La Divina's Pearls

La Divina's pearls are the antidote to Jackie Kennedy's virginal wedding pearls. Although Maria Callas lost Aristotle Onassis to Jackie Kennedy, I'm not sure ol' Artie had the right idea in moving from the passionate, iconic firestorm that was opera diva Callas to the quiet, dignified Jackie O. It's like trading brie for Kraft singles.  

 

"I wouldn't have dared to cross swords with Callas. I would rather have gone six rounds with Jack Dempsey!" John Huston

 You might argue that Jackie O. had staying power, while Maria Callas burned so brightly that her voice was ruined after 10 years of astounding opera fans the world over. Callas said she lived for art and love, and those who knew here pointed to the fact that she started life looking rather homely, that her voice was mediocre, that there was nothing about her given looks that indicated a star in the making. But it was her ferocious will, the "tiger," that built herself into a singer hailed as the loveliest woman ever to tread the boards, able to electrify crowds and bewitch suitors with a single note of song.  

 I'd like to think that pearls, which she often wore, were part of this tiger's armor. After all, not all swords are made of metal. And Onassis, in the end, might have agreed. It's said that even while he was with Jackie O., he'd sneak back to Paris for visits with La Divina.

   "Don't talk to me about rules, dear. Wherever I stay I make the goddam rules." Maria Callas

Does the Pearl Know?

DOES the pearl know, that in its shade and sheen, The dreamy rose and tender wavering green,  Are hid the hearts of all the ranging seas,   That Beauty weeps for gifts as fair as these? Does it desire aught else when its rare blush Reflects Aurora in the morning’s hush,   Encircling all perfection can bestow,         Does the pearl know? -Helen Hay

Thought D'Jour

 Why is it that men can be bastards and women must wear pearls and smile?  

 ~Lynn Hecht Schafran

Salome's Pearls

Alla Nazimova was not a subtle woman. A Moscow hussy, she was "kept" by a string of older benefactors as she worked her way up the casting couch. A few husbands later, she'd made her way to New York City, and became an acclaimed actress, known also for her outlandish lifestyle and beauty. But Alla had more than a bevy of champagne escapades on her mind. She used her newfound hoard of cash to make her own movies, which were fantastic frog-belly flops. Her baby was Salome, in which she naturally starred, with a hairdo that may only be described as pearls the size of portobello mushrooms liberally dotted in her hair and then lit up. 

And when Salome didn't have her pearl afro on, she was swathed like a showgirl in pearl head pieces. 

Although her audience may have also felt that pearls were the epitome of luxury and materialism, they could not get over the sight of Nazimova hopping awkwardly about the screen in an attempt to dance seductively, which gave the effect of both a two-year-old at ballet recital and a drunk hobo. Unphased by bad reviews, Alla continued on with her career, reigning over her "Garden of Allah" compound in Hollywood, where she entertained, seduced, and launched the careers of half the movie stars in town.

And the pearl connection? Besides the obvious and endearing fetish for them in Salome, she also held a torch for Anna May Wong, previously a subject of pearl curiosity for Lady Akoya.

The Lost Art of Wedding Pearls

There is something old-fashioned and lovely about the idea of wedding pearls that I think has been lost. They are not hard and glinty like diamonds, but rather soft and glowy, more a sign of romantic love than the serious business of swearing and oathing over a gold band. And for that one picture that is supposed to be the iconic shot of a lifetime, what better jewel to wear than one that will never go out of style?

Jackie Kennedy may have clinched the meaning of the wedding pearl for her generation: the romance won't last, sister, but the pearls will, and you will look fabulous in them!

But certainly long before Jackie, there were hundreds of years of royalty who all went to their fate swathed in pearls. Even the supremely practical Queen Elizabeth frumped her way to the altar wearing her momentos d'amour.

And on a personal note, my own Grandmother, married at the peak of World War II rationing in a cocktail dress, made sure that she did so decked out in a classic three string and hoops. I'm certain there was no suspicion in 1943 that in just a few decades more, the long-venerated pearl would slink down to the status of a biddy's foible.

