Sappho (circa 630 B.C.)

Charles-August Mengin, Sappho, 1877, originally uploaded by Gatochy.

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Charles August Mengin [French Painter, 1853-1933]

"One of the great Greek lyrists and few known female poets of the ancient world, Sappho was born some time between 630 and 612 BC. She was an aristocrat who married a prosperous merchant, and she had a daughter named Cleis. Her wealth afforded her with the opportunity to live her life as she chose, and she chose to spend it studying the arts on the isle of Lesbos.

She was one of the first poets to write from the first person, describing love and loss as it affected her personally.

That Sappho's poetry was not condemned in her time for its homoerotic content (though it was disparaged by scholars in later centuries) suggests that perhaps love between women was not persecuted then as it has been in more recent times. Especially in the last century, Sappho has become so synonymous with woman-love that two of the most popular words to describe female homosexuality--lesbian and sapphic have derived from her.

How well was Sappho honored in ancient times? Plato elevated her from the status of great lyric poet to one of the muses. Upon hearing one of her songs, Solon, an Athenian ruler, lawyer, and a poet himself, asked that he be taught the song "Because I want to learn it and die.""

Betty Bronson (1906-1971)

Betty Bronson, originally uploaded by Gatochy.

"I always knew I wanted to be a movie star. I just wanted to be a good one. If you know Merton of the Movies, you will remember how every night, he prayed "Dear God, make me a movie star." Well I'm a Catholic, so I'm not permitted to be that familiar, but I did pray. "Dear St Genesius, make me a good movie star.""

Djuna Barnes (1892 – 1982)

Djuna Barnes, originally uploaded by Gatochy.

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American writer Djuna Barnes.

"Djuna Barnes (12 June, 1892 – 18 June, 1982) was an American writer who played an important part in the development of 20th century English language modernist writing and was one of the key figures in 1920s and 30s bohemian Paris after filling a similar role in the Greenwich Village of the teens. Her novel Nightwood became a cult work of modern fiction, helped by an introduction by T. S. Eliot. It stands out today for its portrayal of lesbian themes and its distinctive writing style.

For a 1914 World Magazine article she submitted to force-feeding, a technique then being used on hunger-striking suffragists. Barnes wrote "If I, play acting, felt my being burning with revolt at this brutal usurpation of my own functions, how they who actually suffered the ordeal in its acutest horror must have flamed at the violation of the sanctuaries of their spirits." She concluded "I had shared the greatest experience of the bravest of my sex". Yet in other stories she mocked suffrage activists as superficial, as when she quoted Carrie Chapman Catt as admonishing would-be suffrage orators never to "hold a militant pose", or wear "a dress that shows your feet in front"."

Maria Adelaide de Lima Cruz

Maria Adelaide de Lima Cruz (daughter). Click image for 414 x 553 size.

Maria Adelaide de Lima Cruz, mother and daughter with exactly the same name and vocation for painting.

The mother, Maria Adelaide de Lima Cruz was one of the first Portuguese cartoonists.

The daughter was a child prodigy, whose first art exhibit was at the tender age of 11, in 1920, and amazed the critics.


Image scanned from Portuguese magazine Ilustração Portugueza, No. 738, April 12 1920. Click for 1530 x 2305 size.

Alice de Azevedo (1885-1957)

Illustração Portugueza, No. 182, August 16 1909 - 7, originally uploaded by Gatochy.

Image scanned from Portuguese magazine Illustração Portugueza, No. 182, August 16 1909. Click image for 1525 x 2305 size.

Alice de Azevedo Gomes de Bettencourt was a Portuguese sculptor, born in December 31 Dezembro 1895, died in June 11 1957. Her teacher was the great artist Teixeira Lopes.

She was married to the politician and diplomat Luís Teotónio Pereira, with whom she had six children.

Jack Pickford (1895-1933)

PickfordJ, originally uploaded by Confetta.

Movie actor, brother of Mary Pickford, son of Charlotte Pickford Smith.

