That Old Black-and-White Magic

Hurrell inspires the rising star photographers

HURRELL, the photographer who defined the look more than fifty years ago, refused to believe that Hollywood glamour was making a comeback. "I forced, I begged Hurrell to take out his old eightby-ten camera again," his agent, Marysa Maslansky, remembers. "He'd say, 'Oh, people don't want that anymore.' " But obviously they do. A whole new generation of Hollywood photographers is selling today's stars with the same glossy, tungsten-lit black-and-whites that immortalized Crawford, Lombard, and Gable.

Indeed, Matthew Rolston sees himself as "a modern-day equivalent of the old MGM portrait gallery." He's worked his magic on, among others, Michael Jackson, Joan Collins, and Jane Fonda. "I like my people to look sort of like Mount Rushmore," Rolston says. "A larger-than-life quality." Rolston and all his contemporaries protect and nurture their star clients. ''There is no longer a studio system," explains Maslansky, "so they love it when they find somebody they can trust and who truly cares. ' '

Greg Gorman, for example, has tamed some of the more legendary temperaments—Pacino, Midler, Streisand. And Brad Branson, at twenty-one the youngest of the second-generation Hollywood photographers, has a loyal following in the music industry.

Herb Ritts, known for his daylight fashion photographs, keeps equally busy glamorizing movie stars. As "special photographer" on The Cotton Club he helped define Richard Gere's slick thirties look. And he focused Madonna's image in Desperately Seeking Susan.

Paul Jasmin uncovers the hidden star quality beneath the scuffed denim of today's talents—including Jamie Lee Curtis, Daryl Hannah, and Debra Winger. "The first pictures I ever did of Debra, I thought, This is a movie star! I mean, it's like Susan Hayward!"

Like the rest of the Hollywood photographers, Jasmin is looking for a contemporary version of the old Hollywood glamour. Easier, more relaxed, and a little tongue-in-cheek, but definitely glamour. "People want to see a sexy man, they want to see a sexy woman, and they want to see them like Harlow and Crawford," Jasmin says. "No wonder you wanted to know them, make love to them, be them. And that's what makes people go to the movies!"

Kurt Kilgus