Vintage Novels {The Green Hat}

The Green Hat was one of the best-selling novels of 1924 and, due to it's plot, caused a sensation, particularly in America, where some people were shocked by it and naturally told their friends about how shocking it was so that they could go out and read it's shame-making details too. The novel made Michael Arlen an instant literary celebrity for his portrayal of the Bright Young People set way before Evelyn Waugh and others became famous. Yet, given all of this popularity and notoriety, the book and it's author is now largely forgotten.

Set in 1922, the novel is told by an unnamed narrator beginning on the night that he meets the woman in the green hat (which is a very important detail given that no one else wears such an attention-seeking accessory in 1922). She is Iris Storm (isn't that just a marvellous name) who is a member of the upper-class and a wealthy widow, twice over, and only 29. Iris drives a bright yellow roadster everywhere, travels widely and rarely visits England. She is also notorious because her first husband killed himself on their wedding night "for purity" and she is now known as being a "fell woman". Iris meets the Narrator because he lives downstairs from her alcoholic twin brother, once a promising young novelist. Iris and the Narrator talk for hours in his flat and she quite obviously lets her emerald ring drop from her finger when she is vaguely telling him why she has so many affairs. The ring drop shows what kind of a woman she is at the beginning of the novel, which is quite different from who she is at the end (be warned, it's not a happy ending). The events which unfold are told by the Narrator over the next two years as he encounters Iris in London and Paris at important events in her life. Iris invites the Narrator along when something important is going to happen because he is an observer and he thinks that she feels that he understands her character and why she has deliberately chosen such a sad and lonely life.

I decided to read this novel because I had come across it's name and Michael Arlen's briefly in books about the Bright Young People. It's not my new favourite novel and I don't really like it. It's not funny at all, the writing is still a bit amatuerish with a lot of literary references for references sake and also the plot was quite predictable and just so terribly sad. However, it is an important book to read and that is because of Iris. Iris is a glimpse into the start of the Lost Generation. She does live life fast, drives fast and travels in great opulence seeking only pleasure, however she is still tied to Victorian notions because she is doing this in a quasi act of penance for a reason that is understandable but a bit silly. Iris is a very sympathetic character who's life has been decided by circumstances and who wears specific clothes and accessories in order to symbolize her character.

The Green Hat is still being printed and has been loosely adapted into A Woman of Affairs in 1928 with Garbo and Gilbert, but I do think it would make a very good BBC adaptation.

Cinema Tuesdays {Ask Any Girl}

From 1959 it's Ask Any Girl starring a very young Shirley Maclaine with beige hair and a whine. Shirley Maclaine plays a very, very naive 20 year old small town girl who has come to New York for a career (not a husband). I don't know what kind of a career she had in mind, since she is plagued by bad luck due to her lack of experience. She doesn't even know to put her suitcase between her legs in a crowded train station, because that creepy looking guy behind her is about to steal it. She is also constantly quoting statistics in order to win arguments.

She moves into one of those hotels for unmarried girls and accepts donations of clothing. Her new friend doesn't believe that she is only looking for a career not a husband, because she wears a girdle which acts as "bait"
On her very first interview, she gets a job at a sweater company. She can't type a letter but her boss thinks that she'll look good in a sweater.
Isn't that the cutest? I envision a DIY project in the near future.

She then meets Whatshisname and they date for many months.

He invites her up to his Aunt and Uncle's place for the weekend and she thinks that he's going to propose. She also forgets to ask whether his Aunt and Uncle will be there.

When Whatshisname makes his intentions clear, she freaks out and spends the night in the train station, even though he'd explained that he thought that she knew about the weekend in the country thing since she was an adult. Sometimes Shirley Maclaine's immaturity and naivety gets really annoying but she does have a great wardrobe.
On the train back, who should they run into but the Boss.
Naturally he leaps to conclusions and once she figures out what those conclusions are, she quits. I love that grey cardigan over there on the right, which I had never noticed until I was going through the screencaps. Too bad there isn't a close up, but don't you think that it looks like something that Mod Cloth would sell.

Her friends then get her to go to the marketing office where they work for a paid consumer test (flavoured cigarettes) in case the boss might offer her a job.

David Niven plays the stuffy older brother who is only focused on work (basically Bogart in Sabrina). Shirley Maclaine fails the consumer test because she doesn't smoke (nor does she drink) and tried to inhale. She then gets ink over David Niven's tie and he throws her out.

