Our mother, born Loretta May Gronau in Polk County, Iowa…
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.
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.
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
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.
Crazy double exposure picture of mother, on the landing strip in Morocco right before we left in a private plane to cross the Zagora desert, to Ouarzate. Love the English gent behind her…
One minute and 45 seconds of LAS FLORES DEL VICIO, and believe me, that’s enough.
Mother ran off to Spain with her pals Win Wells (here in the blue and white shirt, and heavy eyeliner) and Silvio Narizzano (Director of “Georgy Girl”), to write songs for the movie. Carroll Baker sings one while she drowns in a fountain during a wild party. Dennis Hopper also starred.
Oh, and quiz for the day: Who was originally cast in the Carroll Baker role but fired when she arrived in Spain too big to fit any of her costumes?
