Eldergays, Tell Us About George Hurrell

Why don't you simply ask us eldergays about Mathew Brady?

This is way before my time but this photo is amazing.

Most of the studio photogs hired by the major studios could take excellent glamour images but Hurrell's work has always struck me as being a little more contemporary & sophisticated than the rest.

SIDENOTE: My personal favorite Classic Hollywood photographer is John Engstead. He mainly worked for Paramount Studios in the 30s & 40s, moved into High Fashion in the 50s and continued his career shooting celebs into the 1980s. A tough, sassy, tell-it-like-it-is Queen who took some great shots. If you haven't read his HILARIOUS & dishy segment in John Kobal's "People Will Talk" RUN to your local library or used book store!!!!

Sorry to hijack.

R2 that I believe is DL's favorite photo of all time. Of all the photos that have shown up on DL that is the one I have seen the most often that wasn't an object of ridicule. I first saw it when I was fairly young and it took my breath away.

He was an innovator in the way he hand retouched his negatives with silver (or maybe it was lead), applied a little oil to a subject’s bone structure, the way he manipulated cascading hair, etc.

The more modern stars who got to be photographed by him were lucky.

I think he did an awesome photo of Lindsey Buckingham for his solo album...He made him look like an Adonis.

Very talented guy

He was the maestro. He understood light, line, shadow and form.

Lovely young Bette Davis

Older cigarette and booze-ravaged Bette Davis

R10, here’s Buckingham....

He was generally more sexual than the other studio photographers of his era. He said that making the portraits was sometimes very heated, that he would practically be on top of the subject, and it was very intimate.

[quote]R3 Hurrell's work has always struck me as being a little more contemporary & sophisticated than the rest.

There is a frankness in a lot of his pics. I guess this is from the early 1930s (?) but it has a sort of clarity in it’s overall direction that’s ahead of what many were doing with glamour photography.

A profile study of Barbara Stanwyck...a nice photo but he didn’t erase her notorious peach fuzz

This is an example of what the retouching technique he invented could do:

This book may be of interest to you, OP.

Anderson's mom...

and...

Wow, he invented photoshop!

R20, Whitney Stine wrote a Davis biography, Mother Goddam, with running commentary by Davis!

He made the plain, cross eyed Norman Shearer look sexy. Impressed with his work, Shearer suggested he be kept on at MGM as a portrait photographer and his career was launched.

His favorite subjects were Shearer, Harlow and Crawford. There are a couple of hot pictures of Robert Taylor too.

She wanted The Divorcee, r25, and wanted him to photograph her as alluring. He wanted to photo her legs and she said "Mr. Hurrell, my legs are not my best feature." He told her not to worry...

I adore his mirror photos of Carole Lombard.

Gorgeous. Glamorous.

Yes, r28, he did wonderful things with reflections...

That’s a great photo of Norma r30...

Mr. Robert Taylor...

Hurrell turned the stars into otherworldly beings of perfection. He even transformed Miss Norma Shearer into an exquisite beauty.

Well, he did his best with Marie Dressler.

Miss Ross...

Judy, Judy, Judy...

More of Robert Taylor, complete with tinynips

Ann Sheridan...

That photo really accentuates her oomph, r38.

Lol r39, it does...

Veronica

Louise Hovick...

R41, Hurrell liked to do that hair thing.

Another Veronica:

Bette

Jane

Jessica again

OMG, he even managed to give Robert Taylor a jaw line!

Hurrell seems to have worked for several studios, not just MGM, as Lombard and Lake were at Paramount, Davis was at Warners, etc.

Garbo posed for Hurrell many times but she preferred to be photographed by Clarence Bull, who was in charge of still imagery at MGM from the early 20s through the late 50s.

Garbo and Olivia deHavilland didn’t like the methods Hurrell used to get reactions from his subjects. Garbo found him silly and Olivia didn’t like his slightly ribald sense of humor.

Well, you couldn't *not* accentuate Veronica's hair, r43. Given that was her thing. Like Miss Sheridan's oomph.

