Vintage Monday: It's A Thin Line Between Love and Diahann!!!

Dean Martin refers to her name as two of the most musical words in show business.  We all remember her for her role as my favorite single mother with six children in Claudine.  Or maybe as the little 15 year old singing those high notes alongside Dorothy Dandridge in Porgy and Bess. Either way, this amazing actress/songstress who went from Broadway to the Silver Screen still steals the hearts of movie goers everywhere.  This Ebony Fashion Fair model continues to grace us with her beauty.  Today, this Vintage Monday, I bring you:

Diahann Carroll

Born Carol Diann, July 17 1935 in Bronx, NY.  At the age of 10, she received a Metropolitan Opera Scholarship for studying at New York City High School of Music and Art. That's a great feat for such a young person. This eventually had her considering an operatic career in the music.  In her late teens, she began focusing on a nightclub career, changing her name to the more exotic Diahann Carroll.  She has starred along side Pearl Bailey, Dorothy Dandridge, James Earl Jones, Sidney Portier and other great giants from Broadway to the Silver Screen.  She also starred on various musical variety shows to include The Carol Burnett Show, Judy Garland, Andy Williams, Dean Martin and Dean Martin.  She was also married to some very glamorous men like Vic Damone, engaged to Sidney Portier....whooo the suiters!!!

Let's check out some photos of this natural beauty.

In Harlem on the set getting ready to film Claudine.

Shortly after filming Porgy and Bess along side Dorothy Dandridge and Harry Belafonte.  Diahann Carroll was only 15 when chosen for this role. And she hasn't changed a bit. 

Her first meeting with Former President John F. Kennedy. She was often referred to as the "Black Jackie Kennedy" because she was so poised and she wore her hair in coifs a lot of the time. Then she became known as the "Black Barbie Doll."

Filming Paris Blues with Co-Star Sidney Portier.  This is when the love affair  between then began.  They were only engaged for SIX months before calling it off. 

Hope that you enjoyed that clip of her performing on the Dean Martin Show. I am loving that dress!!!

HAPPY VINTAGE MONDAY!!!

Confessions of a Cosmo Student: WEEK ONE

So I decided to go back to school for the 3rd time.  Yes, I said 3rd.  I don't know when I decided that I was going to embrace and bury myself into education this much. I guess when the military really does pay for your education, you go B-A-N-A-N-A-S!!! It's something about the beauty industry that pulls me in. I am a natural caretaker/giver. I don't think this is something that you ask for, it's just something that happens naturally.

I decided to add this weekly tidbit into my blog because being a single-parent with 2 boys, going to school, starting and growing your own business and on the verge of destitution with no support from the people who call themselves your family is hard work.  My First Lady said something to me the other day that put things into perspective. She said "you have been traveling in the world the entire time, surrounded by so many people, and alone." That was the most truest statement I have ever heard in my life. It's like she read in and just met me.

So this snippet into my weekly life at Virginia College isn't just for you. It's therapy for me. The hood antics and ghetto-ness I see happening everyday in my life of Cosmetology. I chose to go back because I am already licensed in skincare and body wrapping. I think that it is important for us to be well-rounded in any field that we want to grow in.  I love the beauty industry so I will grow in that. And prayerfully with the help of mi fadda's checkbook, I can grow into a nice spot of my own.

PRAY FOR ME, THE SHEARS AND THE BLOW-DRYERS!!

VINTAGE MONDAY: WonderTwins Activate...Tasha and Sidra Smith

Today I wanna celebrate some friends today....Bernice and Beverly.  If you don't know them, you need to. Taking the beauty industry to a whole 'nuther level. One fashion boutique owner of Hazel Eyez Beauty and also an amazing hairstylist, the other is a makeup connoisseur. This Vintage Monday, I really wanted to do something special for them and let them know that I trully care. So I found some of the most beautiful black TWINS that have ever graced this earth.    Ladies and Gentlemen, this Vintage Monday, I would like to pay hommage to:

TASHA AND SIDRA SMITH

A lot of you didn't know Tasha Smith has a twin did you? I mean not "I can drink to that" Tasha? Yes she does and she is absolutely wonderful. Camden, NJ native, known for her roles as Angela Williams alongside the handsome Micheal Jai White in Why Did I Get Married? or Jennifer with the very handsome Idris Elba in Daddy's Little Girls.  This actress was raised by a single mother along with her twin sister Sidra and got the opportunity to play in little roles because of the twin-effect.  As she got older she told people that she was an atheist and went through a downward spiral. She told Essence Magazine that she was a heavy drug-abuser. "I used between 19 and 25." She confessed to smoking two packs of cigarettes a day, to having marijuana everyday and to using cocaine three times a week. She attributed her victory over drugs to "the Grace of God."

I'm gonna call Sidra the private, quiet twin.  Still equally outgoing however on a different realm of the industry. Instead of being in front of the lens, she enjoys oftentimes being behind it.  Her directorial credits are to include A Luv Tale (1999), Playas Ball (2003) and Dead Money (2011).  Her recent writer credits include The Obama Effect (2012).  Sidra who is based in New York but works in Atlanta, loves being in the industry but as a Producer and a Director. Even though from time to time she models with her twin, Tasha.

Here are some pictures of the two. I found a photoshoot they did with the amazing Derek Blanks and they are outstanding. Check out those cheekbones...

Now after all that all I want to say is flawless beauty. Yes, these Pisces women have done and excellent job of exuding natural beauty in any form.  And at age 41, I have to give it to them.  

Hope you guys have an amazing VINTAGE MONDAY!!!!!