Cinema Tuesdays {Mrs. Henderson Presents}

For July, I thought that I'd do movies about the art of burlesque starting with Mrs Henderson Presents from a few years ago.

Inspired by the true story of Mrs. Henderson, a rich and eccentric widow in her seventies who decides to get a hobby. She buys the Windmill Theatre and hires Vivian Van Damm to manage it. They put on a musical comedy revue called Revudeville with the novelty of continuous performances. When this fails to make money, Mrs Henderson takes a page from America when vaudeville was on the way out and burlesque was brought in and suggests that they have nudes on the stage. Now, this was unheard of in England, not to mention illegal. Fortunately, there is a loophole in which they can present nude tableaux, that is naked girls who don't move. This turns Revudeville into a smash hit. The Windmill was famous for their motto "We Never Closed" as it was the only theatre in the West End to have never closed, not even during the height of the Blitz.

Mrs Henderson Presents has everything you could want in a vintage inspired movie: gorgeous Thirties and Forties costumes, bright colours, nudity, wonderful lighting, beautiful sets, girls dressed as mermaids, enviable hair and hats, the tragedy of war, wit, dancing chorus girls, delightful title cards and Judi Dench and Bob Hoskins sparring with each other.

That's really all I have to say about the film. You've probably already seen it. If you haven't, what are you waiting for?

And now, on to the screen caps:

I'd love to be Mrs. Henderson when I'm in my seventies, right down to her wardrobe.

Portland, Oregon

I had a week off of work and I thought very carefully about were I wanted to go, since I wanted to leave the country. Europe was definitely out due to time and budget constraints. Then I thought about maybe Vegas or San Francisco, but I couldn't afford both a plane ticket and food. Stupid airlines, why do they charge so much?

So, I finally settled on Portland, since it was the furthest city south that I could easily get to. And for a $150 round trip ticket from Amtrak, it was quite a deal.

I stayed at the hostel in the Hawthorne district, which was rather cozy and in a lovely century old house. I didn't know until the night before I left that there are a large number of vintage shops in Hawthorne, so I thought I was in trouble monetary wise, but more on that later.

I much prefer staying in hostels than in hotels. You meet such interesting fellow travellers there and the atmosphere is much more home-like and friendly. Plus you get to share tips and meals and wander off sight-seeing with new friends.

I only wish that the beds were more comfortable.

With the Canadian dollar actually worth slightly more than the American dollar these days, I found the prices to be the same as the ones in Vancouver. Although I was disappointed to discover that the Portland thrift stores were much more expensive, but I suppose that because thrifting has been "discovered" and the prices raised accordingly.

However, restaurants were so very much cheaper, especially in Hawthorne. And the portions were huge! That's probably the best thing about travelling in America, you can eat a cheap large breakfast and not have to eat again until a late supper. I don't even think that I finished one meal there, but I don't normally eat very much anyway.

What I was surprised by was just how much alcohol was readily available and it was so cheap. You could even get a drink in the breakfast places, so you can start your day off right with a beer. I never noticed this before, since I haven't been to the States since I turned 21 and could drink down there (seriously, what a stupid law).

The most touristy thing that I did was to order the local micro brew taster, although it came with larger glasses then I imagined. I really don't like beer, but Portland is very proud of their local brews and it seemed like the thing to try, even though I couldn't finish.

I met a girl at the hostel who was also from Vancouver and we went down to the local grocery store to check it out, cause that's what cool people do. We spent a good ten minutes laughing at finding beer and wine on offer there. Canadians are the only people who find the sight of a booze section next the the dairy section hilarious.

I only explored the Downtown/Chinatown and Hawthorne areas. I would have loved to explore Portland further, but I found the transit system to be infrequent, particularly the light rail and streetcar system that serve downtown and I didn't have access to a car. For a city that prides itself on being "green" they should have a light rail system that runs more frequently then every twenty minutes in the downtown area.

I also spent an entire morning and part of the afternoon in the Art Museum.

Here are some of my favourite shots that I took. I love that Portland has made an effort not only in restoring their old building and signs, but also not tearing them down in favour of walls of glass. Yay for Portland!

I prefer train travel to all other types of travel. Obviously it's more scenic, but it's also much more comfortable. There's leg room and you can get up and walk to the lounge car, have a coffee, read a book, look at the little towns whizzing past, chat with your neighbour and get out to stretch your legs on the platform.

The trip was eight hours each way and it was much easier to pass through customs and the border then by air or car. Plus, I got a window seat on the way back and was able to see the sun setting on the Pacific Ocean.

Ok, I can see that every day in Vancouver, but it looks so much more beautiful on a moving train.

I was pleased that vintage was the same price as it is here, since that meant that I wasn't tempted to buy even more clothes for full closets. But I did buy two dresses and a skirt from Red Light Vintage, which was the cheapest vintage store that I've ever come across. I also went into the Perfume House, which is a very dangerous store. I love wearing perfume and was so happy to find a big bottle of "Je Reviens", which is my favourite and dashed hard to find, for only $50 and a much better deal then buying more clothes.

