Lil' Blonde Darling: Madonna in Dick Tracy!

Blonde Beauty Icon Madonna as Breathless Mahoney

Nothing leaves me more breathless than the epic looks Madonna featured as Breathless Mahoney in 1990's Dick Tracy! I vividly remember seeing this in the theater during the summer of 1990, as it was billed as that years epic comic book blockbuster à la Tim Burton's Batman the year before. This was my first real exposure to Madonna....and watching her Blond Ambition HBO special a month later sealed the deal: Madonna obsession for life! While the cinematography, set design, makeup and visuals were outstanding, it received mixed reviews from critics. For me, Madonna is really the only reason to watch the film. Cast as a seductive torch singer in the mob-run cabaret Club Ritz, who is out to snag the dashing police detective Dick Tracy, Madonna shines in the role. It is certainly one of her best acting roles, plus any excuse to have her sing and dance in a film is never a bad thing.

 

The comic strip Breathless Mahoney only appeared twice, and was very much inspired by 1940's film star Veronica Lake.

Madonna begged and pleaded with director/producer/star Warren Beatty to cast her in the role, but he had his mind set on Melanie Griffith. When Madonna offered to work at scale ($1,440 a week), she was finally able to win the part (starting to date him also helped, or course). The first thing Warren Beatty made her do was bleach her hair (she had recently grown it out to her natural color, see "Like A Prayer" video) and also gain 10 lbs, so it would appear as though she was "poured into her dresses". Her figure became so voluptuous that during her performance of "More" in the film, her breasts kept popping out of her silver lamé gown. The makeup department had to literally GLUE her into the dress, which made them extremely nervous because it hadn't been tested. If the glue had discolored her or caused any sort of allergic reaction they were quoted as saying, "we would be the guys that destroyed a national treasure"!

Madonna's role as Breathless Mahoney also inspired her to release a full length concept album, I'm Breathless: Music from and Inspired by the Film Dick Tracy. Although it only features 4 songs from the film, it is often relegated to the soundtrack bin and is usually left off her list of studio albums. It is a hidden gem from her back catalog and completely underrated. Featuring campy, 1930's jazz/big band influenced songs, all sung from the perspective of a gold digging gun moll, how can you go wrong? In 1990, Madonna was at the height of her popularity as the Queen of Pop, so for her to release an album of retro -jazz standards/showtunes was quite unexpected and shocking. In their review of the album, Rolling Stone magazine said: "No other pop star today could—or probably would - make an album like this." Very true....although it IS an album of pop music, only it's pop music from the 1930's/40's. It DID however include the house-infused #1 smash hit "Vogue", which besides it's references to old Hollywood film stars, is COMPLETELY out of place on the album.

again....the ONLY champagne glass to sip from. FUCK a flute!

Leave me Breathless

Silver Screen

"You don't know if you want to hit me or kiss me."

Quick curls

I WANT MORE!

Got my diamonds. Got my yacht.

Torchy

 Feeling blue

"Dick? That's an interesting name. My bottom hurts just thinking about it."

She always gets her man!

Her BEST live performance ever...in a Bob Mackie gown and $20 million worth of Harry Winston diamonds!

Nothing like a good spanky.

Slinky

"He's a man...with a gun in his hand."

Hollywood couple

Gun moll

I don't want you to thank me....you can just spank me!

Smoking is glamorous.

with Al Pacino

Breathless gives good face.

It's hard being this glamorous!

The only time Madonna was ever made into a doll (Oh, and she has nipples)!

Lil' Blonde Darling: Blonde On Blonde!

Blonde Beauty Icon Blonde On Blonde

I'm so excited by this post I can barely type! Behold the seXXXed up lezzie glaMOUR of Blonde On Blonde! It was a little known pop duo, started by Jilly Johnson and Nina Carter from the UK in 1977! The two blonde glamour models were made semi-famous by posing topless as "Page Three girls" in England's infamous tabloid newspaper The Sun. Of course, what better way to parlay that new found fame than to cut a record and become pop tarts? It's only logical. With their sexually suggestive name, they were known for their risqué album covers which featured overtly homoerotic overtones. Unfortunately, they really only saw any form of success in Japan...but their 1979 cover of Led Zeppelin's "Whole Lotta Love" is ridiculous and amazing! Blonde on Blonde is basically a 1970's disco version of Samantha Fox x2 OR a disco lesbian, non-twin version of Cherie & Marie Currie and I couldn't be happier!!

