Edith Head worked on some 780 films either assisting or designing. I believe this silent film was one of the first – the ladies are part of some decadent jazz age tale and their dresses are bedecked with marshmallows! “The Golden Bed” (1925)
This is in reply to:
and his query as to my favorite Edith Head film 😉
Dear V
Just de-lovely, though those ladies must be careful not to get too close to a naked flame… toasted marshmallow with starlet on the side!!
It reminds me of the early photographs of Cecil Beaton all debs and don’t-want-to-be-debs living it up in the last gasp of empire in London.
It also takes me back to the days when the Dandy used to be known to dress up for a night on the tiles…
Yours ever
The Perfumed Dandy
I had to look that up… a night in which one indulges in drinking and dancing on the town… Sounds brilliant!
Holy moly, I’ve heard of the phrase “good enough to eat” but that’s ridiculous or, rather, delicious (*delicious* ahaha geddit? Delicious because they’re tasty and aha edible… What d’you mean that’s a terrible? Eh, I’ll see myself out!). Imagine going out with those things on your (Edith?) head, ah the bold crazy genius of Edith. (somewhere, Lady Gaga is weeping because someone got there eighty years before her)
As coincidence would have it I was reading a little about DeMille yesterday and today. Old C.B. was, to say the least, a rum cove wasn’t he? His actions on set probably have their equivalent today in Jim Cameron but obviously weren’t entirely out of the ordinary in early Hollywood. It’s noted in Simon Louvish’s biography that despite being so supposedly hot for God he had little trouble ignoring the “Thou Shalt Not Commit Adultery” part! And then there were his frothing at the mouth “red”-baiting and anti-union proclivities, how thoroughly “charming”. But then there are his movies, awash with sex and licentiousness, piety and tastelessness, and all manner of fetishism. It must have represented the best of both worlds to some audiences; they could go for the religious aspects and stay for the flagrant vulgarity. “Look at these “perversions”, no, I mean *look at them*. How very, very terrible. Let us learn from this… Now, quiet I’m watching the movie”. Heh. Not to get too sordid but C.B. certainly seems to had his “interests”. And then there’s the foot fetishism rumours. Ew, as 1980s Valley girls would say, now ahem I like ladies in heels and boots and what have you (!) but I’ve never really got the point of that “fetish” it’s as far from the face as you can get, seems a strange (and a li’l icky) object of fascination to me but eh to each their own. Still, the story of Paulette Goddard winning a role from DeMille by putting her bare feet on his desk is perversely amusing. Ah, the vagaries of my mind! One more thing, CB spent time auditioning actors with their shirts off. Interesting! Regards, R
I was not yet a resident of planet earth when Cecil B. was still alive, but from what I understand he was grandiose, and could be withering, and dictatorial – but, he wasn’t a screamer. Cameron was a screamer, he’s toned it down – Michael Bay still screams.
Marshmallows are entirely underrated as an artistic medium.
A friend of mine told me a fascinating story about a woman in her class and her end-of-term project. This woman found a second-hand couch, sewed marshmallows all over it – filled it with marshmallows – then, for her presentation to the class, she SET IT ON FIRE. I love that story.
I love that story, imagine that delicious smell – toasted couch! Thank you 🙂
Reblogged this on classicmovienight.
Michael Bay still screams…plus he’s Michael Bay. Jeez, it’s like being a black hole of humanity and talent he sucks so hard. I wouldn’t have wanted to work for DeMille or Cameron but at least they made some memorable pictures.