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Spanish postcard, no. 3009. Sara Montiel in La Violetera / The Violet Peddler (Luis César Amadori, 1958).
Spanish singer and actress Sara Montiel, also known as Sarita and Saritísima, was a beloved and internationally recognised figure in Spanish-speaking cinema. In the late 1950s, Montiel achieved the status of mega-star in Europe and Latin America with El Último Cuple / The Last Torch Song (1957). This film and La Violetera / The Violet Peddler (1958) netted the highest gross revenues ever recorded for films made in the Spanish-speaking film industry. Montiel was also the first woman to distill sex openly in Spanish cinema at a time when even a low-cut dress was not acceptable.
Sara Montiel was born as María Antonia Alejandra Vicenta Elpidia Isidora Abad Fernández in the village of Campo de Criptana in the province of Ciudad Real, Spain, in 1928. Her parents were Isidoro Abad, a peasant who later operated a bar, and Maria Vicenta Fernández, a door-to-door beautician. At 15, Montiel won a beauty and talent contest held by Cifesa, the most influential film studio at that time in Spain. The next year, she made her film debut in Te Quiero Para Mí / I want you for myself (Ladislao Vajda, 1943), credited as Maria Alejandra, a shortened version of her real name. In spite of the small part, the young actress caught the attention of producers and directors who realised her enormous potential. By the end of 1944, she was given the starring role in the film Empezó En Boda / It Started at the Wedding (Raffaello Matarazzo, 1944), which introduced her with a new image and a new name: she was now a sophisticated blonde named Sara Montiel. In the next four years, she appeared in 14 films. Soon her colleagues started calling her 'Sarita' (Little Sara) due to her youth. The nickname caught on with the press and the public, consequently. Since then, both Sara and Sarita have been used in credits and publicity. In 1947, she played the role of Antonia, the niece of Don Quixote, in Don Quijote de la Mancha / Don Quixote (Rafael Gil, 1947), the Spanish film version of Cervantes's great novel. Her first international success was her role as an Islamic princess in Locura de Amor / The Mad Queen (Juan de Orduña, 1948) with Fernando Rey. Locura de Amor led to a contract in Mexico, where she established herself as one of the most popular film actors of the decade. She made a total of 13 Mexican films between 1950 and 1954. Due to her popularity in Mexico, Hollywood came calling, and she was introduced to American filmgoers in the Western Vera Cruz (Robert Aldrich, 1954), co-starring with Gary Cooper and Burt Lancaster. She was offered the standard seven-year contract at Columbia Pictures, but she refused, afraid of Hollywood's typecasting policies for Hispanics. Instead, she free-lanced at Warner Bros. in Serenade (Anthony Mann, 1956) with Mario Lanza and Joan Fontaine, and at RKO in Run of the Arrow (Samuel Fuller, 1957), opposite Rod Steiger and Charles Bronson. Director Anthony Mann became her first husband.
Back in Europe, Sara Montiel became the most commercially successful Spanish actress during the mid-20th century. The film musical El Último Cuplé / The Last Torch Song (Juan de Orduña, 1957) was an unexpected success. It played for a year in the same theatres in which it opened. A similar reaction followed in the other European countries and in Latin America. El Último Cuplé turned Montiel into an overnight sensation both as an actor and a singer. Then she achieved the status of mega-star with La Violetera / The Violet Peddler (Luis César Amadori, 1958) with Raf Vallone. It broke the box-office records set by El Último Cuplé. She won the Premio del Sindicato (at the time Spain's equivalent to the Oscar) for best actress two years in a row for her performances in El Último Cuplé and La Violetera. From then on, she combined filming highly successful vehicles, recording songs in five languages and performing live all over the world. Among the films that continued her immense popularity were Carmen, la de Ronda / The Devil Made A Woman (Tulio Demicheli, 1959) with Jorge Mistral, Mi Ultimo Tango / My Last Tango (Luis César Amadori, 1960), and Pecado de Amor / Sin of Love (Tulio Demicheli, 1961). By 1962, she had become a legend to millions worldwide, reaching markets that had previously been ‘uncharted territory for the Spanish cinema. La Bella Lola (Tulio Demicheli, 1962), a new version of Camille with Antonio Cifariello and Maurice Ronet, La Reina del Chantecler (1963), and Noches de Casablanca (Henri Decoin, 1963) with Maurice Ronet spread Sarita's popularity to Eastern Europe, Greece, Turkey, Israel and Japan. Samba (Rafael Gil, 1964) with Italian actor Fosco Giachetti, La mujer perdida / The Lost Woman (Tulio Demicheli, 1966) with Massimo Serato, Tuset Street (Jorge Grau, Luis Marquina, 1967) with Patrick Bauchau, and Esa Mujer / That Woman (Mario Camus, 1969) followed. In 1973, her film Varietés (Juan Antonio Bardem, 1971) was banned in Beijing. By then, she had become a legend to her millions of fans, but she became dissatisfied with the film industry when producers started offering her roles in soft-core porno films. In 1974, Montiel announced her retirement from movies but continued performing live, recording and starring on her own variety television shows in Spain.
