Audrey Hepburn – We Are Movie Geeks

WARRIOR: Audrey Hepburn – New Book by Robert Matzen Focuses on the Iconic Actress’ Final Chapter – Available September 28th

WARRIOR: Audrey Hepburn, to be published September 28, 2021, is the follow up to biographer Robert Matzen‘s 2019 international bestseller Dutch Girl: Audrey Hepburn and World War II and the first book to focus on the iconic actress’ final chapter, which surpassed the plot twist of any movie.

Warrior: Audrey Hepburn completes the story arc of Robert Matzen’s Dutch Girl: Audrey Hepburn and World War II. Hepburn’s experiences in wartime, including the murder of family members, her survival through combat and starvation conditions, and work on behalf of the Dutch Resistance, gave her the determination to become a humanitarian for UNICEF and the fearlessness to charge into war-torn countries in the Third World on behalf of children and their mothers in desperate need. She set the standard for celebrity humanitarians and–according to her son Luca Dotti–ultimately gave her life for the causes she espoused.

Decades before it became cool to care, Audrey Hepburn walked away from Hollywood and used her fame to capture the media attention as she charged into the most dangerous places on earth, facing bullets, bombs, criticism and cynicism as she drove herself mercilessly on a quest that would ultimately kill her.

Hepburn’s son Luca Dotti – who has written the foreword to Warrior – says “UNICEF expected that Audrey Hepburn would be a pretty princess for them at galas. What they really got was a badass solider.”

A must-read at a time when income inequality, racial justice, climate change, women’s rights and the global refugee crisis have never been more newsworthy, Warrior is an original and gripping work of celebrity biography that will turn the world’s perception of this film and fashion icon on its head, and inspire a new generation of fans.

Robert Matzen is the internationally bestselling author of Dutch Girl: Audrey Hepburn and World War II, Mission: Jimmy Stewart and the Fight for Europe, and six other books. He has appeared on broadcast programs around the world and his byline has appeared in the Wall Street Journal, among other publications. Luca Dotti is the son of Audrey Hepburn and Italian psychiatrist Professor Andrea Dotti. Luca is co-author (with Luigi Spinola) of the New York Times bestseller Audrey at Home: Memories of My Mother’s Kitchen and two other books. He has long been involved with the Audrey Hepburn’s Children’s Fund, which helps children in need around the world.

The 2019 St. Louis Jewish Book Festival Runs November 3rd – 15th and Features Several Film, TV, and Pop-Culture Authors

The JCCA (Jewish Community Center – 2 Millstone Campus Dr. in St. Louis) has a rich tradition of bringing both Jewish cultural opportunities to its members and fine art productions and events to the St. Louis community. In maintaining that long standing tradition, the focus of the J’s Cultural Arts Department has been on theatre, film and literature. Events, festivals, performances and programs are open to all members of our community. The St. Louis Jewish Book Festival invites prominent authors to showcase their latest works and provides opportunities for the readers get up close and personal at panels, discussions and presentations.

This year’s St. Louis Jewish Book Festival runs November 3rd – 15th. A complete schedule of events can be found HERE. We Are Movie Geeks wanted to highlight a few of the Film, TV, and Pop-Culture Authors who will be attending

November 7, 1pm: Margalit Fox

Conan Doyle for Defense: The True Story of a Sensational British Murder, a Quest for Justice, and the World’s Most Famous Detective Writer
Thursday, November 7, 1pm
Staenberg Family Complex/Creve Coeur
Tickets: $20 or included with a Premier Pass

PURCHASE TICKETS

For all the scores of biographies of Arthur Conan Doyle, creator of Sherlock Holmes the most famous detective in the world, there is no American book that tells this story – in which Conan Doyle serves as detective on an actual murder case. In this book, former New York Times obit writer Margalit Fox takes us step by step inside Conan Doyle’s investigative process and illuminates a murder mystery that is also a morality play for our time – a story of ethnic, religious and anti-immigrant bias.

