Aretha’s famous outfits auctioned
Aretha Franklin’s voice established her reputation as the queen of soul, but her style was the stuff of legend. Fans had the chance to snap up more than 30 of her history-making looks at a fashion auction in New York. Franklin, who was 76 when she died from cancer in August, was known for an elaborate and glitzy aesthetic, heavy on sequins, fur and feather boas. A public exhibition of her outfits was held at the Hard Rock Cafe last week before going under the hammer. Highlights of the Julien’s Auctions collection included the red ruffled dress Franklin wore for a Radio City Music Hall concert in 1993, the denim crew jacket from the 1980 Blues Brothers film, in which she played Mrs Murphy, and the regal cream gown she wore to Bill Clinton’s nomination ball.
Franklin sang for three presidents — Jimmy Carter, Clinton and Barack Obama — and was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by George W Bush in his second term. She died without making a will, leaving her niece as the executor of her $80m estate. More than 100 pink Cadillacs were part of her funeral procession in Detroit and the service stretched for eight hours in a church packed with 4,000 guests. In signature style, Franklin had three outfit changes for each public viewing, ahead of her funeral. Martin Nolan, executive director of the sale, said the auction was “celebrating the tremendous talents, power and grace of America’s greatest singer of all time”.
Bid to find Degas looted by Nazis
Somebody, somewhere knows its location. But the one man who could help is refusing to talk. Portrait of Mlle. Gabrielle Diot (1890), a painting by Edgar Degas, hung above the desk of a renowned Jewish art dealer at his Paris gallery until 1940 when, along with numerous other works, it was confiscated by the Nazis. Now, the descendants of Paul Rosenberg have hired London-based art detectives to try to recover it, almost 60 years after the art dealer’s death. “It’s not impossible that somebody has seen it,” said Marianne Rosenberg, Paul’s granddaughter. “We reserve the right to seek recourse to the law in all jurisdictions.”
Paul Rosenberg, a patron to both Henri Matisse and Pablo Picasso, whom he affectionately called “Pic”, kept meticulous records of the works in his keeping, a practice that has greatly helped his family over the years in its quest to reclaim them. Of the 400 or so works looted from his gallery, only 65 have yet to be recovered, according to Marianne.
Many of the pieces were loaded on to a train that was stopped outside Paris in August 1944 by a unit of the Free French forces led by Lieutenant Alexandre Rosenberg, Paul Rosenberg’s son, an intervention depicted in the 1964 film The Train, starring Burt Lancaster.
But the 1890 Degas was not among them, and its whereabouts since the theft by the Nazis have been a mystery. The painting first resurfaced in 1974, when a Hamburg-based art dealer, Mathias Hans, is said to have brokered its sale to a Swiss buyer.
Disney planning Star Wars spinoff
Disney is moving ahead with another Star Wars spinoff TV series. It follows the announcement, in October, of the Jon Favreau-created The Mandalorian. In an earnings call with investors, Disney CEO Bob Iger said that the new show would act as a prequel to Rogue One: A Star Wars Story. It will star Diego Luna as Cassian Andor, the rebel alliance spy he played in the movie. According to a statement from Disney: “The rousing spy thriller will explore tales filled with espionage and daring missions to restore hope to a galaxy in the grip of a ruthless Empire.”
Like The Mandalorian, the Rogue One series will be available on Disney’s new streaming service, which Iger revealed will be named Disney+. A Marvel-related TV series, to star Tom Hiddleston as Loki, is in development, also for Disney+. Also planned are series spinoffs of the Disney-Pixar film Monsters Inc, and the Disney Channel film High School Musical. Disney+ is due to launch in the US in late 2019. It will remove its content from Netflix at the same time.
