Category Archives: Friendship

Robot Brain Breakfast at Tiffany’s

November 3, 2019 by Vickie Lester

I wanted to see if a dictation program would be helpful when writing, so, I tested one out by narrating the first paragraph of Truman Capote’s Breakfast at Tiffany’s. I read s-l-o-w-l-y, enunciating clearly, mentioning each punctuation mark as specified in the directions. The results are below. “I am always drawn back to places where I have lived, houses and their neighborhoods. For instance, there is a brownstone in the East 70s where, during the early years of the war, […]

Categories: Art, Blogging, Books, Culture, Design, Entertainment, fashion, Fiction, Film, Friendship, History, Hollywood, Humor, Literature, Movies, New York, Photography, Story, Truth & Rumors, Uncategorized, Writing • Tags: #amwriting, Audrey Hepburn, Breakfast at Tiffany's, dictation program, Robot, Truman Capote, Truman Capote in Hollywood

You say movie and I say cinema but didn’t ya…

October 25, 2019 by Vickie Lester

Sit yourself down and watch a glimmer, a gloss, an illusion, a projection, a stream of a story? . I seem to recall a million years ago, when I was a schoolgirl in London, referring to movies as cinema. Is there a difference between the two terms? No. . What a lot of kerfuffle about the old guard dismissing the new guard. . I don’t watch Marvel movies either (hint, see reference to my advanced age above) misters Scorsese and […]

Categories: Art, Blogging, Culture, Design, Entertainment, fashion, Film, Friendship, History, Hollywood, Humor, Los Angeles, Memoir, Movies, Photography, Story, Theater, Truth & Rumors, Uncategorized • Tags: All About Eve gif, Bette Davis, cinema, flounce, Francis Ford Coppola, friends, Martin Scorsese, tea with George and Vickie

I went to the weirdest Oscar party at her house

October 19, 2019 by Vickie Lester

A text from an old friend after an evening spent reminiscing about the 1980s: Thanks ever so to the both of you for a lovely dinner and wonderful visit. So very appreciated. Lou somebody I think was the accountant, married to [famous musician] of [famous band]. I went to the weirdest Oscar party at her house in Hollywood where she was sobbing in the kitchen about how she made so much money but had nothing to show for it. Then […]

Categories: Art, Culture, Design, Entertainment, fashion, Film, Friendship, History, Hollywood, Los Angeles, Memoir, Movies, Photography, Story, Truth & Rumors, Uncategorized • Tags: Cecil Beaton, cocaine, coke, dinner party, oscar party, roman à clef, Tallulah Bankhead, Tallulah Bankhead photographed by Cecil Beaton, Tallulah Bankhead quote

“So you’d give birth to Yoda—” I said.

October 13, 2019 by Vickie Lester

During the Depression a little over 60 million people in America went to see movies every week — that translates to over 3 billion pairs of eyes in front of a screen over the course of a year. When you think about how many Google searches there are in a second (63,000) and in a single day (over 5 billion) and how many people are parked in front of their devices — all the time — it’s a little […]

Categories: Art, Blogging, Books, Culture, Design, Entertainment, Fiction, Film, Friendship, History, Hollywood, Los Angeles, Memoir, Movies, Photography, Story, Truth & Rumors, Uncategorized, Writing • Tags: #amwriting, aging gracefully, Hollywood novel, hot flash, metamorphoses, movie attendance 1930s, novel excerpt, roman à clef, sunset tower

Let’s talk about aging in Hollywood…

October 12, 2019 by Vickie Lester

Women in Hollywood aren’t encouraged to reflect life experience in their faces… Which is rather ironic considering their faces become “faces” because they’re expected to do just that; inhabit a role, transform, emote, reflect, take us on life’s journey… You get the picture. Here’s “the journey” depicted in the work of John Singer Sargent. I see beauty in every phase. There is a lushness to youth; big features, skin plump, life pliable and ready to be written in the eyes… […]

Categories: Art, Blogging, Children, Cosmetic Surgery, Culture, Design, Entertainment, fashion, Film, Friendship, History, Hollywood, Life, Literature, Los Angeles, Memoir, Movies, News, Relationships, Story, Theater, Travel, Truth & Rumors, Uncategorized, Writing • Tags: aging gracefully, Countess of Airlie, Diane Keaton, Elizabeth Garrett Anderson, Ethel Smyth, facelifts, Hollywood, John Singer Sargent, looking your age, Mabell Ogilvy

long time no see…

August 31, 2019 by Vickie Lester

You know how I am about word derivations, I find them fascinating. Long time no see may be something coined from a clumsy 1930s Hollywood attempt to mimic the English of Native Americans, or it could be a direct translation from a Mandarin Chinese phrase 好久不见: (Pinyin) hǎojiǔ bù jiàn. It doesn’t take the abilities of Sherlock Holmes to detect I’ve been absent from social media. Instead of carrying on a conversation here I have been writing a novel, and […]

Categories: Advertising, Art, Audio, Blogging, Books, Culture, Design, Entertainment, fashion, Fiction, Film, Friendship, History, Hollywood, Literature, Los Angeles, Memoir, Movies, Photography, Story, Truth & Rumors, Uncategorized, Writing • Tags: #hollywood&mine, a novel in which real people or events appear with invented names, book preview, Ginger Rogers, Hollywood, novel, roman à clef, Sherlock Holmes, social media, story pitch

Oh, my! I feel—yes, definitely—it’s irritable vowel syndrome.

July 13, 2019 by Vickie Lester

Don’t worry. It’s not contagious. I am increasingly persnickety; about the state of the world, modern discourse, and, hell’s bells, my favorite bakery is closed for renovation. Translation, I’m in a mood. To combat my discomposure I walk, write, read—generally in that order—and in between all have many cups of tea and slices of toast. Except the bakery is closed. Solution: since one must have really good toast with one’s tea to ease the mean reds, I got my hands […]

Categories: Architecture, Art, Blogging, Books, Cooking, Culture, Design, Entertainment, fashion, Film, Friendship, History, Hollywood, Life, Literature, Los Angeles, Memoir, Movies, New York, Photography, Truth & Rumors, Uncategorized, Writing • Tags: Breakfast at Tiffany's, Dreyer's English, Gwen Verdon, mean reds, Over the Rainbow, The Nordic Baking Book, therapeutic cooking, Truman Capote

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

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