On her way out she meets Gig Young and his signature red vest. He plays the younger brother who likes girls and coming into work in the middle of the afternoon, but he is very charming and good with clients (basically William Holden in Sabrina). He likes her legs and gives her a job as a field research worker.
He also takes her out a couple of times, mostly because he doesn't have to work hard with her and he can rest from the night before.
Shirley Maclaine is also thrown out of the hotel because they think she's a prostitute or something and she and one of the hotel girls move in together. What she doesn't realize is that her roomie isn't really an actress. I'm going to say that she's a "good time girl" who likes loud parties and they really shouldn't be sharing a room together because Shirley Maclaine is still stuck in a small town.
Anyway, one of her friends says that she is giving up and settling because she isn't getting any younger.

So she proposes that David Niven help her by finding out what Gig Young likes in a girl so that they make attack him on the subconscious level and get him to marry her and then maybe he'll get to work on time. By the way, Shirley Maclaine's character is only 20, but her career isn't exactly going to plan so why not get married.
So, David Niven sets about by dating every single girl in Gig Young's black book as "research".
He then identifies Gig Young favourite records, perfumes, etc.

And Gig Young starts to get interested in Shirley Maclaine's new mannerisms.

David Niven also dyes Shirley Maclaine's hair and helps her try out Gig Young favourite food: Hot Chicken Mouse.

The new Shirley Maclaine is most pleasing to both brothers.
Then, you know what happens, Shirley Maclaine confesses the plot to Gig Young after he proposes and she realizes that she loves David Niven and runs away. Who would you pick: David Niven or Gig Young? I'd go for David Niven all the way.
So, Shirley Maclaine is tired of being a good girl and invites herself to Whatshisname's country house and proceeds to have ti many martoonies on the train.

Who do you think throws the first punch here?

I couldn't find any trailers or clips of Ask Any Girl anywhere and TCM has not run the film since they started broadcasting in Canada several years ago. Mr. Amazon does have a couple of very expensive VHS copies available. The film is also badly in need of restoration. I fiddled with the colour of the above screencaps in iPhoto, this is what the film really looks like now:

See, quite faded. The only readily available source that I could find for the film (which is a very funny social satire) is on this site, which requires a sign-up in order to access the person to person sharing of files. That's for those of you who have no problem with that. If you do have a problem with "rhymes with blorrent" then just think of how Mr. Turner has made more money then we could ever dream of and he still refuses to put his entire archive on affordable DVDs.

Vintage Books {Lulu in Hollywood}

Along with ZaSu Pitts in Greed, Lillian Gish in The Wind, Renée Jeanne Falconetti in The Passion of Joan of Arc and Janet Gaynor in Sunrise, Louise Brooks in her two Pabst films are among the best performances by an actress in silent films. I think a lot of people have seen pictures of Louise Brooks and have never seen her films (of course they aren't that widely available).

When I first read this book, the only one of her films that I'd seen is the library's badly stretched VHS of Pandora's Box and I instantly saw her appeal and her potential for becoming the greatest actress. I think I was reading the Barry Paris biography at the same time, but I felt that I learned more about her by reading her own words. When I was rereading the essays this week, I can't help but want more. The seven essays that Louise Brooks wrote are some of the most marvellous essays that I've ever read. Like Colleen Moore's book, Miss Brooks focused on her life until she retired from acting.

Her essays are extremely witty, very detailed, well-written and highly controlled. We do get a sense of her personality and her motives behind her decision to quit the movies (she said that she hated Hollywood) but she is also very guarded about her life and so she only tells us what she wants us to know. There are seven essays in this book (and as far as I can find out, these are her only published works since she burnt her autobiographical novel) however, only three of them are specifically about herself.

There's her childhood and becoming a Denishawn dancer and a Ziegfeld Girl both while she was a teenager, there's an account of shooting Beggars of Life on location and then her tale of how she walked out on her Paramount contract and went to Europe to make three films.

The other four essays are about people that she knew in the Twenties and her account and more importantly, her analysis of certain events or just their personalities and a record of their method of working. The one that I find most interesting, in terms of film history, is how easily she was able to explain why Miss Gish's star dropped at the same time that Garbo became Garbo.

Louise Brooks was definitely ahead of her time, but she still took the time and care to observe and remember her time and it is her writing which has helped to make her a legend. And perhaps, she is ahead of even our time.

Cinema Tuesdays {Boys' Night Out}

This is my favourite Sex Comedy. It's just an absolutely brilliant satire. And if you thought the title sequence from Down With Love was awesome, then this one will blow your mind, especially since this is 1962 and done by hand!

These are the Boys. Their night out is sitting in their favourite bar every Thursday, deciding whether to go bowling or not until it's time to catch the 11:35 train.

Isn't Tony Randall the best? He plays George and tells the dirtiest stories you've ever heard.

George loves to talk, the only problem is that his wife hasn't let him finish a sentence since they moved to the suburbs.

Then there's Howie and Doug.

