Cinema Tuesdays {Three Coins in the Fountain}

The plot is really rather simple. It is the story of three American girls living in Rome who wish to get married. The biggest disappointment is that Sinatra is singing the title song over a wonderful travelogue around Rome and he doesn't show up once in the film!

These are the three secretaries: Anita, Frances and Maria. What is interesting about them is how their costumes show who they are and who they will end up marrying.

Maria is the youngest and has just arrived in Rome wearing a wonderful travel suit with a matching polka dot blouse and belt and carrying matching luggage.

Her clothes are just a bit more expensive and tailored compared to her two room mates. Her wardrobe looks new and make her look older then she is and she probabily bought everything just before she went to Rome and they look like her first grown up clothes.

Here they are at a cocktail party. I love the criss-cross belt on Frances, but not the colour. Anita looks the most modern and least American and I'd rather have her dress. Maria looks like she's trying to be a society lady, but hasn't yet found herself.

Louis Jourdan plays an Italian prince with a French accent and a cool car. Maria sets her sights on him and starts stalking him. Well, he is a wealthy playboy prince -wouldn't you?

I love this dress of hers. Look at the buttons on the sleeve and her backwards belt and her turquoise choker.

Ooo, a striped double-breasted blouse with a Peter Pan collar!

Maria wears a lot of light colours and pastels in very fine fabrics, like this chiffon wrap.

And the light lime gown underneath.

This is Louis Jourdan's mother. She rocks! Black lace shawl showing that she's a widow, but that expensive necklace shows her position and her little knowing smile can make anyone feel guilty, especially Maria.

A very dull dress, somewhere in between school girl and maiden aunt, but perfect for meeting Mama.

Let's move onto Frances, who can't be older than 35 but she wears drab dresses that make her look about 10 years older then she actually is. Well, she is over 30 and unmarried! But the see-through cardigan shows that she is still trying to look her age.

Frances is the secretary to famous older American writer and she's been in love with him for 15 years. Writer has never noticed this because he isn't interested in women. Oh, right. This is a Code movie. Writer doesn't see that Frances is in love with him because Clifton Webb was miscast and William Powell should be playing the writer.

I love her twisted necklace with the coral to match her dress, the blue for her hat and pearls for shine. I also like Maria wearing a scarf with pearls, which makes her look both old and young.

This is the youngest that Frances looks in the movie and the cut and neckline really go with her figure.

And then she finally wears a real colour at the end. Do you know, I don't think she's wearing a bra!

Anita has the best wardrobe in the film. She looks like she belongs in Rome. She dresses for the weather and wears vibrant colours. Rossano Brazzi and Anita have been in love with each other for two years, but they can't do anything about it because the boss wont let the secretaries date the Roman employees. I don't know why.

Maria wears pencil skirts, but Anita wears nice, flowing skirts and sandals. I still want that dress.

For a picnic in the country, Anita wears a polka dot dress with a draped neckline, matching orange cardigan and belt and a medium-sized picture hat.

The green dress is by favourite. Just look at the button detail on the shoulders.

And the lighter green accents. It's also quite sexy and she covers it up with a voluminous blue duster coat and a sweet straw hat in order to hide her form when walking the streets without an escort. I found it quite bold for a mainstream Code movie to show Anita staying in Rossano Brazzi's room for a couple of days without a set of twin beds.

This travel suit with a pussy bow blouse is the first time that we see Anita dress like an American and it's because she's leaving Rome and going back to her old life, but the beaded bracelet shows that she would prefer to stay in Italy. Suitcases should be brought back, you can sit on them, but you can't sit on the soft wheelie bags that are made now.

Lets look at some of the minor characters. First, there's one of these at every large cocktail party -the society matron who thinks that she could be a great wit if only the popular author of the day would help her. But I really like her pleated cape.

This is the boss and his wife. The wife is the one who got her husband to implement the no office romance rule, but you knew that from the way she is dressed.

The wife is also a gossip and tries to hard to show her position as an American Abroad, but still connected with the Establishment. The dress is nice, but combined with the wrap and her age, she is just trying too hard.

The sets are gorgeous! Like the Writer's antique filled, but airy flat above and Louis Jourdan's family den.

Until I saw the boss's office, I didn't know that many shades of beige existed.

