When I was 9 years old, I was totally into Old Hollywood films. Gone with the Wind, All About Eve, Vertigo. The acting was campy and over the top, but that’s probably what made them fun to watch.
When was the last time you fell into a man’s arms, tears streaming down your face as you shrieked, “No! No! I just can’t stand it anymore. I do love you, Spencer. I do!”?
I especially adored musicals. Old Hollywood gave me plenty of those. I’ve probably seen The Sound of Music 20 times.
I loved Fred Astair’s movies because they had singing and dancing. I almost knocked out my two front teeth trying to do that thing he did with the chair –
e a s i n g it down with his body weight. I hit the kitchen floor with my face. Fred made it look so easy.
But somewhere around my 12th birthday, I forgot about old Fred and focused on the glamour of Hollywood’s First Ladies. The costumes, the perfectly coiffed hair and, of course, the makeup mesmerized me. Dorothy Dandridge, Rita Hayworth, Marilyn Monroe – nothing understated about them.
My hands-down, absolute favorite old Hollywood film (for the makeup & costumes) was The Ten Commandments. Despite the film’s mish mosh telling of the Bible story (Moses was about 85 years old when he returned to Egypt, not a distinguished hunk with a grey beard and a cool shawl), the leading women looked amazing.
Anne Baxter’s Nefretiri was outrageously glamorous – From her shimmering gold gowns (thanks to Edith Head) to her blood red lips. And those fake lashes could sweep a house clean. I thought she was IT.
And then I saw Yvonne De Carlo who played Moses’ wife. This chick managed to take on nasty sheep thieves, herd livestock for forty years and travel through a desert for hundreds of miles on foot, all without breaking a sweat and messing up her “face”.
Man, I was impressed. Even at 12.
The final amazing woman was the beautiful, but troubled Lilia, played by Debra Paget. Even as a lowly, dirty water girl/Hebrew slave, the girl was stunning. When she was snatched as arm/bed candy (twice) by men in power, she was “cleaned up and scented” and came out even prettier than seemingly possible.
She hated these men, of course, because her heart belonged to Joshua (that’s not in the Bible story, either).
The poor girl couldn’t get a break because she was flawless. A mud-covered old slave looked at Lilia as she was plucked away by yet another slobbering man, and said, “Beauty is but a curse among our women.”
I hope someone says that about me some day. LOL
Who's your fave old Hollywood star? And do you think today's celebs are as glamorous as the stars of Hollywood's Golden Age?
Although Anne Baxter looks gorgeous in the above picture, check out Yul Brynner. Nothing like a hawt straight man in a skirt and the nemes.