Sara Montiel has been married four times: to American film director Anthony Mann (1957-1963), industrial attorney José Vicente Ramírez Olalla (1964-1978), attorney-journalist José Tous Barberán (1979-1992), and Cuban videotape operator Antonio Hernández (2002-2005). With José Tous Barberán, she adopted two children: Thais (1979) and Zeus (1982). Before, during and after these marriages, she had countless affairs. During the Franco dictatorship, Spanish stars were forbidden to behave in any way that could be perceived at odds with Christian principles and morality; consequently, they kept their private lives very private. Montiel was no exception. Pre-marital or out-of-wedlock relationships were never mentioned, and her civil marriage to Anthony Mann was underplayed, along with the divorce. After starring in the film Cinco Almohadas Para Una Noche / Five Pillows for a Night (Pedro Lazaga, 1974), Montiel announced her retirement from the cinema. She complained about the almost pornographic turn taken by the Spanish film industry after censorship was abolished in the post-Franco era. For a long time she concentrated on highly successful stage musicals: 'Sara en Persona' (1970-1973), 'Saritísima' (1974-1975), 'Increible Sara' (1977-1978), 'Super Sara Show' (1979-1980), 'Doña Sara de La Mancha' (1981-1982), 'Taxi Vamos Al Victoria' (1983-1984), 'Nostalgia' (1984-1985), 'Sara, Mes Que Mai !!' (1986), 'Sara, Siempre Sara' (1987-1988) and 'Saritízate' (1989-1990).
In the 1990s, Sara Montiel surprised everyone by branching out into television: Sara y Punto (1990), a mini-series of seven one-hour episodes, included a serialised biography of the star, many popular guests including Luciano Pavarotti and Charles Aznavour, and Montiel singing her greatest hits in addition to new songs written especially for her. Next came Ven al Paralelo (1992), taped in a Barcelona theatre where Montiel hosted, sang and acted in comedy sketches in front of a live audience. In 2000, she published her autobiography 'Vivir es un placer' (Memories: To Live Is A Pleasure), an instant bestseller with ten editions to date. A sequel, 'Sara and Sex', followed in 2003. In these books, Montiel revealed other relationships in her past, including one-night stands with writer Ernest Hemingway as well as actor James Dean. She also claimed a long-term affair in the 1940s with playwright Miguel Mihura and mentioned that science wizard Severo Ochoa, a Nobel Prize winner, was the true love of her life. She was portrayed in the Pedro Almodóvar film La mala educación / Bad Education (2004) by Gael García Bernal as the transsexual character Zahara, and a clip from one of her films was also used. In 2009, the pop group Fangoria invited Montiel to record a track for the re-release of the band's album 'Absolutamente'. The title track, 'Absolutamente', became a Top 10 hit. After almost 40 years without making a film, she accepted a role in the comedy Abrázame / Hold (Óscar Parra de Carrizosa, 2011). The film was shot on location in Montiel's birthplace in La Mancha. According to the star, in this film, she dared to do "a parody of her old screen image, just for fun." Sara Montiel died in 2013 at home in Madrid. She was survived by her children, Thais and Zeus.
Sources: InfoMontiel, Wikipedia, and IMDb.
And, please check out our blog European Film Star Postcards.
An almost colorless park this morning. The leaves were swept away, covering the concrete footing that I'm assuming will support a new street lamp, the orange traffic cone marking that footing disappeared and our friend the garbage can is nowhere to be found.
the Maltese has been given many names, such as the "Melitae Dog," "Ye Ancient Dogge of Malta," the "Roman Ladies Dog," "The Comforter," the "Spaniel Gentle," the "Bichon," the "Maltese Lion Dog," and the "Maltese Terrier." Today, he is known simply as the Maltese.