November 7, 7pm: Women’s Night featuring Elizabeth Weitzman

Renegade Women in Film and TV
Thursday, November 7, 7pm
Staenberg Family Complex/Creve Coeur – Edison Gymnasium
Tickets: $25 or included with a Premier Pass

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Renegade Women in Film and TV blends stunning illustrations, fascinating biographical profiles, and exclusive interviews with icons like Barbra Streisand, Rita Moreno, and Sigourney Weaver to celebrate the accomplishments of 50 extraordinary women throughout the history of entertainment. This book honors the women who succeeded against all odds, changing their industry in front of the camera and behind the scenes. Elizabeth Weitzman is a journalist, film critic, and the author of more than two dozen books for children and young adults.

November 9, 7pm: Dave Itzkoff
Robin
Saturday, November 9, 7pm
Staenberg Family Complex/Creve Coeur – Edison Gymnasium
Tickets: $25 or included with a Premier Pass
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From New York Times culture reporter Dave Itzkoff comes the definitive biography of Robin Williams – a compelling portrait of one of America’s most beloved and misunderstood entertainers. From his rapid-fire stand-up comedy riffs to his breakout role in Mork & Mindy and his Academy Award-winning performance in Good Will Hunting, Robin Williams was a singularly innovative and beloved entertainer. But as Dave Itzkoff shows in Robin, Williams’s comic brilliance masked a deep well of conflicting emotions and self-doubt, which he drew upon in his comedy and in celebrated films where he showcased his limitless gift for improvisation to bring to life a wide range of characters. Drawing on more than a hundred original interviews with family, friends, and colleagues, as well as extensive archival research, Robin is a fresh and original look at a man whose work touched so many lives.

November 11, 1pm: Josh Samuel Frank
Giraffes on Horseback Salad: Dali, The Marx Brothers and the Greatest Movie Never Made (look for an interview of Josh Samuel Frank next week here at We Are Movie Geeks)
Monday, November 11, 1pm
Staenberg Family Complex/Creve Coeur
Tickets: $20 or included with a Premier Pass
CART captioned

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Giraffes on Horseback Salad was a Marx Brothers film, written by modern art icon Salvador Dali who’d befriended Harpo. Rejected by MGM, the script was thought lost forever. But author Josh Frank found it, and, with comedian Tim Heidecker and Spanish comics creator Manuela Pertega, he’s re-created the film as a graphic novel in all its gorgeous, full-color, cinematic, surreal glory. It is the story of two unlikely friends, a Jewish super star film icon, and Spanish painter, and the movie that could have been.

November 13, 10:30am: Robert Matzen
Dutch Girl: Audrey Hepburn and World War II
Wednesday, November 13, 10:30am
Staenberg Family Complex/Creve Coeur
Tickets: $20 or included with a Premier Pass

PURCHASE TICKETS

Twenty-five years after her passing, Audrey Hepburn remains the most beloved of all Hollywood stars, known as much for her role as UNICEF ambassador as for films like Roman Holiday and Breakfast at Tiffany’s. Several biographies have chronicled her stardom, but none has covered her intense experiences through five years of Nazi occupation in the Netherlands. Audrey had to contend with the fact that her father was a Nazi agent and her mother was pro-Nazi for the first two years of the occupation. Dutch Girl includes Audrey’s own reminiscences, new interviews with people who knew her in the war, wartime diaries, and more. Robert Matzen, an American author who specializes in Hollywood history and World War II, spent weeks in the Netherlands talking to the people who lived through the war with Audrey Hepburn to prepare for this book.

November 13, 1pm: Julie Satow
The Plaza: The Secret Life of America’s Most Famous Hotel
Wednesday, November 13, 1pm
Staenberg Family Complex/Creve Coeur
Tickets: $20 or included with a Premier Pass
CART captioned

PURCHASE TICKETS

From the moment in 1907, when Alfred Vanderbilt strode through the Plaza’s doors to become its first guest to the day in 2007, when a mysterious Russian oligarch bought the hotel’s largest penthouse, the white tower at the corner of Central Park has radiated wealth and luxury. For some, the Plaza evokes images of F. Scott Fitzgerald frolicking in the Pulitzer Fountain or Eloise pouring water down the mail chute. But there are also dark hidden secrets: the murder perpetrated by construction workers building the hotel, how Donald You-Know-Who bankrupted the Plaza, and how a disgraced Indian tycoon once ruled the hotel from a jail cell in Delhi. With glamour on the surface and strife behind the scenes, this is the story of how one hotel became a mirror, reflecting New York’s place at the center of the country’s cultural narrative for over a century. Julie Satow is an award-winning journalist who has covered real estate in New York City for more than a decade.