Hurrell originally had an exclusive long term contract with MGM, which he came to regret because it was so restrictive. He realized that he could make more money by freelancing. Louis B. Mayer was pissed and I a think that he tried to have Hurrell blackballed, but his work was so extraordinary that he had little, if any effects on Hurrell’s post MGM career.

As most on this thread will already know, Hollywood divas of the 1930s and 40s were only seen with perfectly coifed and controlled hair in their films and conventional publicity shots, so Hurrell's portraits of them with released and untamed locks, spread out for all to see were quite revolutionary and downright erotic in their time.

Those locks are *not* untamed, r53. These are untamed locks.

Stanwyck and Gary Cooper. The other Stanwyck one posted earlier was a bad copy, nothing like the original.

His first photo of Stanwyck; don’t think that she has ever looked so vulnerable.

Merle Oberon...and nobody could tell that she was Eurasian? Great photo, but it gives away her origins.

Frank Capra said she had "a stern beauty", r56.

Yes he was right r58.

Funny how she and her contemporaries weren’t classic beauties in the least. But they were photogenic. Few of were out and out beautiful women.

The classic beauties weren't in the same league, acting-wise, r59.

Exactly R60. Remember Anna Sten? Few people do. She was beautiful and exotic and MGM thought that they had another Garbo on their hands. Hurrell photographed her too. The publicity buildup was expensive and they put her in two big budget costume dramas. But as beautiful as she was, she had no fire, didn't light up the screen.

A lovely photo of Joan

Roz Russell gets the Hurrell treatment:

Faye Dunaway (publicity he did for Mommie Dearest)

The inscrutable Miss Wong...

The legendary Isa Miranda.

Screen goddess Mary Brodell.

Gail Patrick

Ramon Novarro was really Hurrell’s springboard. The singer/actor paid for a bunch of portraits showing him in his different opera costumes, and later showed these to Norma Shearer. She was impressed, hired Hurrell herself, and his career took off.

Poor Miss Brodell, r67. Totally lacking in oomph....

R46 Love that shot!

I was expecting something with a little more flair and drama, as this is Errol Flynn, after all; I guess Hurrell was focused on Errol’s natural good looks in this shot...never noticed how large his eyes were...

Douglas Fairbanks, Jr.

Was he the inspiration for a Noel Coward song, “Mad About the Boy”? If so, I could see why. Kind of dishy.

Paulette looking rather contemporary...

Connie Bennett

Paulette Goddard always looked very contemporary (or perhaps the word is timeless?) in her films especially when you saw her playing against the likes of Norma Shearer, Joan Crawford and Rosalind Russell in THE WOMEN.

Shearer’s acting style didn’t age well at all. But she took great photos. Her sense of posing, acknowledging her flaws and learning how to hide them really well worked to her advantage.

Norma became so acutely aware of her best angles and also her flaws that I think it severely limited her as an actress as the 1930s wore on and films became more naturalistic. Her artificial posing became very tiresome.

Paulette Goddard OTOH often succeeded with a rawer and more naturally sensual quality, though, sadly, she wasn't offered many juicy roles that could take advantage of her modern looks and style. Those period De Mille epics and faux Brit extravaganzas like Kitty, An Ideal Husband and Diary of a Chambermaid were not good for her. She's one actress who might have done far better at Warner's in the 1940s.

OT: Hitchcock thought Shearer, of all people, was the ideal film actress. He tried several times to put together projects where he could direct her, but all his attempts fell through.

I think Goddard didn't take it too seriously and never fought for better roles. She was more interested in having interesting husbands. She was into yoga when she did her Blackglama shoot. She wanted to pose seated, legs crossed in a yoga pose and they accommodated her. Realizing later that it didn't show off the coat, they photographed another woman standing. It's only Paulette from the waist up.

Was George family?

No, he was straight. Married. I think he was a drinker, too... tho I may be maligning him.

Hurrell loved his clients. I mean, he wanted to show them at their best, make people gasp.

