الوسم: society

+17

MELTINGLY SYMPATHETIC’: PRINCESS ELIZABETH, 1943 (AND RIGHT WITH PRINCE CHARLES IN 1950) ‘Her real charm, like her mother’s, does not carry across in her photographs, and each time one sees her one is delighted how much more serene, magnetic, and at the same time meltingly sympathetic, she is than one had imagined. In the photographs there is a certain heaviness which is not there in real life, and one misses… the effect of the dazzlingly fresh complexion, the clear regard from the glass-blue eyes, and the gentle, all-pervading sweetness of her smile.’

‘LIKE A BULL CALF’: GRACE KELLY, 1965

‘A photographic beauty is someone who photographs well.

‘Grace Kelly is a case in point. If she did not photograph well, we would scarcely stop to look at her on the street… If both sides of her face were the same as the right half she wouldn’t be on the screen. That side is very heavy, like a bull calf, but the left side is intensely feminine and creates the counter-point.

‘She has unerringly good taste and an unerring sense of comportment.’

+17

LIKE A PEASANT WOMAN IN PERU’: ELIZABETH TAYLOR, 1957

‘She’s everything I dislike. I have always loathed the Burtons for their vulgarity, commonness and crass bad taste, she combining the worst of U.S. and English taste.

‘I treated her with authority, told her not to powder her nose, to come in front of the cameras with it shining.

‘She wanted compliments. She got none. “Don’t touch me like that,” she whined! Her breasts, hanging and huge, were like those of a peasant woman suckling her young in Peru. On her fat, coarse hands more of the biggest diamonds and emeralds… And this was the woman who is the greatest “draw”. In comparison everyone else looked ladylike.’

A QUALITY OF HEARTBREAK’: AUDREY HEPBURN, 1960

‘It is a rare phenomenon to find a young girl with such inherent “star” quality. Yet she has too much innate candour to take on the gloss of artificiality Hollywood is apt to demand of its queens.

‘Her stance is a combination of an ultra-fashion plate and a ballet dancer. Her features show character rather than prettiness. Her voice is peculiarly personal, with its unaccustomed rhythm and sing-song cadence that develops into a flat drawl that ends in a childlike query. It has a quality of heartbreak.

‘Intelligent and *****, wistful but enthusiastic, frank yet tactful, assured without conceit and tender without sentimentality.’

+17

‘UNBELIEVABLY NAIVE’: JULIE ANDREWS,1959

‘Julie Andrews, an almost unknown girl who had the talent and luck to land the whopper of the part of Eliza [Doolittle, in the Broadway version of My Fair Lady], was almost unbelievably naïve and simple. She was angelically patient at the many fittings of her clothes and never expressed opinion. ‘One day, due to exhaustion at rehearsals, she keeled over in a dead faint while fitting her ball gown. ‘A cup of cold water was enough to revive her and she reproached herself that her mother back home in Walton-on-Thames would be ashamed of her. “Oh, Mummie, what a silly girl I am,” she kept repeating.’

FILM-STAR TEMPERAMENT’: MARLENE DIETRICH, 1930 ‘Most striking of her features is her whiteness, which would put the Moon or a white rabbit to shame. ‘She has, or has acquired, the necessary temperament of the film star; never in a hurry; her pace is slow, her perseverance phenomenal. ‘She will spend 12 hours being photographed in the studio, and, without regrets, tear up every proof next morning if they are not to her complete satisfaction.’

+17

‘BARKS, WHEEZES AND GRUNTS’: WINSTON CHURCHILL, 1940 ‘Churchill, still with cigar in mouth, looked so lonely and alone in this large room. I clicked my Rolleiflex camera, and it let off a flash. This surprised the Prime Minister. Although his sentences were not perfectly formed I would hazard that the following would be an interpretation of the barks, wheezes and grunts that turned my blood cold: ‘Hey, damn you, young fellow, what the hell are you up to with your monkey tricks? Stop this nonsense! I hate candid photographs! Wait till I’m prepared: the glass of port taken away, my spectacles so – now then – I’m ready, but don’t try any cleverness with me!’

‘CHARMING MAN’: FRANCIS BACON, 1960 ‘We seemed to have an immediate rapport. I was overwhelmed by his tremendous charm and understanding… impressed by his “principal boy” legs. I enjoyed looking around at the incredible mess of his studio.’

+17

‘A VAUDEVILLE TRAMP’: JOHN BETJEMAN, 1955 ‘English poetry has had many odd practitioners, but none more unique than Mr John Betjeman. In appearance he is like an Edwardian vaudeville tramp, right down to the mackintosh and battered hat that covers a thinning pate. His face has the anonymity of an oyster and the sad innocence of a Murillo cherub. Waiting for Godot, he stands alone as the nostalgic chronicler of the sordid in contemporary life.’

‘CLEAN, FRESH AND RIPPING’: FRED ASTAIRE AND HIS SISTER ADELE,1930 ‘I was quivering to see the Astaires. They look so marvellous. Especially him. His head looks perfect. I was delirious with happiness all the time either of them were on the stage. She is so American and perfect, so slim and graceful. I adore her ugly face and the pearls tight around her neck. She is perfect and he is marvellous also. They are so clean and fresh and ripping. I thought that Adele Astaire was rather like Felix the Cat, but oh so much nicer. I did adore them and their dancing is just too extraordinarily marvellous to describe.’

+17

‘APPALLING BREATH’: SALVADOR AND GALA DALI, 1937