Happy Birthday Ansel Adams

Photographer Ansel Adams was born on this day-February 2, 1902

Norma Shearer & George Hurrell

Norma Shearer as photographed by George Hurrell, Hollywood, 1932.

RCA Victor Havana

Remnants of the RCA Victor Building in Havana,Cuba. Photo by Matt Dillon,1995.

White Rock Beverages

The story of White Rock dates back to 1871 when a pharmacist named H.M. Colver purchased the White Rock natural spring and its surrounding 60 acres in Waukesha, Wisconsin. Local Potawatomi Indians and settlers believed that the spring’s sparkling mineral water, which filtered through 1,400 feet of white magnesian rocks, held some medicinal power or value.
The story of how Psyche came to represent the White Rock Company starts at the World’s Fair in Chicago. White Rock executives were awestruck by the beauty, youth and purity depicted in a painting titled “Psyche at Nature’s Mirror” by German artist Paul Thumann. They purchased the rights to the painting and adopted Psyche as their logo.
Read Full Article

Happy New Year From Patsy Cline

Patsy with Sonny Hawthorne and His Blue Rhythym Boys, at the Fire Hall in Lorton, Virginia, New Year's Eve 1957

New Year's Eve 1957

Capucine fanning herself at a New Years Eve party held at Romanoffs in Beverly Hills, 1957.

Tony Notaberardino-The Graduate

This photo was taken my friend Tony Notaberardino, who resides at the legendary Chelsea Hotel, NYC. It’s part of an editorial called The Graduate, influenced by the Mike Nichols film.
Click his link to check out the complete series & more. Great Stuff.

Our Man In Havana

Alec Guinness and Ernie Kovacs on the set of Our Man In Havana 1959.

Legends Of Ska

A couple years ago I had the pleasure of interviewing several legends of Ska, Rocksteady, and Reggae music for Swindle Magazine. Photographer David Jiro took some great shots for this collaboration including Rico Rodriguez, Owen Gray, Alton Ellis, Derrick Morgan, and Desmond Dekker. Click Here For Full Article.

Classic Beauty

A classic portrait of of my favorite model, Lisa Fonssagives-Penn as photographed by Horst.

Lisa Fonssagrives Penn

It was in the mid-nineties, thumbing through an Irving Penn book entitled Pasage, when I first discovered the classic beauty of Lisa F. I was captivated to say the least, and was on a mission to find more images of her. The next year,my wish was granted in the form of a thorough coffetable book, celebrating her life as a model, artist, sculptor, dancer, photographer, clothing designer,athlete,pilot,wife and mother. A Real Supermodel. The book is now out of print and fetching up to $300.00-worth every cent. Five Stars *****

Lisa Fonssagrives: Three Decades of Classic Fashion Photography (Hardcover)
by David Seidner (Editor), Martin Harrison (Author)
Lisa Fonssagrives (May 17, 1911 – February 4, 1992), credited by some as the first "supermodel."
Her image appeared on the cover of many magazines during the 1930s, 1940s and 1950s, from Town & Country, Life, and the original Vanity Fair.
She worked with fashion photographers including George Hoyningen-Huene, Man Ray, Horst, Erwin Blumenfeld, George Platt Lynes, Richard Avedon, and Edgar de Evia. She married photographer, Irving Penn, in 1950.
She was the inspiration and subject of some of Penn's greatest photographs, particularly his studies of French haute couture.


Lisa Fonssagrives opera glove gallery:

http://www.operagloves.com/Classicstars/LisaFonssagrives/lisa.html