Category Archives: Friendship

Mr. Lester’s great aunt Hazel, Katharine Hepburn, and Spencer Tracy and gossip…

July 12, 2019 by Vickie Lester

The exquisitely patrician Connecticut lady pictured above had quite a career – and split her time between the East Coast and the West. Very busy. I don’t know that she really cooked more than brownies and put together hot fudge sundaes – but she did eat and appreciate food. The people pictured below on the left are the Mister’s father and mother (expecting the Mister’s eldest brother), an uncle I don’t believe he’s ever met, and on the far right […]

Categories: Architecture, Art, Blogging, Books, Cooking, Culture, Design, Entertainment, fashion, Film, Friendship, History, Hollywood, Humor, Life, Los Angeles, Marriage, Memoir, Movies, Photography, Relationships, Story, Travel, Truth & Rumors, Writing • Tags: #itsinhiskissbyvickielester, behind the scenes, Beverly Hills, gossip, Hollywood, inside scoop, Katharine Hepburn, Michael Stipe, patrician, Spencer Tracy, upstairs downstairs

What my feet looked like when I decided to walk from my house to Cecil B. DeMille’s

July 11, 2019 by Vickie Lester

Once upon a time, in the nineteen eighties, Cecil B.’s house still stood atop a hill in a neighborhood called Los Feliz, not far from our place in Beachwood Canyon. It was a beautiful spring day, the neighborhood where many luminaries live now, was not gated, and I decided to walk over and enjoy the view. Now, angels, baronial is not a term I throw around lightly, but the DeMille joint was just that. Placed prominently, sprawling, a statement. Befitting […]

Categories: Architecture, Art, Blogging, Books, Culture, Design, Entertainment, fashion, Film, Friendship, History, Hollywood, Humor, Life, Los Angeles, Memoir, Movies, Photography, Relationships, Story, Theater, Travel, Truth & Rumors, Writing • Tags: architecture, baronial, Beachwood Canyon, Cecil B. DeMille, Cecil B. Demille front door, Cecil B. DeMille quote, Hollywood behind the scenes, Los Feliz, once upon a time, Vickie Lester

A holiday kiss from grandmother to mother to daughter to you – our recipe for Pavlova…

December 12, 2018 by Vickie Lester

Or as we gals call it — Schaum Torte. That’s my mom. She made a show stopping dessert and here’s the recipe: First of all preheat your oven to 275 degrees, then cut up a large brown paper bag and line a baking sheet. Now separate 6 six eggs. (Put the yolks aside to make a lemon custard, or, if you’re not inclined toss them away.) Beat the six egg whites until they form stiff peaks. Very, very gradually add […]

Categories: Art, Blogging, Christmas, Cooking, Culture, Design, Entertaining, fashion, Film, Friendship, Gastronomy, History, Hollywood, Los Angeles, Memoir, Parenting, Photography, Recipes, Story, Truth & Rumors, Uncategorized • Tags: birthday cake, dessert, easy dessert, holiday dessert, Hollywood, kiss, meringue, meringue dessert, my family recipe for pavlova, pavlova recipe, schaum torte recipe, show stopper, slice of heaven, strawberries and whipped cream, wedding cake

“Fruitcake is my kryptonite,” an admission from a friend…

November 18, 2018 by Vickie Lester

“He left Hollywood and renounced the pursuit of fame, joining a brotherhood of Franciscans who supported their monastery by refilling ink cartridges and baking fruitcake, available at Amazon.com.” That’s a line from my first novel, summing up the future for an actor in dire need of redemption. Obviously fruitcake means something to me too, and I wouldn’t be stretching it to say it has to do with the transformative act of baking. Every November I stir this batter together and […]

Categories: Art, Blogging, Books, Christmas, Cooking, Culture, Design, Entertainment, Fiction, Film, Friendship, Gastronomy, History, Hollywood, Los Angeles, Memoir, Recipes, Thanksgiving, Uncategorized, Writing • Tags: #amwriting another novel about Hollywood, a Hollywood whodunnit, baking raises my spirits, british wedding cake, climate crisis, comfort baking, fruitcake, fruitcake recipe, recipe

A postcard in a New York minute…

November 4, 2018 by Vickie Lester

Visiting the city was fantastic. Loved that nobody is stumbling around the Frick taking phone photos like they do at the Met. Loved walking through Central Park every day. Loved staying with an old friend who I am now going to model a character in the novel on, who demanded we take a walk in a nor’easter — preparing me by strapping a Paddington Bear hat under my chin — so I could get a sense of the neighborhood. I […]

