Saturday, November 29, 2008
Ann-Margret (5)
November 29, 2008
5:10 AM CST
As this will be the last Weekend Woman entry ever, I thought I might as well dedicate it to the most warm, beautiful, sexy and, well, red-headed woman of all time, one who needs no introduction from me or anyone else:
Ann-Margret
Still the greatest, still the best.
A fitting way to end the series, I think.
Weekend Women
Saturday, October 27, 2007
Anna Magnani
October 27, 2007
4:34 AM CST
And so, as Italian Week draws to a close, let me look at one of the most magnificent actresses ever to appear on screen: the astonishing Anna Magnani.
Born in the slums of Rome, as a girl she earned money by singing in nightclubs (just like her French counterpart, Edith Piaf), and eventually (and inevitably) got noticed in a couple of stage plays, became a movie actress, and the rest is cinema history.
From Wikipedia:
In Italy (and gradually elsewhere) she soon became established as a star, although she lacked the conventional beauty and glamour usually associated with the term. Slightly plump and rather short in stature with a face framed by unkempt raven hair and eyes encircled by deep, dark shadows, she smouldered with seething earthiness and volcanic temperament.
She did that because she had talent—in the words of one critic, “She conveyed more with one flashing glance of those astonishing dark eyes than most actresses could manage after five years of acting classes.”
And one co-star is said to have remarked: “Absolutely no-one is capable of sharing the scene with her.”
There remains a considerable number of men (and I’m chairman of this club) who just don’t care for the modern-day fad for airbrushed fantasy figures. We are men who prefer their women to be real: women who will take all the crap that life dishes out, chew it up, and spit it right back in life’s face. Sultry-looking women with fire in their eyes and lust in their loins. Women who might look like this:
She married once, got divorced, and never married again, uttering the immortal line: ”Women like me can only submit to men capable of dominating them, and I have never found anyone capable of dominating me.”
I don’t care what anyone says, now that’s sexy.
In the parlance of my youth: ”She’d break your back, buddy.” So what? That’s why there are osteopaths.
I’ve seen Anna Magnani in precisely one movie, the dreadful Secret of Santa Vittoria, and she takes the whole movie in her teeth, shakes it like a dog, and never lets go. Even Anthony Quinn is helpless against her. Now I want to see all her movies; and I will, starting with the one for which she won her Oscar, The Rose Tattoo.
Weekend Women
Sunday, May 07, 2006
Anna Moffo
May 7, 2006
5:32 AM CST
I note with great sadness that soprano Anna Moffo passed away last week.
Who?
Let’s just say this: when you’re voted one of Italy’s 10 Most Beautiful Women, and you were born in Pennsylvania, that means something. But hey, what do the Italians know about beautiful women, anyway? Let’s look at the evidence:
. 
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And one taken in her later years…
Okay, maybe the Italians do know what they’re talking about…
If you want to hear just how good a singer she was, try this compilation album, recorded in 1958; or, if you’re a Mozart fan, there’s this one.
If you’re an opera fan, however, you should listen to Miss Moffo as Violetta in La Traviata, probably her signature role. She was in her late twenties, and at her greatest, when all these recordings were made.
Oh, and while she was still a student in Rome, she played in the Italian national women’s field hockey team; and she loved motorcycles.
Not yer typical operatic soprano stereotype, was she? There may have been better sopranos than Anna Moffo—but I sincerely doubt that there’s ever been a more beautiful one.
Weekend Women
Sunday, February 03, 2008
Anna Netrebko
February 3, 2008
8:03 AM CST
Wonderful voice, astonishing beauty, lots of sex appeal. Opera hottie Anna Netrebko has just about the complete package.
This is one of those rare situations in opera where the audio recording alone isn’t as good as the video…
Of course, the serious opera buffs can’t handle the way she dresses—because let’s be honest, with the possible exception of Anna Moffo, coloratura sopranos are not exactly what you’d call sexy. So the cognoscenti sniff, and make snide comments about her doing Madame Butterfly in a bikini.
Way I see it, that would make guys want to go to the opera with their wives. And that could only be a good thing.
Weekend Women
