After a successful TV screening in Kentucky a few weeks ago,Hats Off is showing again on several public television stations throughout the US!
Be sure to tune in:
On WMVS in Milwaukee Jan. 24th at 3pm Jan. 31st at 12:05am
On IPTV in Iowa Jan. 27th at 5:00am, 11:00am, and 5:00pm
January 2010
We were in a Swiss Newspaper last Sunday called, Sonntagszeltung, http://sonntagszeitung.ch/trend/, the article was about the blog, Advanced Style, advancedstyle.blogspot.com/ , and had a nice photo and text on Mimi. We have very big news for everyone, Hats Off is opening in Sydney, Australia on March 26th at the Dendy Opera Quays Cinemas. So please let everyone know.
DECEMBER 23rd
We wish you all a fabulous Holiday and a Healthy New Year!
The note below is from one of Mimi’s friends and we thought you might enjoy it as much as we did:
"Thank you so much for the copies of Mimi's film. They arrived in record time and I am sure will be well received at Christmas.
I will be ordering more after the first of the year.
I hope that all of you know how much this film meant to Mimi. Sometimes I got the feeling that she could not believe that anyone wanted to make a film that was about her life.........but she was sooooooooo deeply thrilled that it all came together and gave her such wonderful adulation in her final years. Mimi will be forever missed.
Thanks again and HAPPY HOLIDAYS !
Bonita"
OCTOBER 12th
If you Live in Marin County and haven't seen the film, there will be a screening on Wednesday October 21st at 7:00 pm at The Tam Valley Community Center 203 Marin Ave. (at Tennessee Valley Rd.) Mill Valley
OCTOBER 7th
Just FYI, Bryant is the photographer whose photo of Mimi graces our DVD cover. It’s the one where she is actually wearing two hats but it looks like one. He just wrote this to me.
hi jyll,
i really wanted to share the additional photographs of mimi with you folks.......so many beautiful images that compliment the image used on the dvd. i have been traveling and could not retreive them from storage. once again, i enjoyed your film emmencely, i shared it with my family and friends and we all loved it. jyll, its so funny because when i met mimi for the first time it was the evening of the photo shoot and i remember her being so quiet! i cant explain it, she showed up with a bit of a grand dam persona, went straight to hair and makeup and appeared all done up "ready for her close up" :) but she remained so quiet and in character. seeing the movie was like meeting a whole different person. it was surprising she had a voice! what a voice, so inspiring, so wonderful. im proud to have been part, although small, of this precious womans life. because of you and the film she will continue to inspire us all. take care and keep doing what you do.
it was the final curtain but what a performance!
very truly yours,
bryant woodd
OCTOBER 4th
Letter from sarah to all the fans of Hats Off:
Dear Jyll,
I’ll just write this and you can edit any way you wish – although you said it very well on the Hats Off website.
Mimi entered the hospital in mid August because she had grown so weak due to not being
able to swallow very well. She had been weakening all year – not going out as much, not
scribbling her crazy notes at the coffee shop, not even getting to Chanel for her adored
bubble bath. So I had to take over that errand. This proved to be an onerous chore for
me for as kind as the staff at Bergdorfs always were to me because of course they adored
Mimi I could always feel their thoughts as I would run in wearing sneakers and a
sweatshirt... Well, they kept offering to do a makeover for me at any rate.
I first noticed that Mimi was slipping last Christmas. Always in years gone by I could
count on the nicest presents in the nicest boxes being from Mimi. Even if the box only
held a pair of socks – still it was nice to get something from Loro Piana. It made a
change from my practical presents for everyone. One year I gave everyone pillows which
did not go down well with home from college Kit. As always Mimi added the glamour to
our lives. Last Christmas she didn’t have the energy to shop and only went as far as the
apothecary on 80th Street, so we all got tubes of toothpaste and whatever else she could
find that looked interesting. I had a feeling that last Christmas was going to be the last.
This year we spent a lot of time together. I was with her more than at work or anywhere
else which was fine. We always had a rythum so it was usually easy to anticipate her
needs. She stayed in bed and slept more and more and then the problem with the
swallowing began in earnest in June. She went to see her doctor but when having tests
was mentioned Mimi said “No thank you” and home she went.
Her time in the hospital was gruesome for Mimi with rough handling and liquid diets but
we kept going because she was so lucid and her heart was strong etc. so I thought she
could get better. Apparently so did the doctors but Mimi’s muscles grew so weak from
time in bed (although she had walked into the hospital with her cane) that she could no
longer stand. Her quality of life was rapidly deteriorating so when the decision was made
to move her to rehab for the second time I talked to her and she said “I want to go home
and look at my pictures and hear my music”. I asked her if she understood that meant
hospice and death and she said yes. Thus was the decision made. The second we made it
I knew it was the right one even if when I left her that day at the hospital to go back to the
apt. to prepare her room for the hospital bed I thought I finally knew what a broken heart
felt like.
