First Night Design | Martha Mansfield, Photoplay July 1920 #Vintage Magazine Cover

Martha Mansfield, Photoplay July 1920 Card by FirstNightVintage

Martha Mansfield [1899-1923] was an American actress who was always determined on a stage career. At the age of fourteen she appeared on Broadway in Little Women (1912), while her film debut came in 1917 with a short called Max Comes Across. She made twenty-four further films, including Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde [1920] with John Barrymore but her life and career was cut tragically short in 1923 when she was filming a Civil War picture called The Warrens of Virginia. A lighted match was thrown in her vicinity and it ignited her costume which went up in flames. She was rushed to hospital but had sustained ‘substantial burns’ [Wikipedia] and died a day later. A sad story. It has never been known who discarded the match thus.

Available at the following galleries:
Redbubble
Crated
Zazzle US
Zazzle UK
Fine Art America [14 fulfillment centers in 5 countries]
Saatchi Art

Take care and keep laughing!

First Night Design | “I have a gift for enraging people…” #Art #Gifts

Lulu in Hollywood Card by FirstNightDesign

Lulu in Hollywood © Sarah Vernon at Saatchi Art

Reposting the incomparable Tallulah yesterday gave me a taste for creating another of my Hollywood images à la Edward Steichen. I found an image of silent film star Louise Brooks from Hello-Tuesday and used the vintage wallpaper from MGB Stock that I’ve used previously (DeviantArt). It is, I believe, a still from Pandora’s Box (1929) — ‘The rise and inevitable fall of an amoral but naïve young woman whose insouciant eroticism inspires lust and violence in those around her.’ This time, however, I have done it slightly differently and given her a background of the wallpaper in its original form. The effect of this can be better seen if you click on Saatchi Art or  Fine Art America.

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“I have a gift for enraging people, but if I ever bore you it will be with a knife.”
― Louise Brooks

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Lulu in Hollywood Throw Pillow by FirstNightDesign

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“I never gave away anything without wishing I had kept it; nor kept anything without wishing I had given it away.”
— Louise Brooks

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Lulu in Hollywood Wrist Watches by FirstNightDesign

Available at the following galleries:
Redbubble
Crated
Zazzle US
Zazzle UK
Fine Art America [14 fulfillment centers in 5 countries]
Saatchi Art

Take care and keep laughing!

First Night Design | Tallulah Bankhead — “pure as the driven slush” #Repost

FROM THE ARCHIVE 15th August 2014

New in my vintage store is this wonderful black & white portrait of Tallulah Bankhead. “I’m as pure as the driven slush.” “My father warned me about men and booze, but h…

Source: First Night Design | Tallulah Bankhead — “pure as the driven slush” | First Night Design

Scrooge: A Christmas Carol with Alastair Sim [video]

First Night Design

This is the best film version of Charles Dickens’ classic tale bar none! Alastair Sim [1900–1976] was a sublime actor and farceur. I was lucky enough to see him on stage on several occasions including Peter Pan at the Scala Theatre, where he played Mr Darling and Captain Hook, and the title role in Arthur Wing Pinero’s farce, The Magistrate at the Criterion. Genius.

Director: Brian Desmond Hurst
Writing Credits: Charles Dickens … (adapted from A Christmas Carol)
Noel Langley: (adaptation and screenplay)

Cast (in credits order)

Alastair Sim …Ebenezer Scrooge

Kathleen Harrison …Mrs. Dilber

Mervyn Johns …Bob Cratchit

Hermione Baddeley …Mrs. Cratchit

Michael Hordern …Jacob Marley

George Cole …Young Ebenezer Scrooge

John Charlesworth …Peter Cratchit

Francis De Wolff …Spirit of Christmas Present (as Francis de Wolff)

Rona Anderson …Alice

Carol Marsh …Fan Scrooge

Brian Worth …Fred

Miles Malleson …Old Joe

Ernest Thesiger …The Undertaker

Glyn Dearman …Tiny Tim

Michael Dolan…

View original post 493 more words

First Night Design | Tallulah Bankhead — “pure as the driven slush”

New in my vintage store is this wonderful black & white portrait of Tallulah Bankhead.

Tallulah Bankhead 1902–1968 © First Night Vintage

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“I’m as pure as the driven slush.”

“My father warned me about men and booze, but he never mentioned a word about women and cocaine.”

“The only thing I regret about my past is the length of it. If I had to live my life again, I’d make the same mistakes, only sooner.”

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Related

• Tallulah Bankhead

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Clara Bow as You’ve Never Seen Her or Hollywood Gets a Makeover

One from the archives to celebrate the anniversary of Clara Bow’s birth on this day in 1905.

First Night Design

The Clara Bow Tattoo © First Night Design

This modern treatment of a Clara Bow photograph was inspired, like The Gloria Swanson Tattoo and The Louise Brooks Tattoo, by Edward Steichen‘s headshot of the Hollywood actress Gloria Swanson covered in lace and held by the Museum of Modern Art. The Clara Bow photo (Hello-Tuesday), and the vintage wallpaper (MGB-Stock) that I used to create the lace effect, are from Deviantart.

