Marilyn Monroe

Bus Stop 1950s Western comedy: Lisa’s Home Bijou

August 2, 2019 by Lisa Grable 3 Comments

Film Festival: William Inge stories

Bus Stop (1956) opens with Virgil (Arthur O’Connell) and Bo (Don Murray) practicing steer wrestling for the rodeo in beautiful Montana. Bo is the very young owner of the ranch and Virgil is his top hand. They get on a bus to ride from Montana to Phoenix for the big rodeo.

Oh for the old days! As the bus travels through the night, everybody sings folk songs together with Virgil on guitar.

“Bo, when you was five I just throwed you on a horse, smack, and there you was riding. Remember? –Yep. –When you was eight I throwed you in the creek, splash, and there you was swimming. Ain’t that right? –Sure, Virg. Splash! –Bo, you’re 21 years old and we’re on our way to a big city, Phoenix Arizona. It’s time you met up with a gal!” –Virgil and Bo

Bo shows his over-the-top personality on the bus ride to Phoenix. He’s loud and country.

“I wouldn’t set my sights too high if I were you, Bo. You just figure on picking out some plain looking little old gal with a cooperating nature and a good personality. I mean, we gotta be realistic.” –Virgil

In Phoenix, the Blue Dragon is across the street from the hotel. Virgil spots Chérie (Marilyn Monroe) in the window and decides to go to the café. Chérie is a chanteuse from the Ozarks. She is trying to work her way to California. Her job is to hustle drinks from the clients. The management lets her sing with the band occasionally.

Chérie’s performance of Old Black Magic is full of pantomime and doesn’t keep the crowd from talking. When Bo arrives he forces everyone to listen to her.

“But meanwhile, for a wedding present, I’m gonna get you a deepfreeze, or an electric washer, or any other major appliance you want!” –Bo

You might ask why Chérie’s skin is so white. Monroe wanted her character to look like she never spent any time in the sun. Another question is, why is her costume so tattered? Monroe wanted the outfit to look like it was the only one Chérie had and it had been mended many times.

The next morning Bo kidnaps Chérie from her boarding house and takes her to the parade. All she can think of is running away from him. The parade has all kinds of floats and units with marching girls with 6 shooters, Hopi dancers, and Daniel Boone outfits.

At the rodeo, Bo excels at saddle bronc riding, calf roping, wild brahma bull riding, and bull dogging.

“Is that a diamond? –Well it ain’t exactly a diamond. But it ain’t exactly not a diamond neither. He paid $43 for it. –No kidding! –Plus tax! He made me take it, but it ain’t on my finger!” –Chérie and Vera

Chérie doesn’t realize how serious Bo is about marrying her until she sees a preacher in the stands. Vera (Eileen Heckart) and Chérie run away and Bo searches Phoenix for her. Virgil finds her at the Blue Dragon café and tells her he’s not in favor of the marriage. Virgil, Vera, and Chérie come up with a plan for her to escape. Bo comes in and he’s all happy because he’s won the rodeo and a lot of money. Poor Chérie ends up on the bus to Helena.

A terrible snow storm stops the bus at Grace’s Diner, an official bus stop, and can’t go on. The people inside are trapped and Bo might as well be a wild toddler for all the self control he has about Chérie.

Bus Stop showcases a luminous performance by Marilyn Monroe and a wonderful cast. Try this sweet comedy romance of unsophisticated souls finding each other in the West of the 1950s.

Resource links

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0049038/
- Bus Stop (1956) from IMDb
https://www.cowpalace.com/p/grandnational/rodeo/rodeo-events
- Rodeo events from the Daly City Cow Palace
https://www.nypl.org/blog/2013/06/28/william-inge-barbara-baxley
- William Inge and Barbara Baxley from the New York Public Library
https://marilynmonroe.com/
- Marilyn Monroe official website
https://www.pbs.org/wnet/broadway/stars/joshua-logan/
- Joshua Logan from PBS Broadway The American Musical
http://www.midcenturyproductions.com/donmurray.html
- Don Murray from Midcentury Productions

Affiliate 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.