[quote]All human existence is a trick of light - Don DeLillo

Hurrell was an artist far beyond the publicity machines of the studios in the Golden Age. He understood light in a profound way - how many sources of light, from what directions, with what amplitude, what planes/surfaces it caught, what lightened planes did against shadows, how shadows could sculpt.

Some this photographs are transcendent, though not even fully "seen" by the eyes of today's digital world, where everything is two dimensional and flattened, and processed and distributed automatically.

Hurrell's work will be seen in centuries to come.

He always made human skin look luscious.

[quote] Hitchcock thought Shearer, of all people, was the ideal film actress. He tried several times to put together projects where he could direct her, but all his attempts fell through.

This anecdote seems odd to me.

Hitchcock arrived in 1939 and Shearer left in 1941. They belonged to different studios.

They showed American films in the UK. He had certainly seen her. Hitch was under personal contract to Selznick who often lent his stars and other talent out for the right price. And I think Hitch tried to lure her out of retirement more than once.

I wonder if Hitchcock's admiration of Shearer was when he mas making in films in England and she appeared to him as the perfect ladylike Hollywood star? She might have been good casting in The Lady Vanishes and The 39 Steps.

Hitch's infamous discounting of actors.... he called them "cattle" and in his process, storyboarding everything before a filming, he didn't need them (actors) to have ideas or offer revelations. He just wanted them to stay in their place in the equations.

In this sense, Shearer was a "mask" not a brilliant searching actress. Seems like she might fit with Hitchcock's ideas, simply hold the place he's imagined, not disrupt

My favorite Hurrell photo of Harlow:

Miss Sigrid Gurie wanted to pose with her ocelot...her more photogenic ocelot.

He found Mary Martin to be unphotogenic! He said that she had a low forehead and a prominent jawline which made her difficult to photograph. He took a photo of her with a large flower near her face to downplay her chin. I’ve looked for the picture but cannot find it!!

This is the only one I can find, r92....

I don’t think that this is the picture, r93, it looks more like a full face shot with the flowers to the side of her face. But you can see the same attempt here to downplay her chin.

One thing that I noticed about Martin is that she had a lovely figure.

Dietrich

She was tiny, r94. I used to have one of her Paramount costumes.

What size r96? She had gorgeous legs.

R13 I've always hated that album cover. He does not look good there. Although I do remember Merv Griffin absolutely creaming his pantaloons over it. Hurrell did manage to make Christine McVie attractive.

He did nudes too, didn’t he? I remember his Joan Collins pictorial in Playboy.

All I remember, r97, is that it wasn't even a 20" waist. It was a little short-sleeve crop top jacket with tap shorts/skirt. Something Ruby might wear for Star Tar. I never found out which movie it was from.. I sold it on eBay 17-18 years ago.

This is fascinating and an example of why I love DL. I’ve never heard of George Hurrell before, but I recognize some of the photographs. They really are spectacular— now you’ve sent me down a rabbit hole.

Engstead knew how to photograph Stanwyck.

Engstead was more traditional and less interesting and innovative than Hurrell.

For the stage performer, it was Maurice Seymour...

A rare color print; this one of actress Susan Hayward for [italic]Esquire[/italic] Magazine's "Women we Love" annual issue. She looks tres sexy here.

I'm not a fan of his pretty extensive work with Fleetwood Mac. Herbert Worthington took the best Stevie photos.

That's a very strange picture of Fleetwood Mac at R106. The subjects all look uncomfortable and are posing awkwardly.

Dramma, r107, it has...

R108 Yes they were trying to recapture that Rumours drama that sold so well. Lindsey looks ridiculous, like Zoolander 'blue steel' ridiculous and Stevie later said that she felt like Ann Boleyn. Ever the drama queen.

Bowie

R105 Love it!

R111, there's something almost carnal about this shot....

Ava Gardner never took a bad picture; didn't even know that Hurrell had photographed her. How luscious does she look?

Virginia Bruce

R112 Hard to find any reasonable photo of her that wasn't "carnal".....

Gertie by Maurice Seymour

Did Gertie ever try film R115?

