free spirit holly golightly, forever a cipher

Breakfast at Tiffany's the book shares a lot of the same traits as Breakfast at Tiffany's the film: charming in places, predictable in others, with some questionable and unnecessary ethnic and racist slurs. Truman Capote wrote it in 1958, but the story is set in 1943 as a young, unnamed writer (Capote's stand-in) moves into a brownstone on the upper east side of Manhattan. He soon encounters his 19 year-old enigmatic neighbor, Holly Golightly. She proceeds to charm and repel him at intervals, while remaining oblivious to his roller coaster-like reactions to her.

Holly (Audrey Hepburn) and Paul (George Peppard) spend a day in Manhattan in Breakfast At Tiffany's

Holly is definitely the most interesting character in the story, although she ultimately remains a cipher. What makes the book truly delightful is Capote's way with words. His descriptions of Holly and her antics are a joy to read, even if his humble narrator doesn't seem to ever really grasp her true character or what motivates her.

She was still hugging the cat. "Poor slob," she said, tickling his head, "Poor slob without a name. It's a little inconvenient, his not having a name. But I haven't any right to give him one: he'll have to wait until he belongs to somebody. We just sort of took up by the river one day, we don't belong to each other: he's an independent, and so am I. I don't want to own anything until I know I've found the place where me and things belong together. I'm not quite sure where that is just yet. But I know what it's like." She smiled, and let the cat drop to the floor. "It's like Tiffany's . . . nothing very bad could happen to you there, not with those kind men in their nice suits, and that lovely smell of silver and alligator wallets. If I could find a real-life place that made me feel like Tiffany's, then I'd buy some furniture and give the cat a name.”

Breakfast At Tiffany's, by Truman Capote

As fun and quick a read as it is, Breakfast at Tiffany's shows a dark side of New York, whether that was Capote's intention or not. Holly has been around - since a very young age. She may be mature beyond her years, but she is still a teenager who is being fawned over by a series of much older men, the narrator included. All these men want something from Holly - to love her, sleep with her, tame her. But she manages to evade their grasp. A young woman living independently, on her own terms, in 1940s New York was an anomaly. Holly as a character makes for interesting reading, but in the end Capote has her leave New York, leave the country, with no explanation, no resolution. Maybe he just didn't know how to deal with such a free spirit. She eluded him, too.

This post also appears on Cannonball Read 11

holiday music - 'zat you, santa claus? - louis armstrong and the commanders

Today's favorite holiday song discovery is Louis Armstrong's "Zat you, Santa Claus?" from 1953.

There is a remix version available, too:

But I like the original best, it has a real, live, nightclub performance feel to it.

favorite movie #106 - holiday edition: we’re no angels

Favorite movies that have had an impact on me - #106 - We’re No Angels (1955) - Joseph (Humphrey Bogart), Albert (Aldo Ray) and Jules (Peter Ustinov) are three convicts who escape from Devil's Island right before Christmas. They decide to hide out in a nearby general store run by the Ducotel family — Felix (Leo G. Carroll), his wife Amelie (Joan Bennett), and their daughter Isabelle (Gloria Talbott). While there, they start to observe the family and get involved in their problems — mainly the store's failing business and its imminent takeover by their ruthless cousin, Andre Trochard (Basil Rathbone), and his smarmy son Paul (John Baer), who is also Isabelle's crush. The trio and Albert's pet (poisonous) snake Adolphe set about trying to make everything right and give the Ducotels a nice Christmas. Humphrey Bogart shows his flair for comedy and he and Ray and Ustinov are great together.

L-R: Albert (Aldo Ray), Joseph (Humphrey Bogart), and Jules (Peter Ustinov)

Joseph: I'm going to buy them their Christmas turkey.
Albert: "Buy"? Do you really mean "buy"?
Joseph: Yes, buy! In the Spirit of Christmas. The hard part's going to be stealing the money to pay for it.

