Wednesday, August 13, 2014

Lauren Bacall 1924-2014

I adore the film To Have and Have Not.  The director was Howard Hawks, a man's man and then husband of the glamorous Slim Hawks.  Slim Hawks was voted onto the Best Dressed List in 1946 (the runner up was Duchess of Windsor).  Needless to say, Slim Hawks read Harper's Bazaar and when her husband, Howard, was looking to cast the character of Marie Browning, Slim recalled the girl on the cover leaning across a Red Cross door who "had the look of a panther about her".  The 'panther' was Lauren Bacall.

The casting was brilliant, a star was born and a Hollywood love story began.  The NY Times 1944 review of  To Have and Have Not said that Lauren Bacall was of "slumberous eye and softly reedy, she acts in the quiet way of catnip and sings a song from deep down in her throat."

Lauren Bacall was a babe and a broad.  She wrote two very good autobiographies - the first, By Myself, is my favorite and I highly recommend it.  You can buy it here.


love, kisses and missing Lauren Bacall, Juliana

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