Tag: friendship

“All men dream: but not equally.” T. E. Lawrence

July 21, 2017 by Vickie Lester

I was reading the other day about Englishmen on secret missions in Afghanistan, and to my surprise, T. E. Lawrence (Lawrence of Arabia) may have been there in the late 1920s, possibly working behind the scenes to bring down King Amanullah. Where did I find this intriguing bit of history? In a blog called Untold Lives, which is part of the British Library, one of the most extraordinary research facilities in the world, where you can often find my friend, […]

Categories: Art, Books, Culture, Design, Entertainment, fashion, Fiction, Film, Friendship, History, Life, Literature, London, Movies, Photography, Publishing, Relationships, Story, Theater, Travel, Truth & Rumors, Uncategorized, Writing • Tags: Afghanistan, all men dream, characterization, friendship, London, Prince Harry Boy to Man, Sandhurst, secret mission, sexual identity, soldiers, T E Lawrence, William Kuhn

Friends

April 8, 2017 by Vickie Lester

I have a friend I met when we were nine. This picture of Mary Pickford reminds me of her, the solid gaze, the bold spirit, and the curls. She’s the only person I’ve ever known whose hair fell into perfect ringlets. Recently, she called out of the blue and we were chattering instantly as if almost thirty years hadn’t passed since we last talked, but merely a couple of hours. I was worried about some health issue, she instantly set […]

Categories: Architecture, Blogging, Books, Children, Choreography, Culture, Design, Dogs, Entertainment, Film, Friendship, Gastronomy, History, Hollywood, Humor, Life, Literature, Los Angeles, Memoir, Movies, Music, Parenting, Pets, Photography, Relationships, Short Stories, Story, Truth & Rumors, Uncategorized, Writing • Tags: actress, altruism, behind the scenes, bonds of affection, childhood development, constancy, dogs, education, family, friendship, history, Hollywood, home, Mary Pickford, medicine, Memoir, Old Hollywood, parenting, photography, school, security, spirit, surgery

Elizabeth Taylor and Me, by Lanier Smith

December 5, 2015 by Vickie Lester

Over my lifetime I leaned many things from Elizabeth Taylor. I learned how to face life straight on and survive the hard times. I learned that it was a blessing to be different. I learned that kindness and honesty and being the real you brings unexpected rewards. I learned by watching her with Montgomery Clift, James Dean, and Rock Hudson that loyalty is the hallmark of being a real friend. I learned how to use my eyes to speak when […]

Categories: Art, Blogging, Culture, Design, Entertainment, fashion, Film, Friendship, Life, Literature, Los Angeles, Memoir, Movies, Perfume, Photography, Relationships, Short Stories, Story, Travel, Truth & Rumors, Uncategorized, Writing • Tags: "Cleopatra", behind the scenes, Elizabeth Taylor, Elizabeth Taylor and me, friendship, Hollywood Blvd, Inspiration, Los Angeles, Memoir, Musso and Franks, Pantages Theater, Parma Violets, Richard Burton

Reprise—award season, and Vickie Lester has to speak out about: beauty culture, plastic surgery, cosmetic procedures, and aging

November 4, 2014 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: Academy Awards, actress, aging, aging gracefully, aging in Hollywood, aliens, apple cheeks, architectural preservation, art, award season, beauty, beauty culture, behind the scenes, bizarre, botox, cosmetic procedure, cosmetic standards, Countess of Airlie, Diane Keaton, Elizabeth Garrett Anderson, Ethel Smyth, exception to the rule, experience, face lift, facelifts, fashion, fat injections, film, friendship, glossy skin, Golden Globes, history, Hollywood, John Singer Sargent, laser, looking your age, Los Angeles, Mabell Ogilvy, not aging in Hollywood, plastic surgery, plasticine robots, portraits, portraits of women, speak out, speak your mind, Vickie Lester, youth

Thomas Edison In The Obstacle Is The Way – Business Insider

June 15, 2014 by Vickie Lester

At around 5:30 in the evening on Dec. 10, 1914, a massive explosion erupted in West Orange, New Jersey. Ten buildings in legendary inventor Thomas Edison’s plant, which made up more than half of the site, were engulfed in flames. Between six and eight fire departments rushed to the scene, but the chemical-fueled inferno was too powerful to put out quickly. According to a 1961 Reader’s Digest article by Edison’s son Charles, Edison calmly walked over to him as he […]

Categories: Blogging, Culture, Film, Friendship, History, Hollywood, Life, Science, Story, Truth & Rumors, Uncategorized • Tags: #ThomasEdison, Cecil B. DeMille, electricity, friendship, GE, Henry Ford, history, Hollywood, inventor, learning from adversity, learning from failure, Thomas Alva Edison

Joan Collins, in the words of Mr. Lester, “Zowie!”

