NO ONE IS EXACTLY ALIKE

JOY TO THE WORLD

I'VE GOT A CRUSH ON YOU

MICHAEL BUBLE : WINTER WONDERLAND

BEST WISHES

THE GOOD GIRLFRIEND YOU REALLY NEED AND NEED TO BE : OPINION BY MISSY

Reading about Diane Von Furstenberg and reading her own memoirs, listening to her speak on a YouTube video, I feel as if I know this woman.  I also feel, "This is the kind of woman you want to have as a friend." She's a celebrity, not from the world of entertainment or sports, but fashion and enterprise, but even if she had not been so successful in a worldly way, she'd be a good friend to have.

Although Diane emphasizes her love of independence and a certain appreciation for the fact that upon marriage she was a Princess and that having the Von Furstenberg name helped her, and I have no doubt it did get her though doors, I feel as if she skims over the role of her husband the Prince. He wanted her to have the child.  He married her.  They were an "in" couple in New York early in their marriage.  They had a second child.  Then the marriage busted up.  (I've read elsewhere that the marriage was after two previous abortions.  I do wonder if Diane was just unlucky or not practicing contraception.) Diane doesn't spend much time on the bust up.  She says nothing about the financial support of her ex, not even if he contributed to the raising of their children or if they saw him regularly. This makes me wonder if she not only wanted to be an independent woman but if she HAD to be.  So if there's anything I wish she'd written more about, it would be about her and Egon after the divorce.

Believe me when I say that having a Diane Von Furstenberg kind of woman as a good friend can make all the difference in the world to you.

Here's some reasons why:

She thinks women overall are great. She gives opportunities to other women. She helps women find their self esteem.
She admits her failures and doubts as well as her successes and hopes.
She's real.  Her expectations of you are high but there's room for your mistakes.
She is a life long learner.
She married the second time to Barry Diller when it made sense, not out of desperation.
She knows sexual exploration has its time and place.
She loves the culture of art and is kind to creators and makers.
She is worldly enough to know what goes on, but what is and isn't right for her at this time in her life.
She is generous in her judgement of others and quite accepting.
She is a feminist without being in a constant battle with men.

Thinking of Diane's qualities as those of a girlfriend you really need and should be, I wonder how many of my readers, who may admire or have other qualities, practice being a good friend.
What you owe a good friend and what they owe you is different and better than a friendship of lesser value.

Really Truly, the best gift you can give yourself is a Best Friend!

C 2018 Mistress Manifesto BlogSpot  All Rights Reserved

FALLING

DIANE VON FURSTENBERG speaking at PARSONS SCHOOL OF DESIGN

GEOMETRY OF NATURE

GRACE by GRACE CODDINGTON : MISTRESS MANIFESTO BOOK REVIEW

  I listened to this audio book, read by the author Grace Coddington, with her British accent, and thoroughly enjoyed hearing her tell her own tale of leaving home at 18 and giving modeling a try.  Her first assignment was nude, though she didn't understand that was the case when she showed up, but she went with it.  Coddington is well known as Vogue magazine Editor Anna Wintour's sidekick, both included in the documentary called The September Edition. She's the red haired one, if you haven't guessed, the one who actually can speak to Anna candidly. According to Grace, it was the film "The Devil Wears Prada," a fictive account, the human devil said to be based on Anna Wintour, that brought Anna - and then Grace - to infamy.  It was that film and all the commentary, and her true relationship with Anna, that lead the normally publicity shy (OK, we'll try to believe her) Grace to go ahead and speak up for herself, her life, and her profession and write her book.

One of the things I appreciated was that she didn't do much introspection and certainly no apology for her life or rise in fashion but as I also read other audio memoir type books this past year by British women, I'm beginning to think there is something British about it. Certainly this woman must have faced competition and made some enemies along the way, but her own perspective is that she went from event to event, opportunity to opportunity, almost as if it were all fate or a done deal. But believe it: she worked her butt off.

C 2018 Book Review Mistress Manifesto BlogSpot

A MILLION TO ONE

RAGS TO RICHES

Copyright Newsweek

Used For Educational Purposes

Diane was her own best model in her twenties.

DIANE VON FURSTENBERG on THE WOMAN ACROSS THE ROOM

You know, there's a thing about the woman across the room.

You see the woman across the room, you think she's so poised, she's so together.  but she looks at you and you are the woman across the room for her...  Diane Von Furstenberg

source: a-z quotes

THE EYE HAS IT

DIANE VON FURSTENBERG - TRUTH IS HER RELIGION : HONORARY MISTRESS OF THE MONTH

BOOKS  DIANE VON FURSTENBERG - A LIFE UNWRAPPED by GIOIA DILIBERTO



and  THE WOMAN I WANTED TO BE by DIANE VON FURSTENBERG

This is going to be a Diane Von Furstenberg December as I'm, electing her as Honorary Mistress of the Month.  Long the companion and partner and wife of Barry Diller, now a woman who could be said to have everything - wealth, fame, fulfillment, love - and the will to lift other women up, Diane persisted through times in which she was unsure of her direction, overly influenced by the current main man in her life, times in which she had to admit failures, beg for help, even give some nasty business back so she could survive.  

