Grace Kelly

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love letter from Rainier to Grace before she leaved New York for the wedding in the Constitution.

Scanned by Manderly (flickr.com)

 

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Grace on the Paramount lot the day after she won her oscar, cutting into a cake to celebrate her win. If you look at the cake, you can see the Oscar on it

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photoshot

 

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from the exhibit

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From the exhibit

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Newsday
INEMA CLASSICS. Nice to see some golden-age Hollywood flicks on free TV. And no commercials! Alfred Hitchcock's 1954 gem "Dial M for Murder" (tonight at 9 and at 12:45 a.m., WNET/13) stars pre- princess Grace Kelly as the would-be victim, while George Cukor's 1954 version of "A Star Is Born" (late Wednesday night at 2 a.m., Ch. 13) casts Judy Garland as the ascendant celeb. If that's not enough, turn to Turner Classic Movies' Summer Under the Stars for two musical legends: 24 hours each of Fred Astaire (today from 6 a.m., including such Ginger Rogers pairings as 8p.m.'s "Swing Time" and 10p.m.'s "Top Hat") and Gene Kelly (tomorrow from 6 a.m., including 8 p.m.'s NYC-filmed "On the Town" and 9:45 p.m.'s "Singin' in the Rain," all on TCM). Track all the stars such as Tuesday's Barbara Stanwyck and Thursday's Ava Gardner at tcm.com/2008

 

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Washington Post
Glamour isn't a cultural necessity, but its usefulness can't be denied.

It makes us feel good about ourselves by making us believe that life can
sparkle. Glamorous people make difficult tasks seems effortless. They appear
to cruise through life shaking off defeat with a wry comment. No matter
how hard they work for what they have, the exertion never seems to show.
Yet the cool confidence they project doesn't ever drift into lassitude.

Hollywood attracts people of glamour -- as well as the misguided souls
who confuse it with mere good looks -- because that is where it is richly
rewarded. And the Academy Awards are the epicenter of it all. We'll watch
the Oscars next Sunday to delight in the stars who glide down the red carpet
like graceful swans or who swagger onto the stage looking dashing.

Of course, we'll watch for other reasons, too. There's always the possibility
of a supremely absurd fashion moment or an acceptance speech during which
the winner becomes righteously indignant -- Michael Moore-style --
or practically hyperventilates like Halle Berry. While Moore, a nominee,
is not glamorous, he is compelling for the sheer possibility of an impolitic
eruption. Berry isn't glamorous either, mostly because nothing ever looks
effortless with her. (She has even expressed anguish over her beauty.)
Mostly, though, we will watch in search of "old Hollywood" glamour. But
really, is there any other kind?

Among the actors who consistently manage to evoke memories of Cary Grant
or Grace Kelly are George Clooney and Cate Blanchett. There's something
about the way they present themselves that speaks to discretion, sex appeal
and glossy perfection. As an audience, we think we know these actors but
we really don't. We know their image, the carefully crafted personality
they display to the public. If they have been to rehab, they went quietly
and without a crowd of paparazzi.

Their lives appear to be an endless stream of lovely adventures, minor
mishaps that turn into cocktail party banter, charming romances and just
enough gravitas to keep them from floating away on a cloud of frivolity.

These actors take pretty pictures because they seem supremely comfortable
with themselves. It's not simply their beauty we're seeing; it's also an
unapologetic pleasure in being who they are.

Oscar nominee Tilda Swinton has the kind of striking, handsome looks of
Anjelica Huston or Lauren Bacall. But Swinton doesn't register as glamorous
as much as cool. She looks a bit androgynous and favors the eccentric Dutch
design team of Viktor & Rolf, which once populated an entire runway show
with Swinton doppelgangers. Coolness suggests that the person knows something
or understands something that average folks haven't yet figured out. Cool
people are a step ahead. Glamour is firmly situated in the now.

There's nothing particularly intimate about glamour, which is why it plays
so well on the big screen and why film actors who embody it can sometimes
be disappointing in real life. Glamour isn't like charisma, which is typically
described as the ability to make others feel important or special.

Neither quality has much to do with a person's inner life. Glamour is no
measure of soulfulness or integrity. It isn't about truth, but perception.
Redbook traffics in truth. Vogue promotes glamour.

Although Hollywood is the natural habitat for the glitterati, they exist
everywhere: politics, government, sports, business. Tiger Woods brought
glamour to golf with his easy confidence and his ability to make the professional
game look as simple as putt-putt. Donald Trump aspires to glamour with
his flashy properties and their gold-drenched decor. But his efforts are
apparent, his yearning obvious. The designer Tom Ford is glamorous. The
man never rumples.

