Week's End - La Chanteuse in Black & White

Juliette Gréco, legendary bohemian queen of chanson française. Resisting urge to whine & complain because I just remembered that Juliette was in la Résistance with a capital 'R' & paid for it, too. This is the song that Carey Mulligan plays & sings to in An Education. When I saw it last year I couldn't believe it--I knew most of the words. Ah, because Mireille Mathieu's version played a lot when I lived in Strasbourg. Good old Jacques Brel.

Have a great weekend. I do hope someone will pay tribute to Oscar Wilde's natal day tomorrow. (Update - Carina in Copenhagen has an Oscar birthday post. Thanks, Carina!) Just not up to it this year. I'd let him down with some piffle. Oooh. I'm complaining again. Désolé.

(photographs by Gjon Mili via LIFE archives & art (dot) com. The photo with the yawning--or singing--dachsie also turned up on poetic & chic under 'bang envy'. It's a pretty blog & has lots more photographs.)

Week's End - Lena in Black & White

Glamorous Lena in 1948 (in Paris & NYC). I cracked up listening to various versions of I Feel Smoochie (LH reportedly singing it in close-up club shot). I could not pull off saying it, much less singing it, & be glamorous. (Yes, I know I am not glamorous no matter what. Don't rub it in! Snarl.) Julie the Cat seemed to enjoy a few versions of the song but then, being a modern sophisticat, she barfed onto the modem, nearly shorting it out. This sums up the last few weeks.

Update: 9 May 2010 - RIP, Lena. She did a lot more than look fabulous; she fought for civil rights - her own & others (notably, African-American GIs in WWII). Obituary, here. It's more than annoying that everyone seems to have chosen "sultry" for their headlines. Ah well.

[photographs by Yale Joel & W. Eugene Smith for LIFE archives/Lena arriving in Grand Central Station via myvintagevogue]

Week's End - Eartha in Black & White

Oh, just because. I love these by the great Gordon Parks for LIFE. 1952. Some are definitely outtakes but they're still cool. And sad that Koko Taylor died yesterday & thinking about how great it is to go hear live singing. Especially les grandes dames. (Not that they were the same style of singer, just can't find Koko pix I want at moment. She must've been half-living in DC in the 80s & early 90s. Went to see her all the time, down the street. She highly disapproved of one boyfriend. I listened to her. He was gone. I love those kind of women: get rid of that no-good so & so. What's the matter with you, girl?)

[the photograph of Eartha before or after the club, dressed down, is also by Parks but via myvintagevogue/tumblr]