Starlets and Harlots

Welcome to my very first post on a new series called "Starlets and Harlots". Our first Starlet is the very blonde and beautiful Barbara Bouchet. Barbara was born Barbara Goutscher on August 15th, 1943 in Reichenburg, Sudetenland, Czechoslovakia.  Her family was forced to leave the country when Barbara was a little girl and settled in San Francisco, Califoria. Bouchet attended Galileo High School. In 1959, Bouchet won the "Miss Gidget" beauty contest which was held by the local television station KPIX-TV.

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Barbara was featured as a dancer on the teen-targeted rock'n'roll TV show, The KPIX Dance Party, from 1959 to 1962. Bouchet began her official acting career as a model on magazine covers and an actress in TV commercials. She made her film debut with an uncredited bit part in the comedy What a Way to Go! (1964).

 Bouchet soon became known for openly flaunting her spectacularly curvaceous figure in several pictures: clad in alluring silk harem robes in John Goldfarb, Please Come Home! (1965), cavorting nude on the beaches of Pearl Harbor in the World War II epic In Harm's Way (1965), and wearing a bikini for the bulk of her screen time in Agent for H.A.R.M. (1966). She also portrayed "Ursula" in Bob Fosse's outstanding musical Sweet Charity (1969), made for a nicely sultry "Miss Moneypenny" in the tongue-in-cheek 007 outing Casino Royale (1967), and had guest spots on such TV series as "The Virginian" (1962), "Star Trek" (1966), "Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea" (1964) and "The Man from U.N.C.L.E." (1964).

In 1970, Bouchet became fed-up with being typecast as mindless sexpots in Hollywood fare and moved to Italy. She soon became one of Italy's top actresses, carving out a fruitful niche for herself in sex comedies, giallo murder mysteries and gritty police crime thrillers. Among her most memorable roles in these Italian features are the brazen spoiled rich lady "Patrizia" in Lucio Fulci's disturbing Don't Torture a Duckling (1972) ("Don't Torture A Duckling"), prostitute "Francine" in The French Sex Murders (1972) ("The French Sex Murders"), modeling agency choreographer "Kitty" in The Lady in Red Kills Seven Times (1972) ("Red Queen Kills 7 Times"), saucy love interest "Scilla" in the splendidly sleazy Ricco (1973), and enticing stripper "Anny" in Death Rage (1976) ("Death Rage").

 Bouchet had an unforgettably steamy lesbian love scene with Rosalba Neri in Amuck (1972) ("Amuck") and appeared alongside fellow Bond girls Barbara Bach and Claudine Auger in Black Belly of the Tarantula (1971) ("The Black Belly of the Tarantula").

Barbara married producer Luigi Borghese in 1976. In 1983, at age 40, Bouchet did a nude pictorial for the Italian edition of "Penthouse" magazine. Bouchet started her own production company in 1985 and launched her own line of fitness books and videos. She also opened her own health club in Rome. Barbara most recently popped up in a small role (as fellow giallo star David Hemmings' wife) in Martin Scorsese's Gangs of New York (2002). Bouchet speaks English, German and Italian with equal fluency. Barbara Bouchet continues to act in both films and TV shows, alike, made in Italy.

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Interesting facts:

As a baby living in Reichenberg, Czechoslovakia, in the mountains north of Prague, she had to flee the communists, but eventually was reunited with her father Fritz, a war photographer. She had two younger brothers and two younger sisters who also slowly rejoined the family. Everyone migrated to California, U.S.A. in December 1956.

A picture taken by her photographer father was submitted to a beauty contest. She won as "Miss Gidget" and the winnings included a date with "Gidget" movie star James Darren and a screen test. The screen test never panned out, but it did lead to teen modeling work. Her extensive modeling career led to 35 magazine covers.

Personal quote:

"Being a Hollywood beauty was a mixed blessing. Men are men, with all that testosterone, and when a pretty girl comes in front of them what can you expect?"

xoxo



coffee anyone?

Every time I'm at a Thrift store I make sure I look in the "house ware" section. I'm always on the hunt for interesting dishes, cups, etc..... I scored a few vintage plates once which we use on a regular basis. I found some awesome examples of mugs that I would love to have in my collection. 

I'm loving this flowery set. It reminds me of some mugs that my parents used to own. The had some sort of flower design and owls on them. I miss those mugs. I think I remember seeing that Taryn (my sister) had them at one point. I'm just glad they are being utilized still.....

Nothing like a nice hot cup of hot chocolate on a cold, rainy day. 

These little Umbrella designs would cheer anyone up!

Wanty!

I love this color scheme and the floral design on the inside of the cup, making a happy little surprise.

