Thursday, September 7, 2017

"Sarah" Smile!

Well, we love glamorous portraits, catalogs and glitzy accessories, so we're likely to love this passel of Sarah Coventry jewelry ads (and catalog covers/pages.) My first encounter with Sarah Coventry (apart from sometimes hearing the name as a game show sponsor or consolation prize!) was late in life. I had been scrambling for something I wanted Lee Meriwether to sign and found a photo very similar to the one shown here at left. I adored the way she looked in it. Recently, I discovered a whole bunch of others, with or without our Lee, and they range from the benign to the fabulous! You be the judge. Stay tuned near the end for an impromptu bonus feature.  ;-)
This is the version of the ad that I asked Ms. Meriwether to sign. She told me that once her mother had taken a print of this shot and decoupaged it in a lovely frame, but that it had later been destroyed during an earthquake.
Be sure to click on this one and check out the heavily teased 'do she's sporting here! No wonder she eventually turned to shorter, simpler styles...
I just LOVE this one. It combines so many things I love...! Meriwether, makeup, chiffon, chunky jewelry. Did I just set off the sprinklers in here??
Another Miss America, the divine Mary Ann Mobley, serves as your guide for the ritualistic sacrifices being held in the back room...!  Ha ha!
We've always had a soft-spot for ever-glam, ever-effervescent Ruta Lee. I don't really care for the red (top) on red (background), but I do care for her.
Here we find Anne Francis around the time she was starring on TV as female spy Honey West.
I like these earrings that Miss Rosemary Clooney is modeling.
The ad copy on this page with The Lennon Sisters challenges us to name each girl with hints from the Initial pins that they are wearing. Amazingly enough, I got them right.
Something about her smile in this photo makes it almost hard to recognize Lesley Ann Warren, then starring in The Happiest Millionaire. Disney did a number of tie-ins with the jewelry manufacturer as you'll see.
I don't know where I was that I never realized Janet Blair was in The One and Only, Genuine, Original Family Band (which also featured Warren.) Then again, I don't believe I've seen this since I was in the 6th or 7th grade many years ago!
Always lovely Vera Miles has an understated look in her ad. The necklace is sorta fun, though I don't think I'd have paired it with gray.
We adore Jo Anne Worley and feel that her career ought to have been even bigger (and lasted longer) than it ultimately did.
Check the curl on Angel Tompkins' locks.
Look, it's young Sally Field, out of her nun's habit and with plenty of hair.
The wonderful Diane Baker (who at first glance seemed almost like a brunette Cybill Shepherd to me!) I have no recollection of her hair looking this way. It certainly didn't in the mentioned movie Krakatoa: East of Java.
Of course they had to roll back the camera for dancer Cyd Charisse's ad. Love the mod print dress.
Eileen Fulton reigned on daytime TV as one of its biggest stars during her time on As the World Turns. A startling number of little baby girls were named Lisa after her character (who was, in her day, quite the troublemaker!)
Dancer Juliet Prowse looks pretty here, though we don't get to see her legs. (We would, however, on her later pantyhose commercials for L'eggs.)
You know, I've just never quite warmed up to Miss Rhonda Fleming, who looks attractive, but stiff, here. I do like the colors that accent her hair, though.
I can remember seeing this distinctive owl necklace on SO many ladies in the mid-1970s. It's modeled here by Lynda Day George, then of Mission: Impossible.
Here George shows off a pretty ornate brooch.
And here she shows off her actor hubby, Christopher George. And we are ending with the mini-bonus of him showing off as well!
Christopher George posed nude for Playgirl magazine in 1974 (the same year as the Sarah Coventry catalog!)
I find it remarkable that Lynda was cool with his doing so. (He posed full-frontal, though I still do not publish such shots here. I like to keep the place at least remotely work-friendly.)
Uncropped versions of these pics are easily found in an online image search.
Though he worked on many projects, he may be best-known from his time on the WWII series The Rat Patrol (inset.) And now, my loves, I am off on a three-night spree to glittering Las Vegas. I hope I can report something fun about that when I get back.

12 comments:

Gingerguy said...

Two posts in one week! I am in gay heaven Poseidon (also nudie shots of Christopher George!!)Lee Meriweather had great hair, and looks gorgeous here. I vaguely remember the name of this company, but you put it in sharp focus for me with these FABULOUS ads.
Lol on Mary Ann Mobley-maybe it's really Sarah COVENtry?
I love Ruta Lee, perennial game show contestant, I also remember he hawking diet spray of some sort.
Ann Francis looks divine and tough as usual, I think it's the beauty mark.
Live for Lennons, Janet was the youngest but got the most old lady looking wigs.
I didn't recognize Lesley Ann Warren, she looks very exotic here, but did catch that "Original Family Band" movie recently and it's not a favorite. She was lovely in in though, with Goldie Hawn in a teeny part.
I get Rhonda Fleming and Arlene Dahl mixed up.
That owl necklace! our school Librarian had one and also daringly paired it with a turtleneck sweater. I just can't get excited about modern ads the way I do about these. You really have an eye. Awesome.

