Mondays on Memory Lane: 1987 JOAN COLLINS SELLS HER PANTIES AT MAXIM’S
Mondays on Memory Lane: 1987 JOAN COLLINS SELLS HER PANTIES AT MAXIM’S – Torrid headline, but true. Joan has added her name to many products over the years and in 1987 she launched a line of lingerie, promoted by SanMark Stardust and it was sold in stores such as Jordan Marsh, Emporium and Bon Marche, as well as K-Mart, Target and Shop-co. A diverse range of items were produced including ranges of sleepwear, lounge-wear and day-wear, in colors ranging from Red to Black and of course Pink. The line sold for between $8 to $35 and Joan appeared in print and TV ads to promote the line. The big launch party was at posh Maxim’s. Sadly after it’s fall launch and good sales it was gone by the following summer. (Maxim’s was only open in New York from 1985 to 2000).
Joan Collins lingerie promo
Joan was still at the height of the Dynasty craze which ran from 1981 to 1989, I was a rabid, addicted die-hard fan, forget Dallas! Dy-Nasty had bitchy, dressy, classy Joan Collins! I have (somewhere buried) every episode on VHS tape, with the commercials!).
Joan and family
So – when it was announced Joan was launching her lingerie line at legendary Parisian bistro Maxim’s on Park Avenue in New York, I had to go! By great luck, a co-worker of mine at the time had a press pass he let me borrow, and I wound up having front row access to Joan. I have about 3 dozen photos of the event.
Tomorrow night 26 years later, Joan Collins is making a very rare one night appearance with her one woman life story show at BB King’s Jazz Club on 42nd Street in New York. Despite the fact that it will be election night, my good friend Susan Godwin (who worships Joan) and I are running to see her. Hopefully she will sign some of my memorabilia!
Photo of the day: I TAWT I TAW A PUDDY TAT / I THOUGHT I SAW A PUDDY TAT!
I TAWT I TAW A PUDDY TAT / I THOUGHT I SAW A PUDDY TAT! – I was walking down West 42nd Street and I noticed this odd twosome of ladies leaning into and staring into the cement wall around the Public Library with great intent and fascination. I stopped walking and stood there, to observe the ‘observers’. What could be so fascinating staring into the bushes behind the cement wall? I stood there, they stared. I stood some more, they stared more intently, they did not move an inch, frozen…staring. Curiosity getting the better of me, I drew closer to see if I too could discover this secret fascination that only these two were privy to.
As I approached them from the other side I saw the binoculars in her hand! Oooh, I thought, juicy scandalicoius celebs making out behind the bushes! Or perhaps a secret filming of a top secret movie. No. They were bird watchers, intently watching some (maybe not so) ordinary sparrows in the bushes! Thank goodness no puddy tats were around, just two bird watchers, some perplexed New Yorkers and me.
Tweety bird song video ~ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MvNfPSXWZqw
Photo of the day: PEEK-A-BOO
PEEK-A-BOO:
Show a little more,
Show a little less,
Let me do a few tricks,
Some old and then some new tricks,
I’m very versatile.
Add a little smoke…
And if you’re real good,
I’ll make you feel good,
I want your spirit to climb,
Welcome to Burlesque!
Everything you dream of,
But never can possess.
So let me entertain you,
We’ll have a real good time,
Yes sir!
Outside it is winter. But in here it’s so hot.
Every night we have to battle with the girls
to keep them from taking off all their clothings.
So don’t go away. Who knows?
Tonight we may lose the battle!
Nothing’s what it seems . . .
Welcome to Burlesque!
Can you determine how many cabarets these lyrics are from?
Photo of the day: PRESIDENTIAL PAPERS
PRESIDENTIAL PAPERS: It is estimated that between the two major candidates, over $6 billion, 700 million dollars ($6,700,000,000.) was spent on the 2012 presidential campaign. Endless TV ads, mail flyers, robo calls, hats, stickers, t-shirts, posters, pins and pickets. Republicans broke all financial spending records and democrats broke all donation records.