Many could use light but George understood shadwow

She didn't translate well to film, r116. I still have no idea why she was chosen for Menagerie. That movie was such a misfire all the way around. She was the first choice for All About Eve:

"Joseph L. Mankiewicz offered Gertrude Lawrence the role of Margo Channing and sent her a copy of the script. She was enthusiastic, but she insisted on making two changes. She wanted all of Margo's drinking scenes taken out, and instead of Liebestraum at the party scene, he would play Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein II's "Bill", which she would sing. After all this, she turned the part down."

Early Gertie...

R118, I had forgotten about [italic]The Glass Menagerie[/italic]. It was a disappointment all around, especially with Jane Wyman as the lame daughter.

Ms. Sherilyn Fenn by Hurrell!

Ms. Frances Farmer by Hurrell!

Ms. Aretha Franklin by Hurrell!

Ms .Gene Tierney by Hurrell!

Ms. Corinne Calvet by Hurrell!

HARLOW

Ms. Melissa Manchester by Hiurrell!

I don't know if this Bette photo has been posted above. I love that she's absolutely un-histrionic in it.

Neil Diamond and his big feets.

I was photographed by the author who’s documented a lot of Hurrell’s work and still has his equipment and a studio in his old building. (Well, one of them, as Hurrell had different locations at different times.) Each shot had it’s own large format negative. You can also only print from that original negative a limited amount of times.

You had to hold still because there was a longer than average exposure time. He only took 6 shots but one of them was amazing : ) Having always loved all that old Hollywood stuff, I do treasure it.

I'd love to know, R130 how to duplicate Hurrell's work, if possible.

Here is another great one of Douglas Fairbanks, Jr.

He had a handsome face but the booty was disappointing.

Clark Gable’s favorite pic of Lombard:

R131

[quote]r131 I'd love to know, [R130] how to duplicate Hurrell's work, if possible.

Below is one video with some tips. But if you haven’t already you should read Mark A. Vieira’s books about Hurrell (such as HURRELL’S HOLLYWOOD). He talks a lot about how Hurrell came by those techniques, etc. Hurrell was so innovative that his style changed somewhat throughout his career and he found new approaches.

I think a lot of the look comes from using the same types of cameras, film, printing equipment, lights etc. as were used back then, too. For instance, I think Vieira uses one of those old cameras (actually one of Hurrell’s) with the black cloth that goes over the photographer. And the exposures might even have been made on glass plates. I don’t wear my glasses or contact lenses when my picture’s being taken so I didn’t catch all the details : (

Actually, this is the book I’m most familiar with and can recommend:

[quote]Amazon.com Review: They had faces then, in the golden age of Hollywood when a publicity photo could make or break a star. The visual power of George Hurrell's portraits, with their Rembrandtesque lighting and dramatic poses, shaped the careers of such stars as Joan Crawford, Jean Harlow, and Jane Russell, and did as much or more to establish them as their film performances. Mark Vieira, who adopted Hurrell's techniques and uses them to this day, explains how the master portraitist lit and retouched his photographs--a portrait of Crawford before and after retouching reveals what an artist the one-time painter really was--and analyzes their impact.

[quote]From Library Journal: George Hurrell was the most sought-after celebrity photographer in Hollywood's Golden Era. He had total control of light, the complete confidence of his subjects, and a storied reputation for making the ordinary beautiful and the beautiful dazzling. The Chapman Collection is one of the most extensive archives of Hurrell's photographs in the world. A close friend of the photographer, Vieira has carefully selected 275 of the images from the collection for this book. The selections leave the reader with a reassuring sense of familiarity with the hundreds of stars, who are remembered here as the film studios planned, as people who amazed us and were bigger than life. Vieira has collected and arranged the stars in this volume in an admiring way, turning Hurrell's incredible ability to merge glamour, creative lighting, star quality, and imaginative posing into a timeless book.

Thanks for all this r134, r135. This payday I will order my Hurrell books.

