Gertrude Lawrence, Rogers and Hammerstein performing ‘I Whistle A Happy Tune’ on the very first broadcast of the Ed Sullivan Show.
I kick myself every time I think of the fact that I DID NOT buy this when it was sold and when they published the measurements, it totally would have fit me.
One of the gowns sold under Gertrude Lawrence’s label for war relief. GUH.
Can I tell you how emotional I became when I saw this picture? It is an original photograph from the newspaper on the funeral of Gertrude Lawrence at Lakeview Cemetery in Upton, MA, where I have visited twice already and plan to every morning of the 4th of July for a long time.
lushupork: I feel like you need to post about Fosca the Penguin on your tumblr. It’s a most amusing story.
This is Fosca the Penguin. I don’t have access to the photos of her in Times Square right now, but above you see her hard at work at her desk and hard at play with pals Wanda and Jeff God of Biscuits (and my “I Heart Death Eaters” mortar board from the Deathly Hallows Midnight Magic party where all the parents helping their kids make “Hogwarts 2007” mortar boards gave me suspicious looks). Fosca and I met a few years ago at the Times Square Toys ‘R’ Us. Erin and I were on our way to see LoveMusik, starring Donna Murphy and Michael Cerveris, that afternoon, and as both actors had a connection to Fosca’s namesake character in Passion (the former through playing her and the latter through taking over for Jere “I’m Quitting Acting” Shea as Giorgio in subsequent versions), Fosca decided to attend the show with us. Before the show we went around Times Square taking pictures of Fosca in front of the marquee of her favorite musical, Mamma Mia! (Fosca has terrible taste but she is unrepentant). No one remarked on the fact that I was carrying a giant stuffed penguin and taking pictures of it in front of Mamma Mia! marquees, although at one point as we passed the Phantom of the Opera theatre I heard some guy mutter, “hey, did you see that girl carrying a giant stuffed penguin?” We made our way to the theatre and, being only two or three feet tall, squishy, and lacking in an actual ticket for LoveMusik, Fosca spent the show under my seat. We all visited the stage door afterwards, where no one remarked on the fact that I was carrying a giant stuffed penguin. That evening we went to see Grey Gardens, where we sat in the balcony and no one cared if Fosca sat on my lap and watched the entire show peering over the railing. After the show at about 11:30 on our way back to Port Authority we stopped at a deli to get sodas, and the first direct acknowledgement of Fosca’s existence came from the cashier, who silently patted her on the head and smiled.
Fosca the Penguin is one of my favorite people.
I carried around my snoopy named Noel after Noel Coward around the West End one afternoon taking pictures in front of marquees (even the Noel Coward theatre!) He recently acquired a pal in a matching Snoopy in a blue evening dress named Gertie.
I would never have tried to make a modern outfit out of this if I hadn’t found the PERFECT dress on Polyvore, so there you have it!
Hattie Carnegie dress worn by Gertrude Lawrence in the promotion of the Broadway play Susan and God in 1937
This is an appreciation post for one of my favorite costumes in the whole film. Sometimes the most seemingly ‘simple’ looking costumes can be the most beautiful. While simple in silhoutte the cut on this dress is absolutely gorgeous. The bands of wool jersey shaping out from the front all the way around the neck is so clean cut and chic you wish they made clothes like this nowadays….I LOVE this dress and if I could convince my sister to draft me a pattern I would make it for myself but perhaps in another color like cranberry.
Ps. I am looking for a high def photo of the front of this dress for the piece of jewelry, looking at today I could swear it was supposed to be a fish. It seriously looked like a fish and if it was the inside joke of that cracks me up.
The front cover of my beautiful program of Daphne du Maurier’s play September Tide, starring Gertrude Lawrence as the Mother-in-Law.
September Tide played at the Aldwych Theatre (1949) - now home to Top Hat.
A big thank you to my wonderful girlfriend who bought my this for my anniversary.