May 27, 2014 by Vickie Lester

“Have you met my significant other?” Anne shook her head, expecting him to introduce a strapping young man, possibly, most likely, in the acting profession. Instead he blew a kiss to a taught, angular woman in her late sixties / early seventies wrapped in an Indonesian sarong. She smiled serenely. She was stunning. Anne tried to place the face, and then she realized she was looking at a bombshell from the fifties—Toni Todd. Oh my god. She’s my father’s age—eighty, […]

Categories: Advertising, Art, Blogging, Books, Culture, Design, Entertainment, fashion, Fiction, Film, Friendship, History, Hollywood, Life, Literature, Los Angeles, Movies, Palm Springs, Publishing, Romance, Story, Travel, Truth & Rumors, Uncategorized, Writing • Tags: #ForallthoseHollywoodWiveswhoarealsoHollywoodBeards, #itsinhiskiss, #JoanCollins, A Modern Hollywood Whodunnit, A-list stars, Advertising, beguiling Hollywood, blogging, book review, Books, culture, entertainment, fiction, film, friendship, give the side-eye, history, Hollywood, Hollywood insider, humor, It's in His Kiss a novel by Vickie Lester, It's in His Kiss by Vickie Lester, Life, literature, Los Angeles, movies, mystery, not for kiddies, Palm Springs, people get married for all kinds of reasons, photography, publishing, romance, Sometimes there is no light at the end of the tunnel, tedious details, travel, Truth & Rumors, Uncategorized, where the elite are never discrete

Write what you know…and then grit your teeth and publish. With an older and wiser Vickie Lester and a young Joan Crawford

May 10, 2014 by Vickie Lester

Write what you know??? If that were true all you’d be hearing from me is, “Blah-blah-blah, perimenopause, blah-blah-blah, who didn’t close the refrigerator?, blah-blah-blah, that director is an ASSHOLE, blah-blah-blah, does anyone see my glasses anywhere… Furthermore poppets, I get queasy handing out advice, but the thing about writing, more than anything, is sitting down and doing it. Of course journalists should adhere to who, what, where, when, and why… But, for those of you who are starting to write […]

Categories: Advertising, Art, Blogging, Books, Culture, Design, Entertainment, fashion, Fiction, Film, Friendship, History, Hollywood, Humor, Life, Literature, Los Angeles, Marriage, Memoir, Movies, Music, Mystery, New York, News, Palm Springs, Photography, Publishing, Relationships, Romance, Story, Theater, Travel, Truth & Rumors, Uncategorized, Writing • Tags: #ampublishing, #amwriting, #ForallthoseHollywoodWiveswhoarealsoHollywoodBeards, #itsinhiskiss, #myfirstnovel, #vickielesterbook1, advice, author, available on Amazon, blogging, blogging buddies rock, buy now, characters, community of authors, compelling, CreateSpace, Donna Tartt, emotional validity, friendship, grit your teeth, Hollywood insider reaveals all, humor, If Audrey Hepburn had a potty mouth, imagination, indentify, Joan Crawford, JoanCrawford, KDP, keep at it, make stuff up, Marcus Zusak, mystery, narrative, novel, novelist, publishing, real, romance, self publishing, The Book Thief, The Goldfinch, when inspiration strikes, write what you know, writing

“He’d photograph your soul if he could find enough light, honey.” Ava Gardner and Jack Cardiff

May 8, 2014 by Vickie Lester

I finally got around to reading Ava Gardner, The Secret Conversations, and one of the things that jumped out at me was the bond that develops between Stars and Cinematographers. Jack Cardiff (the extraordinary, he who painted with light) had this to say about his friend, Ava, when approached by her biographer, Peter Evans: “Don’t kid yourself, pal. If Ava Gardner wants you to write her book, you’ll write it.” And, “Nobody becomes a movie star by putting all their […]

Categories: Art, Blogging, Books, Culture, Design, Entertainment, fashion, Fiction, Film, Friendship, History, Hollywood, Life, London, Los Angeles, Memoir, Movies, Photography, Relationships, Story, Truth & Rumors, Uncategorized, Writing • Tags: actress, Ava Gardner, Ava Gardner: The Secret Conversations, Cinematographer, friendship, Hollywood, Jack Cardiff, Movie Star, painting with light, PANDORA AND THE FLYING DUTCHMAN, Peter Bart, Peter Evans, Remember it's always the cameraman who grows old never the star., special relationship, Technicolor, The Barefoot Contessa, the world's most beautiful animal, trust, Variety

A story about Marlene Dietrich by David Niven…a repost

April 24, 2014 by Vickie Lester

As we know, Marlene Dietrich was very glam. According to Mr. Niven she was driven around Hollywood in a black Cadillac by a chauffeur named Briggs. This, my darlings, would be photographic evidence. Now, if you’ve been reading along you’ll know I took a short break from blogging to meet with my publishers… and, I got strep throat. Yeah, for the meeting and a big fat raspberry to becoming a walking petri dish. At any rate, it made me think […]

Categories: Art, Blogging, Books, Culture, Design, Entertainment, fashion, Film, Friendship, History, Hollywood, Humor, Life, Los Angeles, Movies, Photography, Relationships, Story, Theater, Travel, Truth & Rumors, Uncategorized, Writing • Tags: actor, actress, art deco, behind the scenes, Black Cadillac, book, celebrities, chauffeur, Classic Movies, David Niven, fashion, film, flu, friendship, glamour, history, Hollywood, humor, Los Angeles, Marlene Dietrich, Movie Star, nuturing, Old Hollywood, photography, soup, The Moon's a Balloon