Oh! These are so girly.... I just love them.

Large and graphic.

These kinda remind me of out dated mugs that an old hotel would have. I do like them though.

I love this 70's goodness!!!

I love the way these stack.

I think these are my absolute favorites! I would love to nab these and have The Mister make them into tea cup candles. That's right....my husband makes candles.

I swear I had a mug like this in collage.

An apple a day......

I'm really into this vintage vibe lately. I have some really cool posts coming up here that are all inspired buy the 50'and 60's.... some 70's but mostly Mid Century. I have a new blog series coming out called

 "Starlets and Harlots"..... I also have a bunch of posts about Mid Century design. I think you all will enjoy it. It's in part by the fact that The Mister and I are re decorating our home and we are going for the "retro" modern feel. There will be pictures to come....

xoxo

"You killed the Car." - Ferris

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Look familiar? Most likely you recognise this home and pavillion, made famous by the film, Ferris Bueller's Day Off, was designed by architect David Haid (1929-1993) in 1974. Haid was born in Winnipeg, Canada in 1929. He moved to Chicago in 1951 to study architecture at the Illinois Institute of Technology under Mies van der Rohe and James Speyer. That same year, Haid began working in van der Rohe's design office and remained there till 1960. In 1963 he founded David Haid & Associates. The minimalist influence of both van der Rohe and Speyer can be seen in Haid's work throughout the Chicago and Houston, TX areas. Haid passed away in 1993 at the age of 64.

The Rose property, currently listed for $1,650,00, includes the home and pavilion and features 4 bedrooms and 4 baths totaling 5300 sqft. The steel and glass buildings are cantilevered over a ravine on a 1 acre lot.

Ben Rose (1916-2004) was a painter and textile designer born in Indiana in 1916. He studied painting at the Art Institute of Chicago from 1939-1941. In 1946 he set up Ben Rose Inc., which specialized in hand screen-printed textiles and wallpaper. With the aid of his wife Frances and interior designer Helen Stern, Ben's business grew and by 1967 he had about fifty employees. His textiles were a favorite among architects and designers and were showcased around the world. Besides being an artist, Ben was an avid car collector which led to the building of the now famous auto-pavilion in 1974.

American architect A. James Speyer (1913-1986) was born in Pittsburgh. He graduated with a degree in Architecture from Carnegie Institute of Technology in 1934. He continued his studies under Mies van der Rohe at the Illinois Institute of Technology in Chicago, where he received his masters degree in 1939. After serving in WWII he returned to IIT where he taught architecture under Mies. He established his own firm in 1946, completing homes in the Chicago and Pittsburgh areas. Speyer's minimalist architectural style was heavily influenced by van der Rohe and featured rectangular structures constructed with exposed steel beams, brick and glass. The Ben Rose house designed by Speyer in 1952, is considered one of his finest architectural works.



panoramic view

You guys all remember the famous scene....

The car parked to the left of the Ferrari in the garage is also an MG, in this case an MG J2.

The 1961 Ferrari GT250 was a modified MG sports car. The producers received several angry letters from car enthusiasts who believed the car shown was a *real* Ferrari and that it was actually wrecked in the film.

When the Ferrari crashed, the fiberglass hood ripped, but branches were put over the rip to make sure the camera didn't record it. More trivia here.

I am just loving Mid Century Architecture and have never been more tuned into it than I am now... my

Dad would be so proud!

xoxo

Life lately......

Life has been very fruitful lately.... I must say indeed. The Mister and I have spent the last two weekends working very hard to get our home and yard into shape. I haven't worked this hard since we made the initial move over 4 years ago! I have scrubbed, sanded, painted and dusted, vacuumed and planted non stop. I'm tired and sore but it feels great! Matt has been working over time to complete our screened in porch... which is coming along amazingly! I can't wait till it's finished and we have patio furniture out there to perch on. I in vision many summer nights spent relaxing with the Hub's and Lucy.We also decided a few months ago that we wanted to re-vamp the interior of our home and simplify it and go with a Mid Century look. We both adore Mid Century design and furniture etc.....I was really inspired by this past months Atomic Ranch issue. I'll admit, our home is usually full of clutter. I like to call it "creative clutter".... full of toys and trinkets that we've picked up along the way, yarn and Lego sets. You know... the usual. I have packed and stored away all our toys , deciding to focus on key pieces. I have a kick ass camera collection just waiting to be put on display. More on that to come!!

