Clueless

As it turns out, these two women left to right are Alicia Silverstone and Michelle Johnson. I was clueless to that fact. All I knew was that ‘they’ (I thought they were perhaps 1 actress) had gotten naked in Blame it on Rio (and did so quite well), and ‘they’ had looked rather fetching in school girl plaid in a movie called Clueless. Those 2 movies were released exactly 11 years apart, which works out as Alicia and Michelle are exactly 11 years apart in age. Both of their “big movies” were made when they were age 18, I surmise the age at which they were the most sexually desirable. Hollywood does this instinctively. I’ve seen this before when they choose a young actress at age 18 to make her “big movie”, i.e. Lacey Chabert, Jennifer Love Hewitt, Lindsay Lohan…

My knowledge of Hollywood is rather stunted as evidenced by my inability to know these wonderfully different women were actually 2 people. Their paths were quite different. Michelle the elder was born in Anchorage, Alaska in 1965. Alicia (and of course you can’t say it), was born the quintessential Jewish Princess in San Francisco in 1976, her success a foregone conclusion, working nonstop the past 30 years. Having roughly twice the screen credits of the older Johnson. And looking at the photos of the 2, its rather surprising given Michelle’s more voluptuous physique. Alicia seemed to have her “funny face” schtick and not much else.

Its funny how chemistry works. When I was making my 10 Most Beautiful Women of the 80s list, Michelle Johnson never even entered my mind. Likewise with my 10 Most Beautiful Women of the 90s post, Alicia never entered my mind. They were ‘blips’ in the male psyche. I say this simply as it intrigues me for being something I’ll never understand. 1 year, 1 outfit, 1 look, who knows why? They stick in my mind. As I think about it there are a dozen or two women from yesteryear I remember as if it were yesterday, even though 50 years have passed.

Alicia Silverstone