It is especially refreshing to hear her admit as much in the audio book, The Woman I Wanted To Be. She admits to uncertainties, fears, and that bright ideas sometimes fail, while her warm and generous spirit allows her to complement others for their roles, not wasting too much time and energy on condemning. Can anyone actually control their lives totally, especially in the mercurial fashion business?  She made decisions spontaneously, sometimes deliberately, often hiring and surrounding herself by others to move her vision along, sometimes loosing that vision.  She sees life as a series and variety of events.  Her nature has been experimental, and she has reached out to help other women.

I've been fascinated with this woman who says that TRUTH IS HER RELIGION  and that ALL MARRIAGES SHOULD BE OPEN for some time.  But it was the quote in Gioia Dilberto's book that convinced me that she belongs in the posts/pages of MISTRESS MANIFESTO.

IN THIS QUOTE SHE SAYS SHE WOULD LOVE TO BE A MISTRESS... and she knows that this is an attitude that is more European, that American woman might not understand.

Diane is thought by some in fashion to not actually be a designer but more of a producer.  I credit her for figuring out what she could do well and sticking to it, though in her career she has taken departures and had to reassess several times.

Diane Helfin was born in Belgium, the daughter of Holocaust concentration camp survivor, Lily.  She considers her birth to her mother, who came out of the camp emaciated, about a year later, as a miracle. Her parents became well off enough to send her away to private boarding school and in her early womanhood she began to socialize with wealthier people than they were. Her mother also told her to never be ashamed of sex and well, she wasn't. She had love affairs and sex with both men and women as did the man she married quite young, Egon Von Furstenberg, a German and Italian Prince.  (Her daughter Tatianna had an affair with another woman and stayed friends with her, considers herself part of the tribe.) These two sexual adventurers were a hot couple around town in New York City for some time until a magazine profile made them see themselves and their lives more critically.  Diane was a huntress and has no apologies. When they split she was determined to honor the name and the allure of having been married to a Prince but also to make it on her own. 

It was the 1970's. She invented the "wrap dress" that made her rich.  She learned as she went, and the things that made her dress so important, besides capturing the imagination of women from diverse life experiences, was that it was reasonably affordable, the fine fabric manufactured in Italy on which her designs were printed, and the colors and patterns were bold.  The dress looked good on a variety of figures and it moved well and held up well after a hard day of work as a new era of feminism and the sexual revolution accelerated so that you could wear it to work or out of dinner.  She posed for her first ad on a mod white cube, the ad saying, "Be a Woman, Wear a Dress."  Her forays into cosmetics and a perfume named after her daughter went only so well, and she struggled to understand and stick to her own brand.

About her husband Barry Diller,: their relationship wasn't exactly off and on, it was sort of on in some way no matter who else was going on, and some people think he's gay but for Diane.  Unified as a couple and family with her children and grandchildren, the two of them have a fortune that is not just about fashion, but perhaps more correctly pop culture and technological innovation.

C 2018  All Rights Reserved Mistress Manifesto BlogSpot

MODELS of INFLUENCE by NIGEL BARKER : MISTRESS MANIFESTO BOOK REVIEW

MODELS OF INFLUENCE - 50 WOMEN WHO RESET THE COURSE OF FASHION by NIGEL BARKER.  (Can you identify the models on the cover photo?)  There are do many good pictures of the models in the book, but it's a wonder the editors could even choose which photos to feature!  Author Nigel Barker features a series of mini bios capturing the essence of each model and her contribution to the evolution of fashion, or perhaps that's fashion photography!

This book names fifty models who as the subtitle says, "reset the course of fashion," and you may be surprised when you read it that you know so many names and faces.  Is beauty a requirement?  Well, no!  Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.  Presence - something that captivates others - is more important!

Some of these woman are of personal fascination to me, so I'll name them! 

DORIAN LEIGH started modeling at the old age of 27 and had already lived a "full" life, married with children unhappily, and some say her whole life was tormented.  She was able to emote so many emotions silently.  She was modeling from about 1944 on and worked nonstop, never shunning lingerie in those days way before Victoria's Secret, when to do so was considered slumming.

BETTINA GRAZIANI, who was our Mistress of the Month in June of 2015, also makes the list and I'm going to do a little "update" on her start page excerpting from this book!  JERRY HALL, who was out Mistress of the Month in April 2011, also makes this list; did you know she was discovered when wearing a hot pink crocheted bikini?

DOVIMA; you must have seen the classic photo of her in a sleek evening gown and long while gloves with the two elephants.

CARMEN DELL 'OREFICE is a woman with almost prenatural beauty because she managed to keep it though into her natural gray hair.  She admits that she worked more in her old age than she did in her 1950's modeling days, and considers herself "still a work in progress," when modeling at age 82!

