Xenia Desni (b. 19 January 1894, Kiev – d. 27 June 1962, France) was a Russian Empire actress of the silent screen era whose family fled the Russian Revolution.
They first moved to Istanbul, where she begin her acting career in Vaudeville. She later moved to Berlin. She later was involved in films directed by John Good.
Career Desni began her successful career at the beginning of the 1920s with the movie Sappho, followed by a number of successful productions such as Der Sprung ins Leben, Die Prinzessin Suwarin, Wilhelm Tell, Die Andere, Ein Walzertraum, Familie Schimek, and Madame wagt einen Seitensprung.
Her career declined shortly after the advent of sound, after which she appeared in only one film, Kriminalkommissar Eyck.
She’s Sally Davis and her big ambition in life is to be a top magazine model. Already Sally has had a few modelling jobs and expects to get many more of them. Sally thinks that she will be a top model within another year because she believes that she has a unique touch of personality to offer the camera. She calls it her "snuggle" quality. We can’t deny that she’s got a point there. Sally’s certainly a top model in our book!
Read the whole article and see the naughty pictures HERE
Warning: Nudity do occur in this article. If you are under age or live in a country where watching images of nude women for some reason is against the law I take no responsibility if you click the link above. In other words you’re flying solo from here on – Ted 😉
Yes you read that right, the woman’s measurements were 38-18-36. Aren’t those Barbie’s measurements? How did this woman not topple over? It’s both disturbing and awesome if you ask me. She is real! A model who graced over 300 magazines, books & albums covers. But despite the hourglass figure of all hourglass figures, she turned down posing for Playboy because she was dead-set on only doing chaste cheesecake photos. The woman is still alive and kicking, she even has a website!
If the thought of all the CO2 and the rest of the crap your car spews out keeps you from going camping here’s the the solution to your problem. If the CO2 and the crap spewed out by the cars passing you doesn’t kill you before you find a nice place to camp – Ted
And if you think the idea is new, your wrong here’s one that has been around for ha while.
Even the most music interested among us can sometimes get lost in all the different labels music journalists and record companies choose to put on recordings.
The 11 thorough well written articles in “The Rock Primer” takes us through the most important of the different categories in popular music in the period 1945 – 1980.
The categories are: Rock & Roll, Folk & Blues, Rhythm & Blues, Soul, Country, British Beat, California Sun, Dylan and after, Reggae, Punk and The seventies.
All posts material: “Sauce” and “Gentleman’s Relish” by Ronnie Barker – Hodder & Stoughton in 1977
He’s A Naval Man To the tune of “The Sailors Hornpipe”
He’s a naval man
You can tell it by his walk
He’s a naval man
When you listen to him talk
And the drunken thing’s he’ll utter
When he’s lying in the gutter
You can bet your bread and butter
He’s a naval man.
If his kitbag’s full of wrinkles
He’s a naval man
If he reeks of rum and winkles
He’s a naval man
If he hums a little ditty
And he tells you that you’re pretty
You can bet your Bristol City
He’s a naval man.
He’s a naval man
Of the ocean going sort
He’s a naval man
With a girl in every port.
You will see him grab and hug her
Yelling, “Once aboard the lugger”
He’s a dirty rotten bosun
Of a naval man.
If he takes you in a row boat
On the Serpentine
And he tries to get his hand upon
Your plimsoll line
You can bet the skin you’re born in
If he grabs you without warning
You’ll be scuppered in the morning –
He’s a naval man!
Phillip Morris, the world’s biggest cigarette producer, announced today that they will join the marijuana legalization bandwagon and start producing marijuana cigarettes. Marketed under the brand “Marlboro M”, the cigarettes will be made available for sale through marijuana-licensed outlets in the state of Colorado, and the state of Washington when it becomes commercially legal there later this year.
Hadda Brooks (October 29, 1916 – November 21, 2002), was an American pianist, vocalist and composer. Her first single, “Swingin’ the Boogie”, which she composed, was issued in 1945. She was billed as “Queen of the Boogie.” Highlights of her life included singing at Hawaii’s official statehood ceremony in 1959 and being asked for a private audience with Pope Pius XII.
