Café Muscato Posted by Muscato on September 21, 2013

Camp taste turns its back on the good-bad axis of ordinary aesthetic judgment. - Susan Sontag, "Notes on Camp" Ladies and gents - the Moranbong Band! These charming ladies, it seems, are the new fave-raves of the moment of the cognoscenti in far-off Pyongyang. Leggy, energetic (and mystifyingly   read more

Café Muscato Posted by Muscato on September 19, 2013

One thing this photo tells me: it is unwise to attempt an Adrian look unless you actually have Adrian dressing you. This comes close - but Norma really should have known better. This charming snap of Hollywood's happiest couple - from the look of it, taken while they were boarding...   read more

Café Muscato Posted by Muscato on September 19, 2013

One thing this photo tells me: it is unwise to attempt an Adrian look unless you actually have Adrian dressing you. This comes close - but Norma really should have known better. This charming snap of Hollywood's happiest couple - from the look of it, taken while they were boarding...   read more

Café Muscato Posted by Muscato on September 18, 2013

On the 97th anniversary of his birth, let's spend a moment admiring the European charms of dear Signore Rossano Brazzi. In an era of whitebread Troy Donahues and Tab Hunters, Brazzi led the pack of more exotic leading men who added spice and color to travel romps like Three Coins...   read more

Café Muscato Posted by Muscato on September 18, 2013

On the 97th anniversary of his birth, let's spend a moment admiring the European charms of dear Signore Rossano Brazzi. In an era of whitebread Troy Donahues and Tab Hunters, Brazzi led the pack of more exotic leading men who added spice and color to travel romps like Three Coins...   read more

Café Muscato Posted by Muscato on September 14, 2013

Camp discloses innocence, but also, when it can, corrupts it. - Susan Sontag, "Notes on Camp" Sometimes things become jokes that shouldn't; the career (and life) of Joey Heatherton is, I think, one of those things. Admit it - you're surprised she can sing, aren't you? I kind of am,...   read more

Café Muscato Posted by Muscato on September 14, 2013

Camp discloses innocence, but also, when it can, corrupts it. - Susan Sontag, "Notes on Camp" Sometimes things become jokes that shouldn't; the career (and life) of Joey Heatherton is, I think, one of those things. Admit it - you're surprised she can sing, aren't you? I kind of am,...   read more

Café Muscato Posted by Muscato on September 9, 2013

There's nothing like a ten-hour flight to plow through a good book, and that's exactly what I did yesterday, flying back from Vienna. Remarkably, Stephen Michael Shearer's Gloria Swanson: The Ultimate Star is the first major biography of Swanson, or at least the first since her own (ghosted, but fl   read more

Café Muscato Posted by Muscato on September 9, 2013

There's nothing like a ten-hour flight to plow through a good book, and that's exactly what I did yesterday, flying back from Vienna. Remarkably, Stephen Michael Shearer's Gloria Swanson: The Ultimate Star is the first major biography of Swanson, or at least the first since her own (ghosted, but fl   read more

Café Muscato Posted by Muscato on August 25, 2013

Consider my mind blown, courtesy of the endlessly fascinating Joan Crawford Best. Oh, I know it's not really him, as it's surpassingly unlikely that he was living on Flatbush Avenue in 1958. Still, don't you adore the image of the 13-year-old future reggae superstar sitting there in the dark of...   read more

Café Muscato Posted by Muscato on August 25, 2013

Consider my mind blown, courtesy of the endlessly fascinating Joan Crawford Best. Oh, I know it's not really him, as it's surpassingly unlikely that he was living on Flatbush Avenue in 1958. Still, don't you adore the image of the 13-year-old future reggae superstar sitting there in the dark of...   read more

Café Muscato Posted by Muscato on August 18, 2013

It's a two-for-one birthday special today! Yes, that one-woman Shameless Camp Explosion herself, Miss Shelley Winters, would have been 93 today, and here we see her shilling on behalf of birthday boy Max Factor, Jr., who ably shepherded his father's fabled firm into the second half of the last cent   read more

Café Muscato Posted by Muscato on August 18, 2013

It's a two-for-one birthday special today! Yes, that one-woman Shameless Camp Explosion herself, Miss Shelley Winters, would have been 93 today, and here we see her shilling on behalf of birthday boy Max Factor, Jr., who ably shepherded his father's fabled firm into the second half of the last cent   read more

Café Muscato Posted by Muscato on August 17, 2013

Okay - here's the deal: click here, then come right back! The whole point of Camp is to dethrone the serious. Camp is playful, anti-serious. - Susan Sontag, "Notes on Camp" Thanks to the vagaries of YouTube, today's SSCE requires an extra step: our feature is, sadly, victim of the...   read more

Café Muscato Posted by Muscato on August 17, 2013

Okay - here's the deal: click here, then come right back! The whole point of Camp is to dethrone the serious. Camp is playful, anti-serious. - Susan Sontag, "Notes on Camp" Thanks to the vagaries of YouTube, today's SSCE requires an extra step: our feature is, sadly, victim of the...   read more

Café Muscato Posted by Muscato on August 16, 2013

Many happy returns today to longtime Café bollycrush, the remarkable Mr. Upen Patel. Ever thoughtful of us, his cher publique, the dear boy has been careful to retweet evey single birthday wish he's gotten to date. Not the bashful type is he? Although I suppose his fashion choices should have...   read more

Café Muscato Posted by Muscato on August 16, 2013

Many happy returns today to longtime Café bollycrush, the remarkable Mr. Upen Patel. Ever thoughtful of us, his cher publique, the dear boy has been careful to retweet evey single birthday wish he's gotten to date. Not the bashful type is he? Although I suppose his fashion choices should have...   read more

Café Muscato Posted by Muscato on August 13, 2013

One of the joys of returning to the U.S. of A. is, without question, access to real, live Turner Classic Movies. Oh, out in the Sandlands, as I once upon a time kvetched, we had something called TCM, but it was but a pale shadow of the real thing. Now...   read more

Café Muscato Posted by Muscato on August 13, 2013

One of the joys of returning to the U.S. of A. is, without question, access to real, live Turner Classic Movies. Oh, out in the Sandlands, as I once upon a time kvetched, we had something called TCM, but it was but a pale shadow of the real thing. Now...   read more

Café Muscato Posted by Muscato on August 12, 2013

A momentous day today, a couple of millennia ago - an event that if nothing else has provided fuel for myth, legend, and a string of movies that have provided some truly over the top moments. Yes, August 12 marks the death of Cleopatra VII Philopater, the last ruler of...   read more