Warner and his second wife Liz Taylor meeting the queenCredit: Getty
Hollywood was called The Enemy Within by extreme Christians, and Joe McCarthy, who tried to throw Dashiell Hammet in prison – and Lillian Hellman, a Jew! The Gabor sisters were Jews. Zsa Zsa married Conrad Hilton, and Liz Taylor married his son. Trump is in the hotel business. Did he study the Hilton family – and emulate them? I am a Anglophile as were the Gettys. I admire Lillian who would make a great Bond.
For years I have been following the hunt for actors to play James Bond in the next Bond Movie – which now looks it may never be made. Some of the candidates look like Jesus. Is Jesus the guy they really want to be Their Big Ticket Guy? How about a descendant of John the Baptist who emerges to LEAD THE WAY FOR THE HOLY GRAIL FLEET?
I am kin to Ian Fleming and the Getty family via ELIZABETH ROSEMOND TAYLPOR. So is my late niece…DREW TAYLOR ROSAMOND BENTON. If Liz were alive she would call out Trump and the disgusting Hate Fest at Madison Square Garden, that declared a holy war on foreigners. The Republican Party was founded by foreigners, many of them Socialists from Europe. Kamala Harris was titled The Antichrist by a demon waving a crucifix! Jessie Benton Fremont – would be horrified! The Orange Man is The Mindless Pumpkin of Hate! Don’t be afraid!
I am a Biblical Scholar. I own answers to ancient Biblical Questions, such as…David buying Michal with foreskins. What Bond can field these kind of questions?
John ‘Of the Holy Nazarite Spirit’
‘The cheaper the crook, the gaudier the patter’: Dashiell Hammett vs. Joe McCarthy
‘The cheaper the crook, the gaudier the patter’: Dashiell Hammett vs. Joe McCarthy
Written by Phil Brett
Phil Brett tells the story of when Dashiell Hammett faced Senator Joseph McCarthy.
Sixty five years ago, on March 26th 1953, Dashiell Hammett, the famous novelist who was responsible for popularising the hard-boiled private eye novel, faced Senator Joseph McCarthy. For a brief moment in the confrontation, there took place an exchange concerning the possibility of communism in the United States. What led to that frankly surreal moment shows both what the American state will do to protect its rule, and the power which it fears.
By 1953, Hammett was internationally known for his novels such as The Maltese Falcon, which had set the template of the cynical hard-drinking detective (See Murder, Mavericks and Marxism for my socialist look at the growth of crime fiction). His writing inspired legions of others, including such luminaries as Raymond Chandler and Ross Macdonald. Many of his stories had been made into Hollywood movies. The 1941 film of the Maltese Falcon, starring Humphrey Bogart as Sam Spade, usually appears in best movie lists, and the book figures in literary equivalents. But it wasn’t because McCarthy disliked film noir that Hammett was having to defend himself. To find the reason, we perhaps should travel back to the start of the twentieth century.
By then, the United States had grown to a position where it could rival Britain and Germany. Huge corporations were now creating huge wealth, but only for those at the top. With the ever greater demands of profit, came ever greater exploitation. Workers fought back and unionisation grew, but the American federation of trade unions, the American Federation of Labor (AFL) was ill-equipped to lead it, being virtually all male, all white and all skilled. Howard Zinn in A People’s History of the United States writes that “Racism was practical for the AFL. The exclusion of women and foreigners was also practical.” Theirs was a business unionism, set up to help big business whilst earning fantastic salaries for the officials; divide and rule worked for them. But not for the movement. Mass strikes, such as the 1907 general strike of over ten thousand black and white workers on the New Orleans levees, terrified the bosses. Socialists and anarchists found their ideas gaining an audience. A new union, The Industrial Workers of the World (IWW, also known as the Wobblies) was created to cross racial, gender and sectional lines. It grew massively. The ruling class responded as they always had, and would continue to do, by unleashing terrible violence. Strikers were regularly fired on, such as in 1916 Everett, Washington, when two hundred armed thugs opened fire, leaving five Wobblies dead. It was far from being a one off.
Irene Victoria Easton Christensen – Helen of Troy
Posted on July 20, 2019 by Royal Rosamond Press
The European Union is acting as a World Police Force in warning Iran about the seizure of a ship. My old muse, married well. Irene is more that a female James Bond. She is the embodiment of Britania.
The portrait I did of Rena is a ‘Historic Portrait’. Not even Rena can take this truth from me. She was my, and my late sister’s muse. She is redeeming. She is redeemed by her choice of a husband, who made history.
John Presco
Rena as Britania and American Eagle
Posted on January 27, 2017by Royal Rosamond Press
Rena’s late husband was Former Head of the British Defence Staff which was founded by Winston Churchill to insure these two allies would forever be on the same side. It appears Theresa May is responding to the pledge of unity in meeting with Don Juan Trumpster.
In 1970 I asked Rena to marry me, but, she was too young. Consider our beautiful children and their contributions to the Creative Irish Rosamond Line. I was poor and homeless when we met. We camped for fifty days in the beautiful wilderness of America. I knew nothing about my Patriotic roots, and Captain Samuel Rosamond.
I was once the low-life scum, the perfect example of an abusive male. I was not worthy to be in her company, least the same city. She went to live on the Isle of Wight with her rich, and elderly hero of the Empire, leaving me standing alone on Freedom Shores.
What great tales of old, what lines of beautiful poetry, can bring you home, and restore, the liberty we once owned atop Rose Mountain, above the fog, the clouds – the wings of muses soar! My beautiful American Dream.
Jon Presco
Admiral, K.C.B., D.S.C. Former Head of the British Defence Staff. He was Commandant of the Royal College of Defence Studies in 1976, a UK senior serving military officer between 1972 and 2001. For the 2nd Louis Vuitton Cup, which was held in Fremantle, Australia in 1987, he paid an entry fee deposit of $16.000 for Royal Thames Yacht Club’s White Crusader I and White Crusader II, representing United Kingdom.
In 1922 a cabinet committee under Winston Churchill, then Secretary of State for the Colonies, recommended the formation of the College.[1] The college was founded in 1927 as the Imperial Defence College and was located at 9 Buckingham Gate until 1939.[1] Its objective at that time was the defence of the Empire.[1] In 1946, following the end of World War II, the college reopened at Seaford House, Belgrave Square and members of the United States forces started attending courses.[1] It was renamed the Royal College of Defence Studies in 1970 and in 2007 the Queen and Prince Philip visited the college.[1]
The British Defence Staff – US, which was previously known as British Defence Staff (Washington),[1] is the home of the Ministry of Defence (United Kingdom) in the United States of America and its purpose is to serve the interests of Her Majesty’s Government in the USA. The British Defence Staff – US is led by the Defence Attaché and has responsibility for military and civilian MOD personnel located both within the Embassy and in 34 states across the USA.
Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn asked if May would discuss the issue of misogyny with Trump and raise the concerns of 100,000 people who marched over the weekend in an anti-Trump pro-women’s rights demonstration in London. May responded that she was not afraid to “speak frankly” with the President, though she did not confirm she would bring up the issue of women’s rights with him.
In 1922 a cabinet committee under Winston Churchill, then Secretary of State for the Colonies, recommended the formation of the College.[1] The college was founded in 1927 as the Imperial Defence College and was located at 9 Buckingham Gate until 1939.[1] Its objective at that time was the defence of the Empire.[1] In 1946, following the end of World War II, the college reopened at Seaford House, Belgrave Square and members of the United States forces started attending courses.[1] It was renamed the Royal College of Defence Studies in 1970 and in 2007 the Queen and Prince Philip visited the college.[1]
Implement John Warner’s Insurrection Act
Posted on October 5, 2023 by Royal Rosamond Press
I declare President Biden has a duty to follow the guidelines Senator John Warner, former Secretary of the Navy, put into law in dealing with Insurectionists. The American Christian Taliban has subverted our Democracy, and rendered us and our allies powerless to deal with our enemies, at home, and abroad! Demand that Jim Jordon, and other neo-Confederates sign The Iron Clad Oath!
“Flying The Flag For Global Britain”
Posted on April 27, 2021 by Royal Rosamond Press
The US Navy’s Eisenhower carrier strike group racked up over 100 drone and missile kills battling the Houthis
Oct 25, 2024, 12:55 PM PDTShareSave
- The Dwight D. Eisenhower Carrier Strike Group spent months battling the Houthis in the Red Sea.
- The captain of the lead ship said the strike group destroyed over 100 Houthi threats during the deployment.
- These threats included missiles, drones, and small boats.
A US Navy carrier strike group that battled Houthi threats in the Red Sea for months destroyed over 100 missiles and drones during its deployment.