This elegant toy dog breed is famed for the silky white hair covering his body. Straight and thick, the coat falls all the way to the floor. Many years ago, Maltese came in many colors, but these days they are always white. When a properly built Maltese moves, he seems to float beneath his cloud of white hair. Because he doesn't have an undercoat, the Maltese sheds little, and many people consider the breed to be hypoallergenic.
But the Maltese is more than his coat. Completing the picture is a slightly rounded skull, black nose, drop ears, dark, alert eyes, short, straight legs, and a graceful tail. He's a sweet, intelligent dog who is devoted to his people. And as one of the smallest of the toy breeds, he's well suited to apartment or condo living. Wherever he lives, the Maltese is responsive to his environment and makes an effective watchdog.
Read more at dogtime.com/dog-breeds/maltese#7jhWzprxJ2w6IIbr.99
1959 Pontiac Parisienne hardtop coupe... Eric has been working on it for about six years now, he finally has it on the road with only a few touches left to finish off, now he can start working on restoring his 1959 Parisienne convertible... This one, and he will restore the convertible to original stock condition...
Spring Thaw car show, the annual kick off to driving season here in Calgary, a little smaller this year but then again it did snow the day before!
The moon was beautiful last night, and these are my first decent moon pics. Trying out my new tripod, and it certainly makes a difference from earlier attempts. The one below is right before darkness, and the main pic is about 10 minutes later. I plan on trying it again when the full moon appears. Think I'll read up on how to achieve good moon pics. Might save me a lot of trial and error regarding the settings. Or if any of my flickr friends have suggestions, I'll certainly be listening to your advice.
Flint steals a Crimson Guard Uniform and hides the body, but it sounds like some Techno Vipers might be on to him.
A shot from my stroy Mindbender's Plan that I sadly might never finish.
Now with the arrival of Perfume Pretty Whitney my Whitney collection is almost completed, I only miss her nurse version.
(re-edited, from my archives.) Xhosa Rite of Passage/circumcision ritual . Gugaletu, South Africa, 2010. In Xhosa tradition this event is a milestone in a boy’s life; it is the time when he becomes a man. Boys have to be initiated into manhood before their 18th birthday (although nowadays many are older and even in their twenties depending on their financial situation) and sometimes they can be as young as 12. Normally they go into the bush or the mountains depending on where they live and spend several weeks being initiated by men who are specialized in that and this part of the ceremony is kept in secrecy, no one really knows what happens there. (let me just add here that another friend of mine who went though this initiation when he was 20 told me that if he knew the pain he would go through that he would have never ever chosen to become a man..)
The boys are not circumcised as babies so one stage of the initiation is for them to be circumcised and this has become the centre of a lot of controversy as many boys have either lost their penises or died during the process. The circumcision is done by the initiator and he doesn’t use any type of anaesthetic but this is all a part of proving that you are a man. This may seem very horrible to some people especially in the western world but like a fried of mine said, in other cultures you may have to kill a lion and this is just a part of African culture and there are many similar things in other countries that we go though as a rite of passage. But now they are being given better tools to perform this procedure and people are beginning to step away from using the traditional tools once used which are not as safe.
Usually the father of the son decides when he is physically and emotionally ready to be initiated and then he places the son in the hands of a man that he trusts, very often he takes him to the same man who initiated him. The father of this young man did everything to make sure that his son would be safe and not be hurt in any way. He decided for his son to also be initiated at the same time as his cousin which gives the children some moral support while in the bush and while they were in the bush he would visit them 3-4 times a week just to make sure everything was running smoothly and that his son was alright. But of course the mother’s always worry.
a friend of mine was telling about some of the problems that are now happening which were expressed to him by his good friend (who is the father of this boy) where now the whole process of initiation has become a business and the true tradition is being lost because instead of the father deciding when his son is ready, a lot of the time the father isn’t even present, either because he has passed away or just decided to leave his family and people are aware of this and now you will find some men who drive around in a truck looking for young boys walking along the street and then they just grab them and forcibly put them into initiation school and sometimes the boy is way too young to be initiated, he is not physically or emotionally ready to undergo such an experience because it is a very difficult process for the boys to have to go through and if they are not ready this will obviously cause many psychological problems for the boys or even severe physical problems.
Once they have taken the boy they send someone to his mother’s house and tell her that she needs to pay them anywhere from 2,000-4,000 rand. It’s no longer that the family knows the initiator and a lot of the time the initiators are not even qualified to have this role and are just alcoholics looking for a quick way to make some money. In many cases like this the boys are beaten and tortured but in this case they have been very careful and have known the man they chose to be the initiator for a long time. They have done it properly which is how it would normally be done according to tradition.
