hxxps://www.tiktok.com/@ava_n_bree/video/6899632897737706758?is_from_webapp=1&sender_device =pc

Assorted EUFs.

Fay Wray publicity stills (EUF/Torn Dress) from the film; King Kong (original version). This must have been hot stuff in pre-code Hollywood.

More Fay Wray.

Real EUF? A series of photos from 1947 showing outraged French women stripping a young girl of her new Christian Dior dress, because it wasted too much fabric (remember, this was right after the war). It looks staged to me. Most of the women (including the girl being stripped) appear to be smiling. There are more photos in the series, but I couldn't find any with her dress completely off (apparently she did lose the whole thing).

Here's a longer version of it (from ava_n_bree on tiktok)

EUF.

Here's something a little unusual but I feel it has more than a little "Beginner's Luck" sort of vibe. This is "I Dream of Jeannie" Season 2, Episode 26 "A Secretary Is Not A Toy". In it, Jeannie decides to be the secretary to the General to get a promotion for Major Nelson. Unfortunately, the job has just been filled and the new hire is rather snippy with Jeannie, telling her "better luck next time, honey" and to "go find a crying towel" while touching her perfectly coifed hair in disdain.

The arrogant girl gets her comeuppance when she's called in to the General's office. Jeannie blinks and turns her in to a frumpy housewife, her stylish clothes replaced by an ill fitting old lady's nightgown and with her once loose and beautiful hair now up in curlers in a tight bun. Humiliated, she runs crying from the office and quits in frustrated embarrassment. The contrast between her frumps nightgown and the professionally dressed Jeannie is very sharp. It is HER, not Jeannie, who now needs a crying towel.

One can only wonder how she feels-- not only does she have to make her way home in public dressed like that, but she's lost her place as a young attractive woman. This is supposed to be her time to be young, beautiful and desired, the attention of men. She should be out in the world. SHe's now been reduced to battle ax housewife...

The secretary is played by Eileen O'Neill, who was somewhat of a staple on 60's television, appearing as a character in the show "Burke's Law" and even had a guest role on "Batman"...

Fay Wray had an interesting career in that in the late 30's she seemed to disappear from film but was actually still around and kicking. She had roles in television in the 50's and 60's and retired in 1980. She died at the age of 96 in 2004.

I did some reading on her and came across some interesting tidbits-- for "King Kong" in 1933 she was paid $10,000...the average yearly salary in America at that time was less than $900.

However, the biggest shocker was that she turned down the role of Old Rose in James Cameron's "Titanic" (1997). Don't know the reason but what a missed opportunity! to bookend and bracket your career with two films 65 years apart that have carved a unique place in film and the minds of the public. Tragic that she didn't take the role. Just to be able to say and be known for appearing in those two films would been something special and a capstone to her career and effect on the culture...

That looks like a nice scene to highlight. I think there's something to be said for this type of embarrassment. I can't quite put my finger on it, but it definitely turns a crank. I also like situations with a female rivalry or queen bee dynamic at play.