June 22, 2004
Obsession Central: Bacall
Another one of those photos. CW - this is for you!!
Apparently, Truman regretted this photo later - but nobody else did!
She's 20 years old. She married Bogie a month or so later. This was in her period of white-hot celebrity - which was soon to end. (Not for good - she would come back - but never with the intensity of that first flash.)
Look at her. No wonder Bogie always called her "Baby".
Those legs!
Posted by: tim at June 22, 2004 1:44 PMThere is nothing regrettable about that photo.
Posted by: Dan at June 22, 2004 2:42 PMNothing at all.
Posted by: red at June 22, 2004 2:43 PMa great photo :)
Posted by: Mr. Bingley at June 22, 2004 3:06 PMI am SO obsessed.
I even have a story about that photograph. The piano was at the Nat'l Press Club in DC, and it is there still, as I understand. Harry Truman was actually pretty proficient at playing - the picture was not posed. At the "Little White House" here in Key West there is a BIG original print of that photograph in the upstairs living quarters. I have been after the curator of the Little White House to help find me my own copy for years and I told him he better not leave me alone with the one he has, lest it disappear.
Posted by: CW at June 22, 2004 3:19 PMheh heh heh!!
I love it that the picture was not posed. I also love it that, by her own account, she was "terrified" the entire time of her press junket in DC - She was in the middle of a media firestorm which she was not prepared for - To Have and Have Not had just come out. She and Bogie were getting married. She said she spent her days "quaking".
And yet - there was something in her that didn't fall apart - that loved the attention even as it freaked her out. And so Truman started playing, and she strolled up there and hopped up onto the piano. "Quaking" inside - but damn, could she hide it!!
Posted by: red at June 22, 2004 3:24 PMI was so wallowing in my obsession that I forgot to say thanks...
Thanks Red for making my afternoon!
Posted by: CW at June 22, 2004 3:44 PMIf anyone understands wallowing in an obsession, CW, I do.
You're welcome.
Posted by: red at June 22, 2004 3:47 PMWhat kind of intense sort of Fabulousness is THAT, I ask you????????
Posted by: Alex at June 22, 2004 3:56 PMI'll bet it wasn't until after Bessie saw that photo that Harry regretted it.
Posted by: Bernard at June 22, 2004 5:44 PMHarry might have regretted the photo, for political or personal reasons, but I'm betting dollars to donuts he didn't regret the event...
Posted by: MikeR at June 22, 2004 6:06 PM