• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Casa Bouquet

let your joy bloom

  • Home
  • About
  • Culture
  • Home-making
  • Education
  • Travel
  • Style
  • Series
You are here: Home / Culture / Splendor in the Grass romance: Lisa’s Home Bijou

Splendor in the Grass romance: Lisa’s Home Bijou

July 5, 2019 by Lisa Grable 4 Comments

Film Festival: William Inge

In 1961, William Inge and Elia Kazan made Splendor in the Grass, a film based on an actual tragic story Inge knew from his Kansas childhood in the 1920s. Starring Natalie Wood and Warren Beatty (his film debut), Splendor in the Grass is unforgettable.Splendor in the Grass (1961) is a 1920s romance written by William Inge. With Natalie Wood and Warren Beatty. All about longing in small town Kansas. Lisa's Home Bijou

The title comes from a William Wordsworth poem:

Though nothing can bring back the hour of splendor in the grass / of glory in the flower / we will grieve not/ rather find strength in what remains behind

Beginning in 1928 in southeast Kansas, very near the Oklahoma oil fields, this is a story of young love and passion, and the psychological problems that can follow. A high school couple, Arthur “Bud” Stamper (Warren Beatty) and Deanie, Wilma Dean Loomis (Natalie Wood), are making out in a car by the reservoir. Deanie stops Bud before it goes past kissing, and Bud’s anger just emanates off him.splendor-deanie

Considered the best catch in town, Bud, captain of the high school football team, is the son of the wealthy oil man Stamper. They live in a giant mansion with servants. His mother wears pearls to breakfast.splendor-ginny-bud

Mr. Stamper has big plans for Bud, sending him to Yale and merging his company with a big national oil company. You feel impending doom as he talks, since you know the stock market crash will happen in October 1929. Everyone in town is pinning their dreams of wealth on stock in the Stamper company.

Ginny “Sister” Stamper hates living at home and has had a somewhat wild life studying art in Chicago. She wants to live with her aunt in California because she is sure everyone in town will gossip about her.splendor-william-inge

“Dad, I’m going to marry Deanie. –Whoa now son! –Now listen, Dad. See I don’t really want to go to Yale.  I’m not a very good student. –What do you mean, you’re not a good student? Boy you can do anything you set your mind to do! –But Dad I’d like to go to away to a good agricultural college for a couple years. I’d really like to do that, Dad. I could come right back here and take over your ranch just south of town. “ –Bud and Mr. Stampersplendor-oil-ranch

Deanie lives in a house that hasn’t been painted in a long time. Her father’s grocery store and butcher shop are in the front of the house. Deanie is desperately in love with Bud and daydreams of being his wife. She clings to him in the school hallways and writes her married signature in her notebook. splendor-doodles

At Christmas, Deanie’s mother, Mrs. Loomis, is very upset  because Bud gives Deanie a watch instead of an engagement ring.

“Boys don’t respect a girl they can go all the way with. Boys want a nice girl for a wife.” –Mrs. Loomis

splendor-bathtubThe story takes place during Prohibition. Mr. Stamper gives his workers homemade alcohol and his New Year’s Eve 1928 party has a champagne oil derrick fountain and everyone is drinking. Ginny seems to be alcoholic and is able to get alcohol easily, even dating a bootlegger.Splendor in the Grass (1961) is a 1920s romance written by William Inge. With Natalie Wood and Warren Beatty. All about longing in small town Kansas. Lisa's Home Bijou

Ginny’s reputation in town leads to a gang of “nice young men” lining up to rape her in a car parked at the New Year’s Eve party. Bud fights with the gang and is seriously beat up. The whole incident leads Bud to want to abandon Deanie to keep his own desires in check.

The young people are suffering with their deep emotions and desires. Their choices are get married or go ahead and have relations with someone for release, against the norms of their small town. Bud asks the family doctor for help and gets nervous chuckles and an iron shot. Bud takes up with Juanita, who has a reputation at school, and it has a huge impact on how everyone treats Deanie at school. She has a nervous breakdown.splendor-hs-dance

Deanie’s parents sell their oil stock to be able to send her to a mental hospital. The sale makes them quite wealthy. Mrs. Loomis has fancy clothes and furs.

