The Perfect Vintage Christmas.

It is December 3, 1944 and the war is in full swing. My sweetheart is flying over Paris in a B-17 Bomber on his way to Germany. He sends me a postcard that says: I'll be home for Christmas! - You know just like the song...well, we all know how the song ends: If only in my dreams, so I was not getting my hopes up however I did make sure to have the house decorated.

On Christmas Eve I tucked myself into the bed and I had one prayer that my sweetheart was safe and I had one wish that he really could make it home for Christmas but I just did not see how that could ever be posible.

Until Christmas morning I got a call! It was my sweetheart waiting for me at Union Station! So, I hopped on the next trolley car and there he was with all of the other men from his unit, waiting on the train for their families and love ones to arrive. I flung myself into his arms and gave him a big kiss!

This was the best Christmas gift ever!

The End.

Burlesque Show Friday December 4th!

I will be selling my fine vintage wares during Ms. Frankie Tease's Burlesque show "Tease Time": A Modern Day Burlesque Show at Cush (Bar.Restaurant.Club) on Friday December 4th. I will be there at 8PM to set up early (also to hopefully catch some of the late dinner crowd). The Burlesque show starts at 9PM. To go along with the burlesque theme I will be offering vintage lingerie, vintage jewelry and beautiful vintage hats/head pieces along with my handmade hair jewelry.


Here is the address to Crush: 1400 SE Morrison Portland Oregon.

I hope to see all you cats and kittens there!

Buying and Selling Vintage.

I have started buying and selling vintage clothes and accessories. What else is a vintage gal to do while she is unemployed and searching for work but to model vintage and to buy and sell it too.


Currently I sell it at my house and it is through exclusive invatation and by appointment only - so far I have sold several items each time I have had people over. Which keeps me busy hunting for more, it's great because I like hunting for it and I enjoy getting it in fixing it up making a few calls and snap! Turn around time has been great. All in all it sells pretty well and that is also because I keep my prices very reasonable.


Then last Saturady I had my vintage at an open house, one of my photographers (Frank Desantis) has a studio at the Towne Storage Building and every year all of the artists have an open house prior to holiday time. There were 20 different artisans selling their wares there this year. I was invited to attend and I asked if I could bring my vintage to sell (because I like to think outside the box) and my photographer said that would be great because he was promoting and taking orders for his new vintage theme pin-up calendar. I am in this calendar as Miss April and Miss July so we were able to cross promote each other. I was so happy because I sold a whole bunch more vintage and met a new photographer to work with plus made some new friends along the way.


I will be showing and selling my vintage again at a burlesque show coming up in the first week of December so stay posted I will let you all know where and when my different venues will be plus I will still be showing on a regular basis at my house.

Interview with Matt Deckard of Matt Deckard Apparel.

Matt Deckard


Matt's client: Dave Vanian
of the punk band The Damned.


For this month I chose to interview Matt Deckard of Matt Deckard Apparel. I decided on Matt because of his keen sense of style and his wonderful sartorial knowledge. I really enjoyed doing this interview; he is both witty and charming. From the very moment I had him on the phone I felt like I was talking to a good friend that I have known forever.


Now for a little back ground on the Matt Deckard Apparel Company: Located in Orange County California and traveling across the US. The suits are bespoke and made by appointment only and require meeting with one of the tailors before ordering. Shirts are available bespoke or made to order in sizes. Go to the website at: http://mattdeckard.com to see the styles available to be custom made just for you from hundreds of high quality fabrics from around the world to choose from.


Now it's interview time:


BROOKSIE: Thank you so much Matt for participating in this interview, I really appreciate it. When did you first develop your sense of personal style?



MATT: It was during my high school years when I was about 15 years old, I really admired golden era movies and how the men in them dressed. I was inspired by the fit of the clothes back in the day of those movie stars, such as Jimmy Stewart, Cary Grant, and Humphrey Bogart.