I really like the girls' apartment, it has a very Fifties colour scheme.

That cupboard is so beautiful. I really love the packing scenes! Steamer trunks with built in hangers and drawers and suitcases with straps to hold everything in!

Here is the original trailer. I forgot to mention, but this is the first movie shot in breathtaking Cinemascope.

Daily Outfit

So, what do you think of the new layout? I've been meaning to change it for quite sometime and yesterday I spent almost two hours figuring out the new template design feature. I'm quite pleased with the result. Because I have no idea how to graphic design stuff on the computer, I took out my pencil and sketchbook and drew myself a new banner then I embroidered it, took a picture and cropped it in iPhoto. The yellow polka dot fabric is one of the first fabrics I used when I was learning how to hand sew when I was a child. And "The Owl and the Pussycat" is my favourite poem.

Last week after hours getting lost in all of those beautiful images floating around, I finally started my own Tumblr and I've just now signed up for something called Bloglovin' Follow my blog with bloglovin

I think I'm really starting to get the hang of this internetty stuff. I might even start to remember to sign into Facebook more than once every few months. I may even decide to sign up for Twitter, instead of just stalking Stephen Fry on it to find out when a new episode of QI airs.

What I have decided to do is to let you decide on a theme for next months' Vintage Novels posts. It can be anything -an author, genre, decade, nonfiction, essays, whatever. I'll read anything.
I found this skirt last week at my favourite thrift store. It's new, from Australia and I don't think it was ever worn. I really like the abstract print and the ribbon and ric rac around the waist.

Shirt: thrifted

Skirt: thrifted

Scarf: vintage

Earrings: vintage

Sandals: thrifted SAS

Mah Jong Bracelet: vintage

Vintage Novels {Death on the Nile}

So, have we all seen the gorgeous adaptation by now? The one with David Suchet that is, not the 1978 movie with Peter Ustinov's ridiculous French accent. Beautiful photography and wonderful late-Thirties costumes, wouldn't you agree?

How about the original 1937 book? Well, it took me ages to actually get through it. At one point I got to the middle and Linnet was still alive and I had to put it aside and read several other books before I went back and finished the blasted thing in one go. I've mentioned before that even though I've read a lot of her books, I really can't stand reading Agatha Christie. This book best illustrates why I don't like her. Death on the Nile is really two different books in one. First, there is the melodramatic love triangles between Linnet, Jacqueline and Simon and Cornelia, the Doctor and Ferguson and Cornelia's aunt, who does actually approve of Cornelia's marriage at the end of the book.

The second book is of the murder itself and the subsequent investigation by Poirot and Col. Race. The crime was added in almost as an afterthought, as if Mrs. Christie suddenly remembered that was why people read her books. The crime is ingenious and so very clever. Especially the bit about the nail polish and the sound of a cork popping. What would have happened if no one had heard the popping? And the nail polish is just brilliant. The major reason why I don't like reading Agatha Christie is because she clearly hates Poirot (as anyone who has read Curtain would know). As her popularity rose and she had to write the Poirot series, she increasingly made Poirot unlikeable and more and more like a vain, old, foolish egomaniac. Poirot keeps drifting in an out of the narrative until the murder is commited and when he does appear, Mrs. Christie tells us of what the other characters think of him, which isn't favourable. But it does make you really appreciate what David Suchet has been doing for the past twenty years and I hear that he is determined to finish off the canon. If he does, then he would be the first actor to have filmed every story of a literary detective. Although Jeremy Brett did get close, but that's a post for another day.

The other reason why I don't like reading Agatha Christie is that she's not a very good writer. Her crimes are ingenious and The Murder of Roger Ackroyd is fantastic for it's uniqueness. But her writing style is much more suited for the melodramatic romances she kept clogging up her books with. But she's not much of a detective writer because she lets the reader's suspense go and when she realizes that she's wandered off then she adds another dead body. For great mystery writing, I much prefer Dorothy Sayers.

The adaptation did change a few minor points, but it is largely faithful to the novel, except for the relationship between Tim and his mother. ITV changed it into something weird to get better ratings or for controversy, but in the novel he asks Rosalie to marry him, which is the much better outcome.

But if you only two Agatha Christie books in your life, or you want to see how to adapt a novel into a television show, then read this one and The Murder of Roger Ackroyd.