The angels from Devil's Island

Cousin Andre doesn't believe there's a snake inside that basket

favorite movie #100 - holiday edition: desk set

Favorite movies that have had an impact on me - #100 - Desk Set (1957) - Tracy and Hepburn. Librarians. New York City at Christmas. The early integration of computers (super-computer EMERAC) into the working world. Desk Set is just fun, fun, fun. Gig Young plays his usual leading-lady's-second-choice role and Joan Blondell and Dina Merrill get a few snappy lines as Katharine Hepburn's friends and research library assistants. Desk Set is Tracy and Hepburn's first color outing and their eighth and penultimate film together. They are always a wonderful screen duo, but this is my favorite of their teamings.

Richard Sumner (Spencer Tracy) introduces Bunny Watson (Katharine Hepburn) to EMERAC

The gals check out EMERAC (L-R: Joan Blondell, Dina Merrill, Sue Randall, Katharine Hepburn

Richard Sumner takes Bunny Watson "out" for lunch

Bunny Watson (Katharine Hepburn): Just for kicks. You don't have to answer it if you don't want to. I mean, don't dwell on the question, but I warn you there's a trick in it: If six Chinamen get off a train at Las Vegas, and two of them are found floating face down in a goldfish bowl, and the only thing they can find to identify them are two telephone numbers - one, Plaza Oh-Oh-Oh-Oh-Oh, and the other, Columbus Oh-1492 - what time did the train get to Palm Springs? 

Richard Sumner (Spencer Tracy): Nine o'clock. 

Bunny Watson: Now, would you mind telling me how you happened to get that? 

Richard Sumner: Well, there are eleven letters in Palm Springs. You take away two Chinamen, that leaves nine. 

Bunny Watson: You're a sketch, Mr. Sumner. 

Richard Sumner: You're not so bad yourself.

Link to Christmas: It's holiday season in New York, right before the Christmas break

p.s. It's got a 100% rating on Rotten Tomatoes!

favorite movie #81 - halloween edition: horrors of the black museum

Favorite movies that have had an impact on me - #81 - Horrors of the Black Museum (1959) - This movie scared the bejesus out of me when I saw it as a kid on Chiller Theater or some similar Friday or Saturday night horror programming on television. It opens up with a gruesome murder of a beautiful young woman. She is sent a pair of binoculars through the mail, and when she holds them up to her eyes, long blades pop out ... As much as I lament the slasher genre and its ilk, I have to admit that they are a direct descendant of movies like this one, which I also have to admit, thrilled me. Each murder depicted is more gruesome than the last, and I can still remember checking my bed to be sure there wasn't a hidden guillotine mechanism in the headboard for more than few nights after watching this flick. Thanks for the nightmares! Of course all the victims are nubile young women in form-fitting outfits, so there is an element of sex to the whole proceedings. Michael Gough plays a writer "helping" the police, who has his own personal black museum, contains instruments of torture. The British color film was promoted as being filmed in "Hypnovista," which was actually a prologue to the movie that included a hypnotist.

favorite movie #61 - halloween edition: the return of dracula

Favorite movies that have had an impact on me - #61 - The Return of Dracula (1958) - Another film that impressed and scared me as a kid was The Return of Dracula, with Francis Lederer starring as the bloodthirsty count. The vampire film ditched the usual Transylvanian setting for bright, suburban California. I originally saw the film on my family's black and white television, so didn't know about the color insert scene until many years later. I think what scared me most was the sheer banality — Dracula could be someone posing as an uncle and living upstairs. He could gain access to your bedroom at night if you were so foolish to sleep with the window open. The last scene was pretty gruesome, too - I probably hadn't seen anything like it at the time. Lederer is effective, too —  just the right amount of charm and outsider-ness to make the squeaky clean characters find him off-putting. Bonus — the whole, remastered film can be viewed on YouTube.