LINDA EVANGELISTA, who according to this book never wanted to do anything else but model and never has, "no skin care lines, no acting, no television shows, no tell-all books..." (page 27 of 125 on the e-book.)

STEPHANIE SEYMOUR, who went to Europe and where "two auspicious relationships mixing business and pleasure would change the course of her life.  First in Paris, at just 16 years old she started seeing Elite's owner John Casablancas who was tw3ice her age and married... (page 82 of 175 of the e-book.)

CLAUDIA SCHIFFER, who has done over 1000 magazine covers, with a bit of a resemblance to Bridget Bardot.

KATE MOSS, who is credited for "taking the snobbishness out of fashion," and is known for keeping her own counsel - despite her high living.

I could go on, because this book does include some of the latest, youngest models who are making their careers hot right now...


C 2018 Mistress Manifesto BlogSpot  All Rights Reserved

SHARING

I'll bet when you saw the word "sharing" on the headline of this post, you thought I'd post an affirmation/declaration about sharing men!  Well, SHARING implies an interaction between two people at least, meaning that if you SHARE a man, then those of you who share him know about each other, at least that you both exist.

Actually...

"It doesn't have to be THANKSGIVING for me to share."

Share what you have.  It doesn't have to be a material thing, but whatever it is,  a stick of gum or your win from the lottery, share it graciously.

This post originally appeared here at Mistress Manifesto BlogSpot Thanksgiving 2015.  C 2015

THANKSGIVING

MONICA LEWINSKY IS STILL HEALING

VANITY FAIR - MONICA LEWINSKY on HEALING and MEETING UP WITH KEN STARR

I dedicated a month to Monica, who was not a Courtesan, not a Mistress in the best, classic scense, but did have an affair with President Bill Clinton when he was in the White House. He denied it because his definition of sex was intercourse.  Now with the Me Too Movement outing powerful abusers, Monica Lewinsky has entered a new phase of her healing.  And she writes a thought-provoking article about her life as it is right now.  Back when I featured Monica here at Mistress Manifesto Blogspot I said GET OFF HER BACK! Sure she was smart.  Sure she was young.  She knew what she was doing.  But being outed by a person posing to be a friend and putting the Presidency into question isn't something she took into consideration.

MARCH 2012 is where to find Monica Lewinsky in my archives.

EXCERPT: ... Given my PTSD and my understanding of trauma, it’s very likely that my thinking would not necessarily be changing at this time had it not been for the #MeToo movement—not only because of the new lens it has provided but also because of how it has offered new avenues toward the safety that comes from solidarity. Just four years ago, in an essay for this magazine (Vanity Fair), I wrote the following: “Sure, my boss took advantage of me, but I will always remain firm on this point: it was a consensual relationship. Any ‘abuse’ came in the aftermath, when I was made a scapegoat in order to protect his powerful position.” I now see how problematic it was that the two of us even got to a place where there was a question of consent. Instead, the road that led there was littered with inappropriate abuse of authority, station, and privilege. 

MICHAEL GROSS' book FOCUS - THOSE NAME MODELS! : MISTRESS MANIFESTO BOOK REVIEW

Makeup Artists (Bill King), Photographers (David Bailey, Richard Avedon, Cecil Beaton, Patrick Demarchelier, Editors, Models (Lauren Bacall, Dovima, Janice Dickenson, Jacqueline Bisset, Christie Brinkley, Gia Carangi, Nastassja Kinski, Miley Cyrus, Gigi Hadid), Department Stores (Henri Bendel), bookers (John Casablanca, Eileen Ford), Designers (CoCo Chanel, Christian Dior,  Clair McCardell, Perry Ellis, Halston, Givency, John Galliano), Stylists (OK, I'm doing a LOT of name dropping here but these names are just a few mentioned in the book!)  You may be surprised by how many of these professional's names you recognize, simply because you read the fine print on some of the ads in fashion ads in magazines. 


 


Michael Gross's book is on the evolution of the photographers and how they and the models they worked with evolved themselves and in and with fashion and the way this was part of and promoted the sexual revolution. This book focuses on the give and take - perhaps the balance - between the fashion photographer and the editor who places limits on what will be acceptable for the magazine layout and the models.  Sometimes the models went past their limits responding to the photographer. Sometimes a model became an inspiration or a muse. Sometimes a photographer had a whole posse of models the preferred to work with - and visa versa. It's about the days of analog fashion imagery, beginning with the 1940's, the "game changers" in those days before reality television and Internet media stars made the magazine and the inner layouts.  The book moves into what's happened because of digital photography and processes such as Photoshop, that can create scenes that never took place. 