Life and career She was born Hadda Hapgood on October 29, 1916 and raised in the Boyle Heights area of Los Angeles, by her parents, who had migrated to California from the South. Her mother, Goldie Wright, was a doctor and her father, John Hapgood, a deputy sheriff. Her grandfather, Samuel Alexander Hopgood (October 22, 1857 – November 30, 1944), moved to California from Atlanta, Georgia, and proved to be an enormous influence on Brooks. He introduced her to theater and the operatic voices of Amelita Galli-Curci and Enrico Caruso. In her youth she formally studied classical music with an Italian piano instructor, Florence Bruni, with whom she trained for twenty years. She attended the University of Chicago, and later, returned to Los Angeles. She came to love the subtle comedy of black theater and vaudeville entertainer and singer Bert Williams. Brooks began playing piano professionally in the early 1940s at a tap-dance studio owned by Hollywood choreographer and dancer Willie Covan. For ten dollars a week, she played the popular tunes of the day while Covan worked with such stars as Fred Astaire, Gene Kelly, and Shirley Temple. Brooks was married briefly during this period to a Harlem Globetrotter named Earl “Shug” Morrison in 1941. She toured with the team when they traveled. Morrison developed pulmonary pneumonia, however, and died about a year after they were married. It was Brooks’ only marriage.
Brooks actually preferred ballads to boogie-woogie, but worked up her style by listening to Albert Ammons, Pete Johnson, and Meade Lux Lewis records. Her first recording, the pounding “Swingin’ the Boogie,” for Jules Bihari’s Modern Records, was a sizable regional hit in 1945, and another R&B Top Ten with “Out of the Blue,” her most famous song. It was Jules Bihari who gave her the recording name Hadda Brooks. Clarinetist and bandleader Benny Goodman recommended Brooks to a film director friend of his who placed her in the film Out of the Blue in 1947. Encouraged by orchestra leader Charlie Barnet, Brooks practiced singing “You Won’t Let Me Go,” and the song became her first vocal recording in 1947. She usually played the small part of a lounge piano player in films, and often sang the title song. “Out of the Blue” became a top hit for Brooks, “Boogie Woogie Blues” followed in 1948, and she appeared in In a Lonely Place (1950) starring Humphrey Bogart, and in The Bad and the Beautiful (1952) with Lana Turner and Kirk Douglas. Brooks became the first African-American woman to host her own television show in 1957. The Hadda Brooks Show, a combination talk and musical entertainment show, aired on Los Angeles’ KCOP-TV. The show opened with Brooks seated behind a grand piano, cigarette smoke curling about her, and featured “That’s My Desire” as her theme song. She appeared in 26 half-hour episodes of the show, which were broadcast live in Los Angeles and repeated on KGO in San Francisco. She commuted to Europe in the 1970s for performances in nightclubs and festivals, but performed rarely in the United States, living for many years in Australia and Hawaii. Following the 1984 release of Queen of the Boogie a compilation of recordings from the 40’s, two years later manager Alan Eichler brought her out of a 16-year retirement to open a new jazz room at the historic Perino’s in Los Angeles, after which she continued to play nightclubs regularly in Hollywood, San Francisco, and New York, to rave reviews.
In 1993, Brooks was presented with the prestigious Pioneer Award by Bonnie Raitt on behalf of the Smithsonian-based Rhythm and Blues Foundation, in a ceremony held at the Hollywood Palace. Brooks returned to movies with a cameo in Jack Nicholson’s film The Crossing Guard (1995), directed by Sean Penn, in which she sang “Anytime, Anyplace, Anywhere.” Three years later she made another singing appearance in The Thirteenth Floor (1999). Her last performance on screen was an acting role in “John John in the Sky” (2000).
