Tag: William Kuhn

“A little laughter in grim times is better than Xanax.” an interview with author, William Kuhn

July 23, 2017 by Vickie Lester

I had the happy chance to meet William Kuhn through his bookshelves before I met him in person. In 2015 my husband was working on a film in Boston, and after subletting the author’s apartment, he wrote to me, “Come here and stay, you will love it.” On a humid hot night at the beginning of August I arrived. The Mister walked to the train station to meet me, and we bumped my suitcase a few short blocks over cobbled […]

Categories: Advertising, Art, Blogging, Books, Culture, Design, Entertainment, fashion, Fiction, Film, Friendship, History, Life, Literature, London, Memoir, Movies, Photography, Publishing, Story, Travel, Truth & Rumors, Uncategorized, Writing • Tags: A little laughter in grim times is better than Xanax, author, British, Henry James, historian, I love being in London, interview, monarchy, Prince Harry Boy to Man, The Art of Fiction, William Kuhn

“Her being in the papers had been forgotten about, or the people who worked at the church pretended not to know…”

July 22, 2017 by Vickie Lester

There are some people whose soul you can see in an instant. You can see it captured in an image or in a passage from a book. After I read this description of a former nanny to two princes in William Kuhn’s novel, Prince Harry Boy to Man, I asked him a typical Hollywood question, “Who would you cast?” Now read the passage and tell me what you think. Frances de Mornay sat alone in her one-room cottage. Her […]

Categories: Art, Books, Culture, Design, Entertainment, fashion, Fiction, Film, Friendship, History, Hollywood, Life, Literature, London, Movies, Photography, Relationships, Story, Travel, Truth & Rumors, Uncategorized, Writing • Tags: aid workers, alcoholic, Glasgow, Hollywood question, indomitable, London, more powerful than drink, nanny to two princes, novel excerpt, Prince Harry Boy to Man, William Kuhn

Wanna read an excerpt of “Prince Harry Boy to Man”? It’s an eye opener…

July 21, 2017 by Vickie Lester

Drop by the blog at 8 a.m. Pacific Standard Time, Saturday, to see what I’m talking about! And if you visit us on Sunday we’ll be talking to the author himself!

Categories: Advertising, Art, Blogging, Books, Culture, Design, Entertainment, Fiction, Film, Friendship, History, Hollywood, Literature, London, Los Angeles, Movies, Photography, Story, Theater, Travel, Truth & Rumors, Uncategorized, Writing • Tags: #readingbythepool, #summerreads, coming of age novel, glare of publicty, novel excerpt, Prince Harry Boy to Man, William Kuhn

“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

“Wonderful women! Have you ever thought how much we all, and women especially, owe to Shakespeare for his vindication of women in these fearless, high-spirited, resolute and intelligent heroines?” Dame Ellen Terry

July 20, 2017 by Vickie Lester

Ellen Terry (1847-1928) appeared on stage for seventy years. During that time she married twice, managed a theater, toured the United States, taught and lectured, corresponded with George Bernard Shaw, was painted by John Singer Sargent, and wrote a very interesting memoir. Most of the letters written to me I destroyed long ago, but the feeling of sweetness and light with which some of them filled me can never be destroyed. The task of reading and answering letters has been […]

Categories: Art, Books, Culture, Design, Entertainment, fashion, Fiction, Film, Friendship, History, Life, Literature, London, Memoir, Movies, Photography, Relationships, Story, Theater, Travel, Truth & Rumors, Uncategorized, Writing • Tags: Ellen Terry, international incident, John Singer Sargent, Lady Macbeth, letters, my friend wrote a novel, nanny, Prince Harry Boy to Man, Shakespeare, To some people expression is life itself, William Kuhn

“Fame doesn’t fulfill you. It warms you a bit, but that warmth is temporary.” Marilyn Monroe

July 19, 2017 by Vickie Lester

Marilyn Monroe — seen here being presented to Queen Elizabeth II — was very savvy about appearances; about what made people tick, and how fame blurred the picture. She struggled to balance her inner life against a manufactured persona. Everyone’s childhood plays itself out… I think to love bravely is the best and accept as much as one can bear. Marilyn Monroe Some court fame, some are born into it. Some can bear it, some can’t. Living a public life […]

Categories: Art, Books, Choreography, Culture, Design, Entertainment, fashion, Fiction, Film, Friendship, History, Hollywood, Life, Literature, London, Memoir, Movies, Photography, Publishing, Relationships, Story, Theater, Travel, Truth & Rumors, Uncategorized, Writing • Tags: digital presence, fame, living in a goldfish bowl, love bravely, Marilyn Monroe, Prince Harry Boy to Man, public life, Queen Elizabeth II, Royalty, Shakespeare, William Kuhn

“At the best of times gender is difficult to determine.” Marlene Dietrich

July 18, 2017 by Vickie Lester

In language gender is particularly peculiar. Why, please, should a table be male in German, female in French, and castrated in English? French children, for instance, are male even if they are girls, in English there seems to be considerable doubt, in German they are definitely neuter. Even more startling is the fact that the French give the feminine gender to the components of the male anatomy that make him male, and the male gender to the components of the […]

Categories: Art, Books, Culture, Design, Entertainment, fashion, Fiction, Film, Friendship, History, Hollywood, Humor, Life, Literature, London, Memoir, Movies, Photography, Publishing, Relationships, Romance, Story, Theater, Travel, Truth & Rumors, Uncategorized, Writing • Tags: cross-dressing, gender, identity, In language gender is particularly peculiar, language, Marlene Deitrich, Prince Harry Boy to Man, Shakespeare, stiff upper lip, Two Gentlemen of Verona, William Kuhn

London is an even worse town to find a man in than Hollywood…

July 17, 2017 by Vickie Lester

“Danny La Rue…the most professional, the most witty and the most utterly charming man in the business.” Noel Coward. “London is a man’s town… London is an even worse town to find a man in than Hollywood…A couple of weeks ago I was in London and I was out to dinner at Caprice…Anyway, into the restaurant came the most ravishing creature you can imagine with lovely long black hair and gorgeous dark eyes wearing a man’s suit and a mink […]

Categories: Books, Culture, Design, Entertainment, fashion, Fiction, Film, Friendship, History, Hollywood, Literature, London, Memoir, Movies, Photography, Publishing, Story, Theater, Travel, Truth & Rumors, Uncategorized, Writing • Tags: Danny La Rue, female impersonator, geneology, London, London is an even worse town to find a man in than Hollywood, Noel Coward, Prince Harry, Princess Diana, Royalty, William Kuhn, Zsa Zsa Gabor