Another nice one of Stanwyck...he really softened her up in his photos; onscreen, her presence is so hard-bitten.

For some reason, the link is bad:

Stanwyck can’t really pull off the sexy vibe he got with other actresses

Even Bette Davis looked sexier for Hurrell than cold Barbara Stanwyck

[quote] Stanwyck can’t really pull off the sexy vibe he got with other actresses

R139, Babs had her moments. (Photographer unknown).

More Barbara Stanwyck in full-on Sexy/Glamour Mode. (Photographer unknown).

Admittedly, almost any actress would have looked sexy in this gorgeous blouse/negligee.

R139, here's a Stanwyck glamour shot that this site has credited to Hurrell. He captured the softness & the sex!

More 1940s Stanwyck/Hurrell glamour............

Oh R142, she looks great, but why not a black bra, or a flesh colored one?

Totally disagree r139. Stanwyck's sex appeal was more urban, more hard-edged. Although not a classic beauty, like Davis or Roz Russell, she was photogenic and had few bad angles. She wasn't a soft woman at all. Even when dressed for the part; she was tough and reserved.

R145, Stanwyck's outfit probably looked perfect in ordinary light. Hurrell, however, used such powerful, high-contrast lighting that you could see unexpected, unintended details, such as a stray clump of mascara (or even Joan Crawford's freckles).

But it's interesting to note that Hurrell didn't touch up the photo so that the bra was less present. I believe even back then there were ways to accomplish that. I can only assume that he or some straight guy thought the visible bra was sexy.

I think that this is a Hurrell but I could be wrong. Stanwyck looks fabulous.

Barb is not posed comfortably. I think it’s the way she’s holding her head.

Stills aren’t what made her a star.

Edith Head had to practically beat Stanwyck into wearing glamorous clothes in THE LADY EVE. She ended up looking good (Head had to cheat in tailoring the torso) but high style wasn’t the actress’ thing. She didn’t have a natural affinity for it, or get enjoyment from it.

That’s one reason she looks so stiff in the r149 pic, despite Hurrell’s help.

Again, as Frank Capra said, Stanwyck had a *stern* beauty. Edith was successful in disguising her low-slung butt.

I wonder if Head gave Stanwyck head?

Both scissor sisters, despite marriages to men.

She had great legs though. In that photo of her in the white dress, she looks arrogant, like she's almost sneering at the camera. Of course, that could have been her own way of hiding her insecurities. But I think that it's so her. One film critic said that if Picasso ever made a woman, it would be Barbara Stanwyck. Everything about her was minimalist, save for her onscreen personality. Small build, small titties, passably pretty, just enough to get men to take notice. The rest seemingly was up to her. I can't take my eyes off of her when she's onscreen.

[quote] Edith Head had to practically beat Stanwyck into wearing glamorous clothes in THE LADY EVE. She ended up looking good (Head had to cheat in tailoring the torso) but high style wasn’t the actress’ thing. She didn’t have a natural affinity for it, or get enjoyment from it. [quote]

R151, I read a Stanwyck biography several years ago. The author shared a story about how her & Bob Taylor visited Paris immediately after the end of WWII. (A Second Honeymoon of sorts and an attempt to save their failing marriage). Stanwyck angered the French Fashion Industry when she visited a dozen couturiers without buying a single garment!

After the designers complained to the press, Stanwyck (a huge Republican) retaliated by saying that she knew fashion designers in America who were just as talented. She then went on a tirade about [paraphrasing] The French People's lack of humility & their disdain for Americans but how "Our Boys" were right on time when saving their asses on those beaches in Normandy! LOL

So not just a cunt, but a cheap cunt.

Buy something and get out!

They were returning from a trip to postwar Europe on an American ship. The French passengers were complaining about the allegedly inferior food and service onboard; that is when Barbara took them to task. Not one of her shining moments.

Monroe

Not a good photo of Monroe IMO... makes her nose look odd.

I’ve always thought it was very sexy. An interesting thing about Monroe is that - aside from Milton Greene - she does not have as many formal studio portraits by famous photographers as other mega stars of her era. She did do sessions with Avedon and (the mildly talented) Cecil Beaton... but in most Monroe pics, she was the whole game.