She resumed her recording career with the 1994 album “Anytime, Anyplace, Anywhere” for DRG. Meanwhile Virgin Records had acquired the old Modern catalogue and because of Brooks’ new-found success issued a compilation of her 40’s and 50’s recordings entitled “That’s My Desire”. They also signed her to record three new songs for the Christmas album “Even Santa Gets the Blues,” made more unusual by the fact she had releases on the same label made 50 years apart. Her 1996 album for Virgin, “Time Was When,” featured Al Viola (Guitar), Eugene Wright (Bass) and Richard Dodd (Cello), and she wrote two of its songs: “You Go Your Way and I’ll Go Crazy” and “Mama’s Blues.” She began playing at hip nightclubs like actor Johnny Depp’s Viper Room, New York’s Algonquin Hotel Oak Room and Michael’s Pub and such Hollywood haunts as Goldfinger’s, the Vine St. Bar and Grill and the Hollywood Roosevelt Cinegrill. She celebrated her 80th birthday by performing two full shows at Depp’s Viper Room.
In 2000, the Los Angeles Music Awards honored Hadda Brooks with the “Lifetime Achievement Award.”
Hadda Brooks died at White Memorial Medical Center in Los Angeles, following open-heart surgery at age 86.
In 2007, a 72-minute documentary, Queen of the Boogie, directed by Austin Young & Barry Pett, was presented at the Los Angeles Silver Lake Film Festival.
The Hollywood screen star Marilyn Monroe has divorced her husband, playwright Arthur Miller, after less than five years of marriage. The divorce was granted in Mexico, where a judge signed the decree. The grounds of divorce were listed as "incompatibility". It has been rumoured that the pair have had frequent quarrels over their differing lifestyles.
Mr Miller has recently been working with his wife on her most recent film, The Misfits, based on a short story he wrote, although the pair were reported to be barely speaking on set. The film is due to be released this month.
Affair The divorce was officially announced last November, and a spokesman at the time said they had already separated. Sources close to the couple said Arthur Miller had in fact left Miss Monroe for German-born photographer Inge Morath, whom he met on the set of The Misfits.
The couple married in 1956, five years after they first met. Marilyn Monroe converted to Judaism for her new husband, who rose to prominence with his play "Death of a Salesman" in 1949, which won the Pulitzer Prize. Soon after they were married, Arthur Miller told journalists: "Marilyn will only make one film in every 18 months or so, which will take her about eight weeks."
When asked what she would do for the rest of the time, he replied, "She will be my wife. That’s a full-time job."
Risked career Marilyn Monroe disagreed, and continued to pursue her film work to the full, travelling to England to shoot "The Prince and the Showgirl" with Laurence Olivier shortly after the wedding. However, she used her influence – and risked her own career – to help her husband after he was found guilty of contempt of Congress by the House Un-American Activities Committee for refusing to reveal the names of a literary group suspected of Communist sympathies.
Marilyn Monroe went with him to Washington to speak in his favour at the contempt hearings, and her intervention is widely thought to have contributed to the overturning of his conviction the following year. Marilyn Monroe had been married twice before. Her first husband was Jimmy Dougherty, whom she married aged 16. The marriage did not survive her "discovery" and subsequent rise to fame. In 1954, she met and married baseball star Joe DiMaggio, but it was a tempestuous partnership and ended just nine months later.
In Context Marilyn Monroe’s divorce was part of a decline which was marked by her erratic behaviour on set and persistent abuse of alcohol and drugs. The Misfits was to be her last completed film. Soon after, in 1962, she also made her last major public appearance, singing "Happy Birthday" to President John F Kennedy at a televised party for him.
On 5 August 1962 she was found dead in her Los Angeles home, aged 36. Her death was officially attributed to suicide by drug overdose, but has been the subject of numerous conspiracy theories. She had been due to re-marry her second husband, baseball star Joe DiMaggio, three days later. Arthur Miller married photographer Inge Morath a month after his divorce from Marilyn Monroe.
He later wrote compassionately of Monroe in his autobiography, referring to his marriage to her as "the best of times, the worst of times". He stayed with Inge Morath until her death in 2002. Arthur Miller died in 2005.