"An open secret in the business is that magazines often dole out "pages" and "credits" based on the purchase of advertising pages and that photographers regularly shoot "musts" garments chosen by major advertisers.  But accepting these compromises has compensations.  Powerful magazine editors and stylists have long functioned as de facto agents for photographers recommending them to advertisers for higher paying jobs as a perquisite offsetting enough editorial payments and limited creative freedom."
Chapter, "Welcome to Terrytown,"  (regarding Terry Richardson, a photographer)
pages 50-51 of the e-book


In the epilogue, pages 114-115 of 120 of the e-book, there is a quote from Carey Franklin: "Fashion will pretend it's art instead of calling it what it really is - porno objectification of women all stylishly dressed up as womenswear marketing.  But then, women have gotten so used to seeing themselves with their legs wide open and their fannies hanging out, they have normalized it for themselves! What he (Terry Richardson) does behind the scene however is simply unethical."


Do magazine editors and fashion influencers only want beautiful women?  According to this book, Vogue magazine, when Diana Vreeland was the editor, chose models she preferred that photographers called "Vogue Ugly!"


Hey, there's a lot of mistress name dropping in this book too!  William Helburn was one of a few men who claimed they were sleeping with hot model Jean Shrimpton, "the shrimp," during the mods and rockers era.  In his case, Helburn was "dumped by his mistress Elsa Martinelli," for his involvement.  (Chapter "A Tableau of... in US pages 12-13 of 25.)


What made some these photographer's who became famous for fashion photography click (if you'll pardon that expression!) so that their work dominated.  Many of them were not sexually attracted to women. Some of them were S and M players who enjoyed making models do "edgy" things, such as when Helmut Newton had Jerry Hall lick the cowboy boots of a male model riding a horse (Chapter "An Intolerable and Mendacious Factor, page 26 of 37).


Then so many photographers, designers, fashion executives, and make-up artists and hairdressers, and a model or so, such as Gia Caragi, started dying of AIDS before it was understood, and until the late 1980's not even discussed. The cause of death was concealed even as insiders knew.  Photographer Bill King's extreme life style is rather detailed here, S and M and cocaine, and for all that he would not admit to being gay.  Yes, my readers, it was in that chapter that I became shocked.


This book is certainly worth of your fashion-conscious consideration as we here at Mistress Manifesto BlogSpot read up on fashion!


C 2018 Mistress Manifesto BlogSpot
All Rights Reserved including Internet and International Rights

THE WORLD OF FASHION : SPECIAL EDITION : MISTRESS MANIFESTO BLOGSPOT

The world of modeling is fascinating to most of us, even those of us who are artistic but not especially fashionable.  I peruse though magazines such as Vogue and am excited by the ads and what they say about our Pop Culture.  I look at the fashion layouts, which, to the insiders who create them are called "stories" and see if I understand that story.

If you're like me and can't afford the most expensive selections from top designers, well, you read a fashion magazine and maybe you are impacted by the trends in your selection of color for your winter wardrobe, or you notice the change of shape in eyewear or the new heel for shoes, or update your hairstyle or your bag. Or you may read around the subject, reading books on cosmetics, hair, putting together classic looks to wear to work.

Now let's face the fact that fashion insiders all know what's ahead a year or more in advance and keep it a secret.  They may wear a trend the moment it appears but don't want to spoil the surprise. Even those on top of the subject know it's too soon to wear some things because if they did they'd be letting those of us who are on the other side as consumers would know what changes are coming.  Others in fashion determine their own style early and stick with it: consider Anna Wintour, the Vogue editor who has barely changed her hair in years. I hear that she has dozens of the same style shoes made for her.  Some of these fashionistas wear black and more black, as if their bodies were only the background for more exciting clothing that is offered for sale.  One day one of these people told me, "We consider models to be just hangars!"  I felt for the models.

I wonder about those few people in the world who have such influence on us - the world! They are powerful people and many of them are heterosexual women or gay men.

We women, whatever our sexual orientation, also look at those models and we notice their beauty and have our favorites.  (Kate Moss is mine! She once owned being a model without any agenda to also be a spokesperson or actress, but I hear her alter ego is actually a Rock Star!  Kate is known for keeping her privacy, making her more mysterious!)  Some women, like some of these models, starve themselves hoping to measure up (or is that down?) to be skinny enough.  One designer featured such unhealthy and famished looking boney teenager models in one spread I saw in a Vanity Fair magazine ad, that I pledged that I would never ever buy his clothing; he had to know better.  Does he even like women? Very thin women modeling clothes two sizes smaller than you aren't actually showing you what those clothes will look like on you, but it seems designers don't want the challenge to design for lovely women's bodies.

As the MeToo Movement exposes sexual predators and harassers and demands equal pay, I always think about the fashion world because for years I've heard that it's full of them.  I've heard that models find sexual demands to be simply the way it is; if you don't like that get out, if you don't comply you won't get booked. I wonder - is modeling so objectifying that a model looses her self worth as her looks and body are discussed in front of her as if she were not there?  Is that why there are always rumors of models who were or become prostitutes in Southern California?  Does a model go to Milan to become experienced sexually? One top model, who no longer needed the money, is rumored to have been selling herself to Saudi Royalty for $10,000 a night!
I'm going to be focusing on the world of fashion in the next few weeks as a special edition of Mistress Manifesto BlogSpot, taking more time to do so because I have wonderful books to recommend to you, which, if you read them, will reveal to you the insiders world of fashion - photographers, stylists, magazine editors, and of course the models!

