Barbara Stanwyck II

As promised, and long delayed, here are some more glamorous portraits of Barbara Stanwyck.  As I was working on these, I couldn’t help wondering why we no longer see beautiful portraits of movie stars.  How can we be satisfied with paparazzi shots of stars in sweatpants at the corner market?  I don’t want to see beautiful people caught looking their worst.  Bring back dazzle, photography as art, and great lighting!

Baby Face (1933)

The Mad Miss Manton (1938)

Lady of Burlesque (1943)

Paramount general publicity 1943

Merry Christmas 2012

Wishing you all a very merry Christmas!  It’s been a strange December, with the flu bug keeping from many of my usual holiday activities.   At least I’ve got the BBC to keep me entertained, with EastEnders, Doctor Who, and Call the Midwife.  Even though I’m in San Francisco, my television schedule is taking me to London, especially the East End.  It seems appropriate to post a photo of my uncle in his home in Spitalfields.   He passed away two days after Christmas the same year this was taken, so my thoughts are always with him at this time.  He kept Christmas well, and his spirit continues to brighten my holiday.

Dennis Severs in April, 1999

On the Stairs of No. 18 Folgate Street

(Click on photo for sharper version)

Portraits of Barbara Stanwyck

I recently watched the PBS documentary Pioneers of Television: Westerns, and I was struck by what Linda Evans said about Barbara Stanwyck, her co-star on The Big Valley.  I didn’t know she was one of the nicest people in Hollywood, taking the time to get to know all the crew members and really enjoying herself on set.  This led me to check out the book Starring Miss Barbara Stanwyck by Ella Smith from my local library.  I haven’t read much of the text, because the portraits in the book are too wonderful.  This book is now out of print, but here are some of those images, with more to come.  Perhaps it’s a cheat, to fill my blog pages, but what a great way to cheat!

With Joel McCrea in Internes Can’t Take Money

Columbia general publicity 1930

Stella Dallas

Breakfast for Two

Armistice Day 2012

Today is Armistice Day, marking the end of World War I in 1918.  Also known as Poppy Day and Remembrance Day in commonwealth countries.  WWI began with bravado and confidence—most people believed it would last only a few months.  Four long, bloody years later, the world had irrevocably changed.

This point was brought home to me over the summer.  I attended a special screening of the silent documentary South, featuring the footage shot by Frank Hurley on Shackleton’s Antarctic expedition with the ship Endurance.   The screening was accompanied by live music and narrated with excerpts from Shackleton’s journal, read by actor Paul McGann.  The expedition began the week war broke out in Europe, on August 8, 1914.  Shackleton and his men were isolated from the world and its news when the Endurance was trapped and destroyed by ice.  When Shackleton finally made it to a whaling station in South Georgia two years later, the first question he asked was, “When did the war in Europe end?”  He was told the war was still dragging on, with no end in sight.  Many of his men, after surviving the hardships of the Antarctic, returned home to fight in the trenches of France.

They ask me where I’ve been,
And what I’ve done and seen.
But what can I reply
Who know it wasn’t I,
But someone just like me,
Who went across the sea
And with my head and hands
Killed men in foreign lands…
Though I must bear the blame,
Because he bore my name.

— Wilfred Gibson

Today is also Veterans Day in the United States.  To those who have served in the armed forces, we thank you for your service.

Troops recite the oath of allegiance during a naturalization ceremony on an aircraft elevator on board the USS Midway Museum in San Diego, Nov. 6, 2012. The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services sponsored the ceremony during which 41 service members from 19 countries became U.S. citizens.

Photo credit for Becoming Citizens: US Department of Defense.   Special thanks to Shay for the World War I images.  The poem by Wilfred Gibson is “Back.”

San Francisco Halloween 2012

Every year, I take my camera to the Halloween block party off Central Avenue on Grove.  This year, I got there before the light left and the rain began.  What a great bunch of kiddies and doggies this year!  My thanks to the parents and dog owners who do such a great job with the costumes.