"Jack found boy-next-door success as Pip in Great Expectations (1917) and the title hero Tom Sawyer (1917), and went on to become a fairly popular star on his own. He even produced several of his own films. Some of his better films during this time included The Little Shepherd of Kingdom Come (1920), The Man Who Had Everything (1920) and Waking Up the Town (1925), but a taste for the high life soon took over. A ne'er-do-well playboy and carouser, he aroused more public interest because of his scandalous off-camera life than in the light romantic films he appeared in. He picked up alcohol, drug and gambling addictions to accompany his partying lifestyle. First wife actress Olive Thomas, a heroin addict, committed suicide in 1920 after only four years of marriage, and his next two marriages-- to Broadway musical star Marilyn Miller and minor actress Mary Mulhern--would also end disastrously. All three wives were Ziegfeld girls at one time. By the late 1920s Jack was completely undependable and, with the advent of sound, his career ground to a screeching halt, despite ever-faithful Mary's continued attempts to rescue it. Jack's health deteriorated considerably after this letdown, with frequent bouts of syphilis adding to the complications of his long term substance abuse. He died young at 36. The cause was listed as "progressive multiple neuritis", but it was almost certainly precipitated by his chronic alcoholism."

Solita Solano (1888-1975)

Solita Solano, originally uploaded by Gatochy.

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"Solita Solano, real name Sarah Wilkinson (born 1888 in Troy, New York, died 22 November 1975 in Orgeval near Paris) was an American writer, poet and journalist.

Sarah Wilkinson came from a middle-class family and attended the Emma Willard Collage in New York City. After the death of her father she left home and married her childhood sweetheart Oliver Filley. They spent the next four years in the Philippines, in China and Japan, where her husband worked as an engineer. They returned to New York in 1908 where she started work as a theatre critic with the New York Tribune and as a freelance contributor to the National Geographic Society. At this time she changed her name to Solita Solano.

In 1919 Solano got to know the journalist Janet Flanner in Greenwich Village with whom she started a relationship. In 1921 they travelled to Greece, where Janet was to work on a report for the "National Geographic" on Constantinopel. Solano had three books published, and as they were not very successful, returned to journalism. In the following year they travelled to France. In Paris they joined the intellectuell-lesbian circle of Gertrude Stein, Alice B. Toklas, Natalie Clifford Barney, Romaine Brooks and Djuna Barnes.

At this time Janet Flanner started writing, under the Pseudonym Genêt, the Letter from Paris, for the The New Yorker. After the outbreak of World War II Solano and Flanner returned to New York.

A few years later Solano left Flanner after she started an affair with Natalia Danesi Murray; meanwhile Solano fell in love with Elizabeth Jenks Clark. After the war Solano returned to France, where she died at the age of 87.

Au Café, famous photo by Maurice Brange, depicting Solita Solano and Djuna Barnes in Paris, 1922. Click image for 1494 x 1000 size.

Ruth Matteson (1910-1975)

Ruth Matteson, originally uploaded by Gatochy.

Photo via It'll Take The Snap Out Of Your Garters! blog. Click image for 500 x 650 size.

Françoise Hardy (1944-)

Salut Les Copains, magazine cover, 1966, originally uploaded by Gatochy.

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"French singer, actress and astrologer.

Hardy signed her first contract with the record label Vogue in November 1961. In April 1962, shortly after finishing school, her first record Oh Oh Chéri appeared, written by Johnny Hallyday's writing duo. Her own flip side of the record, "Tous Les Garçons Et Les Filles" became a success, riding the wave of Yé-yé music in France, with two million sales."

Marian Marsh (1913-2006)

Via Allure

"She had appeared in 42 films.

In the 1960's Marian founded Desert Beautiful, a non-profit, all-volunteer conservation organization to promote environmental and beautification programs. "We planted palm trees along the West Coast and were the first to plant palms in the lower valley [Coachella] to Palm Springs. If you want to leave something behind, plant a tree!" she told author Dan Van Neste in a 1998 interview."

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Kay Francis (1905–1968)

Kay Francis, originally uploaded by Gatochy.

Click image for 594 x 790 size. Photo Via Trouble in Paradise.

"Her ability to wear clothes made her an icon of the 30's, and she was especially appealing in backless evening gowns and hats that hid half of her face. Francis' detractors said she was a star just because women wanted to see what she'd be wearing next, but she was much more than that. Francis gives herself to the camera completely and you can read all of her emotions — she's usually slightly out-of-it and weary, and this functions as part of her open-faced charm. Also charming is her most notorious drawback, a lisp that turned all of her r's into w's, which made her easy to mock.

