The wedding album sits on my desk, held together by tape and aged binding. It’s more than a family heirloom, though. It’s a time capsule that lets Hollywood’s Golden Age spring to life.
The date was June 14, 1959. My mother, rising movie star Barbara Rush, married my father, Warren Cowan, founder of Rogers & Cowan, still Hollywood’s premier PR firm. Their hosts? Tony Curtis and Janet Leigh, who’d played matchmaker to the couple and opened their Beverly Hills home for the ceremony.
The guest list reads like a marquee: Frank Sinatra trading quips with Milton Berle; Dean Martin juggling a cigarette and dinner plate at the buffet; Ronald Reagan discussing the menu with Mom.
Barbara Rush and Warren Cowan got married at Janet Leigh and Tony Curtis’ Beverly Hills estate. (Claudia Cowen)
There’s Jack Lemmon signing the marriage license as a witness. Shirley MacLaine doubled over in laughter. Doris Day, Edward G. Robinson, Louis Jourdan, Rock Hudson, Peter Lawford and Patricia Kennedy, Jack Benny, Gene Kelly, Robert Wagner and Natalie Wood — all rubbing elbows with the newlyweds.
These weren’t just celebrities. They were friends in their prime, most with their biggest roles still ahead. Young, beautiful and unstoppable, they filled the pages with an energy that still radiates today. These snapshots freeze a moment when Hollywood’s brightest stars aligned to celebrate love.
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Many Hollywood legends were in attendance at Barbara Rush and Warren Cowan’s wedding. (Claudia Cowan)
The album came to me after mom’s death this past Easter at 97. Dad left us in 2008. But leafing through these yellowing pages, I’m struck by the vibrant lives captured within. Before I was even a possibility, my parents were surrounded by creative, talented friends eager to be a part of their special day.
I’m sharing these never-before-seen pictures because only by remembering those we’ve lost, loved and admired, do they stay with us in our hearts.
Claudia Cowan looking at her parents’ wedding album. (Claudia Cowan)
In these fading photographs, they’re all forever young, forever brilliant, forever alive.
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Barbara Rush and Warren Cowan were married from 1959 to 1969. (Claudia Cowan)