(Click on any photo to scroll through larger versions.)

A Special Fuller Autograph

I spent my summer experimenting with printing screencaptures from the television western Laramie onto photo paper.   I didn’t think it would work, especially since the episodes are in desperate need of remastering.  With a lot of trial and error, and many reorders from the photo lab, I came up with a few decent prints.  It helped to keep the images small, collage them together, and only use the sharpest screencaptures with lots of contrast.  A friend who attended the Spirit of the Cowboy festival in McKinney, Texas, had Robert Fuller autograph my creation.  Getting it back in the mail was such a thrill.  Thank you, Mr. Fuller!  And Tumbleweed, too.

I hate having to resort to watermarks, but my images are being posted on other sites without credit or permission.  The photos are from (clockwise from top left) 45 Calibre, Killers’ Odds, and The Lawbreakers.

An Argo/Tout Sweet Birthday

Today is my birthday, and I celebrated by going to see Argo with a friend.  Sometimes the movies that have a lot of Oscar buzz leave me cold.  I recognize their excellence but I feel disconnected, without an emotional involvement in the characters and story.  Not the case with Argo.  I was totally engrossed from the beginning, which gives a brief but helpful overview to the events leading up to the Iran hostage crisis.  I was a junior in high school when it began, and while I was aware of the overall situation during those years, I was also busy living my teenage life.  The movie made me realize how little attention I’ve paid to the major historical events in my lifetime.  Anyway, I recommend Argo, even though the hair and fashions will make you cringe.  Believe me, I was cringing then, too.

After the movie, my friend and I headed to Tout Sweet Patisserie, Yigit Pura’s new dessert shop in Union Square.  It’s a lovely space, with a delightful staff and a great view of the Square.  I had the Petit Tout Sweet cake and my friend had the sous-vide poached egg sandwich.  I met Yigit Pura a couple of years ago at the GLAAD Media Awards, and again last October at the Meals on Wheels calendar signing at Macys.  I’ve been following the progress of Tout Sweet through facebook and twitter, and today was the perfect day to visit.  Yum!

Getting Literary

Some projects I’ve been involved with have blossomed over the summer.  Some have required little effort on my part, while others have kept me busy.  I’ve posted more video creations on my YouTube channel, and they continue to center around the television western Laramie.  I did an interview with a young graduate student and fellow blogger about my uncle, Dennis Severs, and it was published on August 15th in a UK literary magazine called Peninsula.  The online copy can be read and downloaded on their site in a pdf format.  My interview is on page 72.  I don’t know yet if this is a limited offer, so download it soon, just in case.  The other pieces in the magazine are worth reading, too!

A book cover designer in Canada used one of my photographs of County Mayo, Ireland, for a historical novel.  I haven’t read the book, but I do think my photo looks great!  The book is available through Libros Libertad.

I have another book cover to reveal, but it will have to wait just a little while longer.  In the meantime, I need to get back to reading again.  I realized this week that I haven’t finished a book in months.  Too much time in photoshop and learning video editing has replaced my reading habit.  My book club has selected State of Wonder by Ann Patchett for our September selection, so I’m eager to dive in.

The summer went so fast, and it never got warm here in San Francisco.  I wonder what September will bring…

Two Years Old

The Ugly Bug Ball turns two today!

When I first started blogging, I read that it takes about two years for a blog to get established and find an audience.  Not encouraging!  I wasn’t sure that it would last for two months, but I’m still committed and enthusiastic.

I recently watched a few episodes of Party Down with Jane Lynch.  I cringed when the geeky cater-waiter kept telling people, “I have a very active blog.”  Identifying yourself as a blogger isn’t particularly cool, and everybody and his dog now has a blog, a tumblr site, and probably even a pinterest board.  People are so busy doing their own thing.  I’m sincerely grateful for every visitor, especially those who take the time to leave a comment.