Bud goes to Yale and just stays drunk and dirty. Mr. Stamper goes to Yale to try to convince the dean to keep Bud in school. He takes Bud to New York to a club modeled on Texas Guinan’s 300 Club. Everyone is hyper-jolly, even though the stock market has crashed.

splendor-new-haven
splendor-texas-guinan

“Hello suckers! I think I smell fresh money tonight. I’m glad you didn’t let a little thing like the stock market crash keep you from coming out tonight.” –Texas Guinan

Splendor in the Grass reminds me of Romeo and Juliette. All the actors do a wonderful job. As a former high school teacher, it made me think about the timelessness of young love and the struggles of parents to do what is best for their children.

See Splendor in the Grass for a look into the 1920s, to see beautiful Natalie Wood and Warren Beatty, and a well-crafted American tragedy.

Resource links

  • https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0055471/?ref_=ttfc_fc_tt
    • Splendor in the Grass (1961) from IMDb
  • https://www.history.com/topics/great-depression/1929-stock-market-crash
    • The Stock Market Crash of 1929 from History.com
  • https://www.poemhunter.com/poem/ode-on-intimations-of-immortality-from-recollections-of-early-childhood/
    • William Wordsworth Ode on Intimations of Mortality from Poem Hunter
  • https://www.newsweek.com/warren-beatty-birthday-best-movies-ranked-age-1378416
    • Warren Beatty’s best movies from Newsweek
  • https://www.biography.com/actor/natalie-wood
    • Natalie Wood from Biography
  • https://www.kshs.org/kansapedia/william-inge/12096
    • William Inge from the Kansas Historical Society

plumeria barAffiliate links: if you make a purchase using these links, I’ll receive a small compensation towards maintaining this blog, at no extra cost to you.

Related posts

Picnic Blue Hawaii Our Dancing Daughters
Share this post:
error
fb-share-icon
Tweet
fb-share-icon

Filed Under: Culture, Movies Tagged With: 1920s, 1961, classic films, Elia Kazan, Kansas film, Lisa's Home Bijou, Natalie Wood, Splendor in the Grass, Warren Beatty, William Inge

Previous Post: « McBryde Garden National Tropical Botanical Garden
Next Post: Bali bag giveaway 07.06.19 – 08.06.19 »

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. marilyn1998

    July 15, 2019 at 10:06 pm

    Thank you for sharing at #ThursdayFavoriteThings. Pinned and shared.

    Reply
  2. Clearissa Coward

    July 10, 2019 at 11:18 am

    I remember watching this with my mom when I was a kid. Simpler times. TFS.

    Reply
    • Lisa Grable

      July 10, 2019 at 3:22 pm

      Hey Clearissa, Thanks for visiting Kansas with me. I was surprised rewatching it how it sort of wasn’t simpler times. I thought about Saturday Night Fever of all things. I think each generation deals with these issues, but drugs and morals change!

      Reply
      • marilyn1998

        July 12, 2019 at 10:18 pm

        Thank you for sharing at #OverTheMoon. Pinned and shared.

        Reply

What are your thoughts? Cancel reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Primary Sidebar

Hey, I’m Lisa

Lisa Grable, Casa BouquetI’m an educator, grandmother, classic movie fan, sewer and crafter, and I love Hawaii. Read more about me …

Subscribe for email updates

Don't miss a post! Receive an email when new posts are published. Get freebies!

Please follow & like us :)

Facebook
Facebook
fb-share-icon
Pinterest
Pinterest
fb-share-icon
Instagram
Follow by Email
RSS

Amazon

Zoom hula classes from Kanoe Miller

kanoe miller hula Oct. 2022Kanoe Miller teaches 5 week hula sessions on Zoom. Kanoe dances at the Hale Kulani in Waikiki and began her hula studies with Maiki Aiu Lake. Call or email to register. Times listed are Hawaii Standard.

More in Lisa’s Home Bijou

vintage movie theater sign

Recent Posts

joy of giving giveaway hostesses Nov 2022

Joy of Giving giveaway 11.12.22 – 12.15.22

back to school giveaway 08.27.22 - 09.27.22

Back to school giveaway 08.27.22 – 09.27.22

summer cash giveaway

Summer Cash Giveaway 07.23 – 08.23.2022

College preparation at the end of high school includes planning, tips, and checklists. Entrance tests, applications, financial aid, and more!

6 tips for college preparation – applying, FAFSA

Posts by Category

Casa Bouquet parties

Over the Moon

Lou Lou Girls Fabulous Party
Wonderful Wednesday
Thursday Favorite Things

Featured series

Casa Bouquet pie recipes series.
College planning posts for middle and high school students. Download free checklist, cost calculation, and career interest worksheets. Resource links!

Copyright © 2022 · Foodie Pro & The Genesis Framework · Design by Stephanie Jones

 

Loading Comments...