The Dwight D. Eisenhower Carrier Strike Group was on the front lines throughout much of the US military’s ongoing campaign against the Houthis. It spent seven months engaged in constant combat operations against the Iran-backed rebels in response to their attacks on merchant shipping lanes.
Capt. Chris Hill, the commanding officer of the aircraft carrier USS Dwight D. Eisenhower, the strike group’s flagship, said “there were very few days” during the first half of the year where “something did not happen” in the conflict.
Incidents included Houthi missile and drone attacks on military and civilian vessels and Navy airstrikes targeting the rebels and their weapons in Yemen, Hill shared with the Military Reporters & Editors Conference in Washington on Friday.
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The Eisenhower strike group, consisting of the carrier Ike and several other warships, “racked up a lot of equipment kills” during the deployment, Hill said. “I’m talking about shooting down well more than a hundred drones, a couple dozen ballistic missiles, some cruise missiles, and a couple dozen small boats.”
“We also destroyed hundreds of land targets to include surface-to-air missile systems, weapons caches, missiles and drones on the ground, and so on,” Hill added.
The Eisenhower strike group fired nearly 800 munitions during its deployment, which began last fall and wrapped up in July. These included surface-to-air interceptor missiles, land-attack missiles, air-to-air missiles, and air-to-surface weapons fired by warships and aircraft.
These combat operations have come at a high cost, though. The Navy said it fired over $1 billion worth of munitions between early October 2023 and mid-July 2024. Several months later, US forces are still intercepting Houthi threats and striking the rebels in Yemen.
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The high financial toll of the first few months of the Navy’s counter-Houthi campaign and the fact that it shows no clear signs of ending have raised concerns about sustainment and missile expenditure.
Hill said the strike group was aware of the concerns about conserving weapons and using expensive missiles — some worth several million dollars — against cheap Houthi drones that may cost just a few thousand.
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The US Navy is battling ‘the best Iranian technology’ in the Red Sea and changing how it fights to beat it, admiral saysUS Navy aviators killed in stateside Growler fighter jet crash flew combat strike missions off a carrier in the Red Sea fight
He said the strike group quickly transitioned to cheaper ways to destroy the Houthi drones, like taking them on the ground in Yemen using inexpensive Joint Direct Attack Munitions, or JDAMs. These are dumb bombs fitted with guidance kits that turn them into precision weapons. Navy F/A-18s also knocked out threats with their air-to-air missiles.
Navy officials have praised the strike group heavily for its actions during the counter-Houthi campaign.
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“When called upon, the force brought the fight to the Houthis in their front yard, linking airpower and dynamic and self-defense strikes,” Vice Adm. George Wikoff, the US 5th Fleet commander, said upon the strike group’s return from its deployment in July.
“These acts reduced the risk to shipping and also reinforced our nation’s commitment to maritime security,” Wikoff said, calling it “the Navy’s finest moments since World War II.”
Read next
Military & DefenseThe US Navy is battling ‘the best Iranian technology’ in the Red Sea and changing how it fights to beat it, admiral says
Military & DefenseUS Navy aviators killed in stateside Growler fighter jet crash flew combat strike missions off a carrier in the Red Sea fight
Military & DefenseUS says B-2 stealth bombers struck hidden Houthi weapons, sending a message to foes that nothing is out of reach
October 20, 2024 Topic: Security Region: Americas Blog Brand: The Buzz Tags: Kirov-ClassU.S. NavyNavyMilitaryDefenseBattleshipsIowa-ClassRussia
Russia So Freaked: Iowa-Class Battleships Made a Comeback Due to ‘Battlecruiser’ Threat
Before aircraft carriers dominated naval supremacy, U.S. battleships like the Iowa-class ruled the seas. Built during World War II, the four completed Iowas served extensively in both WWII and the Korean War before being decommissioned in the late 1950s.
by Maya Carlin Follow Mayarcarlin on TwitterL
What You Need to Know: Before aircraft carriers dominated naval supremacy, U.S. battleships like the Iowa-class ruled the seas. Built during World War II, the four completed Iowas served extensively in both WWII and the Korean War before being decommissioned in the late 1950s.
-In the early 1980s, amidst the Soviet Navy’s expansion and the introduction of formidable Kirov-class battlecruisers, the Reagan administration reactivated the Iowas for Naval Surface Fire Support (NSFS) and to counter Soviet threats.
-Refitted with modern weapons like Tomahawk and Harpoon missiles, the Iowas provided a cost-effective alternative to new shipbuilding. However, following the Soviet Union’s collapse, the strategic need diminished, leading to their final retirement in the early 1990s as more efficient systems took precedence.
Before the aircraft carrier became the most powerful ship afloat, hulking battleships ruled the waves. The last U.S. battleships, the Iowa class, were built for the Second World War and saw sporadic service in the decades that followed. Somewhat incredibly, they were retired for the final time in the early 1990s following a reactivation in the early 1980s.
Their return to service was hard-fought and is often questioned, but why did the Reagan administration push so hard to reactivate the Iowas?
Typically cited is their ability to handle the Soviet Kirov-class battlecruisers that were first launched in the early 1980s. Their role as Naval Surface Fire Support (NSFS) vessels also played a part in their return to service. Additionally, refitting and crewing the four Iowas was deemed more cost-effective than ramping up production of new ships – Congress and the U.S. Navy at the time assessed they would get more bang for their buck by activating the old battleships in their effort to match the Soviet Navy’s growth.
The Iowas’ History
The Iowa class was designed as a fast battleship to escort aircraft carriers and bring fast enemy capital ships to battle. Six were initially ordered in 1939, but only four were completed before the end of the Second World War.
All four warships saw extensive service in the 1940s and 1950s in the Second World War and the Korean War. They were decommissioned in the late ‘50s, as they were costly to maintain and required a much larger crew than newer vessels. USS New Jersey was reactivated to serve in the NSFS role in Vietnam but only sortied once before being retired.
How the Soviets’ Capabilities Compared
The late 1970s saw a major Soviet military buildup in Eastern Europe. The Soviet Navy also undertook a modernization and expansion program, adding several new classes of vessels with brand new technologies and armaments.
One ship in particular, the Kirov-class battlecruiser, worried Western planners and analysts. A nuclear-powered ship, she was capable of staying at sea for as long as she remained provisioned. The cruiser carried an impressive armament, including twenty P-700 Shipwreck anti-ship missiles. These missiles have an estimated range of over 300 miles and were a major concern for U.S. carrier strike groups. The Kirovs’ impressive anti-air armament of 96 S-300 SAM missiles made them hard targets for the Carrier Air Wing.
A Quick and Cheaper Alternative
To counter the growing Soviet threat, the Reagan administration conducted a force build-up across the U.S. service branches. When it came to the Navy, leadership had the choice between increasing shipbuilding or reconstituting the Iowas. With a $326 million price tag to refit and crew the battleships, this plan won out.
The actual refit was more modest than some that were proposed. One retired captain suggested putting angled launch ramps at the stern of the ships for AV-8 Harrier jump jets. Additionally, the 5 inch gun turrets would be replaced by 155 mm howitzers. This configuration would be designed to support an assault by Marines, with the Harriers escorting a helicopter assault force while the 16 inch guns pounded enemy positions.
Ultimately, the ships received improvements to electronics, radar, and fire controls. Offensively, they were mounted with launch tubes for Tomahawk cruise missiles and Harpoon anti-ship missiles. The strategy envisioned ships with the speed to sail alongside carrier strike groups and the ability to engage the Kirov battlecruisers first with Tomahawks, then with Harpoons, and finally with the big guns as they closed within range.
With the collapse of the Soviet Union, the need for large capital ships to protect carriers disappeared. Furthermore, the Iowas required a much larger crew complement than cruisers and destroyers. The addition of Vertical Launch System tubes to those platforms allowed them to pack Tomahawks as well, and made them much more efficient than the outdated battleships, which were retired in the early 1990s.
About the Author: Defense Expert Maya Carlin
Maya Carlin, National Security Writer with The National Interest, is an analyst with the Center for Security Policy and a former Anna Sobol Levy Fellow at IDC Herzliya in Israel. She has by-lines in many publications, including The National Interest, Jerusalem Post, and Times of Israel. You can follow her on Twitter: @MayaCarlin.
All images are Creative Commons and/or Shutterstock.
5 OF THE OLDEST MILITARY SHIPS STILL IN ACTIVE SERVICE TODAY
BY JONATHAN H. KANTOROCT. 27, 2024 1:00 PM EST
Wangkun Jia/Shutterstock
When a naval ship has served its purpose or becomes technologically obsolete, it’s typically retired or “decommissioned.” What usually follows is a scrapping operation, although occasionally a unique warship will be converted into a museum. In most cases, naval vessels don’t retain their commission when it comes time to end their service. Still, every once in a while, a navy will keep using a vessel long past its intended retirement.
