Tags
Amy Tan, Betty Grable, Cary Grant, Dave Barry, Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, Gilda, Jane Russell, Marilyn Monroe, Monkey Business, Montgomery Clift, Norman Mailer, Olivia de Havilland, Proofreading Woman, Rita Hayworth, Robert Mitchum, Rock Bottom Remainders, Shakira, Stephen King, The Awful Truth, The Grass is Greener, The Heiress, The Joys of Love
Tonight was supposed to be the last night of my husband’s movie marathon … but The Heiress (1949, Olivia de Havilland and Montgomery Clift) arrived from Netflix with a third of disk broken off. Considering that we must go through at least 20 DVDs a month (we’re on the 4-DVDs-at-a-time plan, which Mike constantly cycles for his dissertation film viewings), one broken DVD every few months isn’t too bad.
My favorite song from The Heiress: Plaisir D’Amour. No idea why they added Elvis in there at the end …
Instead, we watched The Grass is Greener (1960, Cary Grant), a charming romantic comedy about a husband who wins back the affections of his wayward wife. I’ll give you a hint: he challenges her lover to a duel. Yes, the movie takes place in modern times, but they’re British. The film spends way too much time on the adulterous romance between Deborah Kerr and Robert Mitchum, but nothing can stop Cary Grant’s acting or his beautifully-written character. Neither of us are big Deborah Kerr fans, but Robert Mitchum deserved a better character. Still, at the end of the film I’m happy.
Our marathon, once complete, goes (went?) as such:
Mon 1/9: Of Human Bondage; Bride of Frankenstein
Tues: The Informer; Captain Blood
Wed: Swing Time; Lost Horizon
Thurs: One Hundred Men and a Girl; Bringing Up Baby
Fri: Stagecoach; Rebecca
Mon 1/16: Gone with the Wind
Tues: Citizen Kane; Song of Bernadette
Wed: Double Indemnity; Laura
Thurs: Meet Me in St. Louis; The Best Years of our Lives
Fri: The Paleface; The Heiress
It’s been great fun and perfect timing, as I’ve had the last two weeks off from work. As an assistant professor, I’m on a 10-month contract where I work Fall and Spring semesters plus one month in the summer (for Reference in the library). Spring semester starts Monday, and I’ve spent the last two weeks recovering from my 6-week sinus infection. I’m finally healthy again, though poor Mike has had a stomach bug and has to make up The Song of Bernadette since he too sick that afternoon even to watch a movie.
Asides from sleeping, movie watching, and catching up on housework, I’m pacing myself through a Marilyn Monroe “biography” that’s really more of a wordy poetic prose summary by Norman Mailer, accompanied by photo tribute. I’m having fun reading (and looking), but this is far from your complete biography. It’s really more Mailer’s opinions on Monroe combined with what he’s scraped up from other people’s biographies. Written in the 1970s, too, so that adds a perspective twist.
Norman Mailer bashes this number. I think he’s nuts.
Mailer, by the way, had horrible taste in movies. He bashes Monkey Business, for Christ’s sake. I’d label him an arrogant stiff from some of his writing in this book, but he sang in Dave Barry and Stephen King’s unabashedly bad band of writers, The Rock Bottom Remainders. The band’s name itself is self-derogatory, tongue-in-cheek. We own the CD. My favorite song is “Proof-Reading Woman.” Thus I withhold judgment on Norman Mailer.
Don’t worry, the CD recording’s better. Amy Tan sometimes performs in leather, I hear.
I never thought I’d become a Marilyn Monroe fan, but she’s simply fascinating once you dig in. The more I know about her, the more I love her movies and feel akin to her personality … her tragedy. I’m also trying to find any remotely equivalent female stars who could sing and dance on film with a similar effect. Yes, there are many other sexy performers … but the only one I’ve found that even holds a candle is Rita Hayworth‘s song “Put the Blame on Mame” from Gilda. But it’s too short, and perhaps isolated.
The only modern star who comes close to Marilyn, for me, is Shakira. Before I knew her identity, two of her performances literally stopped me in my tracks … separately. The first, her Pepsi commercial based on the little-known song Ask for More, made my jaw drop while I was walking through my college student union lobby. The second, Whenever, Wherever is much better known now. But at the time, she wasn’t. Nearly ten years later, Shakira hasn’t lost that goddess quality. It might just keep growing until … who knows? She has the health for it, unlike Marilyn.
Still, Shakira can’t claim to be Marilyn Monroe. Her stage had already been prepared by Marilyn. Marilyn Monroe catalyzed the sexual revolution of the 1960s … most of which she didn’t live to see. Her combination of out-there sexuality, innocence, and seeming divinity made her a film icon but a human wreck. Like so many true artists, she couldn’t survive her own talent. She paved the way for the rest of them, including Shakira.
As for Marilyn Monroe’s contemporaries … she didn’t have any. I’m still looking, but consider the following sexy song/dance numbers compared to hers:
Jane Russell: good but kinda vulgar when at her sexiest. She couldn’t pull it off like Marilyn even when paired with Marilyn, who was paid 1/10 of Jane’s salary in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes.
Betty Grable: a little too innocent? Marilyn actually unseated her as the top blonde star at Fox.
From The Awful Truth. Hilarious but not terribly sexy, either time.
There’s just no one to compare. But I’m still looking. Mike seems to appreciate my efforts.