While you read these books (all available as e-books or audio books by the way) you might begin to understand that world without having to enter it.  Or you might "try on" what you read and decide this is the career for you!

I'm focusing on the modeling business because there are so many models who allow themselves to be Kept, particularly when they make it to the Big City (New York City, Paris, Los Angeles, Milan, London) and find themselves in the equivalent of a flop house for models. Starving is made easy by not having money for food.  (One ex-model told me she only ate when someone took her out to dinner.)  All that rushing about and unending feeling of competition with other women!

Every case is different, but as we know here at Mistress Manifesto BlogSpot, Mistresses - Kept Women (Kept People) come from many different reasons why - from desperation to choice, from poverty to wealth, from the nunnery to the houses of prostitution.  Certainly equal pay or economic disparity based in sexism is a factor, but so are love and lust, which I predict will not go out of style!

So, stick with me over the next few weeks as we move through the holidays here at Mistress Manifesto BlogSpot!

Missy


C 2018 All Rights Reserved including Internet and International Rights.

A REMINDER ON COMMENTS

I have left some comments unpublished because there was no reference for statements made that could be considered really putting someone in the shade. If you have information that is about one of my posts, please name or link the book, article, or say it is your opinion or experience, PLEASE.

HOW TO HELP HER WITHOUT KEEPING HER : OPINION BY MISSY

Being Kept is a Relationship, even if the financial aspect of the situation lasts just a few weeks or months, as was the case when Cosmopolitan editor-to-be Helen Gurley Brown gave it a try early in her life - and hated it.  

I got a comment that I left unpublished, though it was a good comment, in which the person argued that an affair is a Relationship too.  Well, the definition of Relationship is broad, as is the definition of Friend. I can argue that traditional stay at home wives and mothers - whose numbers are quite dwindled - are also Kept Women.  It is from the Classic set up in which an unmarried woman does not earn income and is in waiting for the married Man who Keeps her, that we have a clearly defined Mistress.  These days there are a full range of Relationship Possibilities and so the definition is all over the place too.  Probably what is more common is that the woman does earn income, but not enough, and she has a man (or woman) who earns better and the financial help can be counted on for some time.  (And there are gay and lesbian people who are Kept and Keep too.)

I bring this up because a man friend who does not want to marry and who does not want his present Girlfriend whom he is Dating (his words) to be a Mistress, still wants to HELP HER financially.  He doesn't want to embarrass her.  He doesn't want to her to get the wrong idea that he is planning to continue this financial support or turn her into a Kept Woman, which he says she would hate.  He does not want to be thought of as a Sugar Daddy. So he asked me, "HOW DO I HELP HER WITHOUT KEEPING HER?"

The Question is trickier than it seems.  Do beautifully wrapped gifts appear?  Does he splurge on her for her Birthday or a Special Occasion?  Does he ask her, "Would you rather have new window blinds or go out to dinner or buy a new dress?"  (Which is NOT romantic?) 

As usual, I think a kind but honest conversation about it is the best thing to do.  Asking a person what they would like involves them in a decision and they don't go back to a store to return a gift to get the cash (though there are a lot of women doing that, as well as reselling their designer clothes!)

However, with the Holidays approaching, let me say that I think the Secret Elf who visits leaving unexpected cash can be a lot of fun.  (If you have a friend do the delivery, be sure they aren't the type to abscond with your gift.)  Secret Elf is a cash gift to someone that can be done anonymously.  Cash doesn't mean a Money Order, a Check, etc. There was a time when I played Secret Elf when I was visiting someone who I knew was hurting and I left some cash in their medicine cabinet in the bathroom.  Other people were there.  Who could she blame?

Another approach is the GIFT CARD.  In my opinion a romantic man should never give just the gift card.  Flowers, a box of Swiss chocolate, a hand made card or original poem and the GIFT CARD is much better.

It seems to me that a man shouldn't pay rent or medical insurance or set her up in business if his help is meant to be at whim or occasional. CASH or a GIFT CARD have destinations that are up to her.

Now WHEN you give a gift, also has something to do with what you are communicating.  MEN, whatever you do NEVER leave her in bed to go home and leave cash.  The implication is that the lovemaking is actually sex work.

Consider specific item contributions.  An upgraded cell phone or computer is usually good.  Also good, contributing in sneaky ways, such as when you are invited as the "plus one" to a wedding of one of her friends, suggesting you totally cover the gift that comes from the both of you.  That frees up some of her money.

