"Oh, shit, good manners"

"The trouble with putting armour on is that, while it protects you from pain, it also protects you from pleasure."

[on Bette Davis] "I walked onto the set [of "All About Eve"] and there's Bette and I say 'Good Morning,' and she said, 'Oh, shit, good manners,' and I felt as if I'd been hit in the face with a wet flounder and I never spoke to her again. She called me a 'Bitch,' okay."

"All the producers I met were like Darryl F Zanuck — deeply humourless flesh-grabbers, who only understood about virgins and whores. If you happened to be neither, they went into a state of total confusion and didn’t know how to cast you."

Celeste Holm (29th April 1919 - 15th July 2012)

Read my recent tribute to the lady on her 95th birthday.

RIP

I know all the Lupinos, I go to their beanos

Further to Thursday's blog, I couldn't resist posting more of the genius of Douglas Byng:

Sex Appeal Sarah
[extract]

"When I went to the pictures to act,
I was quite a furore, as they say,
I appeared first as Carmen, but in fact
I was much more "bizarre" than "Bizet".
But the day came for filming the bullfight
I was just doing one of me stunts -
When the juvenile lead pinched me cast-o-nets
I went all hors de combat at once.
But I picked up a picador's spear,
Stabbed him in the bolero and spoilt his career.

I'm Sex-Appeal Sarah, my body gets barer
Each time I appear on the screen.
Oh, I've played such rare pranks with
dear Dougie Fairbanks
Reall risky - but never obscene.
I know all the Lupinos - I go to their beanos -
We start off with cocktails and end up with Enos;
I'm slick Sal, and when I was a gal
I was constant and clever and clean.
I was never de trop - I was pure as the snow -
But I drifted, and so - well, you know what I mean."

As featured on Naughty Nights with Douglas Byng

A favourite of Jessica Mitford, it seems - she chose it in her selection for Desert Island Discs

Imagine...

Maud, Lady Beerbohm Tree


Douglas Byng

I have just finished reading the excellent Bawdy But British!: The Life of Douglas Byng by the late Patrick Newley.

Of the many hilarious stories Dougie Byng recalled in his long theatrical life, my favourite is this fabulously camp moment. Roy Hudd was in the audience at one of Dougie's last shows (he was on stage until he was 93!):

It was a marvellous evening. I remember in reply to one query, "Did you ever see Lady Beerbohm Tree?" Dougie replied "Yes, I saw her once at a charity matinee.

She walked on in a purple crinoline with purple ostrich feathers, a purple fan and elbow-length gloves, and wearing a diamond necklace, tiara and bracelet.

She picked up a kitchen chair, put it down-stage, sat on it and said to the audience, 'Now I want you to imagine I'm a plumber's mate!'"

Read Simon Callow's review of Bawdy But British!: The Life of Douglas Byng

I think the older I get the more creative I get

"I think the older I get the more creative I get, I don't have the distractions that I had when I was younger."

"I think i just have the energy, I'm a bit of an addict in a way."

"I don't enjoy being a celebrity, I don't want any part of that or any part of that fame for fame... I'd actually rather die than be a celebrity slime!"

"In the past i've put myself in situations just to inspire me, I do kind of like life."

Peter Mark Sinclair "Marc" Almond (b. 9th July 1957)

Marc's 55th birthday concert review.

My previous "exhibit" dedicated to Marc on his birthday last year.

When I am old...

...I want to be her.

You really must visit dear Thombeau's new collection of vintage photos from Paris and Berlin.

A good read

Some of us have a diploma...

Nobody's fool, least of all yours

"Look closely, Eve. It's time you did. I am Addison DeWitt. I am nobody's fool, least of all yours. "





"I was beastly but never coarse. A high-class sort of heel."

"I never really thought I`d make the grade. And let`s face it, I haven`t."

"I don`t ask questions. I just take their money and use it for things that really interest me."

"The important thing for a star is to have an interesting face. He doesn`t have to move it very much. Editing and camerawork can always produce the desired illusion that a performance is being given."

George Sanders (3rd July 1906-25th April 1972)

"Dear World, I am leaving because I am bored. I feel I have lived long enough. I am leaving you with your worries in this sweet cesspool. Good luck."

RIP