Mimi had a week at home and we had a fabulous time. Kit flew home from Africa,
Michael came and Jyll followed and stayed and took care of so many things. We
wouldn’t have had any food if not for her as we never left the apt. Hospice lived up to
their stellar reputation and did everything right. I slept outside Mimi’s door so the
slightest stirring had me up and by her side. The radio played softly and Mimi spent
quite a while looking at her pictures on the opposite wall – a Michangelo and a Toulose
Lautrec both of which she loved. I put on the BBC in the mornings because she wanted
to hear a cultured voice before she died. People came and went and all were so happy to
have a chance for a conversation. Mimi rose to the occasion every time. The most
moving time for me was when Kit and his old friends from Buckley all came in and
surrounded her bed. The contrast between these boys who have known Mimi since they
were 5 years old in their muscular good health all gathered around frail Mimi was very
touching. She told them how much she loved them and thanked them for being such
good friends to Kit and me. Mimi was not one to say I love you lightly. In fact come to
think of it she still hasn’t said it to me…hey get back down here Mimi!
The week was actually fun but every day brought a change. I did manage to get her to
swallow some iced espresso on the weekend. I don’t know what I was thinking but Kit
had just flown in after 36 hours of traveling so we had to celebrate some way. Mimi
loved it. She more or less stopped talking on Tuesday but responded when an old collage
friend of ours who is now a Deacon came and said a prayer over her and anointed her
with oils. She said the words “And also with you” at the right time. Mimi was never
overtly religious but I saw how happy she was to have Luke bend over her and pray so I
am glad that we did that. Kit left early on Wednesday morning and she lasped into a
coma like state around lunchtime that day and died 24 hours later.
She was ready to go. I swear her soul had left her body before she drew her last breath.
She is free which is all she ever wanted to be.
I have been so touched by all the emails from her Hats Off admirers. Mimi would have
been so pleased by the beautifully expressed tributes. How lucky we all are that Jyll and
Michael made that fabulous movie. We should all strive to be more Mimi like. Speak
up, take care of ourselves, and add some glamour to the landscape be it in dress or word
or deed. I should practice what I preach.
Thank you all,
Sarah Dillon
SEPTEMBER 12th
Mimi is in the hospital with an infection. She might be there for a bit so, If any of you would like to write a card send it to:
MIMI WEDDELL
% Canobie Films
1621 Juanita Lane Tiburon, CA 94920
Thanks so much!
SEPTEMBER 3, 2009
FACEBOOK FAN PAGE
Are you on Facebook.com? Of course you are. Well, so is Mimi!
Check out Mimi's fan page by searching for "Mimi Weddell". You'll find news updates on Mimi, Hats Off, and related events, coming at you round the clock!
SEPTEMBER 2, 2009
MIMI MENTIONS ON THE WEB
Mimi has been featured (once again) on the popular blog "Advanced Style". Great photos...and he mentions HATS OFF!
* YEN , Australia's #1 independent magazine for women from Australia has a wonderful article called "Senior It-Izens." Please look in the press section for the full article, coming soon.
* Mimi is also featured in the following blogs:
HATS OFF to MIMI WEDELL featured in PLAZTIK MAG issue #12:
YOU MAY OR MAY NOT REMEMBER ME BUT I AM THE PHOTOGRAPHER WHO SHOT THE IMAGE WITH THE LARGE FRED HASSON HAT. I AM PROUD AND FLATTERED THAT IT BECAME THE IMAGE THAT REPRESENTS THE ESSENCE OF YOU AND YOUR MOVIE. THE PHOTO SHOOT IS SPECIAL TO ME BECAUSE IT WAS MY FIRST PUBLISHED JOB IN NEW YORK CITY AT THE AGE OF 20. I REMEMBER IT LIKE IT WAS YESTERDAY. YOU WERE AN AMAZING MODEL WHO GAVE ME SO MUCH THAT EVENING AND IN RETURN I HAVE SO MANY WONDERFUL IMAGES. IF I CAN HELP IN ANYWAY WITH ADDITIONAL IMAGES, PERHAPS FOR THE "BOOK." LET ME KNOW.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MAY YOU HAVE MANY MORE.
BRYANT WOOD
i have been emailing with Bryant and i am hoping to have some more images from that shoot, and perhaps some words on Warhol. Did you all know that Mimi lived across the street from Warhol, and has worked with him!
We are thrilled to be part of some major European Magazines that will be coming out this Spring. Thanks to Ari Cohen and his wondrous site http://advancedstyle.blogspot.com/ and his own celebration of the divine Mimi Weddell we have seen a influx of Europeans viewing our sites. Yeah!!! Stay tuned to the actual dates for the magazine articles.
MORE MIMI ISMS......
What is Mimi doing? "I did a shoot for Lagerfeld spent the entire day doing man and woman photographers very sweet but don't think they were published. Never received copies of other than Polaroids they just never sent anything."
"I did an industrial job with Carol Nadler (Producer) I've worked with her on and off for the last 20 years."
What's Mimi Reading?
"Reading the Clarie Tomalin book on Jane Austin which is pretty flat but good as a reference. Don't have the definitive bio of Jane Austin read one when I was 15 that was very good.
Loved reading the Christopher Plummer autobiography it was really, really fun. Also, Being George the George Plimpton biography both outstanding which I've read lately.
Theater?
"I Want to see the "Aristocrates" an off Broadway play but so far too busy to see."
Movies?
"The Reader I saw. I loved her (Kate Winslet) in that."
Check out this great blog, Advanced Style, which includes pics of "inspirational street fashion of our respected elders," including some of Mimi hereand here.
And here's a video clip featuring a cute moment from Mimi at Fashion Week (it's 2:14 in)
