Lauren Bacall Me

Wish I'd gone ... 

Via NYT: During a two-day auction in New York, buyers and gawkers alike flocked to view an eclectic collection of Lauren Bacall’s belongings. Read HERE.

Catalog available online HERE.

Betty Bacall Slept Here

Lauren Bacall's Dakota digs hit the market for a cool $26 million. (Maintenance is a meager 11 grand a month.) Check 'em out HERE.

Song of the Day: 'Rainbow High' by Madonna

In memory of the woman whose name was synonymous with glamour.

I'm their savior, that's what they call me
So Lauren Bacall me, anything goes!

Last of the Vogue-icans

Now they're all GONE.

Page 1 Consider (08/13)

Lauren Bacall Is Dead at 89

"You know how to whistle, don’t you, Steve? You just put your lips together and blow."

Though she is one of Hollywood's most celebrated stars -- having starred in more than 40 films, including “To Have and Have Not” and "The Big Sleep" playing opposite lover-turned-hubby Humphrey Bogart -- I must confess the young Kenny Walsh got to know, and love, Lauren Bacall by way of her early '80s slasher film, "The Fan," (There's not a horror movie of that era I didn't see in the theater.) "How to Marry a Millionaire" would enter the picture slightly thereafter during my Marilyn period, and then I became an even bigger fan after reading about her in Slim Keith's fascinating memoir, "Slim: Memories of a Rich and Imperfect Life." (Slim was married to Howard Hawks, among others, and discovered the young model Lauren on a magazine cover.) Bacall's death at 89 can hardly be deemed tragic, but I do hope she isn't Farrah Fawcett-ed because of Robin Williams' suicide. With her trademark style and Fancy Feast of vocal cords -- and her name popping up in everything from "Evita" to "Vogue" -- she is truly one of the most legendary women of the 20th century. She deserves to have the red carpet rolled out for news cycles to come. RIP, Betty.

Read her NYT obit HERE.

When I started working at the New York Times in early 2003, a colleague of mine had recently had a run-in with Ms. Bacall, which he gleefully shared with me then. I noticed he included it on his Facebook wall, and feel confident he wouldn't mind my sharing it with you guys ...

Jesse writes:

I met her once, though "met" suggests an intimacy not really present in the patron-clerk relationship at the high-end kitchenwares retailer in Manhattan where I worked for a few months during the 2003 holiday season. She came into the store unaccompanied as far as I could tell, except for the small brown dog she carried nestled into the folds of her fur coat. I think dogs were not allowed in the store, or anyway I never saw another one. But other dogs were not being carried by Lauren Bacall. She did not ask to be attended by a store manager and two senior employees acting as her personal shoppers, but it happened nonetheless. I stood behind a cash register, ostensibly serving other customers but following her around the store with my eyes, a little stunned. I had met famous people before, sat for long interviews with rock stars, but she was something different, a quasi-mythological figure from another age. I had only ever seen her in black and white. How was she in person? As you would expect. Elegant and gracious, charming and imperial. She gestured at various wares and they were fetched and brought to the counter. I helped wrap them and compile the names and addresses to which they were to be sent. She was doing her Christmas shopping. There were several Robardses on the list. She was patient and quiet while we attended to her, still so beautiful, skin like supple marble. At one point, as I finished taping up one item, she looked directly at me from just across the counter and gave me a full, friendly smile. The same smile she gave Humphrey Bogart, I thought. The same lips and eyes (give or take any imperceptible and tasteful surgery she may have had in the interim). I made $9 an hour at that job, and I kept it only until something better came along. But it did give me that: Lauren Bacall smiled at me.

Caberet Queens

I've always been leery of the prospect of Kirsten Dunst playing Debbie Harry in a Blondie biopic. Didn't think she had the vibe, and "Dick" and "Bring It On" -- her best films -- were a very long time ago. (I'm not the only one who feels this way.) But this recent photo of the "Melancholia" star, below, sort of reminded me of "In the Flesh" era Deb, and has me rethinking my skepticism.

Debbie's been recently quoted as saying her black beret, black dress and high boots look was one of her favorite looks -- I concur -- and now I'm starting to totally picture Kirsten telling some little girls lies in that getup, too.

And speaking of berets, it's a look on women I must say I'm partial to, with only Faye Dunaway doing it more justice than my Deb. (Flawless!)

Here are a few other beret babes who made it work, too:

Anything Goes: Lauren Bacall

Two Little Girls From Little Rock: Marilyn (and Jane)

Nutty but Gorgeous: Brigitte Bardot

Boystown: Ferris Bueller

(More HERE.)