I knew a Mistress of Sorts who never received gifts in boxes, cash, or anything new.  Her man, an antiques hound, furnished her entire two bedroom house with finds from flea markets!  According to her, they never even had sex, never even hugged. But they were very fond of each other and he was happy to help her in this way.

Missy

WHEN THE LION ROARS

The Roaring Lion as icon of M.G.M. movie studios is well known.

Samuel Goldwyn and Louis B. Mayer 

were Jewish immigrants to the United State

who made their way to Hollywood and became

important and powerful men.

PROSTITUTION IN HOLLYWOOD DURING THE MGM - LOUIS B. MAYER ERA

According to E.J. Fleming, author of "THE FIXERS," a book that focuses on M.G.M. during the Louis B. Mayer era, when Edgar "The Bulldog" Mannix and his gentleman sidekick, Lee Strickland, did the cover-ups for the messy personal lives of actors, often due to their affairs, Hollywood had a number of houses of prostitution that were well known. 

Was Hollywood hyper-sexual?  Were the studios tied into these houses of prostitution where many a woman who came to Hollywood to be a star found employment?

Who used these prostitutes?  No doubt some of the regular customers were men in the business, including stars.

In the Chapter called The Golden Age of Trouble, he mentions a few of the more famous houses.

According to Fleming, Madame Billie Bennet ran a Greek Revival style mansion above Sunset that had 14 suites, a restaurant, and a bar.  She looked and spoke like Mae West and the studios lent Mae's actual costumes.  In the basement there was a wardrobe mistress, make-up men and hairdressers!  Her prostitutes were look-alike of actresses so that a John could hire someone who looked like Joan Crawford, Barbara Stanwyck, Alice Faye, Carol Lombard, Claudette Colbert, Ginger Rogers, or Marlene Dietrich and indulge his fantasy of being with that star.  (Greta Garbo and Katherine Hepburn were never copied.) Some were "surgically enhanced." 

Similarly, there was T and M Studio, where there were "6 month option girls"  which means actresses who were hired for training by a studio and paid for 6 months, a time to prove themselves so their option could be renewed.  Not saying that Marilyn Monroe worked there, but she was one of those girls, and some biographies I've read about her suggest that she did work as a prostitute for a while.  Supposedly Groucho Marx was a regular customer.  

The House of Frances, owned by Lee Francis.  She had been a prostitute herself in  in San Francisco and Reno and then moved to LA where she owned several houses but her biggest was at 8439 Sunset Blvd.  She paid a lot of money to local officials and police, over 40% of her net and allowed the vice squad to "raid," but never arrest anyone.  She kept Russian caviar and French champagne and gave favors to reporters to keep her out of the paper.  By 1930 she bragged that she could satisfy any request and so to satisfy the request of a Middle Easterner she provided 100 blondes, who died all their hair blonde.  The prostitutes made about $1000 a week.  And the Johns were also Joans, such as Jean Harlow who is said to have paid $500 to take a customer home.  In the lobby of the five star hotel, stars like Spencer Tracy and Clark Gable might read the paper and drink coffee, while maybe Errol Flynn went upstairs.
In the late 1930's Madame Frances began refusing to pay bribes and on January 16, 1940 her house was raided, there were dozens of embarrassing arrests, and she was put out of business.

I hate to say this, but a prostitute working for a time in one of these places probably made much more than the option girls, even the starlets who got small part,

Meanwhile, there was a lot of sex, even orgies, for free to the participants.  According to Fleming, Edmund Goulding had a Beverly Hills mansion where movies stars and call girls even worked in choreographed Sadio- Masochistic sessions.  In Louise Brooks' 1978 interview, she mentioned the place.

There are so very many more options in education and employment than these not so distant days, but just recently have actresses begun to complain about sexual harrassment and rape by film studio executives and people employed in the business, and by the way, I believe Corey Feldman about boys being molested by some of them.

Have I tantalized you to read E. J. Fleming's The Fixers?


To read about LOUISE BROOKS, Mistress of the Month, go to archives February 2014.
To read about Kept Man PAUL NOVAK and MAE WEST, go to archives September 2017
You may also be interested in:
FAITH  Howard Hughes fifteen year old Mistress in archives May 2014
CLARA BOW, First It Girl and Mistress of Roaring Twenties film producer B.P. Shulberg in January 2016
MARILYN MONROE, Mistress of SuperAgent Johnny Hyde, in May 2016
or simply use the search feature to scan for posts about Marilyn.

SUPERMAN TELEVISION SERIES

CAMILLE "TONI" LANIER MANNIX, THE GEORGE REEVES DEATH, and EDGAR J. MANNIX, MGM FIXER

THE FIXERS by E.J. Fleming is the primary reference for this month's posts.

