Today is the 91st birthday of Steve McQueen.  A true Style Icon, I covet his sunglasses, Rolex, car, haircut and the suits he wore in his movies. He was on the Manson Family’s “Death List” and the Rolling Stones referenced him in their song Starfucker. When it comes down to it, he was a fucking badass and the rest of us are stupid posers. The world is a better place because he was in it and still feels the loss that he has left.

Today is the 82nd birthday of the fashion designer Bob Mackie. You know his designs, they are the glamorous to-get-noticed sparkling gowns that Cher has worn for the last 50 years. The world is a better place because he is in it.

Today is the 135th birthday of the photographer Edward Weston. His images are hauntingly beautiful and rates as some of the highest priced photographs sold at auction. The world is a better place because he was in it and still feels the loss that he has left.

Fifty-five years ago today, the film Alfie premiered. Swinging London in the 60s. You need to watch this movie.

Thirty-nine years ago today, the film Eating Raoul premiered. You need to watch this movie.

Forty-nine years ago, the film The Godfather was released nation-wide. It went on to win award after award. You should watch this movie

Today is the 116th birthday of the woman who started life as Lucille Fay LeSueur and created Joan Crawford.  Through reinvention, resilience, five husbands and four children, she survived Hollywood where an actresses shelf life is brief. She did so by exaggerating the character of herself, larger than life, meaner than hell, bitch on wheels. How much of that was always her and how much she exaggerated, we only have stories. Watch some of her early films, you may fall in love with her a bit.  The world is a better place because she was in it and still feels the loss that she has left.

Today is the 134th birthday of the artist Juan Gris. When I see his art, I hear the jazz, see the dancers, smell the cigarette smoke and remember Paris in the 20s as I have read about it in Hemingway’s A Moveable Feast and The Sun Also Rises, Vail’s Everybody Was So Young and Tompkins’ Living Well is the Best Revenge. I feel Paris. The world is a better place because he is in it and still feels the loss that he has left.

Today is the 147th birthday of the illustrator J. C. Leyendecker. His style personified what everyone first thinks of when they think of The Saturday Evening Post magazine. The world is a better place because he was in it and still feels the loss that he has left.

Today is the 98th birthday of the French mime Marcel Marceau.  The world is a better place because he was in it and still feels the loss that he has left.

This episode is also available as a blog post.