
Personal note: I’m on vacation. Flip through the archive until I get back.

William Holden at the Cannes screening of Billy Wilder‘s Fedora. 1978.
And that’s Jacques Tati that Holden is staring at, right?
Posted in cinema, circus, festival time!

At a Sony Sucks press conference, Al Sharpton tries to keep a straight face as Michael Jackson accuses Tommy Motolla of being “a mean, a racist and…very, very, very devilish”. July 2002.

Michael further takes the glove off here and here.
And here‘s a Fox News interview from the same day—notice how the anchor calls him “The Gloved Wonder” and describes him as a “multi-platinum singer” as if she were talking about Ralph Tresvant and not the person who put out Thriller. It’s predictably condescending in tone (though MJ’s claim of having just written “somebody” a check for $500 million dollars is pretty hard to believe) but Michael sort of sits the reporter down—correcting her as she misquotes him and answering her inevitable stupid 9-11 question with the stupid answer it deserved: “What are your thoughts of 9-11, being here in New York?” “I hated it; I’d hate it if it were anywhere.”


Martin Bashir was waiting in the wings.
Posted in circus, context, music, press conference, royalty
Posted in cinema, circus, context, f for orson

Piece: Calder’s Circus. 1926–31. Wire, wood, metal, cloth, yarn, paper, cardboard, leather, string, rubber tubing, corks, buttons, rhinestones, pipe cleaners and bottle caps.
Alexander Calder, (United States, 1898-1976).
Where: Whitney Museum of American Art.

Elephant and Trainer (Detail of Calder’s Circus).

Fanni, the Belly Dancer (Detail of Calder’s Circus).

Little Clown, the Trumpeteer (detail of Calder’s Circus).
Posted in circus, context, museum piece

8 foot 7-inch-tall George Auger, 29-inch-tall Princess Wee Wee and three-legged Frank Lentini, all of the Ringling Brothers Circus, pose with 5 foot 9-inch-tall Harold Lloyd on the set of Safety Last. Sam Taylor & Fred C. Newmeyer. 1923.

Fire at the Chaplin Studio during production of The Circus. September 28, 1926.
Posted in catching up with the chaplins, cinema, circus, context