Portland is of course famous for having Powell's, the largest independent book store possibly in the world. Fortunately, I was limited by what I could carrying. And I forgot the list of books that I wanted at home.

You can see more of my photos in this set on Flickr.

Cinema Tuesdays {The Wheeler Dealers}

From 1963, The Wheeler Dealers is a prime example of the art of Gamesmanship, which is an essential skill to those who follow Stephen Potter's teachings of One-upmanship. What exactly is Gamesmanship? Well, it's the art of winning without actually cheating. Everyone would like to win when playing the game of life, but sometimes one can't do it by being entirely honest. And that's where Gamesmanship comes in.

James Garner plays Henry Tyroone, a wheeler dealer from Texas. Actually, he's from Boston and went to Yale but if he says he's from Texas and he has the accent then people naturally assume he has pots of money.

Henry is a very successful wheeler dealer, because he always thinks of a way for the taxman to take most of the loss of whatever business venture he thinks of. He believes that "you wheel and deal for fun, money's just the way you keep score".

Henry's had a string of bad luck with his oil wells this year and his accountant sends him to New York in order to pick up 1.2 million in "shopping money" or else he'll go broke. And rich men can't afford to go broke.

These are Henry's buddies: Ray Jay, Jay Ray and J.R. They live on an airplane and follow Henry around in order to get a piece of the action.

After raising some money from some investors that owe him a favour, Henry goes to see Mr. Bear on Wall Street in order to see about investing in the stock market. Now, it just so happens that Bear's firm is losing money and he has to let go of some of their worthless stocks and one of their analysts. He's decided to give the Universal Widget stock account to Molly (Lee Remick) and to give her a month to do something with Widget and then he'll have an excuse to fire her.

Molly is also practising gamesmanship, or at least trying to. Since she wants girls to be accepted on Wall Street, she wears boxy suits with bow ties in order to show that she's serious but she also wear pastel colours in order to show that she's still a girl.

Guess which analyst Mr. Bear introduces to Henry.

So now Henry has two missions in New York: raise the money and get together with Molly. Will he be able to do it?

He starts by giving Molly two dozen roses and she starts by taking him to one of those chic French restaurants where you spend three hours at the bar before you get a table.

Henry finds this set up interesting and he manages to get a table by speaking Italian to the head waiter. He then disappears for a few days.

He then takes Molly to the same restaurant, which he has now bought.

He also doubled the size of the bar, since it was more profitable then the restaurant.

Molly just can't quite make Henry out.

So she takes him to one of those pretentious post-modern art gallery openings.

Henry can't quite figure the paintings out. Until he sees the asking price.

He then meets the artist, who is also another wheeler dealer and the artist tells Henry that he can make a nice profit by investing in collecting paintings. Henry and the artist then disappear for a few days.

Check out the hair dryer that Molly's room mate is using to set her hair while vacuuming.

I like this robe, but you will have noticed that Molly's wardrobe is very business-like and not very revealing. That because she's working in the man's world and has to dress in order to blend in. Plus, she's not considering marriage and that's not normal for 1963.

Henry and the artist have been buzzing around Europe, picking up German Expressionists in order to display them in a museums and get a deduction on their taxes, until Henry thinks the time is right to sell.

Molly still can't figure Henry out.

Meanwhile the boys show up to get in on the action with the German Expressionists.

Henry and Molly finally decided to take a look at the Universal Widget site in order to see what kind of prospects an investment would have. It burned to the ground in the 19th century.

They go to see Mr. Wimple, the president of the Universal Widget company and he says that the only reason why they are still a company is in order to avoid paying taxes on the AT&T stock they bought in 1899.

Even in the country, Molly still has to wear boxy suits, of course she is in the country on business.

Henry tells Molly that he will help her sell the worthless Widget stock in order to make her a success on Wall Street and encourage other girls to become stock analysts if she agrees to come to Texas to be his assistant for six months.

They get started on the drive make to New York.

Henry then goes to see two P.R. men in order to get the word about Widget out. What exactly is a widget? Who cares.

The boys at the club are pleased to see that people are finally taking an interest in Widget.

John Astin (pre Gomez) works for the Federal Security Commission and he doesn't like the sudden rise that Widget has been making and he's going to investigate for fraud.

Meanwhile, Jay Ray, Ray Jay and J.R. go to see Mr. Bear in order to get Molly fired because they think she'll be happier in Texas and married to Henry.

So, Molly gets fired and her registration as an analyst revoked, for which she blames Henry. She then finds out that Henry is really from Boston and went to Yale.

Her room mate then suggests that she get her revenge.

Notice how once she's been removed from the man's world of business, she's allowed to wear something sexy.

So, what happens to Molly and Henry? And what does John Astin's investigation turn up?

The Wheeler Dealers used to only available on an old VHS copy, which is why my screen caps look washed out. However, The Wheeler Dealers was just released yesterday on a multi-region DVD as part of the expensive Warner Archive collection.