The painted chair

In 1970 MGM held its infamous auction offering the contents of their prop houses to the public. Amongst other items my grandparents were taken with a needlepoint chair used in the the Grace Kelly, Frank Sinatra, Bing Crosby film High Society. It was only when they picked up their purchase that they were close enough to see that the "needlepoint" was actually a brilliant piece of prop painting.  When I look at the chair it seems symbolic of so much. A move to California as a sign of success and the necessity to showcase that success by furnishing with European antiques.  Like so much of Los Angeles (with its Mock-Tudor, Spanish Revival and Moorish Fantasy architectures) though it is only a facsimile of the old world -a very beautiful land of make-believe. Whomever painted this chair was incredibly skilled and in my mind perhaps more skilled than a needlepointed original. It seems a fitting tribute to a city that came into its own by borrowing, appropriation and imitation by extraordinary people who didn't belong in the old world and thus created a new one.