In the political world, Barack Obama has glamour. Bill Clinton has charisma.
And Hillary Clinton has an admirable work ethic. Bill Clinton could convince
voters that he felt their pain. Hillary Clinton reminds them detail by
detail of how she would alleviate it. Glamour has a way of temporarily
making you forget about the pain and just think the world is a beautiful
place of endless possibilities.

Ronald Reagan evoked glamour. His white-tie inaugural balls and morning-coat
swearing-in were purposefully organized to bring a twinkle back to the
American psyche. George W. Bush has charisma, a.k.a. the likability factor,
although it does not appear to be helping his approval rating now. Still,
he remains a back-slapper and bestower of nicknames.

Charisma is personal. Glamour taps into a universal fairy tale. It's unconcerned
with the nitty-gritty. Instead, it celebrates the surface gloss. And sometimes,
a little shimmer can be hard to resist.

 

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South Bend Tribune
D, DTSB collaborate to screen 'Window'
Byline: LIZ HARTER Tribune Staff Writer
Edition: Michigan

SOUTH BEND -- If you're looking for something to do this weekend, look no further than the College Football Hall of Fame.

As a part of the Outdoor Movie Series, the University of Notre Dame's DeBartolo Center for the Performing Arts, the College Football Hall of Fame and Downtown South Bend Inc. (DTSB) have teamed up to host a showing of Alfred Hitchcock's 1954 film "Rear Window" this Saturday on the College Football Hall of Fame's gridiron at dusk.
Organizers estimate that dusk is around 9:15 p.m.

Jon Vickers, DeBartolo's assistant director, says that although this collaborative effort with downtown is a first, it also is part of the center's mission.

"Part of our mission is to bring culture to the South Bend community," he says. "We want to spread the word of what the DeBartolo Performing Arts Center and the arts at Notre Dame have to offer, but more importantly, we want to spread that into the community."

Jitin Kain, assistant director of DTSB, says the organization has wanted to host an event like this for some time and jumped at the chance when Vickers approached them.

"(He) asked if we wanted to do an outdoor movie, and we've talked about doing this in the past," Kain says. "This seemed like the perfect opportunity."

The movie features James Stewart in the role of L.B. Jefferies, a professional photographer who breaks his leg and, while confined to a wheelchair, begins spying on his neighbors. He enlists the help of his girlfriend, played by Grace Kelly, to investigate a suspicious chain of events.

It was one of the movies on a list of those that were accessible and had an urban theme that Vickers put together for DTSB to choose from.

"Since it is going to be shown downtown, I chose a number of films that had kind of a downtown and urban theme," he says. "(The action in 'Rear Window') all takes place in kind of an urban setting where Jimmy Stewart can see all his neighbors."

Kain says the film also caters to the audience DTSB hopes to attract to the event. "Since we wanted to do the movie later in the evening, we wanted something that would be ideal for adults," he says. " 'Rear Window,' I think, was a great choice. It's a classic movie, so we thought it would be a good first one." He says the College Football Hall of Fame offered the opportunity to screen the movie indoors in case of bad weather, but as of Wednesday, DTSB did not have plans to relocate or reschedule the movie should the weather be less than perfect. "We're hoping the weather is going to be fine," he says. " It's (the) kind of risk you take when you plan things outside." If the event is a success, Kain says, DTSB may work to plan more screenings throughout the summer. "Hopefully, if it's a success, we'll keep doing it more regularly," he says. Vickers agreed, saying, "I hope it's successful and people enjoy it and we do it every year, maybe even more than one time a year."

 

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The Guardian
Weekend: THE INTIMACY OF STRANGERS: As some of his favourite photographs go on show, Elliott Erwitt explains what makes an image stand the test of time
Byline: Interview by Leo Benedictus
Section: Guardian Weekend Pages

Photography is pretty simple stuff. You just react to what you see, and take many, many pictures. The ratio of successful shots is one in God-knows-how-many. Sometimes you'll get several in one contact sheet, and sometimes it's none for days. But as long as you go on taking pictures, you're likely to get a good one at some point. If you give an orang-utan a camera, perhaps he'll come up with some as well.

Most of these images are ones I dug up by looking through my archive, shots I passed over at the time - I may not even have looked at them - and then happened to see again many years later. I don't know what it is that gives some pictures their magic, although the test is whether it really hits you and gives you a strong emotion. The stronger, the better.
For instance, I don't know why my shot of the train in Wyoming (1954) is so popular. I was travelling across the country from New York to Los Angeles and taking a lot of pictures, while driving, out of the windshield. (So I may have crossed on to the other side of the road a little bit.) I don't remember the moment itself, but I like the shot, and I'm pleased that other people do, too. Today it's an image of a bygone era, but at the time it seemed ordinary.

There's so much detail in the picture of people dancing at the engagement party of Grace Kelly and Prince Rainier of Monaco (above). You can recognise some - Noel Coward (bottom, right) and CZ Guest (top left, centre) - which is always fun. I'm sure John F Kennedy is in there somewhere, too. I have a separate snap of him on the dancefloor.

Marilyn Monroe, on the other hand, I was able to take pictures of in an intimate situation rather than a public one. This was in her hotel room in 1956, when I was covering the film she was making at the time, Some Like It Hot. She may have been reading a script when I took it. It was just me and her, and she was going about her business. I like the atmosphere, and the fact that it's a famous person being photographed in an ordinary way. And I found her very sympathetic, I must say. She was nice, smart, kind of amusing, and very approachable. Not a bimbo at all.

In those simpler days, you could just take pictures of movie stars and show them the way they were, as normal human beings. And if I felt part of any movement at the time, it was just to do that - to be journalistic and photograph what is, rather than what is made up. I was passionate about that. And although the magazines that do these kinds of stories are long gone, the idea is as valid now as it ever was. And I am still perpendicular, so I am still taking pictures.

Elliott Erwitt: Unseen is at HackelBury Fine Art, London W8 , from June 13-August 2. For details, call 020-7937 8688 or go to hackelbury.co.uk.

 

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Sarasota Tribune
Grandeur at table A Sarasota caterer recreates notable White House dinners fit for a prince and princess.
Byline: MARSHA FOTTLER MARSHA FOTTLER [email protected]
Edition: All
Section: FOOD & WINE
Type: News

Politics makes strange bedfellows but contributes to spirited food and wine events, as Sarasota caterer Chef Larry Barrett knows. He is capitalizing on the intense interest in politics this hotly contested primary season by offering his clients re-creations of memorable White House dinners, right down to the invitations, flower arrangements, music, table settings and faithful duplication of the menus.

On a recent night at the Siesta Key home of Robert and Peggy Waxman, Barrett's Simply Gourmet catering staff re-enacted the 1961 dinner party that President and Mrs. John F. Kennedy hosted for Princess Grace (Kelly) and Prince Rainier of Monaco.
The president's guests were seated at round tables, a new approach for the White House in '61; before the Kennedy administration, guests were seated at one long rectangular or U- shaped table. Jacqueline Kennedy thought round tables were more intimate and conducive to conversation. It was this first lady who standardized the number of dinner courses to four, a tradition that has been followed ever since. Barrett noted that in his research of presidential dinners, Ulysses S. Grant once served 29 courses.

"We did make one deviation in the Kennedy-Princess Grace dinner," said Barrett, "in that we plated the food restaurant-style in the kitchen and then brought the plates out. Up until the time of the Clinton White House years, servers went around with large platters and guests helped themselves. There was a lot of spilling because many of the guests at these formal dinners were nervous. Hillary Clinton made the change, and now all White House meals are plated before serving.

"Jacqueline Kennedy liked to separate couples for dinner, and we've done the same thing at the Waxmans' house."

Barrett and his wife, Jamie, who is the event coordinator for the family-owned catering business, set the two tables of seven with white china distinguished by a gold rim. Three forks and three knives were part of the table setting, as were gold chargers that were removed from the table after the appetizer course. Four wine glasses completed the place settings.

The Waxmans said they decided on this kind of dinner party because the idea seemed fresh. "The party is actually the belated celebration of our fourth wedding anniversary," said Peggy Waxman, who is a case manager for HealthSouth. "We were looking for something a bit out of the ordinary. When Larry came up with this concept we knew it would be special for our guests and that it would generate a conversation."

Robert Waxman is a currency trader and co-author of the book "Kabbalah Simply Stated." He is a frequent lecturer and teaches classes on understanding Kabbalah. He thought a presidential dinner seemed appropriate to the times.

"Everyone is thinking politics right now, and a dinner based on White House food sounded intriguing," he said. "I wanted something novel, and this definitely is. The guest list is pretty much evenly divided as to political orientation, and a dinner like this can be a springboard for conversation and maybe friendly debate.

"Notice I said 'debate.' Anything beyond that, we discuss the food and what this dinner must have been like in 1961 at the White House."

 

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Antiques and Collectiong
Wedding gown and accessories worn by Princess Grace of Monaco (front view), 1956 for her marriage to Prince Rainier of Monaco. Designed by Helen Rose (American, 1904-1985). Silk faille, Brussels lace, silk net, and seed pearls. Philadelphia Museum of Art: Gift of Her Serene Highness, the Princesse Grace de Monaco, 1956.

To commemorate the 50th anniversary of the fairy tale wedding of Grace Kelly to Monaco's Prince Rainier, the Philadelphia Museum of Art in Philadelphia, PA will present an exhibition and related publication focusing on Princess Grace's wedding dress, on view April 1-May 21, 2006.

Miss Kelly (1929-1982), the Philadelphia-born, Academy Award-winning actress, married the glamorous Prince Rainier (1923-2005) on April 19, 1956, and the bride donated her famous dress to the Museum soon after the ceremony. This is the first time the gown has been on view since its appearance in the Museum's 1997 survey of 250 years of fashion, "Best Dressed."

Helen Rose, the Academy Award-winning designer who made the costumes for Miss Kelly's films, "High Society" and "The Swan," was chosen to design the gown-a present to the bride from MGM Studios-which was made by MGMs wardrobe department. The dress, created to complement the "fairy princess" beauty of the actress, features a bell-shaped skirt of ivory peau de soie supported by petticoats, and a high-necked bodice of Brussels lace, which was re-embroidered to render the seams invisible and then accented with seed pearls. Continuing the theme of pearl-embellished lace are the bride's prayer book, shoes, headpiece, and circular silk net veil, designed so that Miss Kelly's face could be seen, all of which will also be on view.

 

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maclean's
Monaco's 700th birthday bash;
Maclean's 01-20-1997



When it comes to royal families, the one in Britain does not have a monopoly on scandal. In Monaco, that sunny slice of prime real estate carved from southeastern France on the Mediterranean, Prince Rainier III, 73, has also had his share of woes, thanks to his much-married daughters, Caroline and Stephanie, and his never-married son, Albert. The family has seemed especially rudderless since Princess Grace-the former American actor Grace Kelly, whom Rainier wed in 1956-was killed in 1982 when her car went over a cliff. Stephanie, now 31 and divorced, was plagued for years by rumors that she was somehow responsible for the accident. But even without that, she has been steady fodder for the world's tabloids as she lurched from career to career-singer, swimsuit designer, model-and from beau to beau. Caroline, now single at age 39, has been divorced once and widowed once. (She has appeared completely bald lately, a condition suspected to be the result of alopecia.) Meanwhile, Albert, 38, has been linked romantically to everyone from model Claudia Schiffer to actor Brooke Shields. But he has never married, something his father reportedly wants him to do before he takes over. Last week, however, all scandal was eclipsed as the family celebrated Monaco's 700th birthday. And Albert, who is organizing the 10-month-long, $270-million bash, dropped some tantalizing hints sure to please his father. He told French television covering the festivities that he had no plans to marry, but added: "You'll know soon enough."

 

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New York Times


Byline: Ashley Williams Kelly Carter/New York City; Elizabeth McNeil/New York City; Natasha Stoynoff/New York City
Publication: People
Issue: April 3, 2006 Vol. 65 No. 13
Publication Date: 04-03-2006
Page: 127

When Oleg Cassini first met with Jackie Kennedy, she was sitting in a hospital bed soon after giving birth to her son John, surrounded by "sketches from French and Italian and American designers," he told PEOPLE in 2001. "They were all vying for her attention." Looking for guidance, Kennedy turned to Cassini, a friend of her father-in-law Joe, in a move that would create fashion history. "I suggest you forget about representing the look of the moment," he recalled saying to her. "You should have your own look."

The look she chose was Cassini's. Hiring him to dress her almost exclusively, the First Lady ultimately commissioned some 300 items from the designer, including her most iconic outfits: the sheath dresses, the Grecian gowns and the ever-present pillbox hat (which Halston invented but Cassini, by way of Kennedy, popularized). So influential was the collaboration that when Cassini died on March 17 three weeks shy of his 93rd birthday following complications from a ruptured blood vessel, it was his work for Kennedy that remained his most enduring legacy.

And yet Cassini remained a vital fashion force even in his later years; among his final designs were Kim Basinger's costumes for the upcoming film The Sentinel. "It gave me insight into how Jackie Kennedy and Grace Kelly must have felt each time Oleg worked with them," Basinger says. "He was a lovely gentleman." On March 10, the day before he fell ill, Cassini spent the day in business meetings before heading with his wife, Marianne Nestor (whom he married in 1971), to their weekend home in Oyster Bay, N.Y. "We had a lot of laughs that night," she says. The next morning, however, "He said, 'I have a terrible headache,'" recalls Nestor, who took him to the hospital, where doctors diagnosed the hemorrhage. "It was like a bullet in the head. He never made it back."

The son of a Russian diplomat and an Italian countess, Cassini began his career as a Hollywood costumer before launching his own line in 1950. His air of sophistication won him wealthy clientsand led to romances with actresses like ex-wife Gene Tierney (with whom he had two daughters) and ex-fiancée Grace Kelly, whom he said he took from "the schoolteacher look" to "elegant, subdued dresses."

Later, Cassini became one of the first designers to license his name, which is now found on everything from swimsuits to cars to a popular line of wedding dresses. But if there was a secret to his success, it was a simple one, he said: "I always made women look their best."

 

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the true cinderella...

 

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