The image will soon be for sale at my various online galleries.

Take care and keep laughing!

Related articles

• Silent classic ‘Beggars of Life’ to be screened (post-gazette.com)
• Sexy 1920s Kimono modelled by Louise Brooks (peilinyu.wordpress.com)
• Historical Inspirations: Louise Brooks (historystudenttimes.wordpress.com)
• Happy Birthday Louise Brooks (waldina.com)
• Louise Brooks’ Star Shines Brighter Than Ever (huffingtonpost.com)
• Blind Spot Series – Pandora’s Box (1929) (fandangogroovers.wordpress.com)
• The Louise Brooks Tattoo – More Hollywood Glamour (firstnightdesign.wordpress.com)
• Clara Bow: Cupid Lips and Tear Stains

View original post 24 more words

First Night Design | The Smell of the Greasepaint

My other blog is all about the performing arts, darlings! Thus I introduce you to its own special page on First Night Design.

“The profession should be and is a kind of relay race – about information, opinions and passions being passed on.”  Alan Rickman, Theatregoer Magazine, November 2001

Alan Rickman

Take care and keep laughing!

First Night Design | Happy Birthday Cecil Beaton | waldina

Today is the 110th birthday of Cecil Beaton.  He could evoke every emotion with his camera.  His photographs are as breathtaking as they were the day they were taken and you feel like you are part of them, you can feel the love, the sorrow, the loss, the opulence.  The world is a better place because of Cecil Beaton.

via Happy Birthday Cecil Beaton | waldina

Take care and keep laughing!

Related articles

Scrooge: A Christmas Carol with Alastair Sim [video]

This is the best film version of Charles Dickens’ classic tale bar none! Alastair Sim [1900–1976] was a sublime actor and farceur. I was lucky enough to see him on stage on several occasions including Peter Pan at the Scala Theatre, where he played Mr Darling and Captain Hook, and the title role in Arthur Wing Pinero’s farce, The Magistrate at the Criterion. Genius.

Director: Brian Desmond Hurst
Writing Credits: Charles Dickens … (adapted from A Christmas Carol)
Noel Langley: (adaptation and screenplay)

Cast (in credits order)

Alastair Sim …Ebenezer Scrooge

Kathleen Harrison …Mrs. Dilber

Mervyn Johns …Bob Cratchit

Hermione Baddeley …Mrs. Cratchit

Michael Hordern …Jacob Marley

George Cole …Young Ebenezer Scrooge

John Charlesworth …Peter Cratchit

Francis De Wolff …Spirit of Christmas Present (as Francis de Wolff)

Rona Anderson …Alice

Carol Marsh …Fan Scrooge

Brian Worth …Fred

Miles Malleson …Old Joe

Ernest Thesiger …The Undertaker

Glyn Dearman …Tiny Tim

Michael Dolan …Spirit of Christmas Past

Olga Edwardes …Fred’s Wife

Roddy Hughes …Fezziwig

Hattie Jacques …Mrs. Fezziwig

Eleanor Summerfield …Miss Flora

Louise Hampton …Laundress

C. Konarski …Spirit of Christmas Yet To Come

Eliot Makeham …Mr. Snedrig

Peter Bull …First Businessman, Narrator

Douglas Muir …Second Businessman

Noel Howlett …First Collector

Fred Johnson …Second Collector

Henry Hewitt …Mr. Rosehed

Hugh Dempster …Mr. Groper

David Hannaford

Maire O’Neill …Alice’s Patient

Richard Pearson …Mr. Tupper

Patrick Macnee …Young Jacob Marley (as Patrick MacNee)

Clifford Mollison …Samuel Wilkins

Jack Warner …Mr. Jorkin

Rest of cast listed alphabetically:

Theresa Derrington …Fred’s Maid

Vi Kaley …Old Lady Sitting By Stove At The Charity Hospital (uncredited)

Tony Wager …Fezziwig’s Lad (uncredited)

Produced by Brian Desmond Hurst

Stanley Haynes … associate producer (uncredited)

Music by Richard Addinsell … (musical score by)

Cinematography by C.M. Pennington-Richards … director of photography

Film Editing by Clive Donner … film editor

Casting By Maude Spector

Art Direction by Ralph W. Brinton

Set Decoration by Freda Pearson … (uncredited)

Costume Design by Doris Lee

Phyllis Dalton … (uncredited)  Makeup Department

Eric Carter … make-up artist

Betty Lee … hair stylist

Aldo Manganaro … assistant makeup artist (uncredited)

June Robinson … assistant hair stylist (uncredited)

Production Management

Stanley Couzins … production manager Second Unit Director or Assistant Director

Denis O’Dell … first assistant director

Buddy Booth … third assistant director (uncredited)

Tony Harris … second assistant director (uncredited) Art Department

Chris Chapman … property buyer (uncredited)

T. Hopewell Ash … draughtsman (uncredited)

Ted Marshall … draughtsman (uncredited)

