Remembering Frank Sinatra on the centennial anniversary of his birth on December 12, 1915

Sid Avery: Frank Sinatra at a Capitol Records recording session in 1958

 ©mptvimages

Born in Hoboken, New Jersey, on December 12, 1915, Frank Sinatra rose to fame singing big band numbers. In the '40s and '50s, he had a dazzling array of hit songs and albums and went on to appear in dozens of films, winning a supporting actor Oscar for From Here to Eternity. He left behind a massive catalog of work that includes iconic tunes like "Love and Marriage," "Strangers in the Night," "My Way" and "New York, New York." He died on May 14, 1998 in Los Angeles, California.

Photographs of Frank Sinatra are featured in the exhibition "The Broke The Mold", though January30, 2016. The new book, "Frank Sinatra: The Photographs" is also available from the gallery.


LIFE: Frank Sinatra’s Life in Photos

Frank Sinatra Official Website

When Cool Was King

 

John Dominis/©Time Inc

Steve McQueen After Motorcycle Race, Mojave Desert, 1963

 gelatin silver print

 



THE Magazine
April, 2014

A smokey barroom is filled with dancing couples, but Johnny Strabler stands alone, leaned against the jukebox and tapping his fingers to the music. A laughing blond sashays past him to ask “What are you rebelling against, Johnny?” Pausing, Johnny studies the floor before responding, “Whaddya got?” —from The Wild One

 

IN THE WILD ONE, MARLON BRANDO PLAYS THE CHAIN-SMOKING, down-on-his-luck Johnny Strabler, who drawls his way through the movie with a nonchalance that occurs as both practiced and organic. Brando’s 1953 portrayal of Johnny was in many ways a wholly American testament to the era’s mood of glamorous unease, collectively funneled into the films, music, and cultural ephemera of a nation. If Johnny Strabler is one of Brando’s most memorable characters, he’s also one of his quintessentially coolest. Its been said that America’s most valuable cultural contribution is the concept of coolness—that intangible slick something that separates the Millhouses from the Bart Simpsons of the world. Before the middle of the twentieth century, teenagers weren’t thought of as tastemakers, but several factors—most famously, of course, the hip-swiveling music of Elvis and the raw gospel funk of James Brown—changed all that, and suddenly young people became arbiters of the trends that mattered. This represented a major separation between the hip and the square, and nobody had more influence than movie stars and musicians. Monroe Gallery’s fantastic exhibition When Cool Was King consolidates the look and feel of “cool” into a tautly grouped showcase of some of its most notable harbingers. Dean Martin, Lou Reed, and John Lennon are joined by a handful of others whose effortless style and nonchalant attitudes constituted a veritable cultural takeover, impacting tastemakers for generations to come.

What makes a person hip? It certainly doesn’t hurt to look like Paul Newman, represented here in a 1956 photo taken while he was playing hard-scrabble criminal-turned­boxer Rocky Graziano in Somebody Up There Likes Me. A cigarette dangles haphazardly from the actor’s smirking lips, and his heavy coat’s upturned collar frames the preternaturally handsome features of his face. Strolling down a busy city street, Newman looks unfettered and indifferent: consummately carefree and hopelessly, heartbreakingly cool.

In many ways, James Dean still sets the gold standard for cool. Who cares if a rebel has a cause or not when he looks that good in blue jeans and a white T-shirt? Richard Miller’s 1955 snap of the actor feels both intimate and fantastically detached. He’s leaning against a gleaming hot rod to light a cigarette, his famous hair is thick and tousled, his eyes shaded by aviator sunglasses. Dean wears a snap-buttoned cowboy shirt tucked into his jeans, and though the photo’s caption indicates that it was taken on the set of the epic nouveau-Western Giant, the viewer can easily imagine that this is James Dean being James Dean, on set or off: ethereally, effortlessly, impossibly cool.

We might think of cool as shorthand for rebellion, whether conferred or assumed. Fittingly then, leather, cigarettes, and copious amounts of sex appeal figure prominently in this exhibition. Steve McQueen is emblematic of mid-century cool, a status heartily bolstered by several photos on display. John Dominis’s 1963 shot of McQueen presents him as equal parts actor and sex symbol. His right arm reaches upward into the sleeve of his leather bomber jacket. His hair is wet, slicked to his forehead with sweat, and if we look closely—don’t blush, dear reader—we can see the undone top button of his dungarees.

It makes sense that a standout of the show, a picture of Frank Sinatra, comes from the great photographer Sid Avery. One of the only color snapshots on view, it depicts the most famous crooner of all time in a moment of meditative repose, handsomely garbed in a light gray suit with matching fedora. His head is cocked thoughtfully upward and his arms are crossed closely against his chest. It’s a photo that flawlessly shows us what we already know: that for some people, cool isn’t a feeling or even a mood, but a complete persona.

