A friend on Facebook wrote last night that she was watching The Women and noticed after some time that there were zero men in the cast. Wasn't there a movie in the 60's about a group of women, maybe one of them a lesbian, maybe some murder or some such thing? What was this movie?
What she was watching the recent chick flick inspired by (not a remake) the old theater chestnut by Clare Booth Luce, The Women.
The original is an outlandish comedy about the shallowness of New York society women of the 1930's, with some costumes to die for if they don't kill you first. Feminists today might find the star-laden farce offensive; there is no doubt it insults women with a very superficial and unflattering angle on their lives, but in the context of its day attention must be paid. It's something of a forerunner to "The Real Housewives of New York City" and other incarnations of that franchise. 
The top actresses of their day, Norma Shearer, Rosalind Russell, Joan Crawford and others almost literally sank their teeth into this one.
Did I mention the costumes are worth the price of the rental? The original movie version was remade as The Opposite Sex in the 1950's in a forgettable version with June Allyson in the Norma Shearer role, and the addition of at least one male character, the straying husband, played by Leslie Nielson in his leading-man days.The movie about women from 1966, with its shocking lesbian subplot, (and Candice Bergen doing the honors) was The Group, from the Mary McCarthy novel.
Which leads me clumsily to my other reason for not blogging. When I'm not on Facebook (pretty correctly nailed by Betty White on Saturday Night Live as "a huge waste of time"), I've been pecking at an old idea I've had for a novel. There. My secret is out. I don't want to jinx the effort by talking about it, so that's all I'll say except that I'll post much less often in the near future.
If I can wean myself from Facebook I may actually begin to do some real writing.
4 comments:
I'll bet you can juggle both!
Don't leave Facebook 100%, though!
What a vivid, delectable review of a play. I'm going! Wherever, whenever, I'll find this treasure. I hope it's still possible. I'll check.
PS. Please don't leave facebook entirely, although a novel does sound seductive.
I miss the blog entries.
The all woman script is one that I will read. I have read several already looking for just the right one. Three Tall Women stuck sideways in my effort to swallow it. The Octet Bridge Club is a bit better, but talky. Women Beware Women is
quite costume laden but really juicy as a period piece. The script you describe here sounds juicy too and worth reading.
Facebook...mmmmmm I prefer faces
that I can actually see.
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