Pearls of Wisdom from Josephine Baker

"Surely the day will come when color means nothing more than the skin tone, when religion is seen uniquely as a way to speak one's soul; when birth places have the weight of a throw of the dice and all men are born free, when understanding breeds love and brotherhood."  Josephine Baker

"...I felt liberated in Paris." Josephine Baker

"We must change the system of education and instruction. Unfortunately, history has shown us that brotherhood must be learned, when it should be natural."  Josephine Baker

Liz Taylor & La Peregrina

It's all too easy to file Liz Taylor with Alexis Carrington and Zsa Zsa Gabor: 1980 cheese-bombs with jewel fixations. But let's not forget that before La Liz started hawking perfume and sharing limos with Michael Jackson, she was, well, a classic beauty.

Is it really her fault that she went off the rails with 50-pound diamonds and four-foot bouffants in later years? If you were constantly pelted with jewels by a flotilla of husbands, might you not also turn to colossal gaudiness and flagrant excess? We must forgive Liz, if for no other reason than this: She owned La Peregrina, one of the largest drop pearls in the world, with five hundred years of intrigue and history under its belt. At 55 carats, it must've come from an oyster the size of a Big Mac. Hoarded by generations of the Spanish royal family, La Peregrina appears in many of their portraits. Mary I and Queen Margarita are just a few of those who coveted and briefly possessed it, until Richard Burton purchased it in 1969.

This is the Pink Panther's pipe dream. The kind of jewel that Sherlock Holmes would brave warrens of opium dens to recover. It has inspired the kind of gem mania that puts the lusts of ordinary mortals to shame. I'm not saying Liz wore it with class or humility...

But is class and humility what is called for when you wear a necklace like La Peregrina? I don't think so.  Hollywood, for better or worse, constitutes our royalty...so who better to wear the jewels of Queen Margarita?

Lina's Questionable Pearls

In the late 1800s, Lina Cavelieri was considered the western world's greatest beauty. And a bit of a tramp! 

She was a runaway orphan, who sang in Parisian cafes and sold flowers before she ascended to diva status on the opera stage. She dabbled with princes and tycoons; she fastened herself into corsets the size of cannolis; and once, in a fit of passion, she is said to have grabbed Caruso onstage and kissed him violently for all of high society to see. But what we note about Lina is her choice of necklace: pearls. She had a particular penchant for a short choker mixed with longer strands.

When she was feeling virtuous, she wore pearls...

 When she was feeling royal she wore pearls (with a diamond or two)....

  

And when she was feeling naughty, well, she wore pearls and pretty much nothing else...

It's sad that we've lost the notion of the pearl as the ultimate accoutrement to both ladies and tramps. These days it's all cubic zirconia and the fad of the moment. I like the certainty that Lina considered her strands of pearls to be her lifelong beauty marks, worn in whatever mood she happened to be in.

Desperately Seeking Frank-N-Furter

The trouble with pearls is that it's hard to stop at one strand, or even two. Once you catch pearl fever, you begin to think that more is better, and quickly you are lured away from the classic Jackie Kennedy one-strand, and you find yourself, well, amuck in pearls.

As Queen Alexandra shows above, there may be such a thing as TOO MANY pearls. She did have an excuse for her 50 pound choker (she was rumored to be hiding a surgery scar). But personally I'm not convinced that stepping over the line of good taste is always a bad thing. Or is that my 80s influences speaking? For those who had "Lucky Star" on their Walkmans in high school, who can forget the seminal cinematic moment of Madonna drying her armpits in a public bathroom, with a string of pearls draped over her not-inconsiderable mammaries? 

For much of her early career, Madonna was awash in a nest of pearls that looked a bit like something Mr. T. would wear if he were walking down the aisle. Certainly it was a look that would've horrified Queen Alexandra, if not all mothers who fielded urgent requests for pearl crucifixes to complete our "Like a Virgin" look. But the classic is the classic because it withstands the test of time. And the pearl is no worse off today for a little artistic license. My first cinema idol, in fact, was never without his highly questionable pearls. 