Forever1267 said...

If you need anything in Vegas, I'm just 4 hours away in Los Angeles!

These pictures are amazing. Some of them don't even look like their later selves with the hairstyles and fashions. Lesley Ann Warren especially.

Christopher George and Lynda Day George seemed to appear in every trashy TV-Movie about some type of disaster or horror situation every week. And I LOVED them all. Such a rugged handsome guy!!!

Poseidon3 said...

Gingerguy, something about the way old ads were photographed/processed just gives them a wonderfully different look that the way things are done today. That sort of old-style photography tended to be flattering (far more that the heavily photo-shopped images that are foisted upon us now.) The 1970s Playgirl spreads, for example, are very captivating and natural versus what was later to cum, er, come... I used to never be able to differentiate Rhonda from Arlene either! Arlene's beauty mark is down by her lip and Rhonda's is up high on her cheek! LOL They actually costarred once in "Slightly Scarlet" which would maybe help folks to compare and contrast them.

Forever1267, I agree about the way some of the ladies look so different. Lesley being the prime one. Did you ever see that youtube.com clip of Lynda Day George reacting to someone being killed in one of the Georges' horrid horror epics? So hysterically funny.... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KCCxGQetNrk

Gingerguy said...

OMG Linda Day George yelling "Bastard" is the greatest thing ever! cannot believe you mentioned that Poseidon. You are hilarious

christo said...

What a great and fun post - I love love love the images.

Unknown said...

Wow, Sarah Coventry. That barely tickles some memory in the back of my mind. Did they give these out a lot on game shows? I can almost hear "Brought to you by Sarah Coventry."

And I love every one of these shots because they're right at the intersection of pretty and tacky. I'm sure the jewelry in real life looked tragic. Anyone seen any? It sort of reminds me of high end Avon. Was this sold door to door or at parties a la Tupperware?

Amazingly, I think I know all of these people except for Angel Tompkins.

VictorG said...

What a wonderful stroll down memory lane! Thank you for the fab-u-lash photos and your witty recollections. Stars had great hair-dos then! I adore you and your marvelous blog~

Poseidon3 said...

Ginge, isn't that a HOOT? I love her, but that is a camp highlight for the ages.

Christo, thank you so much! Glad you liked these.

Dave, I feel like you're right and can definitely hear the same thing in my head. Either it was among the prizes on The Price is Right or perhaps was given as consolation on other shows. I would never have known Angel Tompkins myself except that she starred in a hooty exploitation pic called "The Teacher" in which she seduces Jay North (yes, THAT Jay North of "Dennis the Menace!!") Worth looking out for...

VictorG, thanks a million. I appreciate your comments/compliments and am glad you enjoy it here!

P.S. - I am back from Las Vegas and have been creamed with work. But it was worth it because I was front row for Donny & Marie. They both spoke to me and Marie even flicked me a guitar pick with her picture on it. Both of them sounded WONDERFUL and are in terrific shape. The show was pure entertainment from start to finish. I think she changed clothes about a dozen times and is very slim in person (and, despite the way she appears on TV - i.e. - overdone fillers and so on - was actually quite dazzling and pretty to look at.)

Ken Anderson said...

Been catching up on old posts I've missed. Really enjoyed this one because not only do i remember some of these ads, but I cant hear the name Sarah Coventry without thinking of game shows and consolation prizes. My fave pic of the many you've collected is Sally Field (although Juliet Prowse comes a close second).
Also, my mom had one of those ginormous sectional owl things, too. Not sure if it was Sarah Coventry, but clearly (what with all those turtlenecks and sweaters '70s folks were so fond of) those pendant owls were quite the thing.
Thanks for the fun trip down memory lane!

Poseidon3 said...

Ken, I'm thrilled that someone as busy as yourself still carves out the time to visit us at P.U. ;-) I bet you almost everyone who is 50-60 can recall seeing those owl necklaces around the necks of ladies we knew when we were kids! LOL about the omnipresent turtlenecks, usually paired with flared, polyester slacks and (if we were in luck) a chain belt!

Forever1267 said...

That YouTube clip of Lynda Day George above is insane!!! Awesome find!! Thank you!!!

Poseidon3 said...

You're welcome... "BASTARD!!" Ha ha!