The part of the ritual I experienced was one of the final phases of the son’s circumcision ritual. They have already spent their time in the bush and are now accepted as men but there is one more week to go before they can dress as men. In this photo you are seeing the men being yelled at by the elders in how to behave and how to live a life of dignity and respect, i was lucky enough that they invited me in to the room where this takes place. During this period they are not allowed to wear shoes and must wear a scarf over their eyes because they are not supposed to see anyone yet and in a week’s time they will be able to wash, and wear normal clothes consisting of a nice jacket and a cap.
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There were as many photographers as cyclists gathered in McPherson Square for the start of the Naked Bike Ride. Washington, DC.
almost done shading! Asian Arowana tattoo! Thanks to Leo@ Two Thumbs Tattoo Hawaii for inking my designs!
Paddy Field @ Kampung Besar, Penang 2012
Paddy Field almost ready for harvest..
Gear:
Aperture Priority
Model: DSLR-A580
ISO: 100
Exposure: 1/80 sec
Aperture: 14.0
Focal Length: 17mm
Flash Used: No
Filter: Hitech Filter 0.6s
Digital copy and Canvas printout can be done at below;
This ceramic art from Oaxaca Mexico slows the Three Kings approaching Belen to bring their gifts to Baby Jesus. I hope all Flickr friends get many wonderful gifts tonight
Seriously, this straight on pose makes me think an owl, instead of a hawk. But I am delighted to get the hawk! Although I still really want an owl.
We're almost to summer.
This afternoon was a nice, quiet time on the beach, which had a nice cross-section of the beautiful ethnic and socioeconomic diversity which my neighborhood contains. The beach is free.
Edgewater, Chicago, Illinois.
Mother's Day, Sunday, May 11, 2014.
You simply must go big to see the detail @ 18th and Carson where we gathered for the Pittsburgh flickr meet-up. A bunch of great folks turned out for the walk. Some old friends and new acquaintances. It was good seeing you all. Please feel free to use face sized notes to ID and link yourselves.
I think I missed Nina and Bill, maybe another, by not shooting one more frame.
My apologies, I'd filled the stinking buffer and just gave up after Nixon.
This is one point of a full set of caribou antlers that is nearly engulfed by the flourishing tundra around it. Left undisturbed for decades past, it may be covered completely in a few decades to come.
Antler almost buried by plant growth
.... but you have to wait till the weekend!!
Our Daily Challenge ~ Almost ....
Thanks to everyone who views this photo, adds a note, leaves a comment and of course BIG thanks to anyone who chooses to favourite my photo .... thanks to you all.
Berberis cretica L.
Cretan Barberry, DE: Kretische Berberize
Slo.: kretiški češmin
Dat.: April 26. 2016
Lat.: 35.36129 Long.: 23.90723
Code: Bot_951/2016_DSC1714
Habitat: light mountain cypresses woodland (Cupressus sempervirens), north oriented mountain slope, locally almost flat terrain; calcareous, rocky, skeletal ground; full sun; elevation 1.030 m (3.400 feet); average precipitations ~ 1.000 mm/year, average temperature 8-10 deg C (estimated ?), Mediterranean phytogeographical region.
Substratum: soil.
Place: Northwest slopes of White Mountains, north of Omalos plateau, next to the road from Omalos village to north shore of the island, somewhat lower after the highest point of the road; West Crete, Mediterranean Sea, Greece EU.
Comment: Berberis cretica is a beautiful plant when in bloom, however adversely spiny. Its three-partite long and sturdy spines are dense and very sharp so it is impossible to brake off a single small branch with bare hands. This is, of cause, an efficient defense against grazing goats, which have radically changed Cretan flora through last millennia. Most of plants of Phrygana, specific Greek type of Garrigue (an open community of dwarf evergreen shrubs) are thorny.
Berberis cretica is limited to high mountains of Crete, Rhodes, south Greece and Turkey. Contrary to our central European Common Barberry (Berberis vulgaris), which has vividly red berries, it has dark blue, almost black berries.
Ref.:
(1) I. Schӧnfelder, P. Schӧnfelder, Kosmos Atlas Mittelmeer- und Kanarenflora, Kosmos, (2002), p 48.
(2) V. Papiomytoglou, Wildblumen aus Friechenland, Mediterrane Editions (2006), p 24.
When I was a teenager I made some pottery . I have not become ceramist , but I want you to show these early pieces .
Please, don't hesitate to contact me here for more info: szentantal@gmail.com
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