Built near Paris, the Le Zèbre first appeared in 1909 as a 600cc, singlecylinder voiturette, although an 8hp, four-cylinder model was added to the range in 1912, soon followed by a 10/12hp, their first four-seater; this 8hp dates from 1914. After the Armistice, the two engineers responsible for the Le Zèbre went on to greater things. Joseph Lamy designed the Amilcar, while Jules Salomon was responsible for the little 5cv Citroen.
1914 Pilain
Francois Pilain of Lyon was the uncle of Emile, the ‘Pilain’ half of Rolland-Pilain, and had started in the motor industry as early as 1890, when he worked for Serpollet in Paris, building steam cars. He founded the Societe des Automobiles Pilain in 1902, building a series of vehicles which were noted for their advanced engineering. This 2-litre Pilain was built in 1914. Francois had by now quarrelled with his backers and set up another company, to make front-wheel-drive cars.
1914 Sigma
Built in Levallois-Perret, France. between 1913 and 1928. the Sigma was a typical light car of its day. assembled from proprietary parts like Malicet et Blin chassis and Ballot engines. Post-war models also used the CIME engine. and there was an ephemeral twin-cylinder Sigma. This Ballot-engined example dates from 1914.
1914 Stellight
Like Wolseley, the Electric and Ordnance Accessories Company of Birmingham were a subsidiary of Vickers, and specialised in the manufacture of axles, hubs and roller bearings before adding car manufacture to their repertoire in 1913. Costing £157 10s in twoseater form, their Wolseley-designed Stellite light car used an 1100cc fourcylinder monobloc engine in an armoured-wood chassis,’ with a twospeed transmission.
Madame de Florian was a French socialite and actress who fled to the south of France during World War II. She kept her apartment in Paris on the Right Bank near the Opéra Garnier, though, in case she wanted to return. However, she never went back to it after the war. Since 1942, the apartment has been sitting untouched, until recently when an auctioneer entered her apartment. What he found was a time capsule, full of treasures.
The apartment was covered in dust, perfectly preserved.
A digital recreation of an article published in Modern Mechanix, January 1933
Here’s a gift that will appeal to adults as well as youngsters. It’s called Tilt-A-Ball and it will keep a gathering amused for hours. It is a circular board of twenty inches diameter with a “pen” in the centre to hold five marbles, and a number of holes scattered over the remainder. The board is held on the lap or placed on a table, the object being to tilt it and roll one of the marbles from the “pen” into a hole with a high number.
Robert A. Maguire (August 3, 1921 – February 26, 2005), or R. A. Maguire, was a twentieth-century American illustrator and fine artist. Known primarily for his crime noir paperback cover art, he has produced artwork for over 600 covers since 1950. Maguire is a Member Emeritus of The Society of Illustrators.
Life Robert Maguire began his education at Duke University, but like so many others of his generation, left for service in World War II. Upon his return, his interest in art led him to the Art Students League, where his instructor was the famed Frank Reilly. Two of Maguire’s more noteworthy fellows included Clark Hulings and James Bama, graduates all of the class of ’49.
Maguire’s career took off immediately with his first work for Trojan Publications: cover art for their line of small pocket pulps, with titles like Hollywood Detective Magazine (Oct. 1950). Maguire did three of the eight covers for this pocket pulp series. From then on, his career blossomed.
His classic period of the 50s and 60s grew out of his skilled female images, some of the best and most memorable of the period. Maguire’s mastery of the "femme fatale" created a vintage paperback icon: his women are passionate yet somehow down to earth, approachable, though sometimes at your own risk.
Robert Maguire continued evolving and producing fine art as well as many memorable illustrations.
Artwork Maguire’s over 600 covers for such publishers as Pocket, Dell, Ace, Harper, Avon, Silhouette, Ballantine, Pyramid, Bantam, Lion, Berkeley, Beacon and Monarch – virtually every mainstream publishing house in New York – makes his original cover art a tour de force in the last half of the twentieth century.
One of his most famous book covers is ‘Black Opium’, which is considered by many crime noir paperback collectors to be the definitive crime noir paperback cover of the genre.He also designed art covers for video games and for music cds.
Helen Dryden (1887–1981) was an American artist and successful industrial designer in the 1920s and ’30s. She was reportedly described by the New York Times as being the highest-paid woman artist in the United States, though she lived in comparative poverty in later years.
