Girls Who Wear Glasses, Part 2: SUNSHADES

 

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Men seldom make passes 

At girls who wear glasses 

• Dorothy Parker

Pictured top: Sunshades, 2026, acrylic on canvas, 30 x 25.5 cm.

Like the painting Nightshade, the focus of my previous post, the point of origin of Sunshades is a supporting character in Alfred Hitchcock’s 1951 Film Noir, Strangers on a Train - in this case, Barbara Morton, as played by Patricia Hitchcock, real life daughter of the film’s director.

In contrast to the subject of Nightshade, however, my protagonist has undergone a complete transformation - from a “good girl” and possible victim of strangulation to a fully-fledged Femme Fatale. 

My reimagined portrait draws in part from Pat Hitchcock’s hairstyle in the film and also aims to indicate something of her character’s considerable smarts and feisty personality. 

Despite Barbara Morton’s innate decency, the murky underbelly of society appears to hold a certain fascination for her. As part of her metamorphosis in Sunshades, Barbara’s conservative spectacles have been replaced by a racy pair of heart-shaped sunglasses. Like the spectacles showcased in Nightshade, the ‘Lolita’ glasses are based on a pair in my collection, sourced many years ago in a favourite vintage market, Chapel Street Bazaar. 

For the Femme Fatale, sunglasses are more than a mere fashion accessory or useful means of disguise. Most crucially, they enable her to mask her true feelings from the hapless hero, concealing her diabolical intentions from him.

Sunshades evokes two of cinema’s most infamous temptresses. If anyone wore sunglasses better than Barbara Stanwyck in Double Indemnity (Dir. Billy Wilder, 1944), or Gene Tierney in Leave Her to Heaven (Dir. John M. Stahl, 1945), I’d like to know about it.

Sunshades is from the current series, Flowers of the Femmes Fatales. The white Calla Lily (Zantedeschia aethiopica), in the form of drop earrings, is my protagonist’s floral attribute.

To see developmental views of Sunshades, go HERE and scroll down.

Girls Who Wear Glasses, Part 1: NIGHTSHADE

 

 

Nightshade, 2026, acrylic on canvas, 30 x 25 cm, is one of four paintings I worked on in between attending multiple sessions at the recent 2026 Melbourne International Film Festival. (Blog Post Wednesday, September 2).

The glasses featured in Nightshade are based on a pair of vintage spectacles spotted several years ago in a local thrift shop and acquired with the vague idea of utilising them as a work prop. Happily, they survived my periodic declutterring purges and I finally found a purpose for them. (Also pictured above, third from top: my self-appointed supervisor, the redoubtable Alice B. Cat).

Along with its companion work, Sunshades (the focus of my next post), Nightshade takes its point of departure from the Alfred Hitchcock film, Strangers on Train (1951), which, in turn, was based on the novel of the same name by Patricia Highsmith. 

For decades, I’ve been intrigued by the film’s principal bad girl, the ruthless adulteress, Miriam. She is one of two key supporting characters who wear glasses, an unusual and, as a rule, decidedly non-glamorous accessory not ordinarily associated with the Femme Fatale. As those familiar with Strangers on Train will be aware, however, glasses are a major plot point, and feature in one of its most iconic scenes. 

In the film, Miriam is played by Kasey Rogers (1925-2006). I’ve long been intrigued by her portrayal of a character who is at once sexy and repellent, coquettish and sleazy. It’s a terrifically nuanced, shamefully underrated performance.

I used to wonder why I hadn’t noticed her in anything else. As it later turned out, I had, without realising it. Rogers played the second Louise Tate, wife of Larry Tate, Darrin’s boss, in the hit TV series Bewitched from 1966 to 1972. (See below). 

Kasey Rogers has done much else besides. To learn more about her, go HERE.

As an aside, Marion Lorne, who memorably plays the scatty mother of the film’s chief villain, Bruno (an electrifying performance from the great Robert Walker), would also become a cast regular in Bewitched, as Samantha’s equally scatterbrained Aunt Clara. But I digress.

Nightshade is part of the current series, Flowers of the Femmes Fatales. The flower adorning my protagonist’s raven hair is a devil's trumpet, also known as  jimsonweed or thornapple, a poisonous plant from the Daturae tribe of the nightshade family Solanaceae.