Blackglama. What becomes a Legend most?

Faye really hung onto that coat for a long time, didn't she? She wore it in Dunston Checks In, irrc.

Martha Graham looks like she's having a stroke in that OP picture. Nureyev and Fonteyn look like they're having fun.

Before the 1960s and 1970s, people didn't know how fur bearing animals were tortured and brutally murdered for their skins, including being skinned alive.

Therefore, people today who wear furs deserve to die a very slow and painful death.

[quote]Therefore, people today who wear furs deserve to die a very slow and painful death.

R7 You mean by skinning them alive?

Im surprised Brigitte Bardot did one...isnt she a huge animal activist ?

Lillian Hellman, out does them all

R11 That's right! Perhaps she only became an activist after her glory years. At least Doris Day didn't pose for the ad!

R4 She looks like a young Julie Kavner

Before we knew better about furs, of course. She probably sold/used salary for charity knowing her.

I checked r13...the shot was 1970...she retired and went into animal activism in 1973.

Reminds me of the later "Revlon's Most Unforgettable Women " campaign. Most have been influenced by Blacklama ads.

^^I've forgotten her already.

Lucille married a blood relative!?

I miss fur. All the good things are gone.

Ross, a reformed fur fanatic, gives us responsible and considerate faux after having been educated by her children.

R23 Angela looks fantastic!

R8 for the win. Deneuve can't be beat on anything dealing with glamour.

My family was in the mink farming business for decades. The mink were never skinned alive and no other families around our area did it either.

I'm not sure how that is even possible. They are related to badgers and wolverines; not the gentlest of animals even on good days.

So many of the Blackglama shots are just too airbrushed or otherwise slightly off. Lucy looks embalmed and Judy Garland (who reportedly had trouble getting up off the floor) doesn't look like herself, her face is a different shape and her eyes aren't like usual.

Jules from "About Last Night"

My favorite in Stanwyck at r3 (you were scooped 5 hours ago, r34). She's infamously saying "SHIT!" in her photo, and looking elegant while doing so as only she could.

Stanwyck's pose is utterly fierce and defiant. Even if you hadn't heard or read what she said as the camera captured that moment, you could easily figure it out.

Didn't like Bette Davis' at first, but it's growing on me.

Myrna Loy looks classy as always.

Didn't recognize Deneuve without the cigarette.

Lillian Hellman's ad was joked that it was actually actor Richard Boone. They might've been correct.

I mentioned this in a previous Blackglama thread about a nearby, long-out-of-business fur salon. There are still 4 of the original posters hanging on various backdrops in the front windows: Loren, Andrews, Fontaine and Pavarotti.

Many of the stars accepted the coat they wore as their payment.

It used to be so much fun when you'd see these ads in the NYTimes Sunday Magazine and you had to guess who the celebiryt was in the ad. (The name was never given.) It was often easy to tell, but sometimes the person's name was well known but not their face. lillian Hellman was apparently the one most people asked about (and the one most people guessed wrong about).

There were only a few men who did it: Nureyev, Pavarotti, Ray Charles, Tommy Tune.

FUR IS MURDER...............TO CLEAN!

R3 called it. It totally captures Stanwyck’s onscreen persona.

Interesting that they were talented, interesting women into the 1990s, then just models.

I can see someone like Care Blanchett doing this today if it weren't real fur.

Trivia only DLers may appreciate:

The distinctive shoes Faye Dunaway is wearing when she gets out of the limo during the opening credits of [italic]Eyes of Laura Mars [/italic] (1978) are the same pair she's wearing in her Blackglama ad.

You're welcome.

You just know that Rudy’s called and probably stand up by itself.,,

You jus know that Rudy’s coat could probably stand up by itself.

The fur always looked best on the animals who were born wearing it.

Lillian Hellman was a very well-known public figure but then when it was revealed that "Julia" was not autobiographical but complete made-up bullshit her reputation was destroyed.

It was a minor scandal, but "her reputation was destroyed"?

That never happened, r52.

Animal rights anti fur protester: “What poor unfortunate creature had to die for you to wear that!”

Hedwig: “My Aunt Trudy!”

It forever damaged her reputation r53.

These are mostly terrible photographs. Dunaway's is beautifully composed and she's quite severely beautiful herself. The rest are pretty amateurish, with a lot of terrible STAR poses and really bad makeup jobs. Who the fuck took these photos? Sure as hell wasn't Avedon or anyone well known. Long before my time. Not a single one of these people hasn't looked a million times better at some point.

R57 First five years were Avedon, then it was Bill King for a while. Calm your tits.

I love Bette Davis. Imagine a celebrity today who was constantly smoking, people would be outraged.

Feh. They're cheaper at Bloomie's.

The public had trouble identifying Rita Hayworth in her ad.

Peter Rogers received numerous calls and letters asking "Who is that?".

Still unable to post a link on here or I would.

Yeah, R58? Avedon was a pretty shitty portrait photographer anyway. His photos of Marilyn are among the worst of her career. Don't tell me to "calm my tits" old man. I gave my opinion. Move the fuck on.

Nobody ever wore them better than I did.

R63 But imagine her in white fur spotted with black spots. Devine!

The only one worth a good goddamn. Miss Dunaway. This is a book cover! Bette Davis' was ok too. And Sophia Loren and Audrey Hepburn because they were too beautiful to fuck up. But most of them are not good photos of the subject or the fucking furs.

The article says no one recognised Rita Hayworth in her photo.

LOL R56!

But Marlene slays them all.

Sic transit..... Some of the glamour has disappeared. Noticed on my walk this morning, the defunct fur salon I mentioned @ r36, the windows are now boarded up with panels of plywood(perhaps to guard against rioters/looters(although I can't imagine anything valuable would be in the salon after all these years)

I wonder if they removed the posters and either stored or sold them? Some mad queen somewhere would give them a good home, I'm sure.

What about me you assholes!

Did Martha Graham gave plastic surgery or was her face naturally that angular and taught?

r72 - Eh Betty, you don't even deserve a limo.

Rita's is rather sad, r61. He said in the book that some thought it was Anne Baxter.

Poor Ethel. They sent over the wrong size, so they had to do that bizarre, pinned together "toga". "Ethel has great legs and we decided to show them."

But they got it right with Mary...

Per her daughter Maria Riva Dietrich owned a custom made wearable mink blanket she called the Beast. She decided she didn't like wearing it so she kept trying to "forget" to take it with her in various places, but it kept coming back.

Or it might have been the Animal. I dropped my copy of Riva's memoir in a mud puddle at my stylist's years ago and Google isn't helping me.

Paulette was into yoga and wanted to be shot in a seated yoga pose. The powers that be said it didn't show off the coat. They had to go back and splice her below the waist with a different model.

Liza's was adorable, although it was odd she wanted as a singer to be captured smoking.

Probably no one better fitted the word "legend" at the time more than Lillian Gish, but she and glamour are not two things you thing of together.

Helen Hayes, on the other hand, who was close friends with Lillian, could really pull off glamour if required.

Tommy Tune looked great--I would have guessed he was a Russian ballet star. However, he's not exactly what I think of as a legend.

Where’s Miss Pearlie Mae?

[quote] Liza's was adorable, although it was odd she wanted as a singer to be captured smoking.

Miss Warwick, do you want the low-tar or the hi-tar?

I agree not all the shots were very good. Poor Natalie Wood got the treatment the last year in her life and was photographed unbecomingly up-nostril.

Renata Scotto also got the up-nostril treatment.

Here's Miss Pearl. Great pose, and love the cap, but the photo doesn't hide her wonky eye.

If they could get stars of that magnitude today to do it (they wouldn't because fur is considered so politically incorrect) , who would you think would deserve it?

My guesses: Dionne Warwick, Renée Fleming, Jane Fonda, Rita Moreno, Bette Midler, Herbie Hancock, Lily Tomlin, Jonas Kaufmann, Patti LuPone, Cicely Tyson, Alice Cooper

Wearing real fur these days is bad publicity r97.

Yes I said as much already, r98.

Madonna would never do it because she would just be one a of a group. In her mind she has to be the most legendary OF ALL.

The photos from Helen Lawson’s shoot were never released.

Well, she *did* do Camille, r88...

You can get them all here.

I understand Lena's girlfriend, Jeanne Noble PhD, was against her doing the ad for those "white devils," but Lena told her to fuck off.

I want to hear more Lena “fuck off” stories please.

[quote]Liza's was adorable, although it was odd she wanted as a singer to be captured smoking.

Do you know how many famous singers have been smokers?

I wonder how much input the "legends" had regarding the coat, the pose, which photo was ultimately selected for the ad, etc. For instance, who suggested Judy get on the floor?

Do I recall correctly, PETA did an ad campaign mocking these in some way right?

Who said Judy could get off the floor?

R108 - “ Do you know how many famous singers have been smokers?”

Most members of the “Rat Pack”. Sinatra, Dean Martin, Joey Bishop, Sammy Davis Junior, Peter Lawford...

They did get some letters of complaint over Liza's cigarette.

I had a roommate who worked on the musical Anna Karenina. She said Ann Crumb refused to wear real fur. She and the designer came to some sort of compromise, but I can't remember what it was.

What ever happened to the palace guards and their fur hats?

I'd like to see LaWanda Page, Granny Clampett, Gladys Kravitz, and Moms Mably.

Sinatra even smoked WHILE he was singing.

R107, that would take thousands of pages.

R111, Judy performed an entire concert, or as much as she could, sitting on the stage because she couldn't get up, so why not here too? The concert was in Baltimore, 1968. Woody Allen and Tony Bennett were also on the bill. It was reported that mothers with children ran screaming from the theater.

Shortly after Natalie woods death her sister Lana came into her house with racks to take all of Natalies clothes since she left them to Lana in the will. One of the items was the blackglama coat she was given for the photo shoot. Robert Wagner ended up buying it and several other items to give to her daughters.

He looks so stupid R120. Who was he? Cute guy but is everything frosted on him? The waist on his pant sure is high. That split ball on either side, tiny dick straight up look that eldergays remember so fondly. Now in fur. He gives me fever. Is that Urkel?

r116 Moms Mabley actually did glam it up a bit, with Kris Kristofferson on her arm to boot!

R122

I had forgotten how sexy Kris Kristofferson was...

Lumpy old queens love fur hags for some reason.🤢🤮

I can only imagine how many agents tried to get their clients included in the campaign, only to be turned down because they weren't considered legends.

I'm surprised Tallulah Bankhead wasn't included.

I was certain they did one with artist Louise Nevelson, but I can't seem to find it anywhere.

Does the book say if anyone turned them down?

R129 Are sure it wasn’t Martha Graham, she looked a bit like her in old age?

That might be the case, but Martha's pose seems different from what I'm remembering.

Carol Burnett did it best.

R129 Being Russian born, Nevelson had a great love of furs and wore them often. She was even photographed by Cecil Beaton in one. Maybe this is what you are remembering?

R129 Diana Vreeland also looked very Nevelsonesque.

Gay illustrator and short story writer extraordinaire, Edward Gorey. He attended the NYC Ballet every day in his raccoon coat, striped scarf, and Chuck Taylor tennis shoes. He stopped going and moved to Cape Cod when George Ballanchine retired as artistic director. He felt there was no longer anything worth keeping him in NYC. Gorey, his signed editions and prints, and occasional appearances were what kept the famed "Gotham Book Mart" open in the middle of Diamond Sellers' Row (was it 49th St?) a center of NY literati. Gorey died in the late 90s, his house (I think in Barnstable) is a museum of the macabre, and the GBM went out of business in the early aughts. If you're unfamiliar with Gorey's work, consider it part of the Gay Cannon, and your gaily obligation. You should be able to recite at least one abacderium from memory, the "Gashlycrumb Tinies" being the most famous and perhaps easiest, as it is so deliciously wicked. Report back when you begin referring to the local supply of hunks as "well set-up young men from the village."

Norman Sunshine the (out) gay man in part responsible for those Blackglama adverts.

Both men were quite good looking in their day. But more to the point their lives tell the story of two men navigating the horrible double lives gays were forced to endure not that long ago.

I hope anyone who buys a mink coat dies of Covid.

No Hollywood star would be seen in a mink coat these days.

"Real fur will no longer be a staple in Queen Elizabeth II's closet.

The monarch will stop buying clothes made from animal fur, and instead, her new wardrobe will be stocked with faux-fur outfits, Buckingham Palace confirmed."

Liz Hurley qualifies as a legend?

Now tell me the one about Goldilocks and the three bears.

R128, Tallulah was dead so she couldn't participate.

I've watched documentaries, tried to read her book, and more and I still don't "get" Diana Vreeland. She really wasn't very pretty, and her off-the wall pronouncements aren't all that insightful.

I found the picture, I think - Avedon did a portrait of Nevelson where she is wearing what appears to be a black silk coast. The pose and costume are similar enough hat they must have suggested the Blackglama campaign.

Wonder why it wasn't.

Look at the sad old crypt keepers wearing their caveman coats. Jesus 🤣

R143, The Blackglama campaign began in 1968 with Lauren Bacall.

Tallulah died in December of 1968, so she could have been featured.

Tallulah was very sick at the end of her life and wasn't in any shape to do anything.

r147 How'd she get out from under that house?

R147, yep, that's the one.

I wonder how many of these people would do the ad campaign now?

I would guess that the dead ones wouldn't do it.

Didn't Tallulah die of flu during the Hong Kong flu pandemic of 1968-69?

She had emphysema for years.

R154, On December 12, 1968, Bankhead died in St. Luke's Hospital in Manhattan, aged 66. The cause of death was pleural double pneumonia, complicated by emphysema due to cigarette smoking, malnutrition, and possibly a strain of the flu which was endemic at that time. Her last coherent words reportedly were a garbled request for "Codeine ... bourbon."