Classic Television {WKRP in Cincinnati}

My favourite sitcom ever! WKRP ran for only four seasons from 1978-1982, but boy! was it ever funny and memorable. WKRP was about an eccentric radio station that had been around for decades but was still the laughing stock of the market but was still determined to become successful. WKRP also dealt with tackling social and cultural issues of the day, such as homophobia, an increasing mechanized society, corporations trying to take over small businesses, marketing of drugs to teens, overcrowding of rock concerts, bomb threats, the environment, women in the workplace and reality television.

But what made the show a success was the characters and how they worked together as a family in order to deal with the problem of the week or the weirdo of the week.

First there was Arthur "Big Guy" Carlson, the station manager who would rather play with his toys and go fishing then deal with work. His mother owned the station and was always disappointed with how her son failed to become a tycoon and was terrified of her. Mr. Carlson is also a very sweet and sympathetic character who could occasionally take charge of things, but most of the time acted as the bumbling Dad type. He also doesn't really like Rock 'n' Roll, but the kids seem to like it and their ratings are improving.

Then there's Andy Travis, the Program Director. In the pilot he changes the station's format from waiting room music to Top 40 Rock 'n' Roll and sets about improving the station's market standing from 16 to 10. He could be a big shot if he moved to a bigger station, but he refuses to leave the station, where he views his position as being a guard at a loony bin. His tight-jeaned urban cowboy wardrobe never changes during the show's run.

This is Jennifer Marlowe. She's my favourite character, but that might be because I was named after her. Jennifer is the receptionist and the station's highest paid employee since she is the one holding everything together and basically runs the joint. Jennifer knows a lot of people, she even calls the President "Ronnie". And she does date a lot of wealthy, older men but mostly as friends and companions since she is not a gold digger. Jennifer wears a lot of monochrome jewel coloured sweater and skirt sets with very subtle gold jewellery and a helmet of hairspray. Towards the end of the series, her wardrobe does move into the early Eighties with lace insets and a bit over the top (but no shoulder pads). Plus, she also lives in a huge penthouse apartment with a doorbell that plays "Fly Me to the Moon".

Bailey Quarters has a degree in journalism and wants to become a broadcasting executive. At the start of the series she was shy and fresh faced and only in charge of billing and traffic but as the series progressed she became more assertive and was put in charge of continuity, contests and some news broadcast. Bailey is the most interesting in terms of character development and how she changed her wardrobe in order to show how serious she was about her career. Gradually she stopped wearing the student wardrobe of jeans, cardigans and over-sized glasses and wore more masculine influenced clothes, like suspenders and tweed jackets while still maintaining the relaxed atmosphere of WKRP instead of going into full-blown Eighties power mode. She represents the movement towards female executives in the Eighties.

Les Nessman is the News Director and he takes his job very seriously, even though he's more concerned with his award-winning farm reports than with the actual news. Les is also accident-prone, paranoid and naive but he wears a bow tie which brings out his haplessness and charm. Les sees himself as the Edward R. Murrow of Cincinnati, although most of the station's visitors think that's he's a little insane. Les wants to be taken seriously in the world of journalism and so he put tape around his desk in order to show where his office walls would be if WKRP were a bigger station with more money.

Herb Tarlek is the Sales Manager. He also wears hideous polyester suits that look like they were once car seat covers and matching white belt and white loafers. Herb is fast-talking, sleazy and acts like a used car salesman but he does know his job, even if the only accounts he can land are for retirement homes and bait shops. He's also sexist and enjoys his three martini lunches with clients and he spends most of his time hitting on Jennifer. He also named his daughter Bunny.

Then there's Dr. Johnny Fever, the early morning DJ. Johnny has been a DJ for most of his life and is very good at his job. But he was in California for the Sixties and took a lot of drugs, now he has trouble remembering his name and what town he's in. He also has the occasional flashback and is an insomniac. Now, he's only addicted to coffee. And he really, really hates disco and being forced to play any of the current Top Ten records. He's also the funniest character and is played by Howard Hessman, who actually was a DJ in the Sixties.

This is Venus Flytrap, the night time DJ. Venus is really cool and happening and wears the most outrageous suits. Venus also wears every trend that happened in the late Seventies, from velour jumpsuits to gold chains, kimonos, and shinny jackets. He and Jennifer are the two characters the others go to for advice.

