Monthly Archives: March 2013

Ricki Lake Show — Chanel Bonfire

Good advice from Joan Didion in my dressing room at The Ricki Lake Show…

And lots of fun with producer Josh Sabarra backstage.

It was a wonderful day and amazing to meet Ricki and sign her copy of Chanel Bonfire.  We had a great discussion about the book and moms and madness and how you survive.  The show titled “Extreme Moms” will air on May 20th!

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Posted by Wendy Lawless  Chanel Bonfire, Fox, Joan Didion, Josh Sabarra, NYTimes Bestseller, Play It As It Lays, Ricki Lake, Ricki Lake Show, Television Interview, Wendy Lawless

Georgann Rea nee McAdams aka Loretta May Gronau

Our mother, born Loretta May Gronau in Polk County, Iowa…

…renamed Georgann McAdams after her adoption by a wealthy banker and his wife in order to “save their unhappy marriage”.  Georgann, Loretta, Gronau, McAdams, Lawless, Rea, it’s no wonder she never knew who she was.  Loretta May Gronau does make me think of Lula May Barnes aka Holly Golightly.

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Posted by Wendy Lawless  adoption, Chanel Bonfire, Georgann Lawless, Georgann McAdams, Georgann Rea, Holly Golightly, Loretta May Gronau, Lula May Barnes, Wendy Lawless

Bombshells & Bombs

Bombshells and bombs...

Carroll Baker replaced this iconic Hollywood actress as Treasure in Las Flores del Vicio.  Shelly Winters was fired after falsely phoning in her measurements, and not being able to fit in to the wardrobe for the part.  My mom, Georgann Rea, another species of bombshell altogether was in Spain for the shoot.  Carroll Baker sings one of her songs as she dies in a fountain.  It’s hard to say which was more debauched, the shoot or the film.

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Posted by Wendy Lawless  bombs, bombshells, Carroll Baker, Chanel Bonfire, Dennis Hopper, Georgann Rea, Las Flores del Vicio, Shelly Winters, Spain, Wendy Lawless

London Ladies Who Lunch — Chanel Bonfire

Here’s to the ladies who lunch!

Marian Montgomery in the headscarf, next to Mary Broomfield in pale yellow with hands clasped. Cigarettes, cold white wine and maybe a chicken salad for those who were hungry…

Behind that wall, the IRA bomb went off.  Mother wrote songs with Marian who recorded them and sang one of them “The Summerhouse” on the BBC.  I’ll post a digital version when I can find it.

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Posted by Wendy Lawless  70s London, Chanel Bonfire, Georgann Rea, IRA bombing, ladies who lunch, London, Marian Montgomery, Sloane Square, Wendy Lawless

Fatal Glamour

The Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis. Designed by Ralph Rapson and completed in 1963 with one of the first thrust stages in America, designed by Tanya Moiseiwitsch. 


Peter Zeisler, Sir Tyrone Guthrie and Oliver Rea — founders of the theater.

“Oliver Rea was a successful Broadway producer who, disenchanted with the New York theater scene, had moved his family to Minneapolis to found the Guthrie Theater, where he and Sir Tyrone Guthrie, a scion of the English stage, planned to produce serious classical theater….He wasn’t handsome but had a craggy allure and an air of mystery that mother found fatally glamorous.”  — Chanel Bonfire

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Posted by Wendy Lawless  Chanel Bonfire, Georgann Rea, Guthrie Theater, Minneapolis, modern architecture, Oliver Rea, Peter Zeisler, Ralph Rapson, Regional Theater, Sir Tyrone Guthrie, stage design, Tanya Moiseiwitsch, Wendy Lawless

Hotel Sydney Opera in Paris

The Hotel Sydney Opera in Paris!  Now a spiffy Best Western.  

With the much-cleaned air-shaft — location of the infamous Henry VIII chicken bone scene in Chanel Bonfire.

“Despite that our school French hadn’t included so much cursing, we were able to decipher that our window opened onto the air shaft where the hotel dried its clean linen.  We ran to the window and looked down to see white sheets stained with grease and strewn with chicken bones.” — Chanel Bonfire

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Posted by Wendy Lawless  Chanel Bonfire, Georgann Rea, Henry VIII, Hotel Sydney Opera, Oliver Rea, Paris, Robin Lawless, Wendy Lawless