 In May of 2013, I elected actor George Reeves, known for his television role as Superman, as Mantress of the month.  The mystery of his death - be it ruled suicide or possible murder - entails his involvement with the wife of MGM "Fixer", Edgar "The Bulldog" Mannix as a Kept Man.  Her name was Camille "Toni" Lanier when she was a Ziegfeld Follies Show Girl in New York, and she met Eddie in about 1932.  She made it to Hollywood in 1934 for a film.  She was called "legs," or "the girl with the million dollar legs," and when Eddie saw her, he had an assistant give her $4500 for the day's work.  Eddie had long been married to his wife Berneice who had refused him a divorce even though they had no children and he'd had another mistress, Betty Asher, the bisexual daughter of a director.  But when he met Toni, you could say he met his match.

Toni could swear like a sailor and was a drinker.  The Mobster Mickey Cohen (who obviously at least met her to say this) said she was the only person in Los Angeles with any balls!  "A female Eddie," Toni thought waiting around for filming was a bore and she walked off a set and headed for a vacation in Hawaii.  Mannix followed her there.  They came back with an agreement.  She'd be Eddie Mistress.  As his Mistress, she was seen around town with Eddie, went with him when he traveled on business for MGM, socialized and vacationed with his friends.  She got to quit the chorus line and the film business. She was not hidden yet his sidekick at MGM, his polar opposite, a gentleman named Strickland, did what he could to hide the situation, providing beards and a fake boyfriend. Eventually, Eddie got his divorce and married Toni.

This book is about "The Bulldog," and Strickland. Together they fixed things so that an actor's reputation wouldn't be ruined and put them out of work and the studio out of its investments and earnings.  The book begins with a story of how Hollywood grew, then follows some of the fixing these men did. Their cover-ups and machinations to preserve careers and the studios had more twists and turns than a soap opera.  Covered are the death of Director Thomas Ince on Hearst's boat, Charlie Chaplin's seduction of underage starlets, the star who had a baby elsewhere and then publicly adopted her own child, the strong possibility that Mistress Marion Davies did have at least one child with Hearst, and quite a bit about the role of starlets and models in prostitution.

For our purposes here at Mistress Manifesto BlogSpot I'm focusing on the Superman death mystery, and the possibility that Toni Lanier Mannix had George Reeves murdered.  Let's start with the fact that there was some funny business going on.  Eddie had not been faithful to Toni and they had their understanding that their marriage money could also be used so that Toni could keep George.  She bought a second house that George lived in where she was a lot of the time and she also visited him daily on set.  Together they did work for charities. No doubt this richer, older woman thought that she and George would marry after her husband died.  By 1959, at the time that Reeves met Leonore Lemmon in New York, Mannix was 68 and showed up at the studio a few days a month.  He still had connections on both sides of the law.  Sick with heart disease and emphysema, he and Toni loved each other but she was more a caregiver to him.  Let's say that it was within possibility that Eddie had a hit man kill George because he wanted him dead or Toni asked him to hire someone. Toni had spent a decade with George.

George Reeves had tired of his successful but limited role as Superman and an entertainer of children and physically he was no longer up to it.  He'd made good money but wasn't personally wealthy.  In 1956 George's mom showed up to tell him he had a million dollar inheritance coming.  The Superman role wasn't what he had in mind when he'd set out for Hollywood acting career. He returned to Hollywood from New York to tell Toni that he was going to marry this other woman.  Toni went crazy and she harassed him with phone calls and hang up calls, up to 40 - 50 a day.  There were close calls with his car, someone fuddling with the breaks, a series of accidents. Someone even called the newspaper the LA Examiner to report that the wedding had been called off. Someone stole his dog. George was unnerved with all this. 

Only 8 months since George had told Toni he was going to marry Leonore Lemmon he was dead. The author, E.J. Fleming, thinks it is this woman who killed George! 

While Toni raged, threatened to ruin George by claiming he was gay to the press and gossiped that Leonore Lemmon was a whore or said George was temporarily insane, the case could be made that she was.  George was a drinker, but he had the reputation as a man who was fun to be around, a nice man, who was generous with his friends. He was found dead in his upstairs bedroom of the small house they shared when Toni wasn't there, shot and killed, and the few party guests downstairs claimed they saw and heard nothing when questioned. Were the witnesses all too drunk?

So, the question is what did George, who anticipated having some money of his own and could finally quit Superman, see in this Leonore Lemmon?  My take on this is that she was a spit-fire, a younger Toni Lanier Mannix in terms of personality! 

Was it a case of incomplete police work?  The case was controversial in the tabloids and media. Other stars spoke up saying that the "indicated suicide" could not be possible.  His mother didn't believe it.  Toni even said he had been murdered and was so overwrought she was put under heavy sedation.  Lemmon broke into the crime scene and stole the $4000 in travelers checks they had purchased the day before, removed bloody sheet. There was a second autopsy but the body was embalmed without legal protocol.  Toni was the person who got Reeve's estate in his will, including the house back.  The author says that Leonore knew how to use a gun.  I question his notion that neither Eddie or Toni did know how to use one. It's not likely that this mystery will be re investigated, and no one ever confessed.

