Here is a book we read with jubilation, glamour and cinema’s family photo album. A time period when celebrities were not treated as “vulgar” people, but as “stars”. A distant family, true, camped out on the Hollywood hills of Los Angeles that we remember nostalgically. So we gathered together these wedding pictures, the false “for laughs” and the true “for real”. The book can be a game “Which ones are movie scenes?” And “What is exceptional in the life of a couple?” These authentic documents are like hidden treasures that idolatrous archeologists would like to discover.
Here is a fascinating scavenger hunt that begins with the most beautiful of them all, Grace Kelly and the surprisingly miscast Prince of Monaco. No one expected him in this role. We prefer to rediscover her in the movies, alongside Gary Cooper in High Noon or with Bing Crosby in High Society. These exceptional documents presented chronologically show the weddings of Buster Keaton, Fred Astaire face to face with his famous partner Ginger Rogers. The extraordinary and enigmatic Sir Alfred Hitchcock as a groom. This game of mirrors also provides readers with studio shots, backstage scenes and reality, gems that would include this picture of King of Jazz (1930) and the Hollywood staging of dozens of brides.
The great American comedy holds the most important place: they are all present, from Cary Grant to Gary Cooper, Orson Welles with Rita Hayworth, Sinatra with Mia Farrow, the divine Hepburn, Katharine and Audrey in all forms of (high) fashion. The wedding record holder, Elizabeth Taylor, who would wed Richard Burton twice. And the pin-ups Marilyn Monroe and her amazing stretch (from Jo DiMaggio to Arthur Miller), Jane Mansfield, without forgetting Jean Harlow or the sublime couple Lauren Bacall/Humphrey Bogart (featured on the book’s cover) etc… An essential part of these photographic documents comes from a great man of pictures, a privileged observer, Bob Willoughby. He “covered” the filming of 125 movies for Life, Vogue, Harper’s Bazaar and Look. He was the only photographer to have penetrated the great studios. He is the author of the books’ closing series: pictures of the wedding in The Graduate with Dustin Hoffman unbridled.
The only criticism of this marvelous book: the presence of tennis champions, television actresses and even the Beatles on their respective wedding days. Far, very far from the glamour of big screen stars. Few beauties either from Italian cinema, save for Virna Lisi and Gina Lollobrigida. Few French stars either, with the exception of Brigitt Bardot, Catherine Deneuve (and Roger Vadim), Anouk Aimée, Roman Polanski with Sharon Tate. No Piaf, or Jeanne Moreau, or Belmondo , Delon or even Gainsbourg. What a shame !
Paul Alessandrini
BOOK
Weddings and Movie Stars
Carey Wallace, Sarah Hodgson and Alison Elangasinghe
Reel Art Press
£49.95
http://www.reelartpress.com
This article is from the archives of Le Journal de la Photographie.
