Marion Davies – BEGUILING HOLLYWOOD

December 5, 2020 / Vickie Lester

Episode 24. People with nerves should never go into the movies, and people without nerve can’t.

I loved recording this chapter, it’s got Hollywood history, everlasting friendship, and of course some very strange goings-on… There we sat, the mogul’s daughter turned academic, the copywriter turned designer, the semi-profane raconteur turned show runner, the pragmatist turned legal advocate, and me; the nanny turned studio executive. It was…

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September 29, 2017 / Vickie Lester

She lies beautifully and to maximum effect…

I’ve been reading the fascinating memoirs of Carmel Snow, and I’ve noticed she does what every good writer does — she takes a core truth and fiddles with the details so they enhance the point like a smile lights up a face. In other words, she lies beautifully and to…

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July 3, 2016 / Vickie Lester

Carmel Snow, legendary fashion editor, mixes with Hollywood and goes to the beach with Martin Munkacsi in 1933…

In 1933, editor in chief Carmel Snow (who’d been a fashion editor at Vogue) brought photojournalist Martin Munkacsi to a windswept beach to shoot a swimwear spread. As the model ran toward the camera, Munkacsi took the picture that made fashion-magazine history. Until that moment, nearly all fashion was carefully…

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January 22, 2015 / Vickie Lester

Hollywood Style – Marion Davies and Charles Chaplin – 1930

Prototypical comedian Charles Chaplin escorts Marion Davies to the premiere of her film, “The Floradora Girl” in 1930: This was Chaplin’s house on Summit Dr. I’d show you Marion Davies house, but it was just a chunky old Tudor.

January 22, 2015 / Vickie Lester

Marion Davies – Paris Vogue – 1929

January 21, 2015 / Vickie Lester

The ultimate insider from another era – on Marion Davies and W.R. Hearst

The Villa Carlotta was a fun place to live… SOUTH OF BEACHWOOD CANYON | BEGUILING HOLLYWOOD. Louella’s apartment was across from ours… Louella entertained a lot, and William Hearst and Marion Davies frequently attended her parties. I had never met Hearst but had seen him at the MGM studios when…

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June 26, 2014 / Vickie Lester

The League of Extraordinary Ladies | please do tweet, FB, Google+, etc.

I have fairly recently met someone who has also been published. And for that I will seriously thank WordPress. Her book reads like “The Jet Set” episode of Mad Men, when Don finds himself immersed in the desert, in a world of modern glass, pools and morals, peopled by lovely,…

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May 16, 2014 / Vickie Lester

King Vidor was a frequent guest at the castle, directed Marion Davies in three comedies, and said Hearst had a big lamblike face…

He wrote a marvelous book about his early days in Hollywood called, A Tree is a Tree, and while Marion was his friend, and at times Hearst was his boss, he tells some insightful anecdotes about the man: On my first trip to San Simeon, I entered the huge dining…

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May 16, 2014 / Vickie Lester

Here are some stills from a wonderful silent comedy about Hollywood directed by King Vidor, and starring Marion Davies

May 16, 2014 / Vickie Lester

Am I allowed to say I find Hearst Castle to be an oppressive nightmare?

Really, the main house takes the term “baronial” to new heights and there’s some truly odd stuff there pinched from all over Europe. It gives me the creeps. (I should say that the guest houses are bright and sunny and happily devoid of walls torn out of Norman churches, and…

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Tag: Marion Davies