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#1 2009-05-26 12:01:47
- Ian Strachan's Raincoat
- Member
- Posts: 521
Ivy icon: Val Wilmer
I've never seen her name mentioned on the forum - forgive me if I'm mistaken - by anyone except myself in a previous incarnation. We all know Claxton, so he gets mentioned, so why not Val? She was not only a great photographer in the jazz and blues world but a cool, cool figure in her own right, one hundred per cent Wardour Street.
#2 2009-05-26 12:26:26
- The Ace Face
- Member
- Posts: 613
Re: Ivy icon: Val Wilmer
She never photographed anyone as iconic as Chet and McQueen in their prime. Her work, the limited amount I have viewed is at best magazine quality, not fine art as Claxton's. She may well be a cool, cool figure, but she ain't as cool as Claxton.
Draped and sculpted hep cat suit - as worn by His Royal Hepness, Cab Calloway
#3 2009-05-26 12:39:41
- Ian Strachan's Raincoat
- Member
- Posts: 521
Re: Ivy icon: Val Wilmer
She snapped Coltrane. Amongst others. She's far cooler than Claxton. And Weber.
#4 2009-05-26 12:49:40
- The Ace Face
- Member
- Posts: 613
Re: Ivy icon: Val Wilmer
Yes, she "snapped" Coltrane. In seriousness, I am not in a position to argue, but what I've seen on the web isn't as rich in silver tone and class as Claxton's.
Weber's work is too homoerotic for my taste, except for "Let's Get Lost" which is homoerotic in all the right places.
Draped and sculpted hep cat suit - as worn by His Royal Hepness, Cab Calloway
#5 2009-05-26 12:52:51
- Ian Strachan's Raincoat
- Member
- Posts: 521
Re: Ivy icon: Val Wilmer
There are a number of English figures who are offbeat, essential cool, often associated with the Flamingo, Ronnie Scott's, or both. John Gall will almost certainly be able to refer back to the post-war period and be able to pinpoint these seminal figures: musicians, comedians, photographers, journalists, film-makers, stylists. Marty Feldman, before he departed for Hollywood, would be near the top of my list. Stanley Baker is, I know, important to my good friend Staceyboy. Annie Ross has got to be the coolest of English singers: check out her version of "Twisted". And Val is right in there: propositioned by Miles Davis, proud to be gay, absolutely well-bred, understated and hip.
#7 2009-05-26 14:17:54
- The Ace Face
- Member
- Posts: 613
Re: Ivy icon: Val Wilmer
There's also a strangely appealing version of Annie Ross singing "My Old Flame" with Mulligan and Chet, the female version of a Sinatra drunk bar stool ballad. My knowledge of the post-war and 50's comes mainly from MacInnes. He is, as I stated once before on the forum, in my opinion, the English Kerouac, set ofcourse in London and not on the road, but on the Thames. Stanley Baker was offered James Bond and was the producer behind "Zulu" and what a film "Hell's Drivers" is.
Chet had everything, talent, looks, travel, women and in Weber's film you see it (unlike Dorian Gray) ravaged, traded for junk, and his decline is utterly romantic, beguiling and beautiful - the death of a Romantic poet. Makes Jim Morrison's rapid bloated decline and death seem inadequate, truly a death of a rockstar.
Draped and sculpted hep cat suit - as worn by His Royal Hepness, Cab Calloway
#8 2009-05-26 14:34:02
- Ian Strachan's Raincoat
- Member
- Posts: 521
Re: Ivy icon: Val Wilmer
I didn't know Baker was offered Bond. I wonder if Staceyboy knows. He knows Baker's widow, I believe.
#10 2009-05-26 19:04:35
- Hard Bop Hank
- Ivy Soul Brother
- From: land of a 1000 dances
- Posts: 4923
Re: Ivy icon: Val Wilmer
Modernist/ Jazz scene icon, sure, but why Ivy Icon? any pics of her sporting BDs, Loafers etc...? this is just a question...? just being naive... or is it just about her pics?
this is definitely not a dig at ISR, and I don't wanna be anal about words... dunno much about Val Wilmer myself, probably just the usual stuff... anyway, this is very interesting to me... keep it up... if I got time I will search for some pics myself... Meanwhile I'm being lazy... sorry, guys... it's about a girl... (@Jim: ....and I promise I will do some good work.... within the next three weeks!)
BTW, has anybody a little more input regarding female ivy league style? I mean it's not just wearing men's stuff...
Is there such a thing as a female Ivy League Look, anyway?
I don't know much, and I would just refer to some old pictures, or maybe the last pages of the Brooks catalogues...
BTW, when was it again that they introduced women's clothes?
I could check, but mibbee someone knows this stuff...
Don't have to go in too much detail, but I would just like to know... so that I could give an answer...
that girl wants to know, and this is important to me! No jokes please, I can anticipate all of them....
I'm not getting into drag now, and I'm well aware this is is a men's clothes forum... usually I don't give a fuck what they're wearing, as long as they take it off, but this time it's different....
Any help welcome!
Cheers, HBH
“No Room For Squares”
”All political art is bad – all good art is political.”
"Would there be any freedom of press or speech if one must reduce his vocabulary to vapid innocuous euphemisms?"
#13 2009-05-27 10:39:07
- The Beatnik
- Member
- Posts: 392
Re: Ivy icon: Val Wilmer
Val Wilmer... I hope his jazz pics are good 'cos he was rubbish in 'The Doors'!
#15 2009-05-27 11:16:45
- Hard Bop Hank
- Ivy Soul Brother
- From: land of a 1000 dances
- Posts: 4923
Re: Ivy icon: Val Wilmer
“No Room For Squares”
”All political art is bad – all good art is political.”
"Would there be any freedom of press or speech if one must reduce his vocabulary to vapid innocuous euphemisms?"
#16 2009-05-27 11:23:43
- Chris_H
- Ivy Original
- From: Watford
- Posts: 1669
Re: Ivy icon: Val Wilmer
Here you are Jonah
http://images.google.co.uk/images?hl=en&um=1&q=Val+Wilmer&sa=N&start=0&ndsp=18
http://images.google.co.uk/images?hl=en&um=1&sa=1&q=Valerie+Wilmer&btnG=Search+Images&aq=f&oq=
Last edited by Chris_H (2009-05-27 11:25:02)
https://www.facebook.com/groups/hardyandjohnson/
#18 2009-05-27 12:12:21
- Hard Bop Hank
- Ivy Soul Brother
- From: land of a 1000 dances
- Posts: 4923
Re: Ivy icon: Val Wilmer
Thanks, Chris!!! Great stuff, for sure!
“No Room For Squares”
”All political art is bad – all good art is political.”
"Would there be any freedom of press or speech if one must reduce his vocabulary to vapid innocuous euphemisms?"
#19 2009-05-27 12:19:49
- Hard Bop Hank
- Ivy Soul Brother
- From: land of a 1000 dances
- Posts: 4923
Re: Ivy icon: Val Wilmer
Read about her first time when the infamous "Soul Stylists" came out, I guess...
And I knew a lot of the photos before from Music mags and record sleeves... Love that Little Walter pic!
Don't own in though myself, and have no scanner... Could anyone post her playlist? I think it was the best part of the book...
“No Room For Squares”
”All political art is bad – all good art is political.”
"Would there be any freedom of press or speech if one must reduce his vocabulary to vapid innocuous euphemisms?"