Stir me up!

 Pussy Bump

Why don't I own this outfit??

Picture Disc

 Blonde all over!

The only train I want to ride!

 Choker

Goldfrapp's NEW video "Alive"!

Goldfrapp's latest video for their new single Alive, off their current album, the Electric Light Orchestra inspired Head First....is the most exciting thing EVER!! I didn't think it was possible to mix Morbid-style Death Metal with Olivia Newton-John's Xanadu glaMOUR.....but Ms. Goldfrapp seems to have done it! Bravo!

At Home with Madonna!

"What I wanted most was just to love my environment,” said Madonna of her early 90's apartment, located in an unassuming brick building on Manhattan’s Upper West Side. The glamorous Art Déco inspired abode was designed and executed by Christoper Ciccone; her younger brother, former back-up dancer, and most trusted confidant (at the time...let's not discuss that tell-all book he wrote in 2008). The apartment was conceived as a low-key yet glamorous sanctuary, a place that would allow her, once inside, a temporary escape.

This sprawling UWS dwelling is quite the step up from her early 80's NYC apartment; a cockroach infested room on E4th Street & Ave C on the LES (now called the East Village). Here, the soon to be Queen of Pop slept on couch cushions she found in the trash.

Christopher had already designed the interiors of her Los Angeles mansion (which she gave him only ten days to complete) and Madonna never thought of having anyone else envision and execute her New York space. “Who could I have more in common with than someone I grew up with?” Madonna said of her choice of interior designer. “We like the same things, from music to what we eat.” Christopher, who was wholly self-taught in the area of interior design and who had no formal art training, also designed the stage sets for Madonna's 1990 Blond Ambition World Tour, which was the setting for the documentary Madonna: Truth or Dare. In 1993, he would design and direct her Girlie Show World Tour.

 Madonna and Christopher, 1983

“I wanted to create a New York apartment. In Los Angeles the living spaces are big, wide open. There are loftlike attributes to them, and also the feeling of living in a penthouse. In New York I wanted to make a space for her that was elegant without being weak, peaceful without being boring. She prefers New York to Los Angeles because when she’s here she can relax. There’s a city here—you feel you are with people, living with the rest of the world, not confined to an automobile. But it still had to be a place she would feel safe in. Even though there’s a view of Central Park, you don’t feel exposed to anything.” said Christopher.

 Madonna and Christopher, 1990

The apartment was originally three separate units. Madonna and former husband Sean Penn had bought the first apartment—the living room, dining room, a much smaller kitchen and two small bedrooms during their marriage in the mid 80's. A second apartment was purchased after their divorce in 1989, and a third—which constituted the back sitting room and bath—was acquired six months later when the place had been gutted. Ciccone made all the major design decisions, talking with Madonna once a week, while architect Stephen Wang carried them out. The style that emerged was a classic early Art Déco look. Ciccone kept as many original details of the 1915 building as possible, such as moldings and fireplaces, and paid attention to all-new minutiae, including the doorknobs and the color of screws. “I wanted to stay away from American Déco and late Déco,” he says, “because I felt this style was easier to live with and would age well.”

Setting the muted tone in the entrance is a circa 1930 Fresson print titled Nude by French photographer Laure Albin-Guillot

Just a casual vestibule!

“I get strength from my art—all the paintings I own are powerful,” says Madonna. The sitting Room featuring Les Deux Bicyclettes, 1944, by Fernand Léger hangs over the living room mantel. Le Coeur Voilé, 1932, by Dali is framed by Mondrian-style bookshelves designed by Ciccone. 

 The Sitting Room featuring Andromeda, 1929, by Tamara de Lempicka

Dinner is served! Nana de Herrera, 1930, by Tamara de Lempicka

“I love the office because I can use my fax machine and look at my Picasso at the same time,” says Madonna.

“A hallway is a very important part of a New York apartment, If you’ve got one, it means you have lots of room. It’s something grand and should be given a certain amount of elegance. A castle is not a castle without a moat. A New York apartment should have a great hallway.”- Christopher Ciccone

 Powder Room

 “I don’t like rooms you never use or that are wasted space, but I also like a sparseness and a cleanness.”- Madonna

 Her soundproof gym. “Madonna likes to feel the music” says Christopher.

“Madonna doesn't cook much. I think she has a couple of cookbooks, and now and then she makes Rice Krispies treats, but I wanted to give her the option if she wanted to” - Christopher Ciccone