“Does it hurt?” asked the Rabbit ...
"Generally, by the time you are Real, most of your hair has been loved off, and your eyes drop out and you get loose in the joints and very shabby. But these things don’t matter at all, because once you are Real you can’t be ugly, except to people who don’t understand.” ~ Margery Williams
There is a fascinating article - http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/music/3561782/The-story-behind-the-song-Moon-River.html - that talks about the model for Holly Golightly ... why Truman Capote was horrified at how whitewashed his risque character was in the movie... and what My Huckleberry Friend means, amongst other things! Good background fill-in. According to a New Yorker magazine article that quoted the writer directly - "Holly Golightly was not precisely a callgirl. She had no job, but accompanied expense-account men to the best restaurants and night clubs, with the understanding that her escort was obligated to give her some sort of gift, perhaps jewelry or a check ... if she felt like it, she might take her escort home for the night. So these girls are the authentic American geishas, and they're much more prevalent now than in 1943 or 1944, which was Holly's era."
Things in the book, missing in the movie: Holly's fondness for marijuana (gone in the film). Holly's bisexuality (ditto), and the wistful, ambiguous ending (replaced in the film by a conventional romantic happy ending) ... also, Joe the bartender, a character from Capote's novella that didn't make it into the movie What seems to be a very good book on this subject (besides the obvious - the original!) is Fifth Avenue, 5 A.M.: Audrey Hepburn, Breakfast at Tiffany's, and the Dawn of the Modern Woman By Sam Wasson Hardcover, 256 pages HarperStudio
There is a fascinating article - http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/music/3561782/The-story-behind-the-song-Moon-River.html - that talks about the model for Holly Golightly ... why Truman Capote was horrified at how whitewashed his risque character was in the movie... and what My Huckleberry Friend means, amongst other things! Good background fill-in. According to a New Yorker magazine article that quoted the writer directly - "Holly Golightly was not precisely a callgirl. She had no job, but accompanied expense-account men to the best restaurants and night clubs, with the understanding that her escort was obligated to give her some sort of gift, perhaps jewelry or a check ... if she felt like it, she might take her escort home for the night. So these girls are the authentic American geishas, and they're much more prevalent now than in 1943 or 1944, which was Holly's era."
ReplyDeleteThings in the book, missing in the movie: Holly's fondness for marijuana (gone in the film). Holly's bisexuality (ditto), and the wistful, ambiguous ending (replaced in the film by a conventional romantic happy ending) ... also, Joe the bartender, a character from Capote's novella that didn't make it into the movie What seems to be a very good book on this subject (besides the obvious - the original!) is
DeleteFifth Avenue, 5 A.M.: Audrey Hepburn, Breakfast at Tiffany's, and the Dawn of the Modern Woman
By Sam Wasson
Hardcover, 256 pages
HarperStudio