BROOKSIE: How long have you been into things of the vintage nature?



MATT: I really started to get into vintage during the swing movement of the late 90's, even though I did not swing dance at the time, I loved the clothes and enjoyed spending time with others of a like mind. Soon after that I got into swing dancing because for me it was a natural progression. In this day and age I have noticed that the sense of occasion is lost and there is now a complete lack of dressing up in society.



BROOKSIE: Why specifically ( besides having a love for clothes) did you start your company Matt Deckard Apparel?



MATT: Due to a frustration with clothes fitting right, nothing off the rack fit well at all, so I decided to go with custom made suits and even they did not look, feel, or fit right. The tailors all seemed to have one shape fit all attitudes. Even though suits are still being made nobody was really doing suits in the styles of the bygone eras that had pretty much became a lost art. So, I found some tailors that were willing to work with me and to be trained to resurrect they suits of yesterday for the modern man of today. My suits are designed around each individual's anatomy, with comfort and a sense of balance being high priorities. Each suit really is personalized, accentuating the positive and minimizing the flaws. Integrity of craftsmanship and quality of materials are also very important to me and my company.



BROOKSIE: In one sentence describe your clothing line?



MATT: Suits for the man of action.



BROOKSIE: I know we have a few things in common and one of those things is a love of the 20's and 30's, why are you drawn to this particular time period?



MATT: The romance of those eras is a big part of it along with the clothing from that time - they seem to go hand in hand.



BROOKSIE: What advice would you give gentlemen on how to look sharp and well dressed?



MATT: Quality is always luxury but luxury is not always quality. For example go to one of your big name high dollar department stores. Take a real close look at a big name designer suit. Because of the name we equate it to luxury, yes this is true but take a closer look at the suit, what kind of fabric is it made out of is it thick or thin? Take a look at the construction of the suit and last but not least look at the fit, be honest how does it really fit? Does all of this luxury really equal quality? Then ask yourself what are you paying for, just a name or true quality?



BROOKSIE: When did you start Matt Deckard Apparel?



MATT: Late in 2007.



BROOKSIE: Here is one last question for you - what is your all time favorite thing to do?



MATT: Swing dancing of course.



This concludes this month's interview, thanks again Matt it was a pleasure interviewing you. Here is Matt's website again: http://mattdeckard.com.

Live Art Event!

I am going to be a model in a Live Art Event - here are all of the details:


Live Art, Draw, photograph, or paint our amaizing subjects!

Saturday November 7th 2009 1-4 pm at Floyd's Coffee (including beer and wine) all ages at:
110 NW Couch Portland Oregon 97209 (1st and Couch Skidmore Max stop).

With model preformers 11/07:
Mistress Lee (continuous contemporary costumed short pose)
Brooksie (3 hour pose with one of Mandy Apple's Mini Top Hats)
Host Frankie Tease

Anyone who reads this post who is in the Portland area is invited to attend.

Dia de los Muertos Celebration

So yesterday I did end up going to the dia de los muertos celebration and I will have to say that it was so incredibly awesome! They let me build a little altar in honor of my dad who passed away about a month ago (incase you missed the post that I made regarding that). It was very much a family oriented thing, there were so many children there, everyone from little babies all the way on up to teen agers. I went on my own which was alright, I met so many really neat people there. The staff members of the Someday Lounge (where the event took place) were so friendly and attentive. I also helped out with decorating the main altars on stage. I dressed up in a kind of a Spanish dancer kind of an outfit, I wore my hairpulled back into a chignon with a beautiful Spanish comb and a red rose. I marched/danced in the parade which was led by a Samba band, so it was hard to not dance. Then back at Someday they showed vintage dia de los muertos cartoons for the kids and had hot chocolate. I got my face painted like a skeleton. One of the ladies that works at Someday took some pictures of me and she said she would e-mail them to me. As soon as I get them I will download them onto my blog so all can see. If anybody is interested to learn more about dia de los muertos check out this link to this blog: The Mysterious Life of a Metropolitan Housewife, she gives a great explanation of the tradition: http://living-vintage.blogspot.com/2009/11/all-souls-day.html

Have a Happy Halloween Everybody!