Audrey Hepburn in ROMAN HOLIDAY Monday at The Tivoli – ‘Classics on the Loop’

” I’ve never been alone with a man before, even with my dress on. With my dress off, it’s MOST unusual. “

Audrey Hepburn in ROMAN HOLIDAY comes to life on the big screen at The Tivoli (6350 Delmar) Monday August 19th as the final film in the ‘Classics on the Loop’ series. Showtimes are 4pm and 7pm. Admission is $7. A Facebook invite can be found HERE

ROMAN HOLIDAY and BREAKFAST AT TIFFANYS are the quintessential Audrey Hepburn movies. If you think Angelina Jolie, Julia Roberts, and Kate Winslet are the essence of Hollywood beauty but have never seen Audrey Hepurn, you are missing out on one of the greatest of screen icons. You’ll have your chance to bask in the glory that is Ms Hepburn next Monday when ROMAN HOLIDAY plays at the Tivoli Theater

The premise of ROMAN HOLIDAY is a bit of a Hollywood contrivance, but the dialog and the acting save it from becoming corny. It is Cinderella in reverse. The essential plot concerns Audrey Hepburn as a royal princess from a “nameless” European country. (Even one supporting character reaffirms that the country will remain nameless.) She is bored with her overly protected life which is so highly structured and ceremonial that even when she inadvertently loses her shoe during a high-class engagement, retrieving it becomes an act of refined etiquette. She is in Rome, one stop on a European tour with her entourage of dignitaries, and residing at her country’s embassy. Anxious to leave, if only for a moment, the gilded cage of her life of royal life, she sneaks out of the embassy and enters the heart of Rome via a food truck. Later she ends up drunk and unconscious on a Roman sidewalk. And guess who should happen by but Gregory Peck as Joe Bradley, second-rate American reporter who would like nothing more than to get the scoop of the century and hop back to the New York press scene. But of course he doesn’t know who she is. Being a good Samaritan (and the fact that a drunk Audrey Hepburn is laying there), he rescues her from the streets and brings her into his studio apartment. There is no question that this movie is rather schmaltzy by 21st-century standards. The story is a fantasy-comedy, but the writing and the acting which never lapses into too much sentimentality save the film, which could have been much sillier and much more syrupy. The sobering ending makes the film much better than it could have been. And of course Audrey Hepburn who essentially made her major screen debut steals the show and would go on to win the Oscar the year.

Eliza Doolittle Waltzes Back to Theaters in MY FAIR LADY February 17th & 20th

WHAT: Eliza Doolittle (Academy Award® winner Audrey Hepburn, “Breakfast at Tiffany’s”) and Professor Henry Higgins (Academy Award winner Rex Harrison) match wits while singing and dancing their way through one of the most visually magnificent and transcendent musicals of all time in “My Fair Lady.” Remastered for the ultimate visual and audio experience, the hit musical will return to movie theaters nationwide for two days only on February 17 and 20, 2019, accompanied by pre- and post-film insights by TCM Primetime Host Ben Mankiewicz. Winner of eight Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Actor (Harrison), Best Director (George Cukor, “The Philadelphia Story”) and Best Cinematography, “My Fair Lady” continues to dazzle the eyes, ears and hearts of audiences everywhere with its captivating story of a poor London flower girl, Eliza Doolittle, who is plucked out of obscurity and remade into a glamorous socialite. Based on the Broadway musical by Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe, “My Fair Lady” contains such indelible songs as “I Could Have Danced All Night,” “The Rain in Spain,” “Wouldn’t It Be Loverly?” and “On the Street Where You Live.”

Fans can also be enchanted by the “My Fair Lady” high-definition Blu-ray™ with must-have special features, including audio commentary, featurettes, vintage footage, galleries and more, available now from CBS Home Entertainment and Paramount Home Media Distribution.

WHO: Fathom Events, Turner Classic Movies and CBS

WHEN: Sunday, February 17, 2019 – 1:00 p.m. and 5:00 p.m. (local time) Wednesday, February 20, 2019 – 3:00 p.m. and 7:00 p.m. (local time)

WHERE: Tickets for “My Fair Lady” can be purchased at www.FathomEvents.com or participating theater box offices. Fans throughout the U.S. will be able to enjoy the event in hundreds of select movie theaters through Fathom’s Digital Broadcast Network (DBN). For a complete list of theater locations visit the Fathom Events website (participating theaters are subject to change).

