloria Swanson, Eartha Kitt (born 85 years ago today on 17th January 1927) and some random chap.

Queens, all!

Fashionable ladies

“A designer is only as good as the star who wears her clothes.” - Edith Head

"I received the Neiman-Marcus award for my contribution over the years to the world of fashion." - Gloria Swanson

Unlikely conversations

It makes you wonder...


Joan Crawford and Debbie Reynolds


Gloria Swanson and Diana Dors


Morrissey and Pat Phoenix


Andy Warhol and Lana Turner

See also

One can never have enough...

...hat boxes, darlings!



"So many hats and only one head!"