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There are a few naval ships out there that were first built more than 50 years ago. While there are older sailing vessels still afloat among the world’s navies that are used for training personnel, the focus of this article is on active military ships that are still technically capable of deploying and fighting. Of course, some of the older examples aren’t suitable for modern combat despite their ability to remain afloat, but they remain active commissioned vessels nonetheless.
USS Nimitz (CVN-68)
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The USS Nimitz (CVN-68) was commissioned on May 3, 1975. It’s named for Pacific Fleet Commander Chester W. Nimitz of World War II, and she is the first of her class. When she was built, the Nimitz was one of the largest warships ever constructed, and she continues on active service. The Nimitz is a massive vessel displacing 100,000 tons of seawater, and her full complement consists of 3,200 sailors and another 2,480 in her air wing.
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While the Nimitz was built more than half a century ago, she finished a Refueling and Complex Overhaul (ROH) in 2001, bringing her systems up to 21st-century standards. Throughout her service history, the Nimitz has participated in several operations, including Operation Eagle Claw, which was the failed rescue of embassy staff in Tehran, Iran. Additionally, the Nimitz partook in the Gulf of Sidra Incident, Operations Desert Storm, Southern Watch, Iraqi Freedom, and Enduring Freedom.
The Nimitz is not only the oldest-serving aircraft carrier still in service for the U.S. Navy, she’s also the oldest aircraft carrier in the world. Despite her age, she remains a highly capable vessel with a lethal air force that can be deployed anywhere in the world. Despite this, aircraft carriers have a service life of around 50 years, and in September 2024, the Navy instated a plan to retire the ship in 2026.
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USS Blue Ridge (LCC-19)
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The USS Blue Ridge (LCC-19) is the first in its class of amphibious command ships and the flagship of the Seventh Fleet. The Navy commissioned her on Nov. 14, 1970, naming her after the Blue Ridge mountains. Several Blue Ridge-class vessels followed and continue to sail, but the Blue Ridge was the first, and she’s been in active service for over 50 years. The Blue Ridge’s role is to provide command, control, communications, computers, and intelligence (C4I) in support of the commander of the fleet. As of October 2024, the USS Blue Ridge is the Navy’s oldest deployable warship.
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The Blue Ridge displaces nearly 20,000 tons of seawater, and is 634 feet long. Her crew complement consists of 52 officers and 790 enlisted personnel. When she hosts the command staff, these numbers jump to 268 officers and 1,173 enlisted. The Blue Ridge is well-armed for defense, with two Phalanx CIWS guns, two 25 mm Bushmaster cannons, and eight .50 caliber M2 Browning machine guns. She also carries up to two helicopters.
The Blue Ridge served during the Vietnam War, sailing in the Gulf of Tonkin during operations against the North Vietnamese military. During the evacuation of U.S. embassy staff in Saigon, the Blue Ridge was there to assist, helping to take personnel back to the States. After this, she took part in Operation Boat People, helping rescue Vietnamese refugees. In the years since, the Blue Ridge has been primarily used for goodwill port visits and diplomatic engagements.
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USCGC Reliance (WMEC-615)
Wikimedia Commons
The USCGC Reliance (WMEC-615) is a medium endurance cutter operated by the U.S. Coast Guard since she was first commissioned in 1964. Numerous Coast Guard ships followed in the same class, but the Reliance is the oldest, and she’s been operating for over 60 years. While a Coast Guard Cutter isn’t a traditional warship, they take part in numerous military operations initiated by the U.S. Coast Guard, including counter-narcotics, pollution patrols, and search and rescue.
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The Reliance is just over 210 feet in length, and she displaces 759 tons of seawater. She’s crewed by 12 officers and 63 enlisted personnel and is armed with one Mk. 38 25 mm autocannon and two M2HB .50 caliber machine guns. She also carries a single HH-65 Dolphin, which is a type of helicopter used by the Coast Guard for a variety of missions. Interestingly, the Reliance isn’t the first naval vessel to bear the name, which goes back to the 19th century.
The Reliance is the fourth to carry this name, and there are no plans to retire her despite her age. You can also track the Reliance, which isn’t something you can do with most military vessels. These days, she primarily supports law enforcement operations. This could change, as the Coast Guard falls under the Department of Homeland Defense. It only supports the Department of Defense in full-blown military operations during a time of war.
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[Featured image by USCG via Wikimedia Commons | Cropped and scaled | Public Domain]
USS Constitution
Historical/Getty Images
The USS Constitution is the oldest ship serving in the U.S. Navy by an epic margin. She was first launched in 1797, and she initially deployed to protect American merchant vessels during the Quasi-War between the U.S. and French First Republic from 1798 to 1800. The Constitution served admirably, earning the nickname “Old Ironsides” in 1812 for shaking off cannonballs in a fight with the HMS Guerriere during the War of 1812. Throughout the conflict, the Constitution defeated several British warships, earning a place of honor and distinction in American history.
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While the Constitution was retired from active service, she’s never been decommissioned. This makes her the oldest commissioned naval warship afloat. She remained the flagship through much of the 19th century and transitioned into a training vessel during the American Civil War. She was classified as a museum ship in 1907 but remained active in the U.S. Navy. She sailed under her own power to celebrate her 200th birthday in 1997 and did it again in 2012 to commemorate the 200th anniversary of her battle with the Guerriere.
These days, the Constitution remains docked for historical demonstrations and the preservation of naval history. While she is a museum you can visit in Boston, Massachusetts, “Old Ironsides” remains commissioned and has a crew of 75 active duty officers and enlisted personnel. She’s not going to join the fight anytime soon, but the fact remains — she’s the oldest commissioned warship still serving in the U.S. Navy.
Read More: https://www.slashgear.com/1695142/oldest-military-ships-in-active-service/
Liz Rosemond – The New Star of Abraham?
Posted on February 17, 2024 by Royal Rosamond Press
With the discovery of Galatians 3 I am looking at Elizbeth Rosemond Taylor as being the The Wealthy Star of Prosperity Gospel, and with the fall of Traitor Trump as the Gentile King of Abraham, I now anoint John Warner the ideal Republican Model – for all time. John was married to Catherine. Melon, one of the wealthiest families in the world, and renowned Patron of the Arts. I am in their family tree, and the Getty family tree due to the marriages of my cousin, and her son.
I will be posting on the Galatians and the advent of a True Democracy that came under attack in Israel by Netanyahu and high ranking Orthodox rabbis. We the People need to know if the God of the Jews, and His Son, helped found our Democracy. There is a meeting in Munich. These rabbis need to condemn Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, and the death of . Navalny. These rabbis must distant themselves from Donald Trump who was just found guilty of massive fraud in New York City where a million Jews live. Setting a very good example used to be the history of the Jews – and their God!
John Warner was the first to be handed the National Intelligence Distinguished Public Service Medal. I doubt there would have been a Israeli Intelligence failure on his watch. Trump will never recieve this honor – unless he pins it on himself as the next President. God forbid!
John Presco
After he gets back from a trip across the pond, the former senator from Virginia will be John Warner, Knight Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire. Warner is scheduled to be knighted by Queen Elizabeth II in a ceremony at Buckingham Palace, the Washington Post reports.
Warner is one of a handful of foreigners to receive this honor. Others include Rudy Giuliani, Steven Spielberg, and Bono. Alas, his status has its drawbacks: As an American, the 82-year old Warner cannot be called “sir.”
“I am particularly pleased that we honor him as he steps down from Senate service,” said British Ambassador Sir Nigel Sheinwald in a statement announcing Warner’s knighthood. “On behalf of the British Government, I pay tribute to his extraordinary commitment to American national security, to the NATO alliance and the special relationship between our two countries.”
Warner, who the Post reports is something of an anglophile, has family connections to the monarchy. An ancestor, Alexander Stuart, was clerk of the works during the construction of Balmoral Castle, a favorite summertime retreat for the royal family.
“My wife Jeanne, who was born in London, and I both share direct ancestral lineage to the United Kingdom, and we quietly reflect on how our parents would have such joy in their hearts with this recognition,” Warner said in a statement.
The honor is an acknowledgement of the role that Warner played in strengthening the alliance between the United States and the United Kingdom, particularly in the realm of defense. In the Senate, Warner served on the Armed Services Committee for 30 years, eventually becoming its chair.
Senator Warner strengthened ties between the two countries in another important regard. In 1976, as head of the American Revolution Bicentennial Administration, Warner helped persuade the British government to allow the display of the original Magna Carta in the Capitol Rotunda in celebration of the United States’ 200th anniversary.
Warner, a Republican, was in the Senate from 1979-2009. He supported the Iraq War but broke with his party over issues such as federal support for embryonic stem cell research and gun control.
