Hepburn.

A name shared by two major actresses. One epitomizes dry wit in screw ball comedy. The other embodies charming ingenuity. Both are symbols of The Hollywood Glam. Today, Golden age movie lovers (as me and 5 other very good friends for instance) remember Katherine, born May 12th, 1907.

She’s best remembered for her role alongside Legend Humphrey Bogart in “African Queen”, “Mary of Scotland”, “Bringing up Baby”, with Cary Grant playing a deliciously geeky paleontologist, “The Philadelphia Story”, “The Lion in the Winter”, “Woman of the Year”, “Guess who’s coming for diner”.

Miss Katherine was a theater wonder too. She even played the role of Gabrielle (Coco) Chanel, in the Musical “Coco”, in Broadway.  And of course, played most of Shakespeare’s immortal chef-d’oeuvres. Let me mention “Taming of the Shrew”, “The Merchant of Venice”, “Anthony and Cleopatra”, and “Much ado about nothing”.

66 year long career, 44 feature films, 33 plays. She liked her numbers to be even, one could say.

This reminds my of my trip last year, in L.A.

It was in February,  the blue sky was bursting with sun, the air was light and breezy, the palm trees were nicely trimmed.

My camera was showing impatience to encounter Hollywood Blvd, the Chinese Theater and Sunset Blvd.

I went also on top of Observatory Hill, to catch an amazing view of the city, the ocean sparkling away in the horizon, and all the memories of “Rebel without a cause” secluded in my mind, as I strolled around and inside the building.

Later, I drove on Sunset Blvd, photographing the houses of those who built my love for the cinema and my interest for the entertainment industry. Below is B.Karloff’s former house (dark pic, I’m afraid, for the impersonator of dark characters).

Lana Turner’s former house.

Mansion of a beautiful one (alive and above).

In the vicinity of the loop where Cary Grant used to live ( below)…

…one stumbles upon this…

…Undoubtedly handy for the Bentleys and RR owners in the neighbourhood.

While in L.A. I tried those super trendy flavoured coffees from various shops, in Malibu, on Hollywood Boulevard, on the beach, in Santa Monica district, and I wanted to taste different kind of brews. Conclusion : I’m not a fan of vanillastrawberry/cinnamon/citrusblueberry/whatever fancy/ aroma. I prefer my Italian to be strong, rich, well scented, and easy going.

No fuss coffee for me, please, even in super glam bold California’s City of Angels.

The organic deli just around the corner was so inviting, I sorted my pix in there, while resting my sore feet, and made myself a wish and a promise : to come here again with more time to be able to visit a studio (or two), and work harder, to get to live here.

I raise my ultra-caffeinated black coffee to thy, Hollywood.

A toast for the joy, the drama, the humor, the laugh, the thinking, the glamour, the cogitation instilled in our lives.

A toast also to The Frères Lumière and Georges Méliès who made it all possible,

Th. Edison,  Buster K., Abel Gance, DW Griffith, Renoir, John De Cuir, Edith Head, Givenchy, Chas Chaplin, Ealing Studios (UK), The Studios de Joinville (France), Cinecitta (Italy), Babelsberg Studios (Germany), Fritz Lang, Alec Guiness, Jimmy Stewart, Garbo, Marilyn, Jeanne Moreau, Godard, Wiene, Murnau, Jean Dujardin, Michel Gondry (“Science of dreams”, “Be Kind, rewind”), Mitchum and Lancaster, Ozu, Bruno Ganz, Nino Rota, Mancini, Agnès Varda, Imamura, Dame Judi Dench, Jack Lemmon, Damian Lewis, Brenda Blethyn, Hannah Schygulla, Romy Schneider, Bibiana, Begalu, Daniel Brühl (“Goodbye Lenin”, “Joyeux Noël”), Patricia Mazuy, Joséphine Siao, Maggie Cheung, Guillaume Canet, Eva Green, among many others.