This year I have personally decided not to celebrate Halloween and to celebrate dia de los muertos instead. This will be my second year doing this. Last year I made a dia de los muertos altar with a paper mache' skeleton (Esperanza) and a paper mache' red devil (Julio) in my studio apartment and I had crepe' paper skeletons hanging around, candles lit up and I made some collages in honor of the tradition also. I proceeded to go around Portland taking pictures of other altars around town and added them to my collages.

This year I am going to a community dia de los meurtos celebration on Nov. 1st at the Someday Lounge in NW Portland. They will be starting off with making sugar skulls, building a community altar, then a parade from down town to old town, costumes, live music (a few different bands - one which is leading the parade), movies, tamales, and hot chocolate! Sounds like my kind of festaval. I can't wait for tomorrow to come!

Brooksie goes to the largest antique show in America!

Yesterday I went to the Palmer Wirf's Portland Antique Show with a couple of my vintage pals. Palmer Wirf's Portland Antique Show is America's largest antique and collectable show. It is located at the Portland Expo Center and it happens three times a year, in October, March, and July. I try to go at least twice a year. July is probably the best because not only do they have three halls inside filled to the brim they also have about just as many booths set up outside. This year they had 1026 booths all crammed together in two halls.

Every time I go I dress up in full on vintage attire which is not really anything new for me, most days I get dressed up in vintage attire. I went with two very dapper gentlemen also dressed up in vintage suits. Every time we go to this show people fawn all over us and tell us they love that we dressed up. The vendors usually end up giving us a discount because they want us to buy from them.

Sorry I do not have any pictures but I can describe what I was wearing... A British tweed (brown and cream, trimmed in chocolate brown velvet-I would say that it is post war either late 40's or early 50's) ladies suit, skirt and jacket. I had on sheer seamed stockings that are just hair darker then nude (which is great for wearing with fall tones) with a black seam and cuban heel with that I had on my couture Donald J. Pliner aligator repro 1940's peep toe pumps. I wore my hair pulled back into a chignon with my bangs rolled under and I have a pair of cute earings that are perfectly round and they match the chocolate brown velvet trim of the suit.

I bought this tweed suit last July at the antique show when it was about 90 degrees out and nobody wanted to even think about wool tweed except for me (even though I was sweating at the show I knew one day I would be very, very cold again because I get really cold very easily) they were selling the suit for $15.00 because for one it was wayyyy out of season. I asked if they would take $10.00 because I would have to have the jacket altered. They said yes...well, when I went to pick it up from my lady who does alterations about a week and half ago she said the suit was a most excellent find (she had no idea what I had paid for it) but she had said that it was made with couture techniques which means it is of the utmost highest in qaulity! I love the lable is says: Exclusive British Tweed tailored by Handmacher. I got so many compliments on my outfit and so many questions, like I do every time that I go.

While I was there I picked up a few very nice things: 2 pairs of Givinchy seamed stockings (nude with a nude seam - never been worn, still with box and stickers on the stockings), a very cute small red velvet 40's/50's hat with a cute little embellishment on it, a beautiful 1940's black velvet skirt with rhinestones and a black embroidered small rope like pattern that is on the front only and goes from the waistband down a little more then half way down the front of the skirt... the skirt has a tear in it so it will have to be taken up some which is ok because I think it is a little long anyways plus this skirt will go perfect with a top that a lady that I know gave me a couple months ago - the top is 1940's black rayon with buttons down the back and short sleeves and it also has rhinestones in a diamond pattern on the chest right in the center with the same rope style embroidery, she gave it to me because it does not fit her anylonger and she knew I would appreciate it because I am always wearing vintage. The next thing I got at the show is a pair of super cool 1950's cat eye sunglasses they are a really pretty pearly green color like a cross between a jade and an emerald they have green lenses and have rhinestones up in the corner of each cat eye. Then last but not least I got a very pretty vintage red (my favorite color) glass bead choker (the beads are very dainty pretty - not a big chunky 70's choker more like a pretty 40's or 50's one) it is hand knotted in between each bead, the bead sizes are varigated to go from the smallest in the back to the biggest in the center plus it has a couple of rhinestone rondelles in there also. Hmmm it looks like I have a theme going on this time....40's/50's velvet, rhinestones, and jewel tones. I don't think you can beat that!

