Nylon Dreams: Elizabeth Taylor

Saturday, October 10, 2009

Elizabeth Taylor

Not really related but what the hell...

I was at work yesterday and Alex, the cute Rep 1 girl, was looking over the display that abuts her till like the image of "Kilroy was Here." I laughed and said, "Hey look - Kilroy is here!" and she said something about her dad saying this phrase all the time. I did a Cliff Clavin (which I am apt to do from time to time) about how Kilroy had its origins from the 2nd World War US troops. Alex says something about the 2nd World War being a long time ago. Ack! I was born only 17 years after that war ended and 1 year before Kennedy was shot!

Now back to ET. When I was younger I did not like Elizabeth Taylor. Mostly because her acting in such classics as Cleopatra. These tended to be big budget extravaganzas and I found them campy and a bit silly actually. Certainly not historically realistic like the series Rome.

But my assessment changed when I saw Who is Afraid of Virginia Woolf. She and Richard Burton are fabulous and George Segal and Sandy Dennis do an amazing job as the foils to the bards of Taylor and Burton. I saw that ET could act and my respect for her work, especially her earlier work increased.

But it was not until I saw Cat on a Hot Tin Roof that I came to appreciate ET's physical beauty. ET was a diminutive actress at 5' 2" and as she aged she tended to be fuller in her body shape (which we are all apt to do) but it was this film that I saw her sexuality exude in full flower, or at least her portrayal of it. Her desire to love Brick despite his failings is touching testimony to the power of love and Tennessee Williams leaves us with the unrealized idea that her love may not fix him and her but at least they are in love. Which is kind of the point about love really, isn't it?

The images of ET in that slip are va-va-va-voom material for scores of mens and womens masturbatory adventures for generations to cum...I mean come.

Holy Fxck Batman this post got a lot longer than I planned...

Back to ET. Some images of an actress that started her career seriously in World War 2 and is currently still with us. Rent or buy Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. Oh, and Burton's Night of the Iguana is great too!