I wonder if that was because the Hurrell school of Hollywood portraiture was about making sex symbols like Jean Harlow in the 30s and Veronica Lake in the 40s look like ethereal Greek goddesses, whereas Monroe was usually pictured with a raw and more overt sexuality, r160. Hurrell gave those blondes a kind of elated dignity that they didn't even assume onscreen, whereas nobody was looking to enshrine Monroe in that way.

Ty and Loretta.

Here’s a very famous Hurrell still of Marlena Dietrich. La Dietrich, who thanks to her many years working with Josef von Sterberg knew how to use light and shadows to bring out the best of her features.

Years later in the 1960’s after many requests she finally agreed to participate in the very prestigious ad campaign for Blackglama furs, “What becomes a Legend most?”

Here’s an account:

[quote] One can only imagine how you corral the sensational and obsessively reclusive Marlene Dietrich for an ad campaign. This was, after all, the woman who agreed to participate in a documentary of her life, and then refused to be filmed. Curiously, it was made and met with an Academy Award nomination for best documentary of 1984 by actor/director Maximillian Schell who creatively used a montage of photo stills and recorded that magic smokey, world-weary voice of hers that Ernest Hemingway once remarked, “if she had nothing more than her voice, she could break your heart with it.”

As Peter tells it:

After the first twenty-five Blackglama coats and capes I’d sent to Miss Dietrich’s apartment were promptly rejected, I decided to present the next three in person. Surely I could sell her on posing in one of them!

I arrived and rang the bell and the door opened about an inch. “I’ll show these to Madame, “ a heavily accented voice informed me. A woman yanked the coats from my hands and proceeded to slam the door in my face. I waited in the hallway, feeling as though Speedy Messenger Service had just informed me I was through.

Moments later, all three coats were handed back along with their carrying boxes. I packed them up and left, feeling certain this photo session was never meant to be. Somehow, the great Richard Avedon intervened convincing the fabled star that this campaign wasn’t about the coat, but the legend. Amazingly, she agreed to pose.

Three cancellations later (called on account of rain despite the fact this was an indoor shoot), she arrived at the studio in her own limousine, already made up and ready to go.

“Dahlink, bwing me a miwwoh.“

An enormous mirror was produced instantly. Standing, peeping into it, she personally arranged every hair on that coat until the image was just right.

“Now,” she commanded. Avedon clicked.

“Bwing me a stool.” It was done. Seated, the regal actress rearranged the fur, crossed her legs and pulled the coat back to reveal those famous limbs.

Her agent gasped. I gasped. I think even Avedon was surprised. Later the agent told me she’d been offered $150 (sic) to pose for a hosiery ad just three days earlier and had refused. When the session was over, I thanked her and told her how exciting the shooting had been for us, especially since we’d manage to capture those beautiful legs.

“Dahlink,” she told me “the legs are not so beautiful. I just know what to do with them.” Spoken like a true star!

The above mentioned photo

Those 1970s square-toed pumps were so unflattering!

One thing Hurrell did for Jean Harlow was to soften her hard, bulbous features. Her best features were her body and alabaster complexion. But she had an almost masculine forehead, which is why she had tweezed her eyebrows. And she had really small eyes. But he said that despite her flaws, she photographed very well. His photos of her were and are iconic.

[quote]R166 he said that despite Harlow’s flaws, she photographed very well. His photos of her were and are iconic.

Yes. She is the subject of what I believe is his most famous photo.

I would think plucking out one's eyebrows would only make one's brow look larger.

You have to see Harlow before her makeover to understand.

Tweezi eyebrows softens a strong brow. Ask any drag queen.

Or Glenn Close.

This thread inspired me to buy one of his portraiture books.

Photography is being able to take shots of things folks might be interested in. Mine was Fords Theater in D.C. I snapped a shot of it and posted it on my flickr site. I got interest from a historical society who I allowed to use the photo.