Interview with the lovely retro pin-up model Mandy Apple.

I contacted Mandy Apple this month because she makes these cute little top hats and I wanted one for a shoot. So, she invited me to Kelly's Olympian (Sunday the 11th) in down town Portland because there was an event going on and she was going to have her hats there for show and tell and sell, of course. Her persona online in the pin-up world is dynamic and I want everybody to know that in real life she is an absolute living doll!

Here is my interview with her:

BROOKSIE: So, Mandy how long have you been a retro pin-up model?

MANDY: I had my very first shoot in March of 2007 (just over a year and a half), all though for some reason people seem to think I have been doing it for much longer.

BROOKSIE: Who or what inspires you?

MANDY: GO-GO Amy of course! She just takes my breath away. My honey purchased a weekend pin-up class birthday held at one of my favorite Rockabilly/Pin-up stores ever, Cherry Red in Salem Oregon. The first day was the how to's of pin-up such as hair, make-up, wardrobe, props, etc... all brought to you by the best red headed, burlesque performers, seamstress, extraordinaire. The second day was a whirl wind of girly madness, I walked in the door to be whisked away into hair, make-up, wardrobe and I endured one of the most embarrassing moments ever! Only because I had never been made up to that extreme before, especially in front of a camera but, as I warmed up, it truly was a turning point and I honestly fell head over heals in mad LOVE with everything vintage. After the class I purchased some books and spent a lot of time in the library to get the looks and outfits just right.

BROOKSIE: What inspired you to make your mini-top hats?

MANDY: My get away is my bedroom where I can get creative with sewing outfits and coming up with ideas for shoots. One day I was looking for the perfect hat for a burlesque looking outfit I made. I went to every craft and fabric store and just could not come up with anything. I finally went back to the big fabric department type store and asked if they had anything different. She pulled out a mini top hat from behind the counter and I fell in love with the idea. Knowing I did not like the cheap look that it had I gave it back to her and I grabbed some blue sparkly fabric that matched my out fit and headed home. To my room I went, I made the first hat out of cardboard, it worked very well for the shoot, light weight, easy to decorate, then as I went home and kind of tossed the hat down in exhaustion from the shoot, I realized cardboard just is not going to work. I have experimented for a while with other products but now I use a durable laminated material, that I cut out using my own pattern I made. I shape each piece then I cover each piece with fabric of choice. I then construct all the pieces into one of the cutest little hats ever. Decorating them now that is a breeze, I just go with whatever I feel, unless I have a custom order.

BROOKSIE: How long have you been making these wonderful little hats?

MANDY: About six months.

BROOKSIE: Who does your awesome pin-up hairstyling and make-up?

MANDY: I usually do my own hair and make-up if it is a vintage/pin-up shoot but if it is anything else, funky or edgy then someone else has to come to the rescue.

BROOKSIE: Do you have any words of wisdom for any wannabe retro/vintage pin-up models out there?

MANDY: Start younger than I did! Tehehe, I am now 30 and I am the old lady in this industry. Study what you like and do it right. Practice, practice, and really what they say is very true, if the pose does not hurt, it is not looking right... arch HARDER!

To check out Mandy's mini top hats go to: http://www.modelmayhem.com/applesminitophats.

