young, happy and in love

 

Eileen Ford,

Ford Models

I like Jerry Hall's 2010 book so much.  She is a good writer!  She writes as if she is talking to you.

        When she writes about being with Bryan Ferry, and about his band, Roxy Music, I remember being on a church-sponsored trip to New York City while I was in high school - kids from all around the state went, and we traveled by bus.  One girl advised me that I should listen to Roxy Music, 'they were great.'

In that part of the book excerpted yesterday, events and moods seem to lead, one to the other.  First they get together - Bryan and Jerry - and then pretty soon Jerry has to go back to New York for her modeling work.  Bryan comes to visit her.  They go to a party his record company is having. ...

"We sat at a table with Ahmet Ertegun, the founder and chairman of Atlantic Records, and Earl McGrath who was vice president of Atlantic.  I adored them both and they were so much fun; we laughed all night like old friends, but I noticed that Bryan seemed a little annoyed.  It was the first time I realised that Bryan could be quite a jealous guy....  But it didn't seem important at the time, we were young, happy and in love."

-------------------------- They've been together as a couple for, like, "five minutes," and already he's ticked if she's having a good time. ...At an event that he took her to!  Lol.  She thinks she and Bryan are "happy and in love" and that this overrides anything else.

        In seventh-grade English class, we learned scenarios like this (Bryan Ferry being annoyed) are "foreshadowing."

        In You Tube videos today, they call it "red flags."  Or - ignoring the red flags....

__________________________

---------------- [excerpt from Jerry Hall:  My life in pictures.  Quadrille Publishing.  2010.] ----------------------------

        That week we also had dinner with my surrogate parents and agents, Eileen and Jerry Ford.  They thought Bryan was charming but were slightly annoyed that he lived in London and might be luring me away.  We also had dinner with Alvenia and my gang of girlfriends.  Bryan charmed them all and passed the boyfriend inspection on all fronts.

        When Bryan flew back to London, I promised that I would come and visit him a few weeks later, which I did.  I combined it with a photo shoot for English Vogue and this time I stayed at Bryan's house in Ladbroke Grove.  I was working during the day, but the nights were spent with Bryan.  We fell into an easy intimacy, as if we had known each other longer than we had.  We had a wonderful week together which neither of us wanted to end, but I had to get back to New York.  I had bookings with Richard Avedon for American Vogue and some big-paying commercials and advertising campaigns that I couldn't cancel.

        Bryan invited me to come back a few weeks later to spend Christmas with him and then go on holiday to Mustique in the southern Caribbean for a month.  I knew my booker, Marion at Ford Models, would not be pleased, but living so far away from each other we had to spend some real time together to see if our relationship could work on a long-term basis.

        So a few weeks later I returned to London for a traditional English Christmas with all the trimmings, including crackers from Fortnum and Mason containing little silver shoehorns and cufflinks and tiny hand mirrors for your purse.  We had some of Bryan's friends over - musicians and old school friends - and then on Boxing Day we flew to Mustique where we spent an idyllic four weeks and at the end of it Bryan proposed and we got engaged.  I was stunned when he proposed because we hadn't been together that long.  But I was thrilled too.

        Soon after that I moved to London to live with Bryan.  I worked mostly for English Vogue, and I went on tour with Bryan to Manchester to promote Siren.  I met Bryan's family who were adorable and so kind to me.  They were very proud of Bryan.  He had bought them a new house and they were so happy about it.  His father had been a coal miner and they were quite poor when Bryan was little.

        Siren was a huge success, so Bryan was away on tour a lot and I couldn't always go with him because I was working too.  So while he was away I started to read.  I went through his library and then started buying books by the bagful and bringing them home.  I was getting the education that I had missed by not going to university.  I loved reading about Greek mythology and was fascinated by archetypal images and stories of brave and powerful women.  I often set out to portray these powerful women in the photo shoots I did.

        Life with Bryan settled into a pattern.  A lot of the time we lived quietly - I would shop and cook when I got home and the two of us would eat together.  We had some happy times, but I was beginning to feel a sense of disquiet.  Bryan wanted to be an English gentleman.  He dressed in fine clothes, knew about art and antiques and shopped in Fortnum and Mason.  And he wanted me to be a gentleman's wife, in tweeds and pearls and sipping afternoon tea.  

Actually I quite liked that part; I got in the habit of having afternoon tea every day.  

        But while I had a very ladylike side, which had been encouraged by my mother, I also had a wild side.  I didn't drink much at all, but I loved to party and dance and have fun.  But every time I did, Bryan seemed to disapprove. -------------------------- [end / excerpt]

_____________________________

-30-