Kear and Rossman's book quotes liberally from Francis' diary, even using pull quotes from it on many of the pages, so that you feel their subject is talking directly to you. Kay repeatedly calls herself a bitch and a slut, proclaims her pooped-out boredom, and runs down her list of conquests. "Had merciless afternoon with Maurice (Chevalier)," she reports. "Four times in two hours." Her taste ran to talented directors too, like Goulding, Mamoulian, Lang, and Preminger. She could be generous: "Had to sleep with her because she wanted me," says one entry. Francis' ennui comes across in the book, but so does her sense of humor. "

Heather Angel, 1933

Heather Angel poses as Easter Bunny, originally uploaded by normavalentine.

Heather Angel (1909-1986)

"She landed the leading role in the acclaimed The Hound of the Baskervilles (1932). Throughout the 1930s, Heather's services were in high demand. She kept very busy in such productions as Men of Steel (1932), Charlie Chan's Greatest Case (1933), Orient Express (1934), and Daniel Boone (1936). In 1937, she began playing Phyllis Clavering in the serial about Bulldog Drummond. Audiences delighted in catching the latest adventures of Drummond. After the last Drummond film, Arrest Bulldog Drummond (1939) in 1939, Heather went on her way in other films. Although she didn't have the leading role, she did appear in top movies such as 1940's Kitty Foyle: The Natural History of a Woman (1940) and Pride and Prejudice (1940) and in 1943's Cry 'Havoc' (1943).

Tested for the part of Melanie in Gone with the Wind (1939), which was given to Olivia de Havilland.

Was the subject of Sonic Youth's 1998 song "Heather Angel" off their "A Thousand Leaves" record.

Heather witnessed the horrific stabbing murder of her third husband, Broadway, film and TV director Robert B. Sinclair, by a prowler at their Montecito, California home on January 3, 1970. The prowler turned out to be a University of California--Santa Barbara (UCSB) graduate student."

Princess Irina Alexandrovna of Russia, 1925

Painting by Evgenievna Serebriakova, of Princess Irina Alexandrovna of Russia, Paris, 1925, originally uploaded by Gatochy.

Zinaida Serebriakova (1884-1967)

Princess Irina Alexandrovna of Russia (1895-1970)

"She was the only daughter of Grand Duke Alexander Mikhailovich of Russia and Grand Duchess Xenia Alexandrovna of Russia. She was also the only niece of Tsar Nicholas II, and the wife of the wealthy Prince Felix Yussupov, one of the men who murdered the starets Grigori Rasputin in 1916.

Her husband-to-be, Felix Yussupov, was a man of many contradictions: a man from a family rich beyond the dreams of avarice [5] who enjoyed dressing in women's clothing and had sexual relationships with both men and women, scandalizing society, [6] yet also genuinely religious and willing to help others even when his own financial circumstances were reduced.

In exile, Irina and Felix lived better than most emigrees following the Revolution. For a time they ran a fashion house called Irfe, named after the first two letters of their first names, Irina and Felix. Irina modeled some of the dresses the pair and other designers at the firm created. Later they lived from the proceeds of a lawsuit they won against MGM for making a 1932 movie called Rasputin and the Empress. In the movie, the lecherous Rasputin seduces the Tsar's only niece, called "Princess Natasha" in the film.[38] In 1934, the Yussupovs won a large judgment against the movie studio. Felix also wrote his memoirs and continued to be both celebrated and infamous as the man who murdered Rasputin."

Aldina de Sousa (?-1930)

Click image for 550 x 679 size. Foto from Portuguese magazine Ilustração, No. 118, November 16 1930.

Aldina de Sousa was a Portuguese singer, stage and movie actress. She died very young, at the height of her fame and sucess.

Madame Brouillard

Illustração Portugueza, No. 101, January 27 1908 - 33a, originally uploaded by Gatochy.

Click image for 672 x 810 size. Scanned from Portuguese magazine Illustração Portugueza, No. 101, January 27 1908.

Ad for "Madame Brouillard", psychic. About 20 years after this ad she was exposed as a schizophrenic.

"The past, present and future, revealed by the most celebrated chiromancist and physionomist in Europe.

Madame Brouillard

Tells the past and present and predicts the future, with veracity and swiftness. Her predictions are incomparable. She has studied sciences, chiromancy, chronology and physiognomy, and applies the theories of Gall, Lavater, Desbarroles, Lambroze, and d'Arpenligney. Madame Brouillard has traveled across Europe and America, where she's been admired by her numerous clients of the highest order, for whom she's made predictions concerning the fall of the empire and all the events that followed. She speaks Portuguese, French, English, German, Italian and Spanish.

