Best Documentaries for the Boudoir
I do keep a television in my boudoir, but I really don’t watch a lot of it. I cancelled my cable a while back, and just purchase the few shows that I like to watch. When I actually have time to commit to a couple of hours, and my son is asleep, I will generally choose an old movie (1940’s-1960’s), or a good documentary. I usually like to keep it light, and don’t really like to watch sad documentaries (or movies for that matter), so these aren’t super “deep,” but they take me to a happy and fascinating world. Here are some of my favorite documentaries that I highly recommend:…
Breakfast at Tiffany’s Birthday
“Of course, personally, I think it’d be tacky to wear diamonds before I’m forty.” – Holly Golightly, Breakfast at Tiffany’s It’s time to pull out the diamonds, ladies, because this January I celebrated my 40th birthday. To be honest…it’s surreal. I really don’t feel like it’s possible I could be 40. I identify with being younger, but I guess I’m officially a grown up now. My mother planned a surprise dinner at a local restaurant the weekend of my birthday. Several friends and family members joined in on the celebration. It was a lovely surprise, but I still wanted to have a little celebration with my lifelong girl friends, so…
Bogie and Bacall…Together Again
Sitting at my desk today I was alerted by a text message (from one of the various news outlets that I subscribe to) of the sad news that the lovely Lauren Bacall passed away. Of all the starlets of old Hollywood, Lauren Bacall’s (how shall I say) spunk, chutzpah, bravado…call it what you want…is something to be admired. She was not merely a beautiful face (at all ages), but had the grit of a soldier, the poise of an aristocrat and the boldness of a suffragette. Even in this day and age, her boldness is admirable, but think about how much it meant back when a woman having a contrary opinion was viewed…
Marilyn Monroe on Chanel N°5
Chanel recently acquired the rights to some never-before-published audio of Marilyn Monroe talking about Chanel N°5 fragrance. I’m sure all of you Marilyn fans know that Marilyn famously shared that the only thing she wears to bed is Chanel N°5. Many of the actual publications where she professed this information, making the perfume as legendary as she, were never published. You really MUST watch this video… If not, here is the story told in stills from the video on Chanel.com. I notice her voice often sounds different in audio/video of interviews as opposed to her films. I’m guessing this is because, in her films, she often portrayed the “dumb blonde” roll. She…
Mademoiselle Monday: Mlle Garland
“It’s lonely and cold on the top… lonely and cold.” -Judy Garland “For it was not into my ear you whispered, but into my heart. It was not my lips you kissed, but my soul.” -Judy Garland “I try to bring the audience’s own drama – tears and laughter they know about – to them.” -Judy Garland ” We cast away priceless time in dreams, born of imagination, fed upon illusion, and put to death by reality.” -Judy Garland “For it was not into my ear you whispered, but into my heart. It was not my lips you kissed, but my soul.” -Judy Garland ” If I’m such a legend,…
Mrs. Coretta Scott King
Since today is Martin Luther King Day, I thought it would be appropriate to step away from the usual Mademoiselle Monday post to feature, instead, a post on Mrs. Coretta Scott King. Certainly we could have devoted a “Mademoiselle Monday” to her, but since we all know that part of the greatness of her legacy was her union with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., perhaps “Madame Monday” would have been more appropriate. Yes, I know, today is technically his day, but as we all know, behind every good man is a good woman. When I think about Mrs. King, I think about about how brave she was. I have to…
Mademoiselle Monday: Mlle Caron
“No matter what you do, your person comes through. You can’t completely change yourself on the screen. I had in mind someone colder and more in control, but I couldn’t do it. This human note just crept in and maybe it’s better.” -Leslie Caron “I regret not doing a film that I was offered with Clark Gable because the script was not good enough.” -Leslie Caron “I longed to break out of the system and do different roles.” -Leslie Caron “The American is wholeheartedly for love and romance at any cost.” -Leslie Caron 0
Mademoiselle Monday: Mlle Bacall
“A woman isn’t complete without a man. But where do you find a man – a real man – these days?” -Lauren Bacall “I am essentially a loner.” -Lauren Bacall “It’s inappropriate and vulgar and absolutely unacceptable to use your private life to sell anything commercially, but I think it’s kind of a sickness.” -Lauren Bacall “I figure if I have my health, can pay the rent and I have my friends, I call it ‘content.’” -Lauren Bacall “I used to tremble from nerves so badly that the only way I could hold my head steady was to lower my chin practically to my chest and look up at Bogie.…
Mademoiselle Monday: Mlle Turner
“It’s said in Hollywood that you should always forgive your enemies – because you never know when you’ll have to work with them.” -Lana Turner “A successful man is one who makes more money than his wife can spend. A successful woman is one who can find such a man.” -Lana Turner “A gentleman is simply a patient wolf.” -Lana Turner “I would rather lose a good earring than be caught without make-up.” -Lana Turner [On Hollywood] “It was all beauty and it was all talent, and if you had it they protected you.” -Lana Turner 0
Mademoiselle Monday: Mlle Loren
“A woman’s dress should be like a barbed-wire fence: serving its purpose without obstructing the view.” -Sophia Loren “It’s a mistake to think that once you’re done with school you need never learn anything new.” -Sophia Loren “I’ve never tried to block out the memories of the past, even though some are painful. I don’t understand people who hide from their past. Everything you live through helps to make you the person you are now.” -Sophia Loren “Beauty is how you feel inside, and it reflects in your eyes. It is not something physical.” -Sophia Loren “Getting ahead in a difficult profession requires avid faith in yourself. That is why…
