Cocktail correction!

Film
arts·meme wishes to correct a regrettable error in the story below, in which we wrongly accused Ms. Fonda of not drinking. This is untrue:  She was! Concerning the beverage in question, sources at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art inform us: It was a martini in that plastic glass – take-out from the Patina ...

A martini with Jane Fonda 2

Film
“If you’d had the day I’ve had, you’d be drinking a martini,” said Jane Fonda, as she entered LACMA’s Bing Theater, speaking directly to the audience before taking her seat on stage. She was slated for a conversation prior to the screening of Alan Pakula’s marvelous thriller “Klute,” the actress’s breakthrough dramatic role from 1971. Still ...

James Dean would follow Eartha Kitt anywhere! 1

Dance · Film · Music
Even to Katherine Dunham‘s dance class circa 1955 … but who wouldn’t? Eartha Kitt danced with the Dunham troupe from age 16 to 20, approximately, touring Europe, and becoming a cabaret sensation in Paris. James Dean, on the other hand … this great photo care of koolcatshipchicksblog. fabulous dunham historic photos here.

James Dean, moody, on location in Griffith Park 2

Architecture & Design · Film
“Location Filming in Los Angeles,” a wonderful new book written by arts·meme pal, Marc Wanamaker in collaboration with Karie Bible and Harry Medved, provides a delicious historic tour of location shooting all ’round our fair city. In the rare promotional photo above, James [“You’re tearin’ me apart!“] Dean broods while filming “Rebel Without a Cause” ...

But enough about me, what do you think about me? Celebrity Autobiography! at the Broad Stage 1

Reviews · Theater
An all-star cast of Florence Henderson, Laraine Newman, Ileana Douglas, Eugene Pack, Julian Sands, Jonathan Silverman, Jennifer Tilly, and more, read snippets of real celebrity autobiographies to the great pleasure of a café-style audience in the Eyde performance space behind the Broad mainstage. It’s a wicked funny review with a rarin’-to-go pick-up cast: Celebrity Autobiography. ...

Duke Ellington’s polished “Satin Doll” 1

Music
Note the beat-up bass Aaron Bell solos on! Personnel: Ray Nance, Shorty Baker, Cat Anderson, Bill Berry, Ed Mullens (t), Lawrence Brown, Leon Cox, Chuck Connors (tb), Russell Procope, Johnny Hodges (as), Paul Gonsalves (ts), Jimmy Hamilton (cl, ts), Harry Carney (bars), Duke Ellington (p), Aaron Bell (b), Sam Woodyard (d). NYC, Jan 9, 1962. ...

Abstract art show at Barnsdall Park

Film · Visual arts
Barnsdall Art Park — off Hollywood Boulevard not far from where D.W. Griffith’s studio once made celluloid art — sits on a hill over looking the Griffith Park Observatory, Hollywood sign, and picturesque Los Feliz neighborhood. All that beauty (click on photo for better view) — but a hideous strip mall sits adjacent to the ...

Vidal Sassoon The Movie: sharp man, sharp scissors

Fashion · Film · Reviews
Caroline Cushing Graham, founding partner of C4 Global Communications and longtime Sassoon client, contributes this film review to arts·meme: The Vidal Sassoon movie: Five Stars! The movie is great, very poignant and beautifully shot. Startling black and white photography with film clips, creating a vivid portrait of Vidal Sassoon. Nothing too much about wild sixties ...

Herb & Lani’s Latin-infused jazz at “Vibrato” 1

Music
“It’s what Miles said about me, which is really touching, ‘You hear three notes and you know it’s Herb Alpert.’ Well, you hear one note and you know it’s Miles. He won!” So says the modest and artistic Herb Alpert, musician, painter, sculptor, and arts philanthropist, at the end of an interview on a CBS morning program ...

Tidbits from Robert Redford at the AARP Awards 2

Dance · Film
It was interesting to see Robert Redford honored for “Life Achievement” at the AARP “Movies for Grownups Awards” Monday night. Redford is an ambiguous player in this town. A star among stars, one of the last of the old-school movie actors, he stepped into the breach, launching the Sundance Institute and its independent film festival. ...