Then there is this guy, Jeff Boss. He spent just a few thousand dollars printing a lot of posters with eye-catching phrases, but the middle-aged man wasn’t creating street art, nor putting up outdoor ads. He also ran for president. You may have seen his “campaign” here in Manhattan. The stark white posters with bold black lettering featured slogans such as:
“DID THE NSA KILL JFK, RFK, MLK, ETC?”
“NO ONE KNOW JEFF BOSS BECAUSE THE GOVERNMENT DOESN’T WANT THE TRUTH TOLD.”
“JEFF BOSS WITNESSED THE NSA ARRANGE THE 9/11 ATTACK, I HAVE PROOF!”
Boss scattered them around Manhattan, focusing his efforts on highly trafficked areas on 42nd Street near Times Square where these ads were posted on a construction site wall. He didn’t win. But what he does have is the right to free speech and because of that – we are though still left wondering . . . ‘who the heck is Jeff Boss?!’
God bless America.
(NSA = National Security Administration)
Photo & motto of the day: BUT THE WORLD CONTINUES TO GO ‘ROUND
“BUT THE WORLD GOES ‘ROUND”: The lyrics from Liza Minnelli’s 1977 film “New York, New York” seem appropriate in the aftermath of hurricane Sandy.
Sometimes you’re happy, sometimes you’re sad
But the world goes ’round
Sometimes you lose every nickel you had
But the world goes ’round
Sometimes your dreams get broken in pieces
Sometimes your dreams get broken in pieces
But that doesn’t alter a thing
Take it from me, there’s still gonna be
A summer, a winter, a fall and a spring
And sometimes a friend starts treating you bad
And sometimes a friend starts treating you bad
But the world goes ’round
And sometimes your heart breaks with a deafening sound
Somebody loses and somebody wins
Somebody loses and somebody wins
And one day it’s kicks, then it’s kicks in the shins
But the planet spins, and the world goes ’round-
But the world goes ’round
But the world goes ’round
Sometimes your dreams get broken in pieces
Sometimes your dreams get broken in pieces
But that doesn’t matter at all
Take it from me, there’s still gonna be
A summer, a winter, a spring and a fall
And sometimes a friend starts treating you bad
And sometimes a friend starts treating you bad
But the world goes ’round
And sometimes your heart breaks with a deafening sound
Somebody loses and somebody wins
Somebody loses and somebody wins
Then one day it’s kicks, then it’s kicks in the shins
But the planet spins, and the world goes ’round
And ’round and ’round and ’round and ’round
The world goes ’round and ’round and ’round
And ’round!
Lyrics by the great iconic team: composer John Kander and lyricist Fred Ebb.
(Photo is of the lobby of The Daily News Building on 42nd street aka ‘The Daily Planet’ in the Superman series.)
Photo of the day: COUNTING THE DAY’S RECEIPTS
COUNTING THE DAY’S RECEIPTS: “I could just die without my Starbucks coffee in the morning.” “I always get the giant popcorn at the movies.” “I could just die for a pair of Louboutin shoes!” “I got great seats to see the game.” “Cigarettes are so expensive.” “Do you have a dishwasher in your apartment?” “Time for a mani and pedi.” “Let’s order Chinese.”
There but for the grace of God go I.
“WHY DO THEY ALWAYS LOOK LIKE UNHAPPY RABBITS?”
“WHY DO THEY ALWAYS LOOK LIKE UNHAPPY RABBITS?”: Marilyn Monroe’s (as Miss Caswell) query to Addison DeWitt played by George Sanders when asked to go and meet the theatre producer Max Fabian played by Gregory Ratoff and “go do yourself some good”. She puts back her shoulders and puts on a big smile and goes to do herself ‘some good’ at Margo Channing’s (Bette Davis) ‘blasted party’ for Bill Sampson’s (Gary Merrill) birthday.
Photo taken during the Bryant Park and HBO Film Festival showing of “All About Eve”. Monday, August 13th, 2012. Bryant Park is behind the New York Public Library on Fifth Avenue and 42nd Street. 10,000 people showed up to see Marilyn, 50 years after her death. Marilyn lives eternal.
Marilyn Monroe and George Sanders
NEW YORK CITY - IN THE WIT OF AN EYE 