Gentlemen Prefer Blondes: Lisa’s Home Bijou

March 4, 2019 by Lisa Grable Leave a Comment

Film Festival: Cruise Ship Romance

Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953) is one of the great Technicolor movie musicals with two famous beauties as the stars. Marilyn Monroe and Jane Russell take over a cruise ship.

I’ve always loved the fantasy life of people cruising on ships in the old days. Dressing up for dinner, meeting all the strangers, and the romance of the sea just get to me. This ship has Marilyn in the best pink dress and Jane dancing with Olympic athletes!

“Now one of these days in fancy clothes / I’m a goin’ back home and punch the nose / Of the one that broke my heart / the one who broke my heart / in Little Rock” – Dorothy and Lorelei

Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953) opens with Dorothy (Jane Russell) and Lorelei (Marilyn Monroe) in a big production number. Red sequined dresses, tons of jewelry, and “We’re just two little girls from Little Rock.” Afterwards, Gus Esmond presents Lorelei with a big diamond. Lorelei is going to Paris on the Ile de France and Gus will join her and get married there. Dorothy goes along as Lorelei’s chaperone.

“Is it the right size? –Oh it can never be too big! Do you think it’s too small, Dorothy? –Looks like it ought to have a high ball around it!” – Gus, Lorelei, and Dorothy

Boarding the ship, Dorothy is thrilled to see that the US Olympic team is also sailing.

“You’re supposed to be the chaperone on this trip. –Now let’s get this straight, Gus. The chaperone’s job is to see that no one else has any fun. But nobody chaperones the chaperone!” – Gus and Dorothy

A detective, Ernie Malone (Elliott Reed), also boards the ship. His job is to spy on Lorelei.

“I keep telling her, it’s just as easy to fall in love with a rich man as a poor man. She says, yes, but, if they’re tall, dark, and handsome, she never gets around to vital statistics until it’s too late!” –Lorelei

Dorothy discovers that the team has to stay in training during the voyage. She bemoans how busy they are in a wild scene with half-clad men in the gym, Is There Anyone Here for Love.

Dorothy meets Sir Francis “Piggy” Beekman (Charles Coburn) at a cocktail party. Piggy owns a diamond mine, the second largest in South Africa. Dorothy advises him not to tell Lorelei about the diamonds. Dorothy and Ernie hit it off while Lorelei dances with Piggy.

Lady Beekman joins the group.

“You might be interested in my tiara. I always carry it with me, afraid to leave it in the stateroom. –And you’re not afraid to show it to Lorelei? –Stop, Lady Beekman won’t know you’re teasing. –Look, did you ever, anywhere, anything like it? –All blue stones, cozy little job, what? –May I just hold it just for a minute?” –Lady Beekman, Lorelei, Piggy, Dorothy

Ernie and Dorothy are developing a true romance until Dorothy catches him spying on Lorelei and Piggy. The girls hatch a plot to get his incriminating photos back before Gus sees them.

The costumes for Dorothy and Lorelei are amazing and glamorous. They include jewels, brocade, décolleté, bustles, and more.

More songs to enjoy: Bye Bye Baby, When Love Goes Wrong, Diamonds are a Girl’s Best Friend.

“But square cut or pear shape / These rocks don’t lose their shape / Diamonds are a girl’s best friend / Tiffany’s / Cartier / Black Star Frost Gorham / Talk to me Harry Winston, tell me all about it” –Lorelei

Give Gentlemen Prefer Blondes a try for an enjoyable 1950s musical with the enchanting partnership of Marilyn Monroe and Jane Russell.