Daily consultations, from 9 a.m. to 11 p.m. in her office."

Leslie Brooks (1922-)

Século Ilustrado, No.485, June 28 1947 - cover, originally uploaded by Gatochy.

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American actress Leslie Brooks, "the sun kissed miss".

"Leading lady in Hollywood low-budgeters of the 40's as well as second lead in better features. Started in unbilled bit parts but moved eventually into second leads and almost always cast as provocative dames with evil intentions. The film career of actress Leslie Brooks lasted long enough for her to contribute several mesmerizingly bitchy performances."

Cecil Beaton, Madame Danilova, 1935

Cecil Beaton, Madame Danilova, 1935, originally uploaded by Gatochy.

Madame Danilova of the Monte Carlo Ballet Russe, in 'Swan Lake'.

Alexandra Danilova (1904-1997)

"Lauded for her roles in Gaîte Parisienne, La Boutique fantasque and Le Beau Danube, Danilova also appeared in Swan Lake, The Firebird, Giselle, Coppélia and many other notable productions. Lifelong friend of and collaborator with famed choreographer George Balanchine, leader of her own world traveling ballet company in the 1950s and teacher at the School of American Ballet from 1964 to 1989, Danilova was a 1989 recipient of the prestigious Kennedy Center Honors in recognition of a lifetime of achievement and dedication in the field of ballet.

When Alexandra Danilova was born in 1904, ballet was popular in her native czarist Russia. In turn-of-the-century America, ballets were only rarely staged at the Metropolitan Opera House in New York. These rare performances, invariably by European companies, failed to inspire the development of an indigenous ballet culture in America. Beginning in 1916, a series of innovative ballet companies, starting with Serge Diaghilev's Ballets Russes, began touring in the United States. These companies built on a repertoire of standard Russian classics such as Swan Lake, The Nutcracker and Sleeping Beauty. The last of these companies, the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo, finding itself stranded in America with the onset of World War II, toured more extensively than any of its predecessors. The company appeared to great acclaim in as many as 104 cities in one season. The many ballet schools and companies in America today owe much to the example of the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo and its outstanding performers, including the "waxen-legged" Danilova."

Beatriz Costa (1907-1996)

Beatriz Costa, 1930s, originally uploaded by Gatochy.

Click image for 480 x 580 size.

Beatriz Costa (born Beatriz da Conceição; 14 December 1907 in Mafra - 15 April 1996 in Lisbon) was a Portuguese actress and singer. Often compared to the celebrated Louise Brooks, on account of her bob haircut, Beatriz was nevertheless a comedienne and singer, not a dramatic actress and dancer like Louise. However she too became a legend in her time, among the Portuguese speaking public in Portugal (Europe) and Brazil (South America). And like Louise she wrote several auto-biographical books that were a hit with the public and of great historical interest. Beatriz went into the show biz because, as she put it, she always wanted to be a clown.

Man Ray, Lee Miller

Man Ray, Lee Miller, originally uploaded by Gatochy.

Lee Miller (1907-1977)

She started out as a model for some of the most talented photographer of her day, and established herself as a famous photographer herself, creating images in the Surrealist style. She was a war correspondent, and photographed both for fashion, art and war scenarios.

Clara Bow (1905-1965)

Cinéfilo, n.75, January 25, 1930 - 13, originally uploaded by Gatochy.

Click image for 882 x 1235 size. Image: Clara Bow and Richard Arlen, in Portuguese movie magazine Cinéfilo, No.75, January 25, 1930.

Clara Gordon Bow (July 29, 1907 (possibly 1905)– September 27, 1965).

"This is how nice Clara could be to her fans. There was a kid who sent a letter to Paramount, lamenting the fact that his parent’s candied popcorn concession at Long Beach would soon go under owing to family illness and rising medical expense. Could Clara come down and help out? To the boy’s no doubt total shock, she did just that, showing up unannounced one Saturday morning to peddle the corn. All her idea too, not the publicity department’s. The 33,727 letters she received in May 1928 were no doubt sincerely felt. Nobody in the industry got more mail."

Click image for 517 x 768 size. Via Dr. X's Free Associations.