The terms “Galatians” came to be used by the Greeks for the three Celtic peoples of Anatolia: the Tectosages, the Trocmii, and the Tolistobogii.[2][3] By the 1st century BC, the Celts had become so Hellenized that some Greek writers called them Hellenogalatai (Ἑλληνογαλάται).[4][5] The Romans called them Gallograeci.[5] Though the Celts had, to a large extent, integrated into Hellenistic Asia Minor, they preserved their linguistic and ethnic identity.[2]
Warner was Taylor’s sixth and second to last husband, and after the death of Larry Fortensky in 2016, Warner was the last surviving of Taylor’s seven husbands.
Many of the evangelical leaders that surround Trump are proponents of the prosperity gospel
The prosperity gospel tended to ebb and flow in accordance with wider cultural trends — it flourished in the postwar boom of the 1950s, and then again (unsurprisingly) in the no less ostentatious ‘80s, when big hair and big money alike were in. Yet despite the catastrophic fall of some of the most prominent proponents of the gospel — Jim Bakker, for example, spent years in prison for fraud — the movement has persisted well into the present day. Perhaps no less unsurprisingly, two of its major proponents — Paula White and Wayne T. Jackson — were among the six faith leaders invited to pray with Donald Trump at his inauguration.
Certainly Trump is, in some sense, a product of that mentality. In a recent op-ed in The New York Times, theology professor Anthea Butler argued that Donald Trump and Joel Osteen were “mirrors” of one another:
Both enjoy enormous support among evangelicals, yet they lack a command of biblical scripture. Both are among the 1 percent … Mr. Trump’s and Mr. Osteen’s brands are rooted in success, not Scripture. Believers in prosperity like winners. Hurricanes and catastrophic floods do not provide the winning narratives crucial to keep adherents chained to prosperity gospel thinking. That is why it is easy for both men to issue platitudes devoid of empathy during natural disasters.
Rosemond Wilding at Black Point
Posted on March 19, 2023 by Royal Rosamond Press
Warner’s first marriage came when he was 30 years old, to Catherine Conover Mellon.
Mellon was a banking heiress, and two were wed in August of 1957.
Warner’s first marriage was integral for the development of his political career, as he amassed substantial capital and expanded his political contacts.
From their marriage, the two had three kids, Virginia, John W. Warner, IV, and Mary.
After Donald J. Trump suggested he had threatened to encourage Russia to attack “delinquent” NATO allies, the response among many Republican officials has struck three themes — expressions of support, gaze aversion or even cheerful indifference.
Republican Party elites have become so practiced at deflecting even Mr. Trump’s most outrageous statements that they quickly batted this one away. Mr. Trump, the party’s likely presidential nominee, had claimed at a Saturday rally in South Carolina that he once threatened a NATO government to meet its financial commitments — or else he would encourage Russia to “do whatever the hell they want” to that country.
In a phone interview on Sunday, Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina seemed surprised to even be asked about Mr. Trump’s remark.
Alas I found Bryan Maclean’s father, George. He was a premiere architect for Hollywood Stars. He built the home my kindred, Elizabeth Rosemond Taylor, lived in, and was Godfather at the Christening of her son, Christopher Wilding. George MacClean was a good friend of Robert Stack, who dated Liz. Bryan said he learned to swim in Liz’s pool. Was this pool located at 1375 Beverly Hills Estate Drive?
George was the quintessential Hollywood-Los Angeles architect. He was Howard Roarke to the rich and famous. His house he built for the Trousdale Estates, is the Acme of Southern California success, that is enjoying a new Renaissance. Add to this the murals Garth Benton did for movie stars, and Christine Rosamond’s artwork, and the fact Bryan and Christine were lovers for two months when we were teenagers, then here is the lifestyle many can only dream of.
Bryan had seen the model I made for the house I designed when I was seventeen. He informed me his father was a famous architect. Bryan’s mother was an artist, as was one of her parents. I wish I knew her maiden name. Elizabeth, George, and Bryan were saved and became evangelicals. George and Bryan removed themselves from the Success Gauntlet.
Christine was married to actor, Rick Partlow, and lived in one of Micky Rooney’s houses. Garth did some acting, and was married to actress Harlee McBride. Tim O’Connor was like a member of our family. His father was a famous actor of the same name.
Michael Wilding was an artist, and thus was the reason Liz married him, in my opinion. Her family were art collectors. She encouraged Michael Jackson to become an artist. Michael Jr. may come out with a Mommy Dearest-like book that inspired the Rosamond Fib that she hid in the closet to paint. Bryan drew Beach Bunnies in our art class. Christine did not show her forbidden artwork to her lover, because this work did not exist.
Liz Taylor championed Gays stricken with AIDS. Her daughter-in-law, Aileen Getty, came down with this fatal disease. The Getty family owns the largest art collection in the world. We are talking about an Artistic Dynasty.
Sometimes I ask what the purpose of this blog is. The more I dig, the more I find. Wait till you see what I found out about Eric Nord.
Jon Presco
Copyright 2016
Downton, Bond, and Belmont
Posted on September 24, 2023 by Royal Rosamond Press
Hey! I like the sound of these names – together! Sound like a prestigious British Law firm.
Several years ago I posted on the Belmont City Historical Society Facebook page – and was run out of town on a rail! I’m back – with a vengeance! I have plans – to own Belmont. Im looking for wealthy investors! The Bond Rose Line is alive – in my book! I watched PBS last night and they say…
“Downton Abbey – is back!”
John Presco
President: Royal Rosamond Press
Rose & Rosamond of Downton Abbey
Posted on February 3, 2015 by Royal Rosamond Press
Christine Rosamond painted ladies with breeding and class.
Jon
Lady Rose Aldridge[1] (née MacClare)[2] (b.in Autumn 1902[3]) is the youngest child of Hugh and Susan MacClare, the niece of Agatha and Louisa, the younger sister of James and Annabelle, the sister-in-law of Annabelle’s husband and the great-niece of Violet Crawley, Dowager Countess of Grantham. In Autumn 1920, she visits Downton Abbey and stays with Violet in the Dower House. She returns a year later, in September 1921, when the Crawley family visits her home at Duneagle Castle, where it is agreed that Rose will go to stay with them when her parents go to India. She moves there around February 1922
Lady Rosamund Painswick (née Crawley, b. between 1860 and 1874[1]) is the widow of a very wealthy banker, the late Marmaduke Painswick and the daughter of the previous Earl of Grantham and Violet Crawley; her closest ally within the family is her only sibling Robert. She is the sister-in-law of Cora, aunt of Lady Mary, Lady Edith and the late Lady Sybil, aunt-in-law of the late Matthew Crawley and Tom Branson and great-aunt of Sybbie Branson, George Crawley and Marigold Gregson.
She lives in London by herself on 35 Eaton Square. She likes to meddle in family affairs and has a very close bond to Robert and Downton Abbey[2].
Royal Rosamond Press Co.
Posted on February 2, 2015 by Royal Rosamond Press
ROYAL ROSAMOND PRESS
My grandfather was a Newspaperman – of sorts! He sold 400 copies of The Oklahoman, and 200 copies of the Oklahoma Times, at his newspaper stand in Oklahoma City. He tutored young people in poetry and had plans to build a Poet’s retreat on the Buffalo River.The Ozark Historian, Otto Rayburn, was supportive of this.
It is the objective of my newspaper to restore the dream of these two men who published their own magazine. Rayburn published ‘Arcadian Life’, and Royal’s Gem Publishing, published ‘Bright Stories’. Royal also published one novel under ‘R.R. Rosamond Publishing’ founded in 1931 in Ventura where it was printed.
Above you see letters sent to Royal, and two books he published. Rosamond’s poems are here, along with photos of his daughters, and his friends who were writers, camping on Santa Cruz Island.
Jon Presco
President: Royal Rosamond Press Co.
The Benton-Getty Art Dynasty
Posted on June 21, 2022 by Royal Rosamond Press
I will be sending Governor Gavin Newsom a Cultural Package informing him how to FIGHT the Fake Small Government Governor of Florida. Desantos is merging as the leader of – OTHER GOVERNMENT – that has a manufactured culture bent on overthrowing our traditional culture.
Gavin Newsom For The Arts
Posted on May 12, 2021 by Royal Rosamond Press
On cue, Governor Gavin Newsom held a press conference and announced massive aide for the Homeless and The Arts. I had just sent my business proposal to the City Government of Belmont, who have no Arts Program that I am aware of. I had talked with a friend about getting Grace Slick to do paintings in Charlatan Square as part of my Cultural Package for the Belmont that needs to get the Governor’s attention, being, I am kin to Elizabeth Rosemond Taylor, as is Belmont Pioneer, Carl Janke. Michael Wilding married Aileen Getty, and thus Carl Janke is in the Getty Family Tree. This Getty Tree For The Arts adopted Gavin when he was a teenager. The J. Paul Getty father and son moved to England. Junior was Knighted by the Queen and was titled “Sir” after he became a British subject. Liz Taylor was Knighted by the Queen for her contribution to the Film Industry that made California great.
