Showing posts with label Lambretta. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Lambretta. Show all posts

Friday, August 12, 2011

More Scooters, Another Singer

Updated 08/22/11
Updated 03/06/12: Second picture down added.


Since I posted Katharine on a scooter and in a Singer, here’s Debbie Reynolds on a scooter and, um, next to a Singer. While Kate cruised on a Vespa, Debbie went with two different Lambrettas. I am told that the first - on the cover of the February, 1958 issue of Picturegoer Magazine - is a 150 Mk11 Id:
DR1
Debbie Reynolds on a Lambretta 150 Mk11 Id on the cover of the February, 1958 issue of Picturegoer Magazine. From Picturegoer Online.

DR1a
Another view from the Picturegoer cover photo shoot. Personally, I think that this is a better choice than the one that made it on the cover. From jeanjeanie61's website fookdamorph.

While the one from the 1966 movie The Singing Nun is a light blue Innocenti Lambretta Li 125:
DR2
Debbie Reynolds on a Lambretta Li 125 in the 1966 movie The Singing Nun. From http://www.movieposters.ha.com.

Not that I can tell the difference. Lambretta experts feel free to comment.

Then there is the The Singing Nun medium gray Lambretta 150 LI Special that was on display in the now-defunct Buena Park, California Movieland Wax Museum collection:
DR3
A waxen Debbie Reynolds on a Lambretta 150 LI Special from the defunct California Movieland Wax Museum. From jamesandtim.

After spending much time there with a wax nun on board, it sold for $1,050, sans engine and Debbie, at their liquidation auction in 2006.
DR4
A derelict Lambretta 150 LI Special at the California Movieland Wax Museum auction. From icollector.com.


DR5
The engineless Lambretta as sold at the California Movieland Wax Museum auction. From icollector.com.

It was rumored to be in the Phoenix, Arizona Hard Rock Hotel collection, but a couple of scooter enthusiasts bought it, so I doubt that since it’s not on the Hard Rock's searchable memorabilia list.

I’ve read that Jeanine Deckers (aka Sister Luc Gabriel , aka Sister Smile, aka Luc Dominique), the real Singing Nun, didn’t really drive a scooter. I remember being taught the English version of the song Dominique in school. That sure wouldn't happen today.

Now the Singer roadster. This photograph was taken by Frank Worth on, I believe, the same day that the April, 1953 cover photo shoot above was taken at the same 20th Century Fox Studios parking lot:
DR6
A frilly Debbie Reynolds leaps for joy in front of Donald O’Connor and a Singer SM 1500 Roadster. Frank Worth photograph taken circa April, 1953 in the 20th Century Fox Studio parking lot. From the Divine Marilyn Monroe blog.

I’m not sure whether this is O’Connor’s or Reynolds’ car - the whitewalls tilted me towards Debbie at first – but then, the striped two-tone paint job and that racing helmet in Donald’s hand has me leaning the other way. The latest O’Connor and Reynolds film, MGM’s I Love Melvin, had just been released in March. (Interesting bit of trivia on that film from Lileks.) Reynolds would go on to make two more MGM musicals that year. I couldn’t find a picture of Donald O’Connor on a scooter.

Monday, August 08, 2011

Different Hepburn, different Vespa

Updated 8/22/11
For those of you who googled 'Hepburn' and 'Vespa' and expected Audrey, here you go:
Audrey
Audrey Hepburn on a Vespa, possibly in London, date unknown. From Kim Kelley's blog Bella Rustica.

But - not from Roman Holiday as a few other websites state. That movie takes place in, well, Rome. The license on this scooter is British, and if this is not a one-way street, those cars in the background are driving on the left side of the road. Besides, this Vespa is newer and a different model than the one from the movie seen here:
Audrey2
My favorite shot of Audrey Hepburn on a Vespa, from the aforementioned 1953 movie Roman Holiday. From The Nifty Fifties Audrey Hepburn pages.

Nor is it the one from another Audrey Hepburn film - this one from 1957 and co-starring Gary Cooper, Love in the Afternoon. This time the Vespa is plying the streets of Paris, but Audrey is not driving:
Audrey3
Vespa in Paris. Screenshot from 1957 movie Love in the Afternoon. From the Van Nuys, California vintage Italian scooter maven Kara Snow's old website The San Diego Times.

Love in the Afternoon is not as scooterific as Roman Holiday is however. In fact, the only other scooter you'll see is this Lambretta LC 125 posing with a late '30s Citroen Traction Avant and a couple of back-to-back Renault 4CVs - and both scooter shots are in the first five minutes of the movie:
4c
Lambretta LC 125 in Paris. Screenshot from 1957 movie Love in the Afternoon.

So, does anyone know where/when/why the top photo was taken?

Audrey Hepburn trivia: After she completed dance school in 1944, Audrey Hepburn formed a dance troupe. She secretly funneled all the proceeds to the Dutch Underground.