Resource links for Gentlemen Prefer Blondes

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0045810/
- Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953) from IMDb
https://marilynmonroe.com/about/see-all/
- The Story of Marilyn from Marilyn Monroe official website
https://wfpp.cdrs.columbia.edu/pioneer/ccp-anita-loos/
Anita Loos from Women Film Pioneers Project
http://www.tcm.com/this-month/article/161080%7C0/Jane-Russell-Profile.html
- Jane Russell profile from Turner Classic Movies
http://www.julestyne.com/Biography.php
- Jule Styne biography from Jule Styne official website
https://www.hoagy.com/biography
- Hoagy Carmichael biography from official website

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Stowaway	Shall We Dance	The Lady Eve
Annotated White Christmas	The Seven Year Itch	San Francisco

Lisa’s Home Bijou: “The Seven Year Itch”

August 10, 2015 by Lisa Grable 6 Comments

Film Festival: Summertime Blues

When summer comes to New York City, it gets hot. Really hot. Back in the 1950s, Manhattan husbands used to pack their wives and children off to the seashore or to the mountains, creating a town full of “summer bachelors.” It’s within this atmosphere that Billy Wilder sets a delightful story about summer madness in “The Seven Year Itch (1955).”

“Something happens to people in this town in the summer; it’s disgraceful!”–Richard

Richard (Tom Ewell) has packed his wife and son (“the little space cadet”) off to Maine for the summer while he toils as a book editor in the heat of his apartment in New York City. Richard works for a company that publishes 25-cent pocket paperback novels, and while his family is away, he’s supposed to read and edit a book called “Man and the Unconscious.” This book becomes the underlying theme of the film, as Richard’s fantasy life takes over and he acts out vivid scenes from his own subconscious mind.

Richard’s doctor has recently forbidden him to smoke or drink, and he really tries to be good. He locks his cigarettes away, he eats dinner in a vegetarian restaurant, and he tries to drink raspberry soda instead of liquor. However, he doesn’t count on the diversion that’s about to enter his life.

“–We had the number 7 special, the soya bean hamburger with French fried soya bean, soya bean sherbet and peppermint tea. –Don’t forget I had a cocktail to start. – Oh yes, we had the sauerkraut juice on the rocks. You’ll be proud to know your entire meal with the cocktail was only 260 calories. – I am proud!” –Waitress and Richard

The first night Richard spends without his family, he discovers that A Girl (Marilyn Monroe) has sublet the apartment above his. She has short, tousled curls and a voluptuous figure, and wears bare, flattering, summer outfits in pastel colors. The Girl is a guileless 22 year-old model who sells toothpaste in live television commercials. The first time Richard fantasizes about her, his mind places her in a strapless tigress gown, so tight that she positively slinks. Richard is sorely tempted to dally with her, but as the film progresses, he learns a lot about himself and about his feelings for his wife by socializing with The Girl.

“When it’s hot like this, you know what I do? I keep my undies in the icebox!”–The Girl

In one of the most famous scenes from the film, Richard and The Girl go to the movies so that they can cool off in air-conditioning for a few hours. The movie they see is ” The Creature from the Black Lagoon”, who The Girl intellectualizes as a tragic romantic figure. After they leave the theater, The Girl stands over a subway grate in the sidewalk and allows the air blast from a speeding train below to blow her white halter dress up to her ears, while she enjoys the breeze. It’s Marilyn at her best, and celluloid history. (This scene is also famous in that Marilyn’s real-life husband at the time, Joe DiMaggio, strongly objected to the shot and became publicly irate over his wife’s exhibitionism.)

Tom Ewell is perfect in his part as Richard; his rubber face speaks volumes, and Marilyn is at her comedic apex. Travilla designed the wardrobe, perfect for Marilyn. The script is based on a Broadway play by George Axelrod (“Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter?”). Wilder’s direction is impeccable as always, and the film is a wonderful summer antidote for heat rash, wherever you live.

Let’s talk story

This movie pre-dates Betty Friedan and “The Feminine Mystique”, and the attitudes about men and women can make it a little hard to watch. But Marilyn’s character is much smarter than she sounds and Tom Ewell’s character actually learns about love. I really like seeing Marilyn as a comedienne. This movie is also a good one for showing 1950s life. It’s fun to realize what we are still talking about from a distance of 60 years!

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This is an update of a review that appeared originally in RETRO magazine, Nancy Eaton, editor.