John Presco
President: Belmont Soda Works
I have taken steps to be awarded several grants. A year from now, I hope to have my own room at the Getty Villa where I am allowed to roam freely admiring the art of my ex-brother-in-law, Garth Benton, and working on my paper and historic masterpiece………..
‘The Doomsday Prophecies of Wealthy Men’
I will be wearing the best headset money can buy with a endless soundtrack from the DaVinci Code, the Phantom of the Opera, and the best of Leonard Cohen. Young scholars will turn their heads as I pass them in halls.
“May the force be with you Professor Obi-Wan Kenobi!”
“Have you saved our planet yet, Obi-Wan?”
“He can’t hear you. He lives in his own world.”
I have also taken steps to receive a grant from the Paul Mellon foundation. Paul is in my rosy family tree via Elizabeth Rosemond Taylor, and Warner. I introduced the Pre-Raphaelites to Christine Rosamond Benton. We are ‘The Last Pre-Raphaelites’.
I just made an offer to be Drew Benton’s Mentor. I can show her how to be a scholar in a year. Above is her mother at the Getty Mansion in New York.
Jon Presco
Copyright 2017
Benton, Wright, Zorthian, Miller, Eishagaka, and Stackpole
Posted on August 30, 2018 by Royal Rosamond Press
The Fremonts In Arizona
Posted on September 2, 2024 by Royal Rosamond Press
I just sent this message to Governor of Arizona
My niece, Drew Benton, took her life on July 23rd. and her remains are in a morgue in Bullhead City. I am on SS1 and offered Ivanna $1000 dollars to cremate the daughter of two famous artists. Garth Benton is kin to Thomas Hart Benton, and thus is kin to John Fremont, who was the Governor of Arizona. I am a historian and am going to blog on this history. Can you help with the burial? Drew was put on leave from Walmart after she exhibited mental illness. She has taken meds for many years. Perhaps Walmart should have a burial plan for every employee. Selco Bank gives $2,000 dollars after you die to anyone you choose just for becoming a member.
Thank you for contacting the office of Arizona Governor Katie Hobbs! This is a confirmation of receipt of your inquiry. Our office will review your message as soon as possible.
The artist, Philip Boileau, was the son Susan Taylor Virginia McDowell Benton, the sister of Jessie Benton, the daughter of Thomas Hart Benton, whose grandson was the famous artist of the same name, who was the cousin of Garth Benton, who married Christine Rosamond Presco, who is kin to Elizabeth Rosemond Taylor, according to Jimmy Rosamond, the Rosamond Family genealogists.
Elizabeth Taylor appeared on the cover of LIFE magazine, and was on the cover of numerous magazines, as were the beautiful women painted by Boileau, that resemble Rosamond Women. No one, but I, knew of these relations after the death of the world famous artist ‘Rosamond’.
Perhaps there can be an permanent exhibit of the three Benton artists in the Fremont house?
John Presco
Here
The Adventures of Rosemond Wilding
Posted on March 18, 2023 by Royal Rosamond Press
My mother, Rosemary Rosamond, and my sister, Christine Rosamond Benton, died not know they were related to Elizabeth Rosemond Taylor. With the discovery of Frank Taylor’s written words to Augustus John, where he mentions the two movies that would make Elizabeth a star, fate and the muses enjoin one of the most profound literary, cinematic, and artistic legacies in the world. John is related to Ian Fleming, and Wilding was a famous British actor who had a son by Rosemond. Christopher Wilding married Aileen Getty, thus all members of the Getty family are kin to Ian Fleming, and, can relate to James Bond, who is being raised from the dead – without success! I suggest, Liz Taylor be raised from the dead in a series of books and films. The Adventures of Rosemond Wilding can be at the Bohemian Vanguard in the culture wars that threaten many creative people.
I know there are a tons of curses with these related families. I have cast them aside to get to the Beautiful Roses. I have so much to do. I am looking for a woman co-author, and a female artist to help complete these visions. I am the Creator of this Rosy Enterprise.
John Presco
President: Royal Rosamond Press
The Taylor family home in Hampstead, where Elizabeth was born in 1932, had previously been owned by Augustus John, whose paintings remained on the walls when the Taylors moved in. Elizabeth’s father Frank Taylor was an art dealer with a gallery located at 35 Old Bond Street in London. He established a close relationship with the Welsh artist. After relocating with his family to sunny California during the war, Frank opened an art gallery at the Château Elysée, but quickly relocated it to the more impressive Beverly Hills Hotel. It was at that location that such celebrities as Howard Duff, Vincent Price, James Mason, Alan Ladd, Hedda Hopper and Greta Garbo could be found selecting art for their own collections. Frank Taylor acted as John’s American agent for many years and was responsible for the artist’s popularity in the United States. The two men corresponded frequently. In a letter of 25 June 1943 Frank Taylor wrote to Augustus John: ‘We have settled down to living in California and our young daughter is by way of being a movie star, if you see a picture Lassie Come Home which will be released in September, she is in that with Roddy Macdowal, Nigel Bruce, Dame May Whitty and a lot of people, she did a bit in Jane Eyre and will be in The White Cliffs of Dover, also she may get the leading part in National Velvet, even if you are not a movie fan see the Lassie picture it is in colour and is beautiful’. Miss Taylor inherited this collection of works from her father, and they remained in her homes throughout her life. We are grateful to Rebecca John for her assistance in preparing the catalogue entries for these works.
Black Mask Authors
Posted on July 28, 2013 by Royal Rosamond Press
This extremely rare photo of the first west coast Black Mask get-together on January 11, 1936 captures possibly the only meeting of several of these authors.
Pictured in the back row, from left to right, are Raymond J. Moffatt, Raymond Chandler, Herbert Stinson, Dwight Babcock, Eric Taylor and Dashiell Hammett. In the front row, again from left to right, are Arthur Barnes (?), John K. Butler, W. T. Ballard, Horace McCoy and Norbert Davis.
Rosemary told me her father, Royal Rosamond, used to sail to the Channel Islands and camp with his friend, Dashiell Hammett who is seen standing on the right in the photo above.
Ian Fleming – Talitha Getty – Elizabeth Rosemond Taylor
Posted on May 26, 2018 by Royal Rosamond Press
STOP! The Destruction of Liz Taylor’s Home
Posted on September 1, 2021 by Royal Rosamond Press
I am launching a campaign to stop the destruction of Elisabeth Rosemond Taylor’s home. If I knew it was up for sale, I would have launched a campaign to have the People of California purchase this home and declare it a State Treasure. If that didn’t work, I would have encouraged Harry and Meghan to buy it, or the Getty family. because they are kin to Liz. Ian Fleming and the artist, Augustus John are kin to Liz. The house is located at 700 Nimes Rd.
My friend, Bryan MacLean, learned to swim is Liz’s pool at another home located at 1375 Beverley Estates Dr. that was designed by his father. Liz lived her with Michael Wilding from 1954 to 1957. Their son, Christopher Wilding, married Aileen Getty. Bryan was born in 1946.
In July of 2018, I began my novel ‘James Bond In La La Land’ where he aces out the Burtons and acquires this doomed house. I will post more messages that says the Bond franchise is all but dead. My Bond book will immortalize Liz’s home. Did her brother come to visits. That is Howard Taylor on the right. He was named after his uncle, Howard Young, the art dealer, who was a good friend of President Eisenhower, and encouraged him to paint.
I just found out Howard Taylor died last year. Does any of our kin – care? Am I the caretaker of both Rosemond legacies? The Getty Museum should purchase this home.
John Presco
Howard Taylor was born on June 27, 1929 in London, England. He was an actor, known for Vanity Fair (1967), ITV Television Playhouse (1955) and Boom! (1968). He was married to Mara Regan. He died on August 31, 2020 in El Prado, New Mexico, USA. See full bio »
Born:
June 27, 1929 in London, England, UK
Died:
August 31, 2020 (age 91) in El Prado, New Mexico, USA
LA Bond – Live And Let Live | Rosamond Press
Liz Taylor and Bryan and George MacLean
Posted on June 1, 2018 by Royal Rosamond Press
Christine Rosamond Benton and Bryan Maclean were sweethearts in 1963. Bryan was my good friend who sang at my wedding. His father was a good friend of Elizabeth Taylor. These are the people the world famous artist, Rosamond, deserves to be associated with. That we overcame the disease of alcoholism is an important bond. Liz championed the fight against the disease of AIDES. That Liz lived in the home of Augustus John, and the home Maclean designed, is a missing link in art history. Bryan was an artist, as was his mother. Bryan and I worked on our art in the same class. With this new series about Liz, it looks like creative people are going to get serious about our National Icons. Here’s Bryan and ‘Love’ on the Dick Clark show.
