November 2007 Cover
|
 |
By
Mitzel
In September the light changes, as author Andrew Holleran noted in the title of one of his books. In my particular case, it was klieg lights. Hollywood landed on my doorstep. I own a small bookstore on a quaint street in Boston. This is South Street, a historical
district, lined with buildings mostly built in the 1880s, on filled land, after the great fire that burned down Boston in 1872. The street has the feel of a retro urban space, and the Hollywood scene-scouts sensed it pronto.
Two film productions companies filmed here back to back. The first was a remake of
The Women. The cast includes Meg Ryan, Candice Bergen, and others. The director is Diane English. Days later came the cast and crew of
Bachelor #2, with Kate Hudson and others.
B
oth events were totally disruptive; business came to a standstill. But it was still exciting, especially the filming of
The Women. I watched dear Meg Ryan as she filmed a scene again and again. This looked like real work.
The dozens of film production people couldn't have been nicer. I tried to flirt with one of two of them -- how gay are film crews? These folks were literally camped out in front of my store and Ms. English, the director, was in sight. When there was a break in the
filming -- an ambulance raced through -- I went up and introduced myself and I thanked her for every minute of "Murphy Brown," the great comedic sitcom, starring Bergen, which English conceived, produced and, I think, occasionally, wrote.
English is my age, 59 (and looks better) and
The Women is her film directorial debut. The day wrapped at about 5:30, and the crew moved out. The nice touch was that they had workers sweep up the street, gathering up the cigarette butts, the sandwich wrappers,
the other crap.
Watching these people doing a new take on The
Women set off memories. Doesn't every gay man recall the first time seeing the original? The movie, that is -- not many of us are still alive who might have seen the Broadway play. The stage version was authored by
Clare Booth, and I could do a long riff of that person, but that will wait for later. The movie was released in 1939, a year designated by Gore Vidal's
Myra Breckinridge, as the best movie release year in American history (and Myra was right). George Cukor directed.
George was known as the director to go to for women's films, and he was good at it. His production featured Norma Shearer, Joan Crawford, Rosaland Russell, Paulette Goddard (that's actually, the fabulous Paulette Goddard!), Joan Fontaine, Hedda Hopper, and others. (By
the way, who names a daughter Hedda?) There are no men in the movie, though the presence of men hovers heavily; this is a code-version of a bitch-fest.
Crawford, who plays a working-class gal who claws her way up, has one of the best lines, referring to some of the other women: "There's a name for you ladies, but it's not used in high society outside of kennels." Reminds me of the lovely Barbara Bush's line
when asked, in 1984, about Geraldine Ferraro, then the Vice-Presidential nominee for the Democratic party, the first woman to be so selected, and La Bush commented that she had a certain name for Ms. Ferraro, but she couldn't say it. All she said was that "it rhymes
with rich."
I suspect "rich" is a noun and adjective that often falls from the lips of Ms. Bush, though I do not know for certain, as I've never had the opportunity to make her acquaintanceship, for which I am very grateful, but I'm certain Ms. Bush would be in good company
with Clare Booth -- maybe they even met!
(My favorite story about Ms. Booth -- it's actually a Dorothy Parker story: the two women, political opposites, arrived at the door to a fashionable restaurant in New York City at the same time. Ms Booth indicated that Parker should go first; she said "Age before
beauty." Parker swept in, looking back at Booth and noting, "And pearls before swine!")
In 1956, there a remake of The Women. It was called
The Opposite Sex, starring the lovely June Allyson, she with the attractive raspy voice. This version actually had men in it. (Has there ever been a movie called, simply,
The Men? -- actually there was, a 1950 production by Fred Zinnemann, starring Marlon Brando, a study on paralyzed vets, something suitable for a remake today.)
Will there someday be a production of The
Women, but cast only with men? I suppose Andy Warhol's
Women in Revolt comes closest, but that was not filmed on South Street, and Andy's "women" just weren't butch enough, unlike Roz Russell and Joan Crawford.
I hope Diane English's version of The
Women takes a new slant on an old story. Everyone seems to be in it -- Bette Midler blew into Boston for a cameo! As have others. I will rush out to see it. Or, if tired, wait for its release on disc.
The Hollywood machine rumbles on. It's a remarkable thing to observe, from my limited experience, though I'm not so sure I'd like to be on the payroll. Each plays his/her part. As the aforementioned Bette Midler noted, when asked what it was like when she
moved from the New York scene to become a star in Hollywood, La Midler commented about her work in Tinseltown: "The hours are very long. The pay is very good. And the heels are very high!" Midler on point!
The original movie version of The Women is now considered a camp classic. As with
Sunset Boulevard, the queans in the seats can recite the lines as they bounce off the silver screen. Does Mrs. Luce have a gay following? Why do I ask? Of course she does, just
don't ask me to attend one of their fetes. Pearls before swine redux.
You are not logged in.
No comments yet, but
click here to be the first to comment on this
Common Sense!
|
