Thursday, May 24, 2012

Return Engagement

I stumbled upon this book a year ago at a used book store, and when I saw that Natalie was in it, I just had to have it. It’s by James Watters, with photos by the great Horst, who may possibly be the great photographer of all time, I love his work. What a great idea for a book, take photos of old stars now by the same photographer who took their pictures when they were stars in the 30’s, some really great stuff. It was published in 1984 and most of the interviews and photos are from around that year. I am very interested in seeing these stars as they aged, the 30’s were such a glamorous decade(in Hollywood) so seeing how these beautiful women aged without plastic surgery(although some may have had some) is very cool. Some aged well and look almost exactly the same while others just look old, not to be rude, but that’s life. As for Natalie, sadly the interview doesn’t give much insight in what I really want to know, like what has she been doing since 1940. As for her photo, well she looks older, but she looks just like herself, even at 80 years old she is still just as chic and cool. There’s a lot of great stars in this book, like some of my favorites Mary Astor, Sylvia Sidney, Judith Anderson, Claire Trevor, Genevieve Tobin, Frances Dee, Maureen O’Sullivan, Claudette Colbert, Mary Brian, Marsha Hunt, Fay Wray, and Gloria Swanson. It’s a really cool book, if you get a chance to pick up a copy it’s a must have for any old movie fan.