StyleSheet: Remembering Lauren Bacall

Sunday, August 24, 2014

Remembering Lauren Bacall

I have a bunch of regrets about the career of Lauren Bacall, but I am sure she does not and is content and satisfied at her final resting place somewhere up in the sky twinkling brighter than all the other stars in heaven. I still can't help but wonder what Bacall would have been like sans Bogie.

Lauren excelled as a model, with her definite symmetrical features and glowing mane of gorgeous hair, her height, and flawless figure were tailor made for still photography. She would have been a great fashion and cover model. She would have made a better model than actress, but she chose acting and chose Bogie.

I actually liked her solo career better, but she was a bit older and the age was showing turning her face masculine, yet her acting was solid, and I felt she could have expanded into many different roles, had it not been for her marrying the old man Bogie and essentially raising a family instead of promoting herself. It is evident that she looked better in photos than in moving pictures. In the old days, modeling was not lucrative, so all the models wanted to be actresses, even though sometimes their good looks failed to translate well into moving pictures.

Bogie & Bacall also had a radio show that was just as boring as their movies. It was called "Bold Venture" set in Havana and the Caribbean and the stories centered around crime and intrigue, but their voices and personality failed to spark any interest.

Each did better without each other. I was never a fan of those monotonous buddy films featuring married couples or just couples that were paired together, like Cary Grant and Katharine Hepburn, Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn, or anyone with Hepburn; the same couples in every film are flimsy and dull.

Bacall in "How To Marry A Millionaire", playing a model. Her acting was good but she was too old for the part as is evident; Betty Grable was miscast, but we're not talking about her right now.