Categories: Architecture, Art, Blogging, Books, Culture, Design, Entertainment, Film, Friendship, History, Hollywood, Life, Los Angeles, Memoir, New York, Photography, Travel, Truth & Rumors, Uncategorized, Writing • Tags: #amwriting another novel about Hollywood, cityscape, crossing the country, friend, letters, Manhattan, New York, riding the train, share a meal, the frick, the met

Cecil Beaton and Greta Garbo after she retreated from fame

September 18, 2018 by Vickie Lester

She arrived somewhat out of breath, dressed entirely in darkest blue, looking pale but even more incandescent than before. A crowd of bobbysox autograph-hunters had run after her on her way to my hotel, and they were cruel and ruthless and upset her very much. But now she would enjoy a cigarette – calmly. We sat side by side on a long red sofa. She had not telephoned before because she had been ill: she had caught cold – doubtless […]

Categories: Architecture, Art, Blogging, Books, Culture, Design, Entertaining, fashion, Film, Friendship, History, Hollywood, Life, Literature, London, Los Angeles, Marriage, Memoir, Movies, New York, Photography, Relationships, Story, Theater, Travel, Truth & Rumors, Uncategorized, Writing • Tags: attraction, behind the scenes, Beverly Hills, Cecil Beaton, Costume Designer, crush, design, fashion, flirting, Greta Garbo, history, Hollywood, humor, in the pursuit of love, infatuation, Los Angeles, love, New York, Old Hollywood, photography, proposal, the games people play

Strangers on the internet — Exchanging glances

September 8, 2018 by Vickie Lester

Wondering on the internet What were the chances… Hello, Mercury! Sorry, got distracted there for a minute. Shall we get reacquainted? I used to post here all the damn time about things that struck my fancy, like Hollywood history, cool architecture, and fabulous books. Then I self-published a novel, and poppets, I did go on and on. Then a couple of things happened, I was in the midst of writing another book when the political scene went cockeyed, and I […]

Categories: Advertising, Art, Blogging, Books, Culture, Design, Entertainment, Fiction, Film, Friendship, History, Hollywood, Life, Literature, Los Angeles, Memoir, Movies, Publishing, Story, Truth & Rumors, Uncategorized, Writing • Tags: #amwriting, Aldous Huxley, Anita Loos, Hollywood novel, narrative, rewrite, voice

Clifford Coffin took this photograph in an age when sitting on a California sand dune was a beneficial, or at least benign, experience. Stay cool.

August 11, 2018 by Vickie Lester

The heatwave broke yesterday and I finished the first draft of the manuscript. I was expecting some kind of elation, but instead I took a nap. Recharging for the revisions to come? Perhaps. I’ve sent it off to he who gives notes for a first impression, to be followed by much discussion and a lot of work. The novel is about a college-aged kid from the East Coast who goes to Hollywood to be a nanny, and ends up a […]

Categories: Art, Books, Culture, Design, Entertainment, fashion, Fiction, Film, Friendship, History, Hollywood, Literature, Los Angeles, Memoir, Movies, Photography, Truth & Rumors, Uncategorized, Writing • Tags: #amwriting, California, Clifford Coffin, Editor, fashion photographer, Hollywood novel

So Alive…an excerpt from It’s in His Kiss by Vickie Lester

July 21, 2018 by Vickie Lester

SO ALIVE In 1996 Keir Bloomfield got his first sole screen credit as a writer. Granted, it was on a low-budget, a very low-budget, movie that the producers guaranteed would be seen on oil platforms and tuna boats the world over. But it was a credit and it was his. Toni Todd, the film legend, had nothing to do with it; contrary to the advice of her facialist, she crinkled her nose at the whole project as if it had […]

Categories: Architecture, Art, Books, Culture, Design, Entertainment, fashion, Fiction, Film, Friendship, History, Hollywood, Humor, Life, Literature, Los Angeles, Movies, Photography, Relationships, Short Stories, Story, Travel, Truth & Rumors, Uncategorized, Writing • Tags: #amwriting another novel about Hollywood, #itsinhiskissbyvickielester, Beachwood Canyon, Hollywood, Hollywood Blvd, Hollywood Royalty, Hollywood sign, inside story, screenwriter

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