PRETTY GIRLS/UGLY FACES

I had had cataract surgery yesterday and I'm recovering at home. Wow! I highly recommend this if you're in need of it. The world is so much more colorful than it appeared only a couple of days ago. I look around and the impression I get is that I'm in Paradise or The Garden of Eden. Everything is so deliciously clean and bright!

Since I'm temporarily stuck in the house and haven't the clarity of vision to read much I amuse myself by going to Google Images and looking up funny faces.

What do you think of these?

THE NEW CAROL BURNETT DVD SET

A new set of Carol Burnett TV shows came out recently and my library got a copy. What a gold mine! Gee, I miss that show. Burnett played a host of characters that were just hilarious. Here (above) she parodies Norma Desmond from Billy Wilder's "Sunset Boulevard." 

And who's she sitting with? Is that Daddy Warbucks? No it's Harvey Corman playing Max, Norma Desmond's manservant.  Thanks to Mike for identifying these characters. 

I think this character (above, right) is called Eunice. Burnett played the role so well that you can't help but speculate that she grew up with a real Eunice in her life.

Haw! Eunice's mother (far right) sits with her legs far apart, which was strangely common among grannies of my grandmother's generation. Maybe that was a Flapper thing to do. 

Older women of that generation also stood up in an awkward way, like Carol does above. I wonder why. 

  

This (above) is from a flashback showing how Eunice was courted by her husband.

She wiggles out of his clutches and springs to her feet, as if she were delivering a manifesto. Note the see-through blouse...pretty racy stuff for 60s TV.

She did a great parody of beach movies. How do you like the way she dances the Hully Gully?

Here's (above) Burnett doing a dim-witted secretary, Miss Wiggins.

Tim Conway was her boss. I like the pot belly.

To get his secretary's attention he says, "Read my lips," and she does....diligently.

MALE FACES TO DRAW

Wow! This must be one of the best ever pictures of a screen villain. The subject is, of course, John Carradine.

Carradine had a face that looked great when underlit.

Don't you think this guy (above) looks a little like a Don Martin character?

Who is this man (above)? Whoever he is, he fairly cries out for a caricature. Come to think of it, this pose reminds me of a caricature I once saw of John Maynard Keynes. Hold on, I'll look it up....

......okay, here it is (above), and it's by Low, the editorial cartoonist. I'm not a fan of Keynes economics but he inspired some good caricatures. The poor guy had the problem that lots of tall people have: "What'll I do with my legs?"

I'm not a fan of Samuel Beckett, either (above). I actually had to walk out of one of his plays, "Krapp's Last Tape", after paying full price. There was just no beauty in it, nothing to reward the audience for showing up. I have to admit, though, that he did take a good photograph. Geez, it kinda takes the sting out of old age if you get to look chiseled and cool like Beckett.

David Levine liked to caricature him (above).

And while we're on the subject of craggy faces, how about that ultimate craggy-faced poet....W. H. Auden? In old age his face retained youthful proportions but his skin looked like a road map. 

  

Once more (above), a caricature by David Levine. Levine loved to draw wrinkles.

FLESHY FACES TO DRAW

How about some faces to draw? I'll start with one (above) that I can't begin to describe. It's fascinating, but why? Maybe it's because the skin is so vivid and so....fleshy. I can't take my eyes off it. I've heard the skin described as an organ. It's more than a covering, it's alive. It gets rid of waste, regulates the water content, electrical properties and temperature of the body, sends out chemical messages that affect sex behavior, and provides all sorts of visual clues about the state of our health...it's an amazing thing.

For most people the skin is just a graphic canvas on which sits more memorable things like the nose and mouth. For some people the skin is the memorable thing.  My guess is that this kind of skin wrinkles sooner than most, but it's also sexy and appealing.
 

Above, a rectangular face made to seem more so by rectangular glasses. The skin is just background.

Hepburn's high cheekbones (above), prominent chin, thin nose, conspicuous nostrils, and sunken cheeks created a unique look. 

 Here's (above) another fleshy face, this one dominated by smooth and elastic skin, and expressive mouth muscles.   

Here's (above) a blank face on which surface features are attached. The nose, eyes and mouth appear to be glued on. The dark hair accentuates the effect. She'd look better with light hair.

Aaaargh! My computer won't accept more pictures right now. I have more to say about fleshy faces. I'll save it for another time.

MORE FACES TO DRAW

I thought I'd lead off with a beautiful face (above), but there's more to this face than meets the eye. I'll talk about it later. Hint: it has to do with the muzzle.

An ironic smile (above) which comes off very strong because of the simple, broad, uncomplicated face around it

Above, a Judith Anderson look-alike.  Remember Anderson in Hitchcock's "Rebbecca?" What do you think of the tiny mouth made prominent by lipstick, the long nose, the eerie, murderous eyes, and the devilish eyebrows? Don't eat or drink anything she offers, and never, ever spend the night.

An odd face (above) because the features appear to be floating on it.

Some faces (above) just naturally seem to be wide-angled, or CinemaScoped. It doesn't hurt her looks, though.


A good-looking girl (above) caught with disdainful "yuck"wrinkles above the nose. The wrinkles don't cross her nose horizontally, but rather fan out from the eyes. Come to think of it, her nose is oddly vertical, and her hair looks like an askew helmet.


Here's a face (above) that looks like it was pushed out slightly from the inside. This is a fairly common trait. 

Here's that face again. Did you figure out what was so unusual about it? It's the muzzle. The mouth is wrapped around a vertical cylinder which is inserted deep into the cheeks. The big lower lip and pointed chin make for interesting embellishments.



Here's (above) a less pronounced version of the same thing. The mouth cylinder is still visible, and it's set off by the teeth and a linear, horizontal eye mask. 

Another muzzle cylinder (above), but one which is not buried too deep into the cheeks.  The mouth with rounded corners, the V-shaped nasal bridge, and the interesting half-open eyes and flair eyebrows make for a fascinating appearance. 

A good-looking woman (above) whose face below the nose recedes inward.

And the opposite (above): a good-looking woman whose face below the mid-point extends outward. 

BTW, Thanks to Lester for the correction about the name of the actress in the Hitchcock film.