favorite movie #59: it's always fair weather

Favorite movies that have had an impact on me - #59 - It's Always Fair Weather (1955) - When most people think of classic Gene Kelly films, Singin' in the Rain, On the Town, and An American in Paris come to mind. But my personal favorite Kelly film is It's Alway Fair Weather. A story about three GIs who plan to meet again after ten years home from the war, it could be described as the dark side of On the Town. Ted (Kelly), Doug (Dan Dailey), and Angie (choreographer Michael Kidd, in his first onscreen role) have led very different lives since they were in the army together, and after a few minutes of being back together frankly loathe one another. A bored Ted tries to pick up Jackie (Cyd Charisse), an advertising executive who decides the boys' story is just what her late-night television show could use — some real schmaltz. The film is prophetic in its criticism and depiction of reality television and its phony host (Dolores Gray). There are some great set pieces, with the trio dancing with garbage can lids on their feet, Cyd Charisse charming the denizens of a fight club ("Baby You Knock Me Out"), and the best number of all, "I Like Myself," with Gene Kelly tap dancing on roller skates. Yes, I said that right. Gene Kelly dances on roller skates. The script (and song lyrics) are by Betty Comden and Adolph Green and the music by André Previn. Kelly co-directed with Stanley Donen, their last film together.

The only odd note in the film is that Gene Kelly and Cyd Charisse didn't have any dance numbers together. I found this on YouTube. It must have ended up on the cutting room floor.

art in film - bell, book, and candle

I love to see paintings and other art objects in movies. Depictions of artists are always fun, too. Here are some images from the Greenwich Village setting depicted in Bell, Book, and Candle (1958). Kim Novak's downtown witch, Gillian Holroyd, owns a gallery that sells African Art. There is also plenty of modern art to be found on the walls of her apartment, book publisher Shep (Jimmy Stewart)'s office, and his fiancee Merle (Janice Rule)'s apartment.

A cubist approach to Pyewacket

All of the art objects were supplied by the Carlebach Gallery, New York

"Pyewacket, stop scratching the sculpture!"

Hey, isn't that the Brady Bunch horse sculpture behind Ernie Kovacs?

Yep!

Merle is definitely influenced by Miro

Gillian has a very abstract Xmas tree

favorite movie #53: bell, book, and candle

Favorite movies that have had an impact on me - #53 - Bell, Book, and Candle (1958) - A middle-aged Jimmy Stewart may seem a strange choice for a romantic lead, but he was, like Cary Grant, still the go-to star for such films in the 1950s. For his two most romantic roles of this era his co-star and object of his affections was the lovely Kim Novak — in Vertigo and Bell, Book, and Candle, both released in 1958 — in May and November, respectively. While Vertigo is a mystery about obsessive, voyeuristic love told only the way Alfred Hitchcock could tell it,  Bell, Book, and Candle is a light-hearted comedic romance about a witch who falls for her upstairs neighbor — it was one of the inspirations for the long-running television show Bewitched. Stewart and Novak have great chemistry here, as they did in their previous film. Jack Lemmon, Elsa Lanchester, Hermione Gingold, and Ernie Kovacs are all fun in supporting roles. One wonders if Jack Lemmon's trick with the street lamps of Greenwich Village might have inspired author J.K. Rowling almost forty years later ...

Novak poses with her familiar, Pyewacket

It's also an Xmas movie!

Kim Novak wears bewitching costumes by Jean Louis

favorite movie #52: vertigo

Favorite movies that have had an impact on me - #52 - Vertigo (1958) - I saw Vertigo for the first time, and in a theater during its 1983 restoration/re-release. Wow.

I still remember to this day the hypnotic scene when Jimmy Stewart's Scottie is following Kim Novak's Madeleine and she walks into a flower shop from an alley back door. The alley is dark and dirty and the door is made of wood. I can swear when voyeuristic Scottie opens the wooden for a crack to see Madeleine surrounded by beautiful, colorful lush blooms I got a whiff of fragrant flowers myself.

Scottie (James Stewart) spies on Madeleine (Kim Novak)

Vertigo is Hitchcock's most person film and undoubtedly his masterpiece.

Judy (Kim Novak): If I let you change me, will that do it? If I do what you tell me, will you love me?

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happy alfred hitchcock day!