So Matt and I went to The Home Depot and picked up some interior paint. I wanted to paint an accent wall in our bedroom to draw attention to some wood wall art that I am going to be making! I was totally inspired by one of my all time favorite blogs.... Oh so Lovely Vintage. They have the best tips on how to redecorate vintage. Check out the wooden wall art that I'm planning on making! So i painted the accent wall behind our birch colored head board.... it looks pretty amazing I must say. I love vibrant colors. I liked it so much that I painted our downstairs half bath the same color. It's called Go Go Lime! Matt scored some awesome sputnik lights for our home too. They are gently used from a neighbor that is re decorating!

We also finished up planting our fabulous garden as well. We planted squash, zucchini, cucumbers, green beans, corn and tomatoes. I have my own little herb garden as well. Tending to our garden brings us so much joy. I love watching our little seedlings grow, it gives us such pride.

There is even BIGGER news! Matt and I decided to go ahead and buy some chicks! We have been talking about it for at least 2 years now and have been putting it off. We finally went to Callahan's and bought two Java chicks... they are so cute. We had a little tragedy on the second night. One of the chicks (Olive) died. It was sad but it happens a lot with these lil' guys. Matt buried her in our backyard. That makes 3 dead birds in our pet cemetery. The other Java chick (Penelope) is doing just great. Mandy and I went back to Callahan's the next day and bought 2 more baby chicks to keep Penelope happy and warm at night. We bought a different breed which is supposed to be "exotic". Mandy and I are still trying to figure out the name of the breed. Lol, we happened to walk in Callahan's right before they closed and picked out two lil' guys based on their coloring and egg type/color. We rushed out only to find out we couldn't remember what kind they were when Matt asked us. The are brown little beauties that lay dark eggs. It's amazing how different the breeds are in weight, body build and coloring. The 2nd kind we got.... which I will figure out here soon are so chubby and heavy in your hand compared to Penelope which is a Java. They are just adorable and are doing very well. More pictures to come! Here's a little teaser....

Besides working hard on the house and the garden I've also been crocheting quite a lot lately. I am going to be attending First Thursday again coming up here in April and need to get my stock built up... not to mention I'm still making animal heads for Parts & Labour and SXSW is keeping them busy! Whew... I've been a busy bee lately. I've been trying to get my online business up and cracking. You can find my store here on Big Cartel. I've been crocheting animal heads, hair bows, cupcakes and much much more! I also started a new store for my gently used clothing and accessories... which is still in the works. There isn't any images uploaded yet. You can shop my closet here at The Pigeon Post.

Health wise I've had some issues. I was torn on wether or not to share this information on my blog and talked to Mandy about it and she thought it was a good idea to mention it and just "get it out there". This weekend I'm having surgery on my lady parts once again! The procedure's are called Laparoscopy and Hystroscopy. Basically my Uterus is not a very friendly place... I have had this procedure done about 3 years ago to remove a grape sized polyp from the lining of my uterus and when they got in there they saw that I also had scar tissue built up from Endometriosis and burned all that out as well. It was painful and emotionally draining on both Matt and I. I knew that the disorder could come back but I didn't think it would be so soon. See, The Mister and I have had issue's conceiving. We've been through the tests and all the hormone shots and even went as far as to have IVI performed with no such luck. It was rough on us and our marriage so we decided together that we would be fine being a "childless couple", which interestingly is harder for other people to understand than it is for us to accept. We always get bone head comments from people about how their distant cousin or a friend of a friend was told that "She couldn't Conceive" and then when she was least expecting it she got pregnant. Wow! Great story, but that's not making me feel better and "those people" are the exception.... not us. I really have to hold myself back from hurting people when they say things like that.... I know they think they are comforting me and giving me a sense of hope but it's false hope. Matt and I have come to terms with it and are closer now as a couple than we have ever been. So this surgery is just another reminder of how my "junk" doesn't work. Nice.

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It is a day surgery and I will be in and and out with no concept of time. The hard part is recovering and I'm starting to remember how bad it was. I was however going to get a Hysterectomy but last minute Matt and I decided to wait. I'm really just prolonging the inevitable but people say "I'm too young".... whatever does that mean.... too young for what? I'm not able to have children and my plumbing doesn't work, just get rid of it right? But for some reason the thought of me parting with my beloved uterus frightened me. So it's here to stay until it pisses me off and I decide the time is right. I know this is a heavy story.... it goes way back. I tried to explain it in a nutshell.