Education She was born in Baltimore and moved to Philadelphia when she was seven years old to attend Eden Hall. During her early childhood years Dryden showed unusual artistic ability, designing and selling clothes for paper dolls. Eventually she sold a set of her paper dolls and dresses to a newspaper for use in its fashion section. This in turn led to a position as illustrator for Anne Rittenhouse’s fashion articles in the Philadelphia Public Ledger and The Philadelphia Press.
Dryden was largely self-trained, describing her works as "a combination of things I like, in the way I want to do them." Her artistic education consisted of 4 years of training in landscape painting under Hugh Breckinridge and one summer school session at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts. Deciding that she had no real interest in landscape painting, Dryden focused her complete attention on fashion design and illustration.
Career Fashion illustration After moving to New York in 1909, Helen Dryden spent a year trying to interest fashion magazines in her drawings. None, however, showed any interest in her work and many were harsh with criticism. Dryden was particularly disappointed in her rejection by Vogue. Less than a year later, however, Condé Nast assumed management of Vogue and set out to make changes. Upon seeing Miss Dryden’s drawings, they directed the fashion editor to contact her immediately. Soon Helen had a Vogue contract that led to a 13-year collaboration (1909–1922) in which she produced many Vogue fashion illustrations and covers.
Costume design In addition to her prolific career as an illustrator, in 1914 Dryden launched a successful career as a costume designer. She designed the scenery and some of the costumes for the musical comedy Watch Your Step, followed by designs for several other stage plays including Claire de Lune, the fanciful drama based loosely on a Victor Hugo romance. Although the play starred Lionel and Ethel Barrymore, Helen Dryden’s costume designs were generally given equal credit for the play’s success.
Industrial design Following the 1925 Paris Exposition Internationale des Arts Décoratifs et Industriels Modernes, Dryden turned her attention to industrial design, producing a number of designs for tableware, lamps, etc., on behalf of the Revere Corp. She had a highly paid job with the Dura Company until the stock market crash of 1929, at which point she was replaced by George W. Walker. It seems Dryden never fully recovered from this blow. According to Christopher Gray, "The 1925 census recorded her living at 9 East 10th Street with her 25-year-old Philippine-born cook and butler, Ricardo Lampitok. But by 1956 Dryden was living in a $10-a-week hotel room paid for by the city’s Welfare Department; at the time, she referred nostalgically to her ‘$200-a-month’ 10th Street apartment".
It was her work on the interior of the 1936 Studebaker Dictator and President that established Helen Dryden as an important twentieth-century industrial designer. Although her work was developed under the watchful eyes of the renowned automotive designer Raymond Loewy proclaimed, "It’s styled by Helen Dryden."
There was a day when a camper like this was enough for a family of four. Most of those families took their campers out of the photo studio and onto the road of course – Ted 😉
Image found at FarbrorSid – One of my favourite blogs. The text is in Swedish, but there are enough images to look at. Cars and babes, the lot.
Lying with the Pennines to the east and the Lake District Fells to the west, the beautiful Eden Valley around the River Eden is a mix of lush green countryside, traditional towns and attractive sandstone villages some dating back to Viking times. To the south are the peaceful Howgill Fells, a favourite of Wainwright.
The River Eden which has its source in the Mallerstang Valley, is one of the finest salmon and trout rivers in the North of England and you can enjoy some great riverside walks. Look out for Lacy’s Caves, carved out of sandstone right on the riverbank or go in search of the Eden Benchmarks, ten intriguing sculptures in dramatic settings which act as welcome seats.
The most scenic railway in England, the Settle to Carlisle line runs through the Eden Valley with stations at Appleby and Kirkby Stephen. Penrith, a welcoming market town makes an ideal base to explore the area. Brough, near Kirkby Stephen is an old coaching village, rich in history, while Orton and Tebay is an area of striking landscapes, local produce, heritage and intriguing myths and legends. Shap – famous for its granite offers great walking and the historic Shap Abbey.
Retrorambling 