Jean @ the Beach

Jean Seberg in 1958 at the age of 20.

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While looking for pictures of some of my favorite actors at the beach I tripped across this somewhat odd snap of Jean for Otto Preminger's Bonjour Tristesse and it reminded me of my own appreciation for lovely short-haired actresses. This was just a year after Jean's disastrous debut Saint Joan and two years before she shouted "New York Herald Tribune!" in Godard's Breathless.

Poor Jean Seberg, she was gorgeous and talented and to this day doesn't get a whole lot of respect. It must have been tough living in the era of Hepburn, Taylor, and Monroe.

Time Capsule: The space craze was on. NASA was launching. Sputnik 1 was falling. And Khrushchev was becoming Soviet Premier (in accordance with a strange Russian tradition that selected the person with the most H's in their name). At the box office, Vertigo was opening to mediocre critical and public response. Meanwhile a studio-botched Touch of Evil was showing against Orson Welles' wishes. Lana Turner's daughter stabbed Johnny Stompanato to death, and Che Guevara's rebels invaded Santa Clara.