While padding about from here to there this morning on the 'net, I happened across this picture of the studly Edmond Rostand, fameux écrivain in the Belle Epoque of the play Cyrano de Bergerac and others. I also discovered these pics and clips of his lovely Villa Arnaga in the Basque country of southwestern France, which is not my style - I suppose it falls somewhere along the scale from Art Nouveau to Arts and Crafts, don't you? - but with its formal French and informal English gardens is nevertheless a joy to the eyes and a rest for the soul. So I thought I'd share this work of art and nature with my truckbuddies this morning - enjoy.
No, that's not where I was this weekend, but I thought you fellas might enjoy this short film about the legendary resort in White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia, from 1948 - when there was still a bit of glamour to the upper reaches of society. Now they're just as vulgar as anyone else, if you can believe the tabloids and TV shows.
For an update, here's a quick look at the renovated Greenbrier today, where the emphasis is on catering to the hoi polloi, quite a different tone from 1948:
In case you doubt me, their website shows you can get three nights there for about 500 bucks, and a steak dinner will set you back only $40. Not the Econolodge, but within range of most middle-class folks for a special trip. Of course, all their advertising shows straight couples - don't you think it's time some of us queered the place?
There are lots of lovely historic mansions in the world, but it's not easy to find floor plans for them. In the case of the lavish Whitemarsh Hall near Philadelphia, someone has been good enough to dig up the floor plans and put them online - which adds a great deal to one's understanding of how those great spaces were used - but alas, the house itself has long since vanished, replaced with a suburban housing tract.
Whitemarsh was built between 1916 and 1921 by investment banker Edward T. Stotesbury and his wife Eva. It had 147 rooms, 45 bathrooms, and - get this - 100,000 square feet of floor space (larger than the White House) spread over its six stories (three above ground, and three below). It took 40 indoor staff and 70 gardeners working full time just to keep things running smoothly. You can read the Wikipedia article if you want more mind-boggling details, but here's some pictures to stimulate your imagination - click to enlarge, of course:
Front with portico and porte-cochere, reached after a mile-long driveway
The rear terrace and formal gardens
First floor plan
Second floor plan
More pics and links, and a couple of videos, after the jump.
The shining moment that was Camelot: the Kennedys at a state dinner in the White House for French cultural minister André Malrauxin 1962
In the United States, it doesn't get any better than the Executive Mansion. Your Head Trucker got to see the outside on his one trip to D.C., but alas, not the interior. I well recall Mrs. Kennedy's tour of the White House that was broadcast on Valentine's Day back in 1962; young'uns today who are used to grungy reality-show celebrities and instant fame - or infamy, as the case may be - can have no real idea of how glamorous and thrilling this program was back then.
The Blue Room as redone by Jacqueline Kennedy and designer Stéphane Boudin
Of course, Mrs. Kennedy, with her sophisticated knowledge of art and antiques, was responsible for her widely praised restoration - not "redecoration," as she was quick to point out - of the house, and for establishing the office of Curator of the White House, as well as for publishing the first White House guidebook, sales of which helped finance the restoration effort.
A photograph of A Tour of the White House with Mrs. Kennedy and CBS newsman Charles Collingwood; alas, color television was still a rarity in most American homes in 1962, and like most other programs at the time, the special was filmed only in black and white.
In those pre-women's lib days, Jackie's success in undertaking this enormous project led her amazed husband to concede wryly at a press conference one day that his wife had demonstrated executive skills he didn't know she had. Doesn't that sound just like a man?
Anyway, here's part one of the film. Enjoy.
BTW, if you want to explore the mansion's many rooms in detail, the unofficial White House Museum website has an excellent collection of pictures, floor plans, and architectural information.
I've always wanted a little seaside cottage in the south of France. This would do nicely. And it's a steal at only $100 million.
Though of course, it would have to be redecorated, totally. Who wants to help, in exchange for room and board next summer?
Be sure to use the full screen on this one, guys.
(Note: "Infamous" does not mean wonderful, grand, or even famous. I hear this assinine usage, as in the above video, more and more these days. What the hell is wrong with people who can't understand this simple distinction? I ask you.)
I seem to be in an Italian mood today. Surfing around, I just happened to come across this jewel of art and architecture, which you can read more about here if you have a mind to.
Your Head Trucker's tastes in architecture tend heavily towards the classical and traditional; the Georgian period is my especial favorite, though as a Southerner I naturally have a weakness for Greek Revival; yet sometimes when I'm feeling my oats, throwing caution to the winds, I might even have a fling with Art Deco. I guess we all have a little tryst now and then, eh?
When I have nothing better to do, I sometimes amuse myself in looking over advertisements for real estate I can never hope to possess, but which is delightful to daydream about. In what may become a new regular feature here on the Blue Truck, here's a lovely old house in a stunningly beautiful location that perhaps my truckbuddies will appreciate as much as I do: Town Head House, on Lake Windermere in the Lake District of England, which famously inspired much of William Wordsworth's youthful poetry, among others.
The house has been in the family since George III was on the throne, but now they are selling out for a mere £5,250,000, or about $8.2 million at current exchange rates.
You can see more pictures and the full property description at the real estate listing site. And the Telegraph has this article on the current family, their history, and their reasons for selling.
Lord, make me an instrument of your peace. Where there is hatred, let me sow love; where there is injury, pardon; where there is discord, harmony; where there is doubt, faith; where there is despair, hope; where there is darkness, light; where there is sadness, joy. Grant that I may seek not so much to be consoled as to console; to be understood as to understand; to be loved as to love. For it is in giving that we receive; it is in pardoning that we are pardoned; and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life. Amen.
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We cannot all do great things, but we can do small things with great love.
and welcome to the Blue Truck, a blog for mature gay men with news and views on gay rights, history, art, humor, and whatever comes to mind. Plus a few hot men. The truck's all washed and gassed up, so hop in buddy, let's go.
CAUTION: For mature gay men only beyond this point. Some posts and links may not be suitable for children or the unco guid. You have been warned.
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My Story
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Churches say that the expression of love in a heterosexual monogamous relationship includes the physical, the touching, embracing, kissing, the genital act - the totality of our love makes each of us grow to become increasingly godlike and compassionate. If this is so for the heterosexual, what earthly reason have we to say that it is not the case with the homosexual?
It is a perversion if you say to me that a person chooses to be homosexual. You must be crazy to choose a way of life that exposes you to a kind of hatred. It's like saying you choose to be black in a race-infected society.
If God, as they say, is homophobic, I wouldn't worship that God.
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