Brooksie does vintage/retro interviews.

Hello everyone, I have just started doing monthly interviews. Each month I will interview someone new - each person that is chosen will be someone that either has a business or profession that is vintage/retro or someone that lives a vintage lifestyle. If you fit this profile or if you know of someone that fits this profile please send me a message. I would love to have more blog readers. Keep your eyes peeled for my first interview with Many Apple the retro pin-up beauty!

Brooksie is Miss October!

Back in September I entered the Pinup Girls Group monthly contest for the month of October, I entered not really believing I would win but secretly hoping that I would and you know what I won, I won! I am Miss October. Check it out:

http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=161616422856#/group.php?gid=43600449398

The photos I entered are from my Elvgren themed shoot that I did last spring. Here are a few photos from that shoot. All photos were from Frank DeSantis, photographer extraordinaire. To check out more of Frank's work go to his website: www.desantisphoto.com.

Erte' Display at Pittock Mansion

Yesterday I went with a friend to the Pittock Mansion to see the Erte' display and then we had lunch of 23rd street. It was a lovely cool, crisp, but sunny fall day. I wore a 1930's rayon dress - the dress is white with a black, light purple and green abstract floral design. I wore a black cardigan, white bobby sox, and black mary janes. I wore my vintage sunglasses and my black vintage patent leather purse.

The Erte display was beautiful, Erte's true name was Romain de Tirtoff but he was known by the French pronunciation of his initials - Erte'. He is most famous for his Art Deco illustrations of dramatically dressed women. He designed costumes and sets for theatre, opera, and Hollywood. He worked for Harper's Bazaar Magazine for over 20 years and created more than 200 covers. Often featuring women in flowing silks, furs, jewels, and/or feather plumes.

There were prints and sculptures on display for viewing and they were quite exotic and beautiful. As many of you know the Art Deco Era is my favorite so of course I had to go.

In Memory of my father.

In loving memory of my father June 17, 1930 to September 29, 2009.

William D. Wyss passed away on Tuesday September 29th, 2009 at Tillamook Hospital. He is survived by his wife of 56 years, JoAnn Wyss, sons William M. Wyss, James D. Wyss, Robert Lee Wyss, and daughter Lisa Bardsley. Five grandchildren and one great-grandchild.

He enjoyed gardening, fishing, travel, building things and wordworking. He will be missed greatly.

Shopping on Hawthorne and Blade Runner as inspiration.

When life gets tough I shop, I had a traumatic thing happen this week so in order to cope I went shopping. At least I did not spend very much money and there of course can be much worse vice's such as drinking, smoking, or drugs.

First I went to The Red Light store on Hawthorne because I had a bag of stuff to trade, I found this most wonderful 1940's charcoal color wool ladies suit jacket, it has a nipped in waist with a little bit of a peplum at the bottom and three really cool looking buttons. When I got it home I realized that I have a skirt that is made from the exact same charcoal wool so I now own a beautiful suit. It has a very - Racheal from Blade Runner - look to it.

I also got a cherry red wool beret because they are always fun to wear in the fall in winter, I plan on dying a pair of pink gloves that I have the same cherry red color so I will have gloves to match. After the trade I only paid $4.oo for the jacket and the beret...not bad.

Then I went to Buffalo Exchange and I found a pair of Coture Donald J Pliner shoes, they are 1940's repro platform peep toe pumps in a brown reptile - they marked as a size 6 1/2 but they looked way bigger - I kept on thinking to myself, they look like they would fit. So I decided to try them on and they fit! They were totaly mismarked because I wear a size 7 1/2, they were originally $38.00 at Buffalo Exchange because I guess that Donald Pliner is a uber popular shoe designer right now (who would have known, not me, I just liked them because they look like 1940's peep toe platforms!) but they were marked down to half price because they were not fitting anybody with a size 6 1/2 foot (they had been at Buffalo Exchange since August) once I got home I looked up this designer and his shoes go for around $300.00 or just slightly under. My shoes do not even look like they have ever been worn. These shoes will go perfet with my nice 1940's chocolate brown and cream tweed suit that is piped in chocolate brown velvet, that I got in the middle of summer at the last Portland Antique Show. Now I just need to take the suit in and have the jacket altered. Which is what I finally did do with the black light weight wool 1940's jacket that I got from the antique show before the last., yay it was about time and just in time for the fall/winter.