There used to be a lot of excellent clips on YouTube, but they were all taken down by the Powers That Be late last year. So here are the ones I could find:

These are some clips from the "Bomb Threat" episodes. Obviously Johnny is the only one who saw The President's Analyst.

This is the most famous scene from the most famous episode of WKRP called "Turkey Drop". It's not my favourite episode tho. My favourites are "Fish Story" where Johnny and Venus have an on-air drinking contest with a cop and a giant pig paints the lobby and "Hoodlum Rock" which has a Spinal Tap-like band before Spinal Tap was thought of.

Availability: The first season was finally released on DVD in 2008. Do Not buy the DVD. Do Not rent it. Do Not add it to your Netflix queue. Do Not watch it on hulu. Do Not pass Go and Do Not collect $200. I bought it when it was released and it made me cry. Since WKRP was about a radio station, obviously they played popular music when making the episodes and the music that they played is copyrighted. Rather then pay for the music rights, the DVD releasers instead replaced everything with generic sounds, I hesitate to call it "music". By replacing the original music, the jokes and punch lines don't make sense and in some cases, whole scenes were cut out, like the one below. Instead all four seasons are available as bootlegged versions (now widely available thanks to the internet), which is how everyone has been watching the show since it was cancelled. WKRP is still in syndication in some areas, I just don't know which areas.

Cinema Tuesdays {Summertime}

Such a wonderful film and my favourite travelogue movie. Katharine Hepburn travels to Venice and meets the handsome Rossano Brazzi, who's married.

Her travelling outfit has an interesting neckline and interesting buttons up the back, but I love the belt!

That's the great thing about filming on location -genuine crowds. I think they should bring back travel stickers on luggage.

Nothing against Americans, but you can always spot a typical American tourist.

But they do enjoy themselves.

Has anyone under the age of 50 ever tried one of those flowered-church lady hats? How does it look?

I love that lobby and the spiral staircase. Not too sure that I would be wearing high heeled sandals if I were in her shoes tho.

Love the glamourous widow and that she's wearing rickrack.

I really dig this outfit, especially the skirt.

What I really love about this movie are it's cuts to the buildings and also the people walking about and their outfits. Dig her Spanish shawl.

Katharine Hepburn is wonderful in this film, especially how open she is at showing Miss Hudson's loneliness and her longing to be half of a couple but still knowing that that will never happen.

Wouldn't it be great if you could still buy portable 8mm cameras.

Great sandals. And you can she her slip -shocking! Venice must be getting to her.

She wears this dress a couple of times and the lines are quite interesting and totally suits her.

I could write a paper on the colours of her clothes and the symbolism of the flower and the colour red, but that would take the fun out of watching the film.

He played this character in most of his films, but I like this one the best, mostly because he was the lead and he and Miss Hepburn had great chemistry.

Interesting how she changes out of pastels and into a brighter pink right after she first talks to Rossano Brazzi.

At first I thought that her hairstyle was simple, but after the overhead shot and all those combs and the ribbon, it strikes me as a hairstyle that's easy to do only because her character had worn it this way everyday for 20 years or so.

Don't fall into the canal. Miss Hepburn did develop a permanent eye infection. But if you do fall in the canal, don't wear shoes without backs.

Ah yes, the days before portable hair dryers.

I like that bag, anyone else think that it looks like a souvenir scarf?

The polka-dot dress is lovely, but with a different neckline, no?

Don't you just love it when something from a window display calls to you?

My favourite part of the movie, that scarf and ribbon twisted through the double-stranded pearls.

Both dresses suit both actresses, but the blonde is a little overdressed.

I had one of these when I was small, only mine was a brown dog.

Since both films were released in the same year, I wonder who came up with the fireworks scene first -Mr. Lean or Mr. Hitchcock?

The lone shoe and curtains is quite daring for a Code film, especially since both characters get away with it. A big difference compared to Now Voyager, they were only allowed to smoke and not to cut to swirling curtains.

The matching coat is fantastic!

The morning after and Katharine Hepburn has completely abandoned pastel coloured dresses in favour of separates in earthy colours.

I couldn't find the trailer online, but here's a scene with the pink dress: