Has anyone ever listed the ways Dr. Lecter hates Old Spice after-shave? The popular shaving lotion is mentioned in the 1981 novel by Thomas Harris and ever since. All the Hannibals we’ve seen on tv or on the silver screen have expressed their hatred for it: the one played by Brian Cox in Manhunter (1985) by Michael Mann, Anthony Hopkins in the 2002 film and Mads Mikkelsen in the NBC tv show.
For such a refined character, Old Spice is a symbol of uncouthness and carelessness. “Something a child would select,” the doctor remarks with what I think is a pinch of envy: Will has a family; someone who loves him always selects this perfume for him, even if it’s atrocious, something that Lecter will never experience.
In November 2018, the Hollywood auction house Julien’s Auctions will present an important event: many personal belongings of the American actress Sharon Tate will be auctioned. One of the most promising stars of the 1960s, Tate had a taste for refined and trendy clothes and a unique make-up style. This year marks the 50th anniversary of her brutal death by the hand of the infamous Charles Manson’s Family.
The auction will include some of the make-up items she used, among which Revlon black and white eye pencils, a Maybelline eyebrow pencil. The Aida de Leon gold tube was probably a mascara. Unfortunately I haven’t been able to find any information about this brand: it would have been interesting to know more about it. I think it was a brand of professional make-up for theatre and cinema.
The other gold tube contains Helena Rubinstein Long-Lash mascara.
I love seeing Sharon applying her make-up. With a thin brush she drew a line in her eye sockets, so as to give depth and achieve a dramatic effect.
There are several perfumes and toiletries on Anna’s dressing table.
First, two bottles of Revlon nail polish in the signature bottle with super-long cap handle.
Now let’s focus on the perfume bottles. At the centre of the table there’s Jean Patou Joy, “the world’s most expensive perfume” created in 1930 by Henri Alméras.
Next to it, a beautiful amphora bottle by Christian Dior. Hard to tell what perfume it contained here: designed in 1947 by Fernand Guéry-Colas and produced by Baccarat, it was first used for Miss Dior, but later used for all the other perfumes of the French house – Diorissimo, Diorling, Diorella and Diorama. If we consider the film was released in 1958, the amphora could contain Miss Dior, Diorama (launched in 1948) or Diorissimo (launched in 1956).
Last but not least, there’s a Guerlain flacon montre. Again, it’s impossible to say what eau de cologne it contained, but we can make some assumptions. It could be Shalimar or Cachet Jaune (blood orange and yellow stickers, respectively; both launched in 1937), L’Heure Bleue (pale blue sticker; launched in 1945), Ode (purple sticker; the eau de cologne was launched in 1950s, but I don’t know the exact date), Fleur de Feu (hot pink sticker; the perfume was released in 1948, so probably the eau de cologne was on the market by the time Indiscreet was shot), Mitsouko (teal sticker; launched in 1937), Jicky (deep purple sticker; launched in 1945), Chypre 53 (light green sticker; the perfume was released in 1953, so it’s possible the cologne already existed in 1958) or Liu (black sticker; launched in 1956).
Zachary Quinto took this picture in his dressing room at the Booth Theater in New York, where he was performing as Harold in the hit play The Boys in the Band, written in 1968 by Mart Crowley and now directed by Joe Mantello.
The opening scene of the film sees the actress Gloria Grahame is in her dressing room at the Dukes Theatre in Lancaster, UK, unpacking her toiletries and getting ready to perform in The Glass Menagerie by Tennessee Williams [1].
She takes out a can of L’Oreal Elnett hairspray.
The perfume sitting on the dressing table is Chanel No. 5.
[1] The film is based on the last years of the American actress’ life. It’s true she performed at the Dukes in 1980, but she had the leading role in Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? by Edward Albee, not in the Williams play as seen in the film.
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