1375 Beverly Estate Drive, Beverly Hills (July 1954-?)
Noticing a for sale sign at 1375 Beverly Estate Drive, Elizabeth and Michael Wilding hopped over the wall to get a better look at the property. Realizing that the sliding glass door was unlocked, the couple crept inside and began exploring the home. Elizabeth quickly fell in love. What she didn’t know was that the home, which was made of glass and adobe, was designed by architect George MacLean with her in mind. In her book, An Informal Memoir, Elizabeth describes the unique interior: “One whole wall was built of bark with fern and orchids growing up the bark, and the bar was made of stone. And the fireplace had no chimney. There was a device making the smoke go down under the building and out through the barbecue pit.” Elizabeth also recalled that “You really couldn’t distinguish between the outside and inside. And all the colors I loved—off white, white, natural woods, stone, beigy marble. The pool was so beautiful. There were palm trees and rock formations—it looked like a natural pool, with trees growing out of it. It was the most beautiful house I’ve ever seen.” The state of the art home also featured an intercom, automated doors, light dimmers, automated curtains, and a movie screen. The architect later became godfather to Elizabeth’s son, Christopher.
Just over ten years after her death, Elizabeth Taylor’s iconic Bel Air bungalow has been sold for the second time since her ownership. This time around, though, the buyer is planning on tearing down the estate, Dirt reports. Sold for $11 million in an off market deal, the property now belongs to Ardie Tavangarian, the real estate developer who’s made a name for himself designing luxurious mansions, including Jackie Collin’s David Hockney-inspired estate.
The star of iconic films like Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? purchased the six bedroom six bathroom home in 1981 and spent her last 30 years there. The 7,000 square feet of interior space were decorated with the help of interior designer Waldo Fernandez, resulting in a sublimely personalized space, including embroidered silk wallpaper in her dressing room and a trophy room with mirror-backed built-in cabinets for Oscars and other humanitarian awards Taylor fetched in her day. Sitting on over an acre of land, at the time of Taylor’s residency, the home was surrounded by gorgeous gardens, including a pathway covered by a rose-lined arbor.Discover AD PRO
The ultimate resource for design industry professionals, brought to you by the editors of Architectural Digest
Though well decorated, the space still felt lived-in. “Elizabeth was full of warmth and love, and her home reflected her caring and her embrace of her friends,” Sharon Stone told AD back in 2011. Toward the end of her life, that residency was documented by photographer Catherine Opie over a six month stay, resulting in over 3,000 pictures and the photo book 700 Nimes Road. Despite all the lore and Hollywood history, the house’s location in opulent Bel Air makes it a prime candidate for development, so the many photos of Taylor’s sanctuary will have to suffice.
Ian Fleming at Cheyne Walk | Rosamond Press
James Bond In La La Land?
Posted on July 13, 2018 by Royal Rosamond Press
The home where Elizabeth Taylor lived in the 1950s with then-husband Michael Wilding has hit the market in Beverly Hills.
Coldwell Banker Global Luxury has confirmed the new listing — the first time in 21 years the property has been up for sale — at 1375 Beverly Estates Dr. for $15.9 million. According to the real estate broker, the couple purchased the 2.01 acre property as their private L.A. retreat in 1954, shortly after it was built in 1953. According to reports, Taylor and Wilding made the decision to buy the property after scaling a fence to check out the grounds. Taylor and Wilding married in 1952 and divorced in 1957.
What if no film company buys my Victoria Bond idea? Well, I got a back up. Just in case folks think I am fixating on Lara Roozemond, even stalking her, I am willing to let her go for The Almighty Dollar. Consider this My Giant Cop-out!
James Bond In La La Land
A Movie Script
by
John (Jon) Gregory Presco
Shortly after the death of his beloved wife, Teresa Bond, James has a total mental breakdown. He is sent to see a crack team of psychiatrist who tell him it is time to retire. They suggest he move to Los Angeles California, where he can blend in. Having won a small fortune playing cards in Monaco, he asks The Team Real Estate Agents, if they know of a house. They tell him a house designed by George McLean has just come on the market. There is another buyer who made an offer, but, it could be made to look like they lost a bidding war.
“Who is getting bumped?”
“Oh, just a has-been Hollywood couple whose latest movie was a big flop. Mr. and Mrs. Richard Burton.”
“What about the neighbors? I don’t want to be disturbed. I’m not in the best of shape.”
“Let’s see. There’s Joe Spine on your right, and a rock band called ‘Love’ on your left. Joe is a right-wing T.V. talk personality, your typical American asshole.”
“What about noise?”
“L.A. is a noisy place. There’s an acid rock band every square mile.”
“Maybe I could jam with them. I play a mean Scottish flute.”
“You got one more neighbor, Mr. Natural, who lives illegally in a treehouse up the canyon. He’s harmless. He’ll actually give you money if you let him graze on your lawn.”
“What about women. Do they got pretty women in L.A.?”
“James. You act like you never heard of Los Angeles a place famous for beautiful women. You will have a pool. There will be pool parties, and, just women who like to hang.”
“O.K. Sounds like my cup of tea! Let’s close the deal. Are you sure the Burtons won’t be upset?”
Phone rings.
“Hello Liz. I was wondering when you would get wind of this. I’ll ask him.”
“What the fook. They know who I am?”
“Calm down James. They just know you aced them out. You see, there is this Hollywood Network thing. They want you over for dinner to let you know there are no had feelings. If you refuse, they will make sure things go badly for you in THEIR town.”
“What the fook? I thought I was ordered to stay out of trouble, and relax! My pappy always said “Sometimes when you aren’t looking for trouble, trouble is looking for you!”
Let me pre-warn my movie goers. I plan to shoot the greatest Acid Trip – ever! If I go before this is done – there goes the sixties! Cary Grant took LSD. He would have made a great James Bond. I don’t want to give it away, but, James has his martini spiked with LSD. Who did it?
Mr. Natural – Joe Spine – Liz – a Getty – Love
My Kinship With Liz, The Gettys, Ian Fleming
Posted on September 17, 2019 by Royal Rosamond Press
I am now going to concentrate on promoting myself in a professional manner. I taught my famous sister how to paint. She married into the famous Benton family of artists. I am kin to Augustus John.
John Presco
FRANCIS TAYLOR and ELIZABETH ROSEMOND:
Marriage: Abt. 1895
Children of ELIZABETH ROSEMOND and FRANCIS TAYLOR are:
3.i.FRANCES LYNN13 TAYLOR, b. 28 Dec 1897, Springfield, Sangamon
County, Illinois; d. 20 Nov 1968, Los Angeles County, California.
ii.JOHN TAYLOR.
Bryan and George McLean
Posted on May 2, 2018 by Royal Rosamond Press
Alas I found Bryan Maclean’s father, George. He was a premiere architect for Hollywood Stars. He built the home my kindred, Elizabeth Rosemond Taylor, lived in, and was Godfather at the Christening of her son, Christopher Wilding. George MacClean was a good friend of Robert Stack, who dated Liz. Bryan said he learned to swim in Liz’s pool. Was this pool located at 1375 Beverly Hills Estate Drive?
George was the quintessential Hollywood-Los Angeles architect. He was Howard Roarke to the rich and famous. His house he built for the Trousdale Estates, is the Acme of Southern California success, that is enjoying a new Renaissance. Add to this the murals Garth Benton did for movie stars, and Christine Rosamond’s artwork, and the fact Bryan and Christine were lovers for two months when we were teenagers, then here is the lifestyle many can only dream of.
Bryan had seen the model I made for the house I designed when I was seventeen. He informed me his father was a famous architect. Bryan’s mother was an artist, as was one of her parents. I wish I knew her maiden name. Elizabeth, George, and Bryan were saved and became evangelicals. George and Bryan removed themselves from the Success Gauntlet.
Christine was married to actor, Rick Partlow, and lived in one of Micky Rooney’s houses. Garth did some acting, and was married to actress Harlee McBride. Tim O’Connor was like a member of our family. His father was a famous actor of the same name.
Michael Wilding was an artist, and thus was the reason Liz married him, in my opinion. Her family were art collectors. She encouraged Michael Jackson to become an artist. Michael Jr. may come out with a Mommy Dearest-like book that inspired the Rosamond Fib that she hid in the closet to paint. Bryan drew Beach Bunnies in our art class. Christine did not show her forbidden artwork to her lover, because this work did not exist.
