RIP Jane Russell
One of the Hollywood icons of my youth, Jane Russell, has died at 89.
Russell was by all reports that rarity in the movie world: down-to-earth, level-headed, Republican, and religious. I was taken with her when I was a child because she was a brunette (always identified with brunettes) with a hairdo like my mother’s, a sarcastic wit, and a relaxed naturalness that came across as spunky in the movies that I saw on TV in black-and-white, such as “Son of Paleface.” Take a look at how easy she makes it all seem (and how tall and statuesque she was):
Note, also, her outfit. It was the era of the Western, and we spent a lot of time in our cowgirl outfits, like Jane. Exhibit A—young neo-neocon, cowgirl extraordinaire, although with not quite as impressive a form:
Neo……..you must have been your Dads favorite. You are radiating dangerous levels of cuteness!
I seem to recall Jane was also known for her big cone shaped hooters. Hey i can’t help if i have a photogenic memory.
Rope’m cowgirl !
Awww, that is so darn cute! Love it!
I clicked on one of the footnotes to Russell’s wiki bio which took me to the U.K. Guardian where I found this quote that I love:
“These days I am a teetotal, mean-spirited, right-wing, narrow-minded, conservative Christian bigot, but not a racist,” she once said. Asked about today’s liberal stars George Clooney and Sean Penn, she said: “I think they’re not well.”
She’s right. They are not well. I couldn’t agree more.
P.S., nice boots, neo. You were a cute little girl.
My my, Neo…what big cute eyes you had!
I once saw Jane Russell sitting outdoors at a cafe in San Francisco…she was beautiful and seemed very relaxed and natural.
Russell was a voluptuous woman and though most concentrated on her surface attributes; I enjoyed her ability deliver inane dialogue in a droll, pas de souci manner. She could be warm and cool simultaneously. Oo-la-la!
(Very cute Neo, but where are your revolvers and lariat?)
I never got the boots to go with my cowgirl outfit. I’m jealous.
You were adorable, Neo
Neo:
What? No apple? F
F:
LOL!
She owned and ran a bar in Sedona. To my sorrow (which predates her death by many years), I never stopped in to toast her.
Two classics.
I’ll bet there were a lot of men standing in line for a shave. (Though that straight razor might worry ’em a bit.)
I had the privilege, thru a mutual friend, of meeting and talking with her last summer.
She was a fine lady.
The world is a sadder place without her.
Neo’s picture reminds me of the song “Way Out West on West End Avenue.”
Coincidentally, my roommate my freshman year in college resided on West End Avenue in Manhattan.
You look like in a few years you would have been a fine Mattie Ross in “True Grit”.
Great photo!
To all who complimented my cuteness, thanks!
I am, of course, every bit as cute today. But the boots don’t fit anymore.
neo, now I begin to wonder if the hat still fits!
1. Cuteness is eclipsed by those eyes. The eyes of a mystic, the eyes of a seer.
2. In fact, if I didn’t know it was you, Neo, I might have viewed that child as (Asian) Indian. (Sari if you take offense. None is meant.)
3. One of the successes of the Western brand of conservatism (e.g. Goldwater, Reagan, Palin) is to mitigate the Left’s campaign against the ideal of the American frontier. (Yes, the squeamish should not watch sausages and laws being made. Or nations being built. Nevertheless there are good laws and great nations.)
gs: Of course no offense taken. I consider it a compliment. All my life, by the way, people have assumed I am of any number of exotic ethnicities.
neo-neocon Says: All my life, by the way, people have assumed I am of any number of exotic ethnicities.
O Neo! O Cisco! 😉
That picture of you as a cowgirl was just the best.
When I was a cowboy just about your age, I would have been all Alfalfa to your Darla. I never went through that He man woman haters sage
And they will never have another woman like Jane Russel. Beauty and class. AND Conservative.
And I worked the area of West End Avenue by the way.
Neo, my last word on this (probably): indeed my first comment was meant as a compliment–I’m glad you took it that way–, and the second was meant as kidding around.
Her bandid cowboy duds were the sexiest for any cowgirl !