BREAKFAST AT TIFFANY’S Returns to the Big Screen Nov 27th and 30th

“A girl can’t read that sort of thing without her lipstick!”

The exquisite Audrey Hepburn stars in director Blake Edwards’ timeless classic “Breakfast at Tiffany’s” (1961), returning to cinemas this November, as part of Fathom Events and Turner Classic Movies’ TCM Big Screen Classics series.

Moviegoers are invited to fall in love all over again with “TCM Big Screen Classics: Breakfast at Tiffany’s” on Sunday, November 27 and Wednesday, November 30 at 2:00 p.m. and 7:00 p.m.local time (both days). The screenings will include commentary from Turner Classic Movies Saturday daytime host Tiffany Vazquez that will reveal what makes Holly Golightly one of American cinema’s most charming heroines.

Winner of Academy Awards^® for Best Song (“Moon River”) and Best Score, “Breakfast at Tiffany’s” captured the imagination of audiences everywhere and made an indelible impact on movies, fashion and society at large when it debuted in 1961. Audrey Hepburn is transcendent as an intoxicating New York party girl who embarks on a wildly entertaining adventure to find love in the big city.

Tickets to TCM Big Screen Classics: Breakfast at Tiffany’s can be purchased online at www.FathomEvents.com (theaters and participants are subject to change).

FATHOM EVENTS AND TURNER CLASSIC MOVIES PRESENT TCM BIG SCREEN CLASSICS: BREAKFAST AT TIFFANY’S

WHO: Fathom Events, Turner Classic Movies and Paramount Pictures

WHAT: TCM Big Screen Classics: Breakfast at Tiffany’s

WHERE: In more than 650 movie theaters nationwide. Tickets are available online at www.FathomEvents.com or at participating theater box offices. For a complete list of participating theaters, click on the “Theater Locations” tab.

WHEN: Sunday, November 27, 2016 2:00 p.m. and 7:00 p.m. local time

Wednesday, November 30, 2016 2:00 p.m. and 7:00 p.m. local time

Top Ten Tuesday – THE TOP TEN BLACK DRESSES IN THE MOVIES

The Little Black Dress—From Mourning to Night is a free exhibit currently at The Missouri History Museum (Lindell and DeBaliviere in Forest Park, St. Louis, Missouri). The exhibit runs through September 5th.

The Little Black Dress – a simple, short cocktail dress—is a sartorial staple for most contemporary women. Prior to the early 20th century, simple, unadorned black garments were limited to mourning, and strict social rules regarding mourning dress were rigidly observed.Featuring over 60 dresses from the Missouri History Museum’s world-renowned textile collection, this fun yet thought-provoking exhibit explores the subject of mourning, as well as the transition of black from a symbol of grief to a symbol of high fashion. You’ll also see fascinating artifacts—from hair jewelry to tear catchers—that were once a regular part of the mourning process. Plus, you’ll have the chance to share your own memories of your favorite little black dress and even get the opportunity to design your own dress! (details on the exhibit can be found HERE)

A good dress does more than look pretty on screen. It creates some of cinema’s best moments.The movies have always influenced style and fashion, so we decided, to tie into the exhibit, that it would be fun to list the ten most iconic black dresses in film history (and the actresses who rocked them).

10. Clara Bow in IT (1927)

Coco Chanel introduced her famous ‘Little Black Dress’ in the mid-1920’s. Before then, women only wore black for mourning. It was after the premiere of the 1927 silent hit IT, that the black dress became acceptable evening wear. IT is beloved by silent movie fans, but remains popular with a wider audience and continues to be culturally relevant because of costume design that was influential both then and now. IT helped pave the way for black to become the beauty basic it is today. The film starred Clara Bow as a shop girl who is asked out by the store’s wealthy owner. As you watch the silent film you can see the excitement as she prepared for her date with the boss, her girlfriend trying hard to assist her. She was trying to use a pair of scissors to modify her dress in order to look more “sexy”. This movie did a lot to change society’s mores as there was only a few years between World War I and Clara Bow, but this movie went a long way in how society looked at itself. Clara was flaming youth in rebellion. the personification of the flaming Roaring Twenties, and the title “IT” was as a euphemism for “sex appeal”. Travis Banton was the star costume designer at Paramount during the studio’s heyday of glamour and sophistication in the 1930’s and was well-known for designing costumes for Mae West and Marlene Dietrich.