Liz Taylor championed Gays stricken with AIDS. Her daughter-in-law, Aileen Getty, came down with this fatal disease. The Getty family owns the largest art collection in the world. We are talking about an Artistic Dynasty.
Sometimes I ask what the purpose of this blog is. The more I dig, the more I find. Wait till you see what I found out about Eric Nord.
Jon Presco
Copyright 2016
A memorial celebration of the life of architect George MacLean is scheduled at noon Wednesday at Bel Air Presbyterian Church in West Los Angeles.
MacLean, who designed shopping centers for the public and mansions for film stars, was 68 when he died of cancer Dec. 1 at his ranch near Hemet. He most recently had pulled away from the Los Angeles social scene, said his longtime friend John Green, the composer and conductor.
At Work Developing Land
“George had been living as an evangelical Christian the past 10 years but he was developing estates on his Hemet property,” Green said.
MacLean was the chief architect for Westlake Village in Los Angeles, the Acapulco Princess Hotel and Estates in Mexico and the International Shopping Bazaar in Freeport,
http://www.marmol-radziner.com/restoration/meisel-residence
http://aflippenlife.blogspot.com/2013/10/trousdale-estates-life-above-it-all.html
Elizabeth quickly fell in love. What she didn’t know was that the home, which was made of glass and adobe, was designed by architect George MacLean with her in mind. In her book, An Informal Memoir, Elizabeth describes the unique interior: “One whole wall was built of bark with fern and orchids growing up the bark, and the bar was made of stone. And the fireplace had no chimney. There was a device making the smoke go down under the building and out through the barbecue pit.” Elizabeth also recalled that “You really couldn’t distinguish between the outside and inside. And all the colors I loved—off white, white, natural woods, stone, beigy marble. The pool was so beautiful. There were palm trees and rock formations—it looked like a natural pool, with trees growing out of it. It was the most beautiful house I’ve ever seen.” The state of the art home also featured an intercom, automated doors, light dimmers, automated curtains, and a movie screen. The architect later became godfather to Elizabeth’s son, Christopher.
After Elizabeth put the home on the market, Ingrid Berman toured the home as a potential buyer.
Ms. Taylor’s connection to the fight against AIDS grew deeper stillwhen her daughter-in-law Aileen Getty revealed to the woman she called “Mom” that she had contracted HIV in 1984. Far from turning her back on Getty, Taylor grew even more committed to the cause and saving the life of the daughter-in-law she loved and the mother of two of her grandchildren.
“Without the love of Elizabeth Taylor in my life, I would probably be dead — if not physically, most certainly emotionally,” Getty told The Advocate in 2011. “Mom loved me through my shame and held me tight. This can be very difficult: If you do something wrong, sometimes you feel that you want to be scolded or punished for your actions, as opposed to being loved and supported. Mom just loved me.”
The Private Reasons for Elizabeth Taylor’s Public Fight Against HIV/AIDS
http://elizabethtaylor.com/elizabeth-taylor-hiv-aids-fight/embed/
Born in Los Angeles in 1947, MacLean drifted towards the music scene and became a roadie for the Byrds. In the mid-Sixties, the tall blond musician would hang out at Ben Frank’s, a 24-hour diner on Hollywood’s Sunset Strip. As he recalled on television, “Bobby Jameson, a friend of mine, told me about the audition for the Monkees. He said: `You ought to go down there, you’re what they’re looking for. You’ll make $750 a week.’ That was an enormous amount. But he didn’t tell me that it was comedy,” explained MacLean. “So I went down there being the hip, street- wise guy, gravelling my voice, and it was wrong. Thank God it was the wrong approach. They got the impression I was a seriously drugged- out guy. ”
http://www.johncodyonline.com/home/articles/2008-09-BryanMacLean.html
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NPZjVD_7kI4 mckee
Bryan MacLean’s mother was an artist and a dancer, and his father was an architect for Hollywood celebrities such as Elizabeth Taylor and Dean Martin.[1] Neighbor Frederick Loewe, of the songwriting team Lerner & Loewe, recognized him as a “melodic genius” at the age of three as he doodled on the piano. His early influences were Billie Holiday and George Gershwin, although he confessed to an obsession with Elvis Presley. During his childhood, he wore out show music records from Guys and Dolls, Oklahoma, South Pacific and West Side Story. His first girlfriend was Liza Minnelli and they would sit at the piano together singing songs from The Wizard of Oz. He learned to swim in Elizabeth Taylor‘s pool, and his father’s good friend was actor Robert Stack. Bryan appears in the 1957 Cary Grant film An Affair to Remember singing in the Deborah Kerr character’s music class. Maria McKee is his half sister.
http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/obituary-bryan-maclean-1044305.html
http://www.curbed.com/2011/3/23/10476208/the-many-homes-of-silver-screen-star-elizabeth-tayor
He created homes for such stars as Elizabeth Taylor, Robert Stack and Dean Martin, and he was affiliated for several years with Daniel K. Ludwig, the builder, shipping magnate and financier for whom he designed office buildings and hotels.
MacLean, who studied art and architecture at USC, is survived by his wife, Gene, sons Bryan and Joel, his mother, Lillie, and a brother, Charles.
http://www.trousdale-overthetop.com/1950s/
The boldest-faced celebrities, industrialists and society names in town angled to get the best lots, and competed with each other to hire the most talented architects and in-demand ‘interior decorators’ money could buy. The design review board – headed by society architect Allen Siple – and original covenants dictating 3,000 square foot minimums ensured large, well-designed homes; single-story restrictions ensured they’d spread out forever, while protecting views.
Your neighbors were on TV last night; another one’s on the stereo now.
The Architects:
- Wallace Neff
- Paul R. Williams
- William Sutherland Beckett
- James Dolena
- George MacLean
- Cliff May
- Lloyd Wright
- Lundberg, Armet & Davis
- Allen Siple
Notable Residents:
- Groucho Marx
- Dinah Shore
- Frank Sinatra
- Barbara Stanwyck
- Sheldon Leonard (Producer/Actor)
- Ralph Edwards (Game Show Producer)
- Charles Skouras
- Max Hoffman (Famed Automotive Importer)
- Isadore Familian (Building Supply Mogul)
Trousdale, who sold gum and advertising before going into real estate, conceived of Trousdale Estates as an exclusive enclave offering residents “a life above it all.” He oversaw a monumental grading project that transformed the scrub-covered hills into 539 lots, precisely stepped to maximize their canyon, city and ocean views.
From the beginning, Trousdale courted the rich and famous. Dinah Shore and Richard Nixon were among the early buyers, both of them commissioning modern ranch houses from Allen Siple. “I’d rather have Nixon in that house than the other House,” Groucho Marx quipped of his Trousdale neighbor. Marx, who hired the society architect Wallace Neff to design a low, curvilinear home with an open carport to showcase his three DeSotos, was a common sight in the neighborhood, walking his black and white Scottish terriers, Scotch and Soda. Danny Thomas built a sprawling Levantine mansion he called Villa Rosa. Like Paul Trousdale, Dean Martin and Elvis Presley both chose houses in the theatrical Hollywood Regency style.
Originally built by architect George MacLean in 1963, the Meisel Residence is located in the Trousdale Estates area of Beverly Hills. The Hawaiian-style ranch house is staggered along the site in rectangular forms, with expansive views overlooking the city from the living areas of the home.
http://www.marmol-radziner.com/restoration/meisel-residence
Mister Meisel’s house was featured in the October 2012 issue of Architectural Digest with lush photographs by Roger Davies and text by the always snappy Mayer Rus. The article reveals that the house was originally designed and built in 1963 by little lauded architect George MacLean for an unnamed race car driver and his model wife. Mister MacLean, in case any of y’all might care, also designed a low-slung home above Benedict Canyon on Beverly Estate Drive (in Bev Hills Post Office) that was owned for a brief spell in the mid-1950s by a young Elizabeth Taylor and her second husband, English actor Michael Wilding.
At the time Mister Meisel bought his spectacularly sited house in Trousdale Estates it was blessedly untouched but much in need of a re-fresh. He engaged the pricey and revered services of the Ron Radziner of the firm Marmol & Radziner who completely rebuilt and sensitively added 2,300 square feet to the existing city view mid-century modern residence then selected celebrated and much published decorator Brad Dunning to chic up the day-core but “maintain the integrity” and “ambiance” of the residence’s original 1960s swagginess.
http://variety.com/2013/dirt/real-estalker/your-mama-hears-28-1201235377/
http://aflippenlife.blogspot.com/2013/10/trousdale-estates-life-above-it-all.html
http://www.catholiceducation.org/en/culture/catholic-contributions/the-role-of-godparents.html
ELIZABETH TAYLOR’s son is considering pals’ suggestions that he write a “Mommie Dearest” tell-all that promises to rip the lid off of the movie legend’s worst performance – as a mother!
