Vintage Celebrities @ National Portrait Gallery

If you're looking for a fun photo exhibit, the NATIONAL PORTRAIT GALLERY has just unveiled a luscious new show of vintage celebrity portraits in those eye-popping, candy-coated technicolor hues of the mid-20th century ...

Marilyn Monroe in the 1953 film Niagara directed by Henry Hathaway. (Wikimedia Commons)

As I am currently DEVOURING the MAD MEN DVD's (Seasons 1 - 4) I gave my, um, mother for Christmas, this caught my eye right away on the NPG site.

(Note to self: must watch something else to stop serious addiction to MAD MEN soon, including unhealthy level of infatuation - along with perhaps I can only assume half of all American women ranging in age from 18 to 88 with passable eyesight - with Jon Hamm, a.k.a the dashingly handsome yet dastardly Don Draper ... trouble is he really is hottest as Don Draper - he needs to keep up that Mad Men look off camera too - c'mon Jon - distract us from the endless partisan bickering that is building up to be the 2012 election with your Kennedy-era looks!!! Yes, this is the kind of inane thought that flits through my mind after spending 9 hours in my office, posting and repackaging online info. as I glide between two paleolithic-era computers on an endless, medium-paced hamster wheel that is the public sector 'superhighway' overseen by lawyers who probably think I am an insane 'creative' best left to my own devices lest I rock their sorta square worlds ... )

OK, so that was a bit of a fluffy, and downright pathetic, digression there from an aged Bridget Jones singleton sleepless in DC and obsessed with art, polar bears, sloths, and Burmese cats ...

Now where was I ... ah, yes, the new photo exhibit at the National Portrait Gallery ...

It sounds like a real hoot!

This show features 24 celebrity portraits from the 1930s, 40s and 50s made by this dude Harry Warnecke (1900-1984) and his co-photogs at the New York Daily News.

So this could be a really fun show to check out before drinking some champagne cocktails, AB FAB style with your favorite female and/or gay friend ... It opened on March 2 and runs through SEPTEMBER 9 ...

IN VIBRANT COLOR: VINTAGE CELEBRITY PORTRAITS FROM THE HENRY WARNECKE STUDIOS

Women want to be with him, men want to be him (although it's hard to tell what that guy in the background is thinking - suffice it to say his gaze appears to be an admiring one!): Jon Hamm in 2010 (flickr user Lucky the Lady)

PS - To all my fellow MAD MEN fans: The 2-hour Season 5 premiere airs on Sunday, March 25 on AMC.

PPS - To make it a truly campy Sunday out on the town, for instance, this vintage celebrity photo show could be preceded by the supremely fun SUNDAY DRAG BRUNCH (photos with real live, performing drag queens optional, bachelorette parties common ... ) at PERRYS in Adams Morgan.

PPPS - Note to self: Return said MAD MEN DVD's to MOM before Season 5 premiere ... !!!

The Black List @ NPG

These events at the NATIONAL PORTRAIT GALLERY - both on FEBRUARY 25 - also look interesting:

GALLERY 360: TIMOTHY GREENFIELD-SANDERS

This talk relates to his photography exhibit aptly entitled THE BLACK LIST - on display at the NPG through April 22, 2012 - a provocative play on three words.

BOOK SIGNING: GOV. DEVAL PATRICK

So many great museum events in Washington, so little time!!!

The National Portrait Gallery in Washington. (c) Wikimedia Commons

Art of Love @ National Portrait Gallery

My best (platonic) male friend ever in this world, an Irish-born, expat resident of Washington DC since 2006, takes all of his visitors from Europe to the NATIONAL PORTRAIT GALLERY.

He says it is his favorite museum in Washington, and it is not hard to see why.

With Valentine's Day fast approaching, the museum staff have come up with what promises to be a fun, interactive, after-work program on February 14 for both singles and besotted lovers alike ...

PORTRAITS AFTER 5: ART OF LOVE

Candy Hearts (c) Wikimedia Commons

(I've never cared much for V-Day myself - too much pressure on bewildered guys, too much disappointment from frustrated girls. WHO thought of creating this "holiday" in the first place? Hallmark? It seemed fun though, in grade school, when we exchanged those little cards you simply signed "To" and "From" with such gleeful, giggly innocence. It was like a big 'ol Kinderlovefest - almost ANYBODY could "Be" your "Valentine" back then! It gets a little trickier, however, when we grow up.)