55 Secret Street

Vintage Black Glamour on 'Cinema in Noir'

In case you haven't  noticed that nice little button to your left, I have a new blog called Vintage Black Glamour.   Vintage Black Glamour is a forthcoming book and visual tribute to some of the glamorous, accomplished and often groundbreaking black women -legendary and obscure - of the 20th century.  You can find VBG on Tumblr, Twitter and Facebook.

Tonight at 6pm EST, I will be the guest on Cinema in Noir, a podcast that discusses film from the point of view of four black female film critics.  We will be discussing our favorite glamorous actresses - past and present.  Of course, I'd love for you to listen live, but if you can't, you can always listen later on BlogTalk Radio or on iTunes. 

The One and Only Lena Horne

Photograph © Carol Friedman

Looking back at the age of 80, Ms. Horne said: “My identity is very clear to me now. I am a black woman. I’m free. I no longer have to be a ‘credit.’ I don’t have to be a symbol to anybody; I don’t have to be a first to anybody. I don’t have to be an imitation of a white woman that Hollywood sort of hoped I’d become. I’m me, and I’m like nobody else.”

In Memory of the One and Only Lena Horne.

Naomi Sims 1948-2009

Another pioneer is gone...

Naomi Sims, the legendary model and businesswoman died of cancer on Saturday.

After appearances on the covers of magazines including Life, Cosmopolitan and Essence and working with top designers like Halston (who told The New York Times in 1974, “Naomi was the first. She was the great ambassador for all black people. She broke down all the social barriers.”) and Giorgio di Sant’Angelo, she started what would become a multi-million dollar wig business in 1973.  She also wrote several top-selling beauty books for black women including She also began writing books, including “All About Health and Beauty for the Black Woman.”  I think it is notable that this particular book was published in 1986 and yet, it is still in print and available on Amazon. If you have never heard of Naomi Sims before today, I hope that gives you an inkling of her impact on black women and the beauty industry over the years. She was 61.

* The gorgeous opening picture is by the amazing photographer Kwaku Alston. PLEASE check out his gallery of legends!

Happy 92nd Birthday Lena Horne!

One of our last living legends, the fiery, elegant Lena Horne is 92 years old today.  As I noted in my first tribute to Ms. Horne on this site in February 2007, the first time I saw Lena Horne, I was an 8-year-old in a movie theater in Philadelphia watching her play Glinda, The Good Witch, in The Wiz.   While I was more interested in Michael Jackson playing The Scarecrow, even I knew then that Ms. Horne was a legend with a capital L.  The video above is a commercial that she did for The Gap in 1997.

 

The video above features fire and the elegance of this icon in 1982 singing "If You Believe" from The Wiz soundtrack during a tribute to another icon, Count Basie.  A new biography about her life, Stormy Weather: The Life of Lena Horne, was released last week and I will definitely be checking it out.  

Lena Horne on 55 Secret Street

Happy 91st Birthday Lena Horne!

Happy 90th Birthday Lena Horne!

The Fiery Elegance of Lena Horne

Lena Horne, May 1950

Lena Horne, MGM publicity photo circa 1940

Lena Horne embracing her daughter Gail Jones, October 7, 1960

Lena Horne in London, 1964