Doug's wife is very concerned about appearances, she even has her hair and make-up done before breakfast. Doug likes fixing things around the house, but she hires various repairmen instead, because she's worried about what the neighbours might think if they saw that they were living within their means.

Howie's wife likes spoiling the children and is on a diet, so naturally Howie is on a diet too and has fainting spells in the middle of the afternoon.

And then there's Fred. Fred is divorced and lives in the suburbs with his mother, who wants grandchildren.

One morning, Howie finds this in his son's lunch box. It has an article (the boys are just reading it for the articles) detailing the ten essential items in a love nest.

That love nest thing isn't such a bad idea, especially if they split it four ways. So, why not make Fred go and find a place for $200 a month.

Fred finds a little two bedroom on the Upper East Side, very nicely furnished too, complete with a hidden wine rack and mirrors on the ceiling.

And the agent gives it to him for $200! Crazy, right? Normally you have to kill for a place like this. But with that rent? Someone would have to be murdered for that. And they were, but the carpet was cleaned.

While waiting for the boys to show up, Fred has "ti many martoonis" and mistakenly believes that Cathy has come about the ad for the "companion" and not for the apartment. James Garner is great at underplaying drunk.

Meanwhile, the boys are so proud of Fred for finding the place. They're like kids in a candy store.

Now, if only they had a blonde housekeeper.

So, why would Cathy suddenly agree to the deal if she isn't a companion? She'd a post-grad sociologist doing field work on her thesis "Adolescent Sexual Fantasies in the Adult Suburban Male". Her professor isn't too sure about what she's using as her laboratory.

Meanwhile, Fred stops by to convince Cathy not to ruin her life, but then he changes the subject. I love Kim Novak's wardrobe in this movie. Her dresses are glamourous, but comfortable and her casual clothing of leggings and a man's shirt or sweater looks so much better than sweatpants or even jeans.

You'll love the nosy Mrs. Next Door, especially when she faints or breaks out the tambourine.

Because Cathy is a nice girl and a student and not a doxy, she keeps the boys out of her bedroom by giving them what they lack at home. Like listening to George's life story.

I love this dress, it's simple, red and has deep pockets. It's hard to find a dress or a skirt with hidden, deep pockets.

Cathy also breaks her record player so that Doug can fix it with his pocket spanner.

It's easy to know what Howie wants. The apron might be plain, but it does look cute and Kim Novak doesn't really suit prints.

I find it interesting to show that when Cathy is being all serious and academic, they put her in dark colours with high necklines, disguise her small waist and put glasses on her. As a girl who wears glasses, I resent movies that have librarian-like figures in glasses who become beautiful and less intelligent as soon as they take them off, but I do like this outfit and will try it out in the fall if I can find a plaid shirt.

This is the best dress in the movie! Since Fred doesn't have a wife, Cathy gives him what he's missing at home -a fight complete with door slamming.

Meanwhile, the girls have started to notice that they are getting flowers in the middle of the week. Has anyone else seen that infomercial for the vibrating weight-loss band-thing? Doesn't look an awful lot like that machine there?

So the girls decide to share the cost of a private detective.

Meanwhile, Cathy decides to interview the girls on their attitudes towards sex in order to get both sides to her study.

And then, Fred apologizes for their fight. He doesn't care what kind of a girl she is, he's going to date her anyway.

He invites her up to the country for the weekend. But first, he has to coach the Little League game. Do they still have Little League in America?

What's great about the fashions in this movie is that you get to see how suburban housewives (and husbands on the weekend) dress down, which you don't see in many movies or in a lot of episodes of Mad Men.

The boys are naturally shocked to see Cathy at the game. Is Fred planning on ruining the whole set-up? Yup, he may have only known her two weeks, but he still wants to marry Cathy.

Meanwhile, the girls have heard from their private detective, who's given them a discount.

Meanwhile, the boys find out that Cathy isn't that type of a girl and naturally assume that she's going to blackmail them. She matches the apartment in this outfit, which is hard to do since orange dresses are hard to find.

And then Fred finds out that Cathy isn't a doxy, which he had accepted. She's a no-good sociologist! He just can't ignore that, it's worse than being a doxy.

And then the girls and Fred's mother show up after a very long liquid lunch.

Availability: This wonderful film hasn't been shown on TCM for a few years and Mr. Turner has not released it on DVD. It was only available on a pan-and-scan VHS in the early '90's (as you can see, my copy is well worn) which you can still find a few copies of over at Mr. Amazon. Or if you would like to save on shipping costs, I know that you can find the file over at your friendly neighbourhood Pirate Bay.

Edit: As of December 2010 Boys' Night Out is remastered as available as part of the Warner Archives collection.