Despite claiming to be poor for much of her life, Bankhead left an estate valued at $2 million.

Connie Francis insisted on wearing white fur.

R60

Macy's and Bloomingdale's will exit fur business by 2021.

Truth to tell it rarely gets cold and lasts long enough to bother with a fur coat in NYC at least nowadays. Even then only women I see routinely wearing them are Russians and other Eastern Europeans. There was time once cooler weather arrived furs were all over the UES, not so much any longer.

Also think as with many other things fur fell out of fashion when everyone started wearing. Friend's mother stopped wearing furs when their cleaner showed up one day wearing one.

R158 I hope she can live with the blood of baby harp seals or arctic foxes on her conscious.

Sable and mink dear; fox is rather common, although it does make for rather good accessories such as hats or wraps.

Why, who the fuck was Fallon’s father? And was it Samms Fallon or Sue Martin Fallon?

The Russian female skating coaches always wore furs. Yagudin’s coach Tarasova would wear one all the time, so did Oksana Baiul’s coach Galina. It was almost as if they never took them off. I bet they stank of unfiltered cigarettes and cheap vodka.

I can't even remember the last time I saw a woman in a fur coat. As the above poster said, you used to see women in fur coats all the time in NYC, esp. Midtown and the UES but it's been quite a long time.

Besides it being too warm most winters, hauling those furs around became a chore FWIU. Many restaurants, bars and clubs refused to accept them at coat check, so you had to keep the thing on a chair or something.

Then you had to worry about some deranged lunatic PETA follower accosting you on street and hurling some substance. That or having to endure endless well reasoned abuse over your decision to own/wear fur.

Think last big gasp of furs was the go-go 1980's; the Reagan years when conspicuous consumption and excess were everywhere. Television had Dynasty, the Colbys, Falcon Crest and other evening dramas with women drenched in couture gowns, furs and jewels. You saw same in many films or other media of period including advertising.

By the 1990's and certainly 2000's after several economic recessions or other upheavals, people just began keeping displays of wealth on the down low. Instead of a fur coat perhaps something lined instead.

In 1980's you also has explosion of places like The Fur Vault, Daniel Antonovich and other places that brought furs to the masses. They sold furs at all price points so everyone from a secretary to mistress to Park Avenue society matron could afford.

The pet mountain lion should be enough proof that Rose was fucked in the head. Keeping a wild animal in an apartment?

R167 I don’t remember that episode of Golden Girls?

R167

It happens, and Mr. Rose wasn't the only one either.

R169 I guess the couldn’t just flush it down the toilet like the alligators?

Here read about Peter Rodgers. Mississippi boy done good in the Big Apple.

R171, That photo of Hepburn wearing a mink with jeans is from the 1930s, not the 1950s.

It seems that all people knew not to fuck with her and her fur! Almost like she was grandfathered in to acceptance of at least overlooked. I'm not fucking with her! How 'bout you? Haha

Didn't antifur types confront Patti LaBelle at a book signing or event a few years ago? I bet Aretha got a kick out of that.

[R171], That photo of Hepburn wearing a mink with jeans is from the 1930s, not the 1950s.

Huh? When did R171 say anything about Hepburn's pic in the article?

R175 I was curious as to what R171 was yammering about, and the article caption for the photo states it's from the 1950s, not 1930s.

Yes, the font is fuzzy and makes the 3 look like a 5. But why put that on R171?

Faye's early promo for Duet for One is a homage to her Blackglama photo.

Julie Andrews ultimately did the film. One bullet Dunaway managed to dodge.

Did Peggy Lee look like a drag queen, or do drag queens look like Peggy Lee?

Peggy was strung out on pills, R181.

Who was Peggy married to and used to beat her?

Early '50s Peggy Lee looked so wholesome and the girl-next-door type. By the mid-60s, she was vamping it up in false lashes and piled on wigs and falls.

R184, Peggy was married 4 times, but the one who beat her was her third husband, actor Dewey Martin.

R185, Dewey let Huey and Louie take a few whacks at her too.

Daisy used to batter Donald, thus his nickname "Donald, duck!"

His actual surname was Cuntbung.

Wow. Peggy was a pretty lady.

It's a pity wearing fur is so incorrect now. Hillary Clinton should have a Blackglama ad of her own.

My mother had some nice furs, including a gorgeous Blackglama. My sister in law got them because she was the only one who matched in height.

is there a Dataloungers BlackGlama List of Near Misses?

Totie Fields Yma Suma Virginia Mayo Alice Pearce Terry Moore

...you get the idea

FUR HAGS!!! lol I was wondering when DL would worship fur hags.