My first year, I published 95 posts.  This year, I managed 145 posts.  There are new subscribers, and my daily traffic has more than doubled.  To be realistic, many of my “visitors” never actually land on these pages, because of the way image search engines work.  WordPress recently added a world map to their detailed stats, so I now enjoy seeing where my visitors are located.  Most are in the US and the UK, but some are in Poland, Brazil, Hong Kong…even Malta!

I’ve tried to keep things balanced with lots of different topics.  Of course, what I call “balance,” others might call “lack of focus.”  When I’m in the grip of an obsession, I could easily go overboard.  Fortunately, most of the things that fascinate me already have devoted fan sites that I can’t compete with.  On the other hand, it would get too monotonous if I stuck with just the topics that bring the most visitors.  These include Les Misérables, The Phantom of the Opera, Ramin Karimloo, and Hadley Fraser.  I feel an obligation to the subscribers who follow me because of the these interests.  I added a West End Index page for those who don’t want to scroll through all the other content.  I also invite friends to write concert and theatre reviews, since I’ve never seen Karimloo or Fraser perform in person.  My first year, I would have been horrified at the idea of guest bloggers, but now I’m delighted when friends contribute to these pages.

I think my favorite post in this second year is Postcards from Camp Hell.  I had a great time putting it together, although it was a struggle not to correct my adolescent spelling and grammar.  I also really enjoyed writing My Huckleberry Friend, My Sondheim Summer, The Rifleman, and all the Stage Door/Celebrity Encounter posts.  There are a lot more photo essays than before, and my favorite is Tanya and Chloe.  Getting silly in photoshop has also been very entertaining.  Congratulations, Jeff Nicholson! is probably my best creation, but I also love a good birthday party.

Making videos and posting them on YouTube began with Enation’s “video for a cause” contest back in July.  I didn’t win, but I definitely got hooked.  It’s another chance to get creative in photoshop.  Now I check my YouTube stats almost as often as my blog stats.  I also finally overcame my aversion to twitter.  Mostly.

I’m not really sure what the future will bring.  I keep getting the feeling that something new should be arriving any minute to grab my attention, but it hasn’t quite happened yet.  Bear with me until it does, and then bear with me when it does!  Thank you to all my friends who keep me going with encouragement and support.  It’s not a ball when you’re dancing alone.

I wanted to post a photo here of this great cake, but I didn’t hear back from my request for permission.  Take a look, and be sure to click the enlarge button!  Who wouldn’t want a frosting slug?!

Happy Easter 2012

There are many ways to celebrate this weekend.  I’m always torn between the drama of the evening Easter Vigil and the morning service with all the children in their adorable Easter outfits.  Here I am with my brother, all dressed up for Easter in 1966.  No matter how you spend your Easter, or Passover, may it be filled with joy.  (A little chocolate isn’t such a bad thing, either!)

Easter 1966

Spring in Devon, England

My friend John took this photo in Devon.  These two have spring fever and can’t get enough of each other!

 

Happy Birthday, Cowboys!

Today, The Ugly Bug Ball celebrates two birthdays.

My grandfather was born on this day in 1909.  He wasn’t actually a cowboy.  He was a National Park ranger.   Still, I love this photo of him in a jaunty cowboy hat.

My grandfather in the early 1960s

It’s also Johnny Crawford’s 66th birthday.

Johnny Crawford

He’s best known for playing young Mark McCain on The Rifleman, which everybody knows is my favorite western.  Mark was never seen celebrating his birthday on the show, so I got silly in photoshop to change that.

A Birthday Party at the McCain Ranch (click to see larger, sharper version)

Happy Birthday,  Grandpa John and Johnny!

Creepy Dolls

I was talking to a friend about a certain child singing sensation who reminds me of a creepy life-size doll.  It brought to mind these photos, taken in London and Ireland.  Why do some dolls look evil, or at least like they’re plotting against us?

Dolls in Donegal, Ireland

Bethnal Green Museum of Childhood, London