Yes. Frank-N-Furter. Really. Years of therapy have failed to sort this one out. I still think he's hot. And let's face it, the pearls may have been key to his charms. If I could've dressed like Madonna AND been the Bride of Frank-N-Furter, my young head would've exploded from transcendental joy, if not outright zen enlightenment. And you can be sure I would've been swathed in pearls, from ratted hair to glittery platforms. It's not like you have to buy real pearls to have fun. So why not layer them on? Why not go a little Desperately Seeking Frank-N-Furter?

The Treacherous Allure of the Silver Pearl

There's a reason why nobody wears silver pearls to church nor over fluffy cardigans nor to ladies-who-lunch teas. Silver pearls are the domain of temptresses, harlots, denizens of the night, and other sundry femme fatales...smoky eyeshadow and cocktails in the back of the limo are de rigeur. You will never see Barbara Bush in a long strand of baroque silver beauties. There is something about their sheen that evokes the rainbow spectrum on an oil slick, as if the very darkest of waters were shimmering with steel blue, peacock green, and bruised purple.

Or do I typecast? Anna May Wong, the first Chinese woman to be deemed a Hollywood star, knew a lot about being typecast. She was either Dragon Lady or Madam Butterfly, the scheming opium queen or the tragic goody-two-shoes. But to her credit, she always wore it well.  

And she often wore it with pearls.

At the height of Anna May's power in Hollywood, when she was revered worldwide for her beauty and talent, her studio chose a caucasian actress to play the lead in The Good Earth, a story about a Chinese peasant family, effectively crushing Anna May's dream that she would ever be the dramatic lead in a Hollywood movie. Anna May did the dignified thing and left for Europe, where she played several plum parts that were critically acclaimed. I can't prove that she wore silver pearls as she tread the boards in Paris, middle finger raised toward California, but I can dream!

Marilyn Monroe: Pearls are a Girl's Best Friend?

 "Women who seek to be equal with men lack ambition."

 -Marilyn Monroe

On the occasion of Marilyn Monroe's white dress selling for 4 million dollars, here's a nod to a very savy woman, who parlayed a little bit of peroxide and red lipstick into a stratospheric career. And her having been the epitome of glamour for a time, you might think she was awash in pearls. But in looking through photos of Marilyn, it is interesting to note that she rarely wore necklaces. I rather suspect this was because she didn't want anything interfering with the eye plummeting straight to her cleavage. When she did wear jewelry, it was usually diamonds the size of softballs. 

But the one strand of pearls that Marilyn owned were bought for her by Joe DiMaggio on their honeymoon in Japan.

Never mind that the marriage lasted for 9 months and most of the time Joe looked decidedly confused and embarrassed when photographed with her. Never mind that this is one of the primmest looks of Marilyn's career. 

I think she looked happy in her honeymoon pearls. So I'm taking the liberty of rewriting her famous quote, and saying that Pearls, not diamonds, are a girl's best friend.

Big Girls Need Baubles Too!

Plump as a partridge, with a voice like a dove, Lillian Russell was a celebrated singer and actress of the late 19th century. This was not the Great Gatsby era, when the idea was to see a girl's collar bones jutting out of her skin. A little padding was required before you made hearts flutter. And Lillian did have half the hearts in America fluttering for her golden voice and her significant curves. and her jewels of choice? Pearls, naturally.

Alas, perhaps hearts were fluttering a little too much. Her first husband was hauled in for bigamy. Let's not worry about how Husbands 2, 3, and 4 went their way. She finally met her match in Diamond Jim Brady, a snake oil salesman who amassed an ill-gotten fortune from shady dealings, and took his amusements in super-sized portions. He accumulated an enormous jewelry collection, no doubt to keep Ms. Russell in pearls. And he was also said to eat meals that would put Paul Bunyan down for a nap. Rumor has it that Lillian was no slouch in the snack department herself. But that was the beauty of the 1800s. As long as you had a sturdy corset to launch yourself into an hour-glass figure, there was no reason to hold back on the ice cream sundays. It is for that reason, along with my love of the pearls, that I often wonder if I wasn't born in the wrong century.