The last thing I bought at Buffalo Exchange was a straw 1950's handbag - I always seem to buy things out of season but that is ok I just put it away and pull it out when the time comes and it is just like Christmas all over again! This bag is super adorable, it has red straw flowers and two tone green leaves that have been stitched on with yarn, it looks like a nice hand bag to go with my 1950's resort wear or perhaps I may be able to use it at Christmas time with the red and green it has going on.

After I am done decompressing from my latest trauma I will go back to volunteering at the office and I will have a whole new (vintage wardrobe) and I bet you can tell what my theme/inspiration will be...Blade Runner. Now I just need a big huge fluffy fur coat!

Brooksie drawing by artist.

A couple months ago I had an artist by the name of Joseph Washinowski contact me wanting to draw my picture and here it is. I had been anxiously awaiting my drawing for a while and I was so happy when Joseph contacted me with the results. I have also included the photo that he used for this drawing. If you are interested in seeing more of Joseph's work you can go to onemodel.com and enter his #181686.

Here is a close up of my sunglasses, you can see the shape better but you still can not see the intricate design work on them but oh well, I did end up having another professional shoot the other day and maybe with some of those you will be able to see some of the design work.

Fun new glasses!

I just thought I would share a picture of my new cat eye glasses (ones on the bottom left of course) I got for my Birthday. I know, I know, my birthday was back in June and I am just now posting but I have been so awful durn busy and I still am but I just had one moment of free time.

My friend Diana is an optition and one of the eye clinics she works for just happen to have a boxful of new old stock vintage frames. She knows that I am an avid vintage collector and wearer so she knew these glasses would be just perfect for me. These glasses are just for reading only, because I am far sighted, I only need glasses for reading. The last pair of reading glasses I had back in 2005 got ran over back when I was in truck driving school in Texas. I always said my next pair of glasses would be original cat eyes from the 50's. These glasses originally came from a company called Swank from France - the company I guess was big back in the 50's and 60's and I believe the company closed down about 30 years ago. These frames are in pristine condition because they were all wrapped up and sitting in a box for the last 50 years or more. They are a nice golden fawn color. The pearl eye glass chain I made (because I am a beader), lends both a classic and librarianesqe' look to it all.

The next glasses I want to get my hands on are my moms glasses that she wore when she was a kid in the 1940's (during WWII time) they are very thin gold wire frames - perfectly round with the wire that wraps around your ear. I will have her perscription taken out and my reading glass put in its place, thats what I have Diana for. These will be mine very soon one day, sorry no picture.

The ones on the left at the top are my new sunglasses that I bought for an incredible price from Diana, after she gave me my cat eyes for my b-day I mentioned needing some vintage sunglasses she told me that she had some of those frames too. The next day she brought me a few to look over and to pick out one. The ones I chose are the ones on the left - they are a silvery grey and I had her put in a grey, green glass lens. If I were to do it all over I would of had a very dark black lens put in it because my eyes are pretty sensitive to the light, these are great for over cast days, or in fall and spring when the sun is not as intense. So now I really need a very dark lens for summer.

These sunglass frames are again new old stock 50's from Swank optical from France. I will try to find a close up picture so you all can see the fabulous design work around the top and the sides. It looks like little intricate gold vines with leaves, they are versitle too and can be worn with either gold or silver jewelry - they are so beautiful and I get compliments all of the time on them.