On a happier note.... I have hardly had an seizures or severe migraines recently. I, without doctors concent (I don't recommend anyone doing what I did without talking to their Doctor first) decided to take my health into my own hands and slowly tapper myself off Lamictal. Lamictal is a common drug used to treat Epilepsy. Since being diagnosed over two years ago with Alice in Wonderland Syndrome life has been less than. I have been on loads of different types of medication in order to prevent seizures and other symptoms that come with Todd's Syndrome. I have suffered the most severe side effects and have watched my body slowly change from a healthy weight with an active lifestyle to a squishy, dowey inactive body. The side effects make it nearly impossible to be active the way I used to be. My appetite and metabolism have changed as well as my libido. It's not that I'm lazy, I want to do hike, swim, play and run around. I recently came to the conclusion that I may not actually have Epilepsy... that I just have a bunch of symptoms that make up a syndrome (which is what a syndrome really is). I DO think that I have real seizures, however I think that through meditation and other methods other than drugs I can learn to control my stress which seems to cause the migraines and seizures. I have successfully weened myself off all my medication and am jogging and meditating like a pro. I haven't shared this news with anyone beside Taryn (sister) and Matt. I want to wait a little while and then present the news to my Neurologist that I'm sure will be less than thrilled. I feel that if I learn to control my stress by staying active, eating right, getting good sleep and meditating that everything else in life will fall into place.

Whew! Well this has been a long post. I hope you guys are digging our new Mid Century vibe we have going on in our home...there will be more pictures to come.... including the Garden and chickadees!

xo

 

The retro bullet planter

I was flipping through the new issue of Atomic Ranch and came across an ad for The Retro Bullet Planter and almost feel out of my chair! They are too cute and would be Oh so chic in front of our Modern Design Home! To my delight I noticed that the source is a located in Austin! Hot Damn!

You can order the planters and much much more at Hip Haven.

They also provide Mid-Century style lighting, screen door inserts and hairpin legs! I love me some hairpin legs! That's a whole other post.

I've seen a few houses in my neighborhood that have them on their front porches and they look so awesome! Since our house is Modern it goes with the flow.

Love the planters, love the chair, love the cute , little pillow..... love it all.

I have so many succulents and Cacti... being in Texas and all.

Wanna see the cutest thing in the world? Mini Bullet Planter DIY! Yup... you heard it.

I'm just freaking out about this mini cuteness overload!!!

by Thompson Family 

xoxo

Oh Marcia...

Happy Friday everyone! I remember the good old days watching TV Land after school and catching The Brady Bunch. I was a HUGE fan of The Brady Bunch... never really took to The Partridge Family. I always loved Marcia Brady.... she was the best. She was the original "Bitch". She was always saying mean shit to Jan and was a total 

"Man eater".

I loved when they showed episodes with the girls bedroom. I always wanted to catch a glimpse of that Pepto Bismol colored wall and the ruffly pillow tops. It was like getting a glimpse into the world of a young pre-teen girl, which I was not even close to being yet. I loved how she brushed her hair in front of her vanity.

98...99...100.

Ooh! My nose! 

Random fact: The Brady's sliding glass door never had glass in it.

Apparently it caused too many glare issues, so there was always just an empty sliding frame.

This is the best episode ever! Marcia gets nailed in the nose with a football!

The original Regina George.

Watch Marcia's style go from disco to rock & roller.

Poor jan... always getting mentally abused by Marcia.

Brady trivia!

Marcia: Hello Jenny, this is Marcia. I called about the slumber party I'm having tomorrow night.

Jenny: I can hardly wait.

Marcia: Well, it's only for my friends.

Jenny: Sure, I'm your friend Marcia.

Marcia: Not anymore. So considered yourself uninvited! [Marcia hangs up the phone]

"Something suddenly came up."

Marcia Brady was the President of the "Davy Jones Fan Club".

Bitch face.

No this is the Marcia Brady's style that I remember as a child.

 "From now on, I'm beautiful and noble; I'm Juliet!" - Marcia

"It's so beneficial for me to be away from those children in junior high and to be with people of my own mature growth. I'm looking forward to the intellectual stimulation. Nice meeting you boys. Bye."

-Marcia

Random fact:

Despite many scenes taking place in the bathroom, there was never a toilet on screen. Standards and Practices wouldn't allow it.

Interesting fact:

The only references to the boys' mother and the girls' father in the entire five-year run of the series occur briefly in the pilot (and first episode), "The Honeymoon." A single scene with Mike and Bobby suggests quite strongly that Mrs. Brady died, though neither character explicitly says so. A later scene with Mike and Carol only offers the vague suggestion of some previous trauma before Carol's marriage to Mike. She never refers directly to her former husband. To read the entire relevant dialogue from both scenes described above, visit the encyclopedia entries for Mrs. Brady and Mr. Martin. The characters' full names were never revealed.

"Marcia get's creamed" 

Seriously, that's the title of this episode.

The Official Maureen McCormick Fan Club!

How come she always seems to look distraught in her pictures? Bulimia, drugs, abortions? Get all the juicy details about Maureen McCormicks's dark side here.

More cool shit here.