***

To read my posts from May 2013 about George and Toni, go to that month in the Mistress Manifesto Archives.  You may also wish to read July 2013, devoted to Mistress of the Month Marion Davies, Mistress of Publisher Randolph Hearst.  This November 2018 is a short month since we are revisiting George Reeves and coming into the Holidays.  Explore or revisit this blog for some fascinating profiles on Kept Men and Women!

TO MY DEVOTED MISTRESS MANIFESTO READERS!

I'll be publishing posts for November 2018 starting tomorrow.  I'll be splitting the month by first revisiting one of the Kept Men I covered a few years ago and then move into FASHION oriented six weeks into the New Year with an Honorary Mistress of the Month for December! 

What a fast paced year this 2018 has been, and as has happened before, just when I wonder if I'm going to run out of Mistresses and Mantresses to cover, I hear about more!   Do you know of a Kept Man or Woman I should be covering?  Are you a Kept Man or Woman? Please leave a comment with that information!  Books, links, etc. would be appreciated.

I encourage you to go through my archives to find so very many Kept people who have been covered over the years; I reworked the GUIDE in PAGES so it should be easy for you to scan through!

THANK YOU FOR READING MISTRESS MANIFESTO BLOGSPOT!

JUDY COLLINGS MEMOIR FRANK ABOUT FAMILIAL ALCOHOLISM and DEPRESSION

SWEET JUDY BLUE EYES
MY LIFE IN MUSIC - Judy Collins

I listened to Judy Collin's e-book because she reads it herself: I love hearing the author read their own words and in this case, as in Carly Simon's e-book, previously reviewed here at Mistress Manifesto when I featured James Taylor's Mistress Evie as Mistress of the Month, also sing some songs. In Judy's book she reveals her relationships with Stephen Stills, who wrote the song Sweet Judy Blue Eyes for her during their relationship.  He was several years younger and eventually that was a problem.  More so, she hated LA and went to live in New York City.  They managed to stay friends for four decades and in 2007 a tape of unreleased music from their 1968 affair was discovered and released as "Just Roll Tape."  She's still confused about why Joni Mitchell rebuffed her friendship but is thankful to her for the international hit she had with Joni's song Both Sides Now. She was the first person in popular music to include the song of whales (1962).  As she says she was considered an "overnight success" after many years of showing up.

Judy Collin's life also intersected with Joan and Mimi Baez, Bob Dylan, Lucy and Carly Simon, Joni Mitchell, Leonard Cohen, Phil Ochs, Janis Joplin, and Stacey Keach - who she had a long relationship with, and many others in the music business. A youthful pregnancy resulted in a beloved son who followed in the footsteps of his mother and mother's father into alcoholism and depression and suicidal thoughts.  In his case he did suicide.  The marriage didn't last.  Years later after finally coming to terms with her alcoholism, Judy Collins did marry again and that marriage has lasted.  She says she had an attraction for the "dangerous ones" who "slipped in and out of other women's lives.

As she came to adulthood and the folk music scene in the 1960's, and to folk music she has been true though she considers her song choices and writing to be eclectic, and was once a member of a group in favor of open relationships and partner sharing as well as a Yippie (like the Chicago Seven), it should perhaps come as no surprise that Collins was a sexual explorer. She had some one night stands when married and touring and fell in love repeatedly.  Her story of driving 16 hours alone in a borrowed car to have an illegal abortion and then breaking down on a moonlit road reminds us that abortion must remain legal.  Another time she was in the car and began confessing to her husband that she was having an affair with another man after they hit a rabbit on the road.

I found her frankness refreshing.  Though no intimate details are given, Collins was no stranger to the Story of O, group sex, sex with women, and a "sexually hip" lifestyle.  (All of which makes me feel downright conservative these days.)  She was ill at times; TB, hepatitis, and voice endangering alcoholism.

So if you love her voice, are a fan of music memoirs, or are battling some demons yourself, you may find this memoir well worth the read.


Missy

C 2018 All Rights Reserved Book Review

QUESTION FOR YOU MEN: HOW LONG DID YOU DATE BEFORE YOU BOUGHT YOUR WOMAN CLOTHING?

Just to clarify this, I don't mean as a birthday or  or Mother's Day gift, and I don't mean scarves and gloves or a  Christmas sweater or a negligee meant to please you if she wears it.  Just about anyone can gift anyone for a special occasion something to wear.  Women often buy their men things like sports team hats and sweats, sweaters, ties and socks as gifts.  I'm talking WARDROBE.  I'm talking handing her at least a couple hundred to go buy what she wants, or going shopping with her, and purchasing some important clothing, so that she'll look wonderful when you take her to a Black Tie event or a Wedding or an outfit for a Job Interview.  Something she could not afford on her own income maybe.


There used to be certain rules or etiquette against buying clothes for someone you are dating, not until you are married to them.  To buy a WARDROBE for someone seems to mean a more serious intent than "just dating."  It's an investment for them.



Missy.