Category Archives: Pop Culture

Car driven by Louis Jourdan in “Three Coins In A Fountain”

Link

Car driven by Louis Jourdan in “Three Coins In A Fountain”

In the 1950s the Mercedes-Benz 300 stood for elegance and economic success following the post-war period. In Three Coins in the Fountain (1954, directed by Jean Negulesco), for example, the Roman prince and bon viveur Dino di Cessi (Louis Jordan) drives a silver 300 Sc Cabriolet.

Mercedes-Benz 300 Sc Cabriolet

1955 Mercedes-Benz 300 Sc Cabriolet from Conceptcarz.com

A retrospective on Mel Tormé

Link

A retrospective on Mel Tormé

Now that Tormé is gone, I rarely if ever listen to his later albums, fine though many of them are. But I still return over and over again to Mel Tormé and the Marty Paich Dek-tette, Mel Tormé Sings Fred Astaire, and the other classic recordings of the ’50s that display his virtues to the best possible advantage. Perhaps they are, as the saying goes, the work of a “singer’s singer” who lacked the popular touch without which no artist can hope to capture the hearts of the public at large. But they are masterpieces all the same, and the fact that Mel Tormé knew how good they were—and was on occasion too quick to say so—does not diminish their excellence in the least. No one, not even Frank Sinatra himself, ever sang America’s great popular songs more beautifully.

Ernest Hemingway and Ansel Adams

Link

Ernest Hemingway and Ansel Adams

…there is a (likely apocryphal) story that tells the tale of an encounter between famous novelist Ernest Hemingway and famous photographer Ansel Adams. In the story, Hemingway is purported to have praised Adams’ photographs, saying, “You take the most amazing pictures. What kind of camera do you use?”

Adams frowned and then replied, “You write the most amazing stories. What kind of typewriter do you use?”