There is a photograph taken in 1947 that most people have seen without realizing how carefully it was made. Elizabeth and Philip, newly married, standing close enough to touch. Her expression is composed, careful, almost rehearsed in its contentment. His jaw is set with the quiet assurance of a man who believes…
Sir Roy Strong spent his career preserving the beautiful and the important. Former director of the National Portrait Gallery, former director of the Victoria and Albert Museum, a man who recorded everything in his meticulous diaries, every lunch, every conversation, every flash of wit from Britain’s great and good. And then there…
When Elizabeth Bose’s Lion died on March 30th, 2002, the obituaries described her as the most beloved royal of the 20th century. Archbishops wept. The Queen cried on camera. Crowds queued through the night to file past her coffin in Westminster Hall. The tributes poured in for the ginsipping grandmother of the…
Prince doesn’t have the lungs for flute. Ian Anderson told Melody Maker, “That skinny kid can’t play wind instruments live.” Three months later at Wembley Arena, Prince walked across stage mid song, grabbed the flute from Eric Leeds’s hands, and played Ian Anderson’s own signature technique for 90 seconds without breathing while…
April 16th, 2011. 2:47 p.m. Norman’s Rare Guitars on Sunset Boulevard in West Hollywood. The kind of shop where rock legends come to spend six figures on vintage instruments. That afternoon, 58-year-old Norman Harris sat behind his desk, polishing a 1959 Gibson Les Paul worth more than most people’s houses. Then the…
She held up the processed wig and said, “Prince, your afro is beautiful, but it’s not camera ready. Let me give you something sleeker for the Grammys.” Prince looked at the wig, then at her, then said seven words that made her put it down and never pick it up again. Backstage,…
The guard looked at the visitor sign-in sheet and whispered, “Is this is this Prince?” Prince nodded, put his finger to his lips, “Quiet, please.” And walked toward cell block D. What he did in that prison over the next 6 months is still changing lives 30 years later. Minnesota Correctional Facility,…
I got all kinds of problems, Johnny. My daughter got pregnant from eating chicken. It was fingerlicking good and one thing led to another. Rodney Dangerfield’s rapid fire oneliners about his terrible life made Johnny Carson laugh harder than almost any other comedian. At my age, I want two girls at once….
Dick Van Dyke revealed the six most evil actors of all time. Few performers in Hollywood history are more beloved than Dick Van Dyke. For over 70 years, his infectious charm and wholesome image have made him a trusted figure in American entertainment. This makes his private assessments of Hollywood’s dark side…
Johnny Carson revealed the Golden Age stars who slept their way to the top. For 30 years, Johnny Carson invited America into his late night world, sharing laughs and conversations with the biggest stars in Hollywood. But when the cameras stopped rolling and the audience went home, Carson often continued those conversations…
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