With the exception of a smattering of shots of Edie Sedgwick and Jane Fonda, there’s a paucity of hip ladies in When Cool Was King. Nevertheless, the exhibit is a finger­snappingly swell good time. Images taken over half a century ago look hipper than ever, proving that true glamour never really goes out of style.

 

—IrIs McLIster

 

Maybe it’s time to cultivate a little cool

Steve McQueen aims a pistol in his living room, Palm Springs, 1963, by John Dominis, copyright Time Inc. (Courtesy of Monroe Gallery of Photography)


Via The Albuquerque Journal North
 By Jackie Jadrnak / Journal North Reporter
February 14, 2014

Politics is heating up Santa Fe as the legislative session enters its final week and the municipal election approaches.

Maybe it’s time to cultivate a little cool

The Monroe Gallery of Photography offers just what the doctor ordered with a new exhibition opening tonight, “When Cool Was King.” Soak up the vibes of Brando, Sinatra, McQueen, Newman and the Rat Pack from the days when a certain aloof, impenetrable, unperturbed quality equaled desirability.

The opening reception is 5 to 7 p.m. tonight at the gallery, 112 Don Gaspar. Regular hours are 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Saturday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday, and admission is free. The exhibit continues through April 20.

And if the show inspires you to view more photography, check out “Native American Portraits: Points of Inquiry,” which opens noon to 4 p.m. Sunday at the Museum of Indian Arts and Culture, 710 Camino Lejo.

You’ll see another brand of cool with Native dance performances at 1 p.m. and 3 p.m., Lee Marmon (Laguna) speaking about “Photography and the Pueblo Imagination” at 2 p.m., and Will Wilson (Navajo) setting up his portable portrait studio.

SID AVERY IS COOL

Via Vanity Fair

Hollywood’s Private Eye

"Though he captured many of golden-age Hollywood’s greatest stars as the public had never seen them before—Marlon Brando taking out the trash, Elizabeth Taylor sunbathing, Anthony Perkins waxing his car—photographer Sid Avery slipped into oblivion, dying in 2002 without the renown he might have expected. Michael Callahan recalls Avery’s quiet mastery, his guileless charm, and his poignant final shot: a portrait of a new generation of movie talents" Full article here.

 

 

 

 

 

Related: When Cool Was King

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A Very Cool Valentine's Day

Sid Avery: Stars of "Oceans 11" Stage a Fight, 1960

Santa Fe--Monroe Gallery of Photography, 112 Don Gaspar, is pleased to present “When Cool Was King”, an exhibition featuring photographs from a time when cool reigned supreme. The exhibition opens with a public reception on Valentine's Day, Friday, February 14, from 5 - 7, and continues through April 20.

In their book "COOL: An Anatomy of an Attitude", Dick Pountain and David Robins ask "So what exactly is Cool? That is a difficult question to answer. Is it a philosophy, a sensibility, a religion, an ideology, a personality type, a behavior pattern, an attitude, a worldview?" The exhibition does not attempt to answer that question, but simply accepts Cool as a phenomenon that we can recognize when we see it.

Concurrently, an exhibition at The National Portrait Gallery, "American Cool", asks: "What do we mean when we say someone is cool? Cool carries a social charge of rebellious self-expression, charisma, edge and mystery."

The exhibition featuring portraits of iconic figures of Cool, such as: Steve McQueen, James Dean, Andy Warhol, the Rat Pack, 1960's-era Rolling Stones, the Beatles, Marianne Faithful, Nico and the Velvet Underground, Elvis Presley, each of whom has contributed an original artistic vision to American culture symbolic of a particular historical moment.

See the exhibit on-line here.

55 YEARS AGO: JAMES DEAN DIED

Richard C. Miller: James Dean besides his car during the filming of "Giant"

En route to compete in a race in Salinas, James Dean was killed in a highway accident on September 30, 1955.

James Dean was a legendary hero with a legendary story; live fast and die young. For over half a century, he has captured the world with his casual style, unflinching look and rebel attitude. James Dean has defined the essence of cool and without-a-cause for generations. His star continues to shine brighter and brighter.


Never has there ever been, never will there ever be. The one, the only, James Dean. (See the official James Dean site here.)

James Dean was a photographer's dream subject, resulting in many now-iconic images.

Sid Avery: James Dean on the set of "Rebel Without A Cause", 1955

Richard C. Miller worked for This Week, Liberty, Family Circle, Parents, American Weekly, Colliers, Life, and Time; as well as documenting Hollywood. For seven decades, he made a living working for North American Aviation and later as stringer for Globe Photos, which kept him circulating in the universe of stars; and he covered more than seventy films.


His first on-location assignment was for Giant (1955), where his job was to shadow James Dean. When Dean died, many pictures of him were sold, becoming iconic images since he and Dean had developed a close relationship based on a mutual interest in Porsches and photography.
 
 

Richard C. Miller: James Dean and Elizabeth Taylor take a break from filming "Giant"