Tokens of Affection: Rouben & Azadia Mamoulian

I've been organizing my books and ran into something I bought years ago and promptly forgot: Dorothy Rodgers' book on the domestic arts, My Favorite Things. It's actually remarkably good, with sensible ideas and anecdotes from her life, all decently written. The dust jacket bio notes that she held several patents for inventions, though I couldn't find anything on these -- there's nothing online about this fascinating woman. I guess it's hard to get out from under the shadow of Richard Rodgers.

Dorothy Rodgers writes quite a bit about the showbiz and artistic (largely Jewish, seemingly) milieu she and her husband enjoyed, and used stories of friends' homes to illustrate points -- this, under Uniquely Personal Touches / The Fun of Your Own Creating: "One of the most memorable things about the Rouben Mamoulians' sensational contemporary home in Hollywood is the trompe l'oeil Pompeian wall Azedia has painted for the living room; Rouben's delightful contribution is a group of fascinating portraits of Azadia made from shells, from pressed flowers, from semi precious stones; there is even a decoupage one that incorporates luggage stickers and postcards from a South American trip they once took."

Who are these delightful Mamoulians, and where are these tokens of affection?

Mr. Mamoulian, maker of miniature portrait collages, also made



Not bad. Here he is with Garbo:



And Flyn:



I could only find one picture of Azadia, painting a portrait of Carole Lombard; statuesque though Lombard may be, my eye immediately flies to Azadia:



Sadly, these "portraits of Azadia made from shells, from pressed flowers, from semi precious stones" have faded into the ether, or been shredded by cats:



Apparently they had a pet problem. How ridiculous is it that these were the only pictures I could find showing the interior?