New favorite blog - with a fabulous hat giveaway contest!

I have just stumbled apon my new favorite blog: Vixen Vintage. This blog is fabulous I would call it a vintage girls best friend. Right now the Vixen is having a great little hat giveaway so check it out: http://vixenvintage.blogspot.com/2009/08/giveaway.html

Get your entry in and goodluck!

Sorry folks I have not posted for quite a while but I have been awful darn busy. I just finished my schooling and my externship! So that is all very exciting. I have another photo shoot lined up and another in the works plus several ideas for new ones. I am getting things prepared for an awesome garage sale over the fourth of July weekend. Sorry I do not have anymore to post but it is getting late and I need my beauty rest.

Brooksie

The Lovely Louise Brooks

Louise Brooks is my all time favorite silent film star. She was born in 1906 in Cherryvale KS. Her name was actually Mary Louise Brooks but she later change it to Louise Brooks for stage. She also went by the names Lou Lou and Brooksie. Louise passed away in of August 1985 in Rochester NY.

She started off as a dancer with the Denishawn Modern Dance Company then later joined the Ziegfeld Follies. Later she progressed on to acting in silent films.

Louise starred in seventeen silent films. One of her most known movies and one of my all time favorite movies is Pandora's Box.

Louise was known for her sleek black bobbed hair that they said resembled a helmet. I have included some pictures of the lovely Louise for everyone's viewing pleasure. Enjoy!

Tried it but did not like it.

I tried the pastels and then I tried the brights each of them for several days for the background of my blog and I had to go back to the black background with the bright and pastel accents. I just did not like the way the lighter and brighter colors looked and they really made my photographs look washed out so I just had to go back. I really wanted the brighter colors to work out but I guess I just have to stick with what looks best!

More pics from the Roaring 20's photo shoot.

All photo's here taken by: Jim Dorothy of IMAGES JD Photography on March 8th 2009.

Roaring 20's Photo Shoot.

Spring is just around the corner.

Spring is almost here so I decided to give my blog a fresh new make over with bright spring colors - I am still getting used to it and may have to fiddle around with it to get it just right but with the darkness of winter getting behind us I JUST had to go lighter and brighter!

Lillian Gish - One of the All Time Great Stars of the Silent Era Movies

I remember when I was in grade school, I used to go to a place to eat with my family called the Organ Grinder. At this place they served nothing but pizza. I LOVED coming to this place, my very favorite thing about was this; they used to show old silent movies up on a big screen and during the movie, a man would play this big wonderful organ and they had a bubble machine that would produce ooodles of bubbles at the same time. Now, I am sad to say the Organ Grinder has been closed for many years. I love to think about those old movies where damsels in distress played by actresses such as Lillian Gish were being tied to a train track by some creepy villian and then they get rescued by some handsome man who just happens along! *Sigh*

I do have to say because of this, Lillian Gish is one of my favorite silent film stars...she has a lot of expression in her face, big doe eyes, she appears intelligent, thoughtful, yet delicate and fragile, however she had a lot of strength and fortitude. She had an ethereal kind of beauty. She seems to have this hair that has a mind of its own, that sometimes is straight, fine and soft and other times it is curled and frizzes up easily. Some days when there is a lot of humidity my hair gets like that. Another thing I like about her is my grandma used to look like her when she was younger... the same big eyes, little turned up nose and in some of her pictures her hair is all fuzzed up like that. Some day when I get a scanner I will scan and display some pics of my grandma, she was pretty darn cute when she was young. My grandma was in her early 20's in the 1920's. Back to Lillian Gish, she was born in 1893 and passed away in 1993 (she lived a 100 years) that is amaizing! To think that we had this star with us for that many years until her starlight got dimmer and dimmer until her star was gone. Even though she is no longer with us we do have pictures to forever memorialize her and hopefully other future generations will be interested in these fabulous old time stars so that they can live on, one way or another.

Photos from my latest shoot.