Patricia Neville … sketch artist (uncredited)

Freda Pearson … set dresser (uncredited)

Wallis Smith … construction manager (uncredited) Sound Department

W.H. Lindop … sound recordist

Charles Earl … sound camera operator (uncredited)

Fred Ryan … boom operator (uncredited)

Leonard Trumm … dubbing editor (uncredited) Camera and Electrical Department

Cecil Cooney … camera operator (as C. Cooney)

Richard Cantouris … still photographer (uncredited)

Tom Friswell … clapper loader (uncredited)

Gerry Turpin … focus puller (uncredited) Costume and Wardrobe Department

Constance Da Finna … costume designer: Mr. Sim, Mr. Hordern and Miss Edwardes

Phyllis Dalton … assistant costume designer (uncredited)

W. Walsh … wardrobe master (uncredited) Editorial Department

Anne Barker … assistant editor (uncredited)

Stan Hawkes … second assistant editor (uncredited)

Michael Johns … second assistant editor (uncredited)

Charles Squires … second assistant editor (uncredited) Music Department

Muir Mathieson … conductor Other crew

George Minter … presenter

Larry Edmonds … accountant (uncredited)

Hugh Findlay … publicity director (uncredited)

Elizabeth Montagu … dialogue director (uncredited)

Doris Prince … production secretary (uncredited)

Margaret Ryan … continuity (uncredited)

Jan Saunders … floor runner (uncredited) Thanks

M. Steiner … acknowledgment: mechanical Victorian dolls loaned by (as Mr. M. Steiner)

via A Christmas Carol (1951) – Full Cast & Crew – IMDb.

Take care and keep laughing!

Related articles

• A Christmas Carol | Scrooge (1951) – Eric Norcross
• Straight On Till Morning: The Joy of Peter Pan (firstnightdesign.wordpress.com)
• My all-time favorite Christmas film to date is still ‘Scrooge’ (1951) (goodoldworld.wordpress.com)
• The best three Scrooges on film (readingeagle.com)

Clara Bow as You’ve Never Seen Her or Hollywood Gets a Makeover

The Clara Bow Tattoo © First Night Design

This modern treatment of a Clara Bow photograph was inspired, like The Gloria Swanson Tattoo and The Louise Brooks Tattoo, by Edward Steichen‘s headshot of the Hollywood actress Gloria Swanson covered in lace and held by the Museum of Modern Art. The Clara Bow photo (Hello-Tuesday), and the vintage wallpaper (MGB-Stock) that I used to create the lace effect, are from Deviantart.

Take care and keep laughing!

Related articles

• Silent classic ‘Beggars of Life’ to be screened (post-gazette.com)
• Sexy 1920s Kimono modelled by Louise Brooks (peilinyu.wordpress.com)
• Historical Inspirations: Louise Brooks (historystudenttimes.wordpress.com)
• Happy Birthday Louise Brooks (waldina.com)
• Louise Brooks’ Star Shines Brighter Than Ever (huffingtonpost.com)
• Blind Spot Series – Pandora’s Box (1929) (fandangogroovers.wordpress.com)
• The Louise Brooks Tattoo – More Hollywood Glamour (firstnightdesign.wordpress.com)
• Clara Bow: Cupid Lips and Tear Stains (handbagfetish.wordpress.com)
• Bela Lugosi’s Clara Bow Nude Painting Sells For $30,000 At Auction. (beladraculalugosi.wordpress.com)
• Clara Bow, the ultimate silent damsel in distress. Animated GIF (moviessilently.com)

The Louise Brooks Tattoo – More Hollywood Glamour

The Louise Brooks Tattoo © First Night Design

Just like The Gloria Swanson Tattoo in earlier posts, this treatment of a Louise Brooks photograph was inspired by Edward Steichen‘s headshot of the Hollywood actress covered in lace and held by the Museum of Modern Art. The Louise Brooks photo (Hello-Tuesday), and the vintage wallpaper (MGB-Stock) that I used to create the lace effect, are from Deviantart.

I could have chosen one of the widely known photographs of Louise Brooks but this one appealed to me more than the usual, partly because I had not come across it before and partly because she looks so soignée in male attire.

The still is from a 1928 film, Beggars of Life, where Brooks plays a girl who disguises herself in beggar’s clothing to escape the police after killing her abusive stepfather. Directed by William Wellman, it also stars Wallace Beery, Richard Arlen and Roscoe Karns, and was based on a book by Jim Tully, published in 1924.

Take care and keep laughing!

Related articles

• Silent classic ‘Beggars of Life’ to be screened (post-gazette.com)
• Sexy 1920s Kimono modelled by Louise Brooks (peilinyu.wordpress.com)
• Historical Inspirations: Louise Brooks (historystudenttimes.wordpress.com)
• Happy Birthday Louise Brooks (waldina.com)
• Louise Brooks’ Star Shines Brighter Than Ever (huffingtonpost.com)
• Blind Spot Series – Pandora’s Box (1929) (fandangogroovers.wordpress.com)