Movie Stars from the Dream Factory

Pictures taken from Twentieth Century Fox : Inside the Photo Archive

Marilyn Monroe in The Seven Year Itch (1954)

Elizabeth Taylor on the set of Cleopatra (1963)

France Nuyen in Satan Never Sleeps (1962)

Doris Day in Move Over Darling (1963)

Katharine Hepburn in Desk Set (1957)

Shirley MacLaine in What a Way to Go (1964)

Raquel Welch in One Million Years BC (1966)

Shirley Temple (1937)

Betty Grable in My Blue Heaven (1950)

Joanne Woodward in The Many Faces of Eve (1959)

Paul Newman in From the Terrace (1960)

Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton relaxing on the set of Cleopatra (1963)

Deborah Kerr and Geogory Peck in Beloved Infidel (1959)

Back at an event in 2005, I won a huge coffee table book called The Twentieth Century Fox : Inside the Photo Archive.It features images from iconic and some lesser known movies which are now placed in a state-of-the-art storage on the Pico Boulevard Lot in Los Angeles. Today, I happened to chance on it while clearing out some books on my shelf and enjoyed flipping through the pictures once again.

The early years were really the Golden Era of Hollywood and images of movie stars such as Betty Grable, Marlene Dietrich, Susan Hayward, Gene Tierney, Gregory Peck, Audrey Hepburn and more were featured. Familiar names if you were a fan of old movies. My favourite image is that of Elizabeth Taylor on the set of Cleopatra. She is seen twirling her hair in a bored yet quirky manner while Richard Burton looks on . I also love the outfit in the France Nuyen picture. This actress of French and Vietnameses descent made her name in The South Pacific (one of my dad's favourite movies) and the stage production of The World of Suzie Wong though the movie role eventually went to Nancy Kwan. Doesn't she look like the Hong Kong actress Maggie Cheung in this picture ? Betty Grable, the number 1 pin-up girl for GIs during WW2, famous for her well proportioned legs. There is also Doris Day, the reigning star of romantic comedies in the 60's and she certainly looked tomboyish, fun and freckle faced back in those days. And who could forget Katharine Hepburn ? A strong feminist who defied public opinion to wear pants, something not accepted back then by society. This picture shows her in a wonderful spontaneous moment. These black and white pictures do have an enduring classic quality, both stylish and chic.