A book penned by Liz’s 59-year-old son Michael Wilding Jr. would be in the tradition of the scathing Joan Crawford biography and explain why Taylor, a beloved Hollywood icon, was no saint to her kids, say pals. While Liz was known to be very generous with her time and money to charities, “she was never interested in her children,” a family insider told The ENQUIRER.
“Michael was overheard saying he would rather have grown up broke with a loving mother rather ‘than the way I was raised!’”
Wilding, a former soap opera actor, has been urged to write the explosive book with his wife Brooke Palance, daughter of the late movie star Jack Palance.
“It would portray Liz as an absentee mom, always away on movie sets, flying around the globe or in the arms of a man,” revealed a family friend.
Elizabeth’s four children were trotted out for photo opportunities to give the appearance of a loving, close-knit family, but the friend says: “That couldn’t be further from the truth.”
Michael, Liz’s son with second husband Michael Wilding Sr., spent much of his life “in a desperate bid for her attention,” according to the insider. “The book would talk about how Michael rebelled against his mother, running away to join a rock band, hanging around the drug scene and bedding a lot of women.”
During the mid-’70s, Michael lived on a farm commune in Wales, playing sax with a five-member rock group. He was married at 17 and had a daughter, but the union blew apart after just two years. He had another daughter with a girlfriend at the commune in 1975 but didn’t settle down until tying the knot with Brooke in 1982, and they had a son seven years later.
Despite Michael’s differences with his mother, he was the one who oversaw her care leading up to her death last year at age 79.
But now, said the friend: “Michael could spill all the family secrets as a way of coming to terms with a mother who was never there.”
http://www.wildingsculpture.com/available-work/
http://www.nationalenquirer.com/celebrity/monster-mom-liz-taylor-0/
In retrospect, MacLean didn’t dwell too much on his failure to edge out Peter Tork or Mike Nesmith and take part in American television’s manufactured answer to the Fab Four. Disparagingly, he claimed: “The Monkees were extremely square. They just jumped on the bandwagon. It had nothing to do with what was really going on. It was the Keystone Cops of rock. I didn’t belong in the Monkees or, if I did, I’m still in denial about it.” He joked somewhat nervously: “If I ever find out that I belonged in the Monkees, then I will probably have a legitimate nervous breakdown,” and went on, “I think that I really belonged in something that involved pioneering music, something that wasn’t popular yet. My goal for my music was always timelessness.”
MacLean more than succeeded in this aim with Love, a band who rank alongside the Velvet Underground and the Ramones when it comes to influencing successive generations of musicians (REM, House of Love, the Stone Roses).
Again, MacLean met Arthur Lee at Ben Frank’s. The Memphis-born musician had already cut a single with the LAGs before moving on to the American Four with the guitarist Johnny Echols. The three joined forces and, adding the rhythm section of Johnny Fleckenstein and Don Conka (soon replaced by the bassist Ken Forssi and drummer Alban “Snoopy” Pfisterer), became the Grass Roots.
Having made their live debut at Brave New World in LA in April 1965, the group changed its name to avoid confusion with another Grass Roots (of “Let’s Live For Today” fame). Given the flower-power movement emerging on the West Coast, the five musicians opted for Love and attracted the attention of Jac Holzman in early 1966. The entrepreneur had already established Elektra Records on the East Coast as the natural home of the folk scene with artists like Judy Collins but he wanted to move the label towards the rock underground. Love’s unique brand of folk and demented psychedelia more than fitted the bill. “Thirty seconds into their version of `Hey Joe’, I knew this was the group I was looking for,” claimed Holzman, who would later sign the Doors at Lee’s instigation.
Love became the first rock band on Elektra and released a stunning version of Burt Bacharah and Hal David’s “My Little Red Book” (from What’s New Pussycat?) in April 1966. Following their appearance on American Bandstand, the single and ensuing debut album (simply entitled Love) both made the US Top 60 and the following 45, the frantic “Seven and Seven Is”, did even better, reaching No 33 in September. “Love was what is lovingly referred to as an underground, a garage band. We had a following but it was underground. It wasn’t meant to appeal to as many people as the Monkees’ music was,” reflected MacLean, who wrote the lovely “Softly To Me” on the first album.
Wearing ribbons in his hair, the more introspective MacLean was the ideal foil to Arthur Lee’s frenzied genius and Love became darlings of the hippie scene. Living in their communal Los Angeles “Castle” (actually a decaying mansion previously used as a horror movie set), they recruited Tjay Cantrelli on flute and Michael Stuart on drums while “Snoopy” Pfisterer moved to keyboards to flesh out the group’s richer sound on Da Capo, their second album (February 1967). MacLean’s jazzy “Orange Skies” was the B-side of “She Comes in Colours” but neither this nor “Que Vida” could match their previous success, especially as the group hardly ever toured away from their California base.
Following Pfisterer and Cantrelli’s departure, Love set to work on the ambitious Forever Changes, their third album issued in November 1967, just as their cult status was reaching British shores. Hailed a masterpiece and still namechecked as one of the best-ever albums, Forever Changes reached the Top 30 album chart in the UK while “Alone Again Or”, the eerie, evanescent MacLean composition, entered the US Hot 100. Covered by the Damned in 1986, “Alone Again Or” proved the swansong of the original Love as the idiosyncratic Lee kept playing mind games with MacLean.
During a very strange interview in 1992, Lee told me: “We were competing a bit like Lennon and McCartney to see who would come up with the better song. It was part of our charm. Everybody had different behaviour patterns. Eventually, the others couldn’t cut it.” Lee sacked the rest of the band and assumed the Love mantle from mid-1968. He briefly worked with Jimi Hendrix and nearly died of a drug overdose in 1970.
MacLean also fell from grace. “I don’t think I could cope with even the minimal amount of fame that I experienced. It was difficult to stay balanced. To be honest, it almost killed me just to have the notoriety that I had. To have my face more well-known would have been pathogenic. I don’t know if I could have lived through it,” he later admitted.
“I’ve had a lot of experiences that would have killed most people: drug overdoses, felony arrests. I was invited to Sharon Tate and Roman Polanski’s house the night that the Mansons showed up. I had a penchant for putting myself 100 per cent in whatever I was doing, wrong or right. And there are consequences. If you have the greatest drug and what you feel is the most euphoric experience and it ends, then you’re in trouble. You think you’re getting on to the train and you’re gonna get off at the next stop. But before you realise it, you’re strapped to the front of a runaway train until it crashes. And when it crashes, you don’t even know if you’re gonna come out. I just simply didn’t have another runaway train experience left in me.”
A proposed solo deal fell through when Jac Holzman pronounced the MacLean demos “too fragmented”. MacLean bounced back for a while but, before completing an album for Capitol Records, he quit the business in 1970. Seven years later, his old nemesis Arthur Lee tempted him out of retirement for a Love tour with the future Knack drummer Bruce Gary. MacLean enlisted for a further Southern California reunion outing (immortalised on Rhino’s Love Live album) and got religion.
“I wasn’t doing well. My mother had been converted watching Bill Graham on television, she was praying for me. One night, in a hotel room in New York, I just prayed, cried out to the Lord and said: if you’re real, I’m gonna give my life to you because I’m afraid I’m gonna destroy myself. I ended up walking away from the business at that point,” confessed MacLean, who became a sepulchral presence, not unlike the Beach Boys’ Brian Wilson.
By the Nineties, the erratic Arthur Lee was displaying paranoid tendencies and symptoms of Parkinson’s disease. In 1996, following several arrests and convictions, he was jailed for 12 years for threatening behaviour with a firearm.
Bryan MacLean crawled back from the wreckage. His half-sister, Maria McKee, made several records with Lone Justice, including a song by MacLean, “Don’t Toss Us Away”, in 1985, which three years later became a Top 10 country music hit for Patty Loveless. In 1997, the Sundazed label released IfYouBelieveIn, a collection of solo acoustic MacLean demos culled from the Sixties, Seventies and Eighties. His odd quavering vocals remained as compelling as ever and also came to the fore in his born-again incarnation.
“I started making music again when I felt comfortable to move back into writing without violating my stand for Christ,” Bryan MacLean told Ian MacMillan. “Love grows in me when I proclaim all that my Lord has done. I’m now writing worship music that’s presented in an ethereal genre. Celtic, spacy, no guitars. I call it spooky Christian music, spooky worship music.
“If a person is a Satanist or a Buddhist or a Hindu, they will be able to listen to this music and not be put off by it because it’s the universal longing to be in the spirit realm that’s being expressed.”
Bryan MacLean, guitarist, singer and songwriter: born Los Angeles 25 September 1946; died Los Angeles 25 December 1998.
Rosamond Press 
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