9.Marilyn Monroe in THE ASPHALT JUNGLE (1950)

Not an iconic dress (in fact, no costumer designer is even listed in the credits), but THE ASPHALT JUNGLE is notable in that it’s the film that introduced audiences to Marilyn Monroe (not her first film appearance but her first substantial part). She played Angela Phinlay, a “keptie” (kept woman) who appears in a this sexy black dress. Marilyn stole every scene she was in despite not even being listed on most opening night posters. Marilyn didn’t like wearing black in films, and later in her career, when she had more control over her wardrobe, she was rarely seen in it.

8. Liza Minnelli in CABARET (1972)

Okay, Liza does not wear a black dress in CABARET – but she did rock this iconic black ensemble. The outfit — a bowler hat and vest (with no shirt) atop hot pants, garters, stockings and boots — was heightened by its blackness against Minnelli’s ultra-white skin and siren-red lipstick. To achieve the authentic look of pre-Hitler Berlin’s “divine decadence,” director-choreographer Bob Fosse chose a German production designer and costumer. Charlotte Flemming had grown up in the Weimer Berlin of the movie’s setting and spent her entire career in the German film industry. She never “went Hollywood.” Minnelli, of course, was born there, the daughter of Judy Garland and director Vincente Minnelli.

7. Bette Davis in NOW VOYAGER (1942)

NOW VOYAGER (1942) was a fashion film if ever there was one, and one which emphasized the power of clothes. After all, the sack-like dresses that the troubled Charlotte Vale (Bette Davis) wears reflect her psychological state, and as she is transformed from browbeaten nervous wreck into a worldly woman with a newfound confidence. Her outfits – designed by the great Orry-Kelly (who was the head costume designer at The Muny Opera in St. Louis in the early 1930’s) goes from dowdy spinster to chic fashion-plate. So much so that she attracts a suave man on her maiden voyage as a new woman. In NOW VOYAGER , Davis played Charlotte Vale, a frumpy spinster who lives under the control of her cantankerous mother. With the help of a kindly psychiatrist, she has a mental and physical makeover and becomes a glamorous woman who is able to help out the similarly oppressed young daughter of the man she loves. Davis led the way for actresses who “ugly up” as a fast track to Oscar nomination, starting the film in sensible lace-ups, glasses and beetle-brows. Her transformation resulted in stunning chiffon gowns and glittering capes which prove that nobody needs to show a lot of flesh when a 1940s number with a gathered waist and shoulder pads will do the job. To play Charlotte before her transformation, Davis asked Orry-Kelly to pad her figure to suggest extra weight, then she had makeup artist Percy Westmore give her thicker eyebrows. Her look in the film was a compromise. Originally she had wanted a more extreme look, but Wallis considered it too grotesque. Orry-Kelly was the chief costume designer for Warner Bros. Studios from 1932 to 1944. He worked on more than 300 films during his career.

6. Joan Crawford in MILDRED PIERCE (1943)

Joan Crawford was always known for her broad shoulders, a style that was displayed to perfection in MILDRED PIERCE, the 1943 film that won the actress her only Oscar. Housewife Mildred Pierce moves from aprons to fur coats after her husband leaves her and she opens a successful restaurant. Joan played the title character, a selfless mother who does everything she can to provide for her two kids, but her oldest daughter Veda (Ann Blyth) is an ungrateful brat who looks down on Mildred for making her way up in the world through simple hard work and dedication. She doesn’t, however have any problem spending mom’s money, and after a while starts smoking and speaking in pretentious French phrases. Everybody sees that the daughter is bad news, but Mildred assures them: “You don’t know what it’s like being a mother. Veda’s a part of me. Maybe she didn’t turn out as well as I hoped she would when she was born, but she’s still my daughter and I can’t forget that.” During filming, director Michael Curtiz fought with the actress over her wardrobe. She was told to buy clothes “off the rack” to look like the working mother the film was about. But Joan refused to look dowdy, and had Warner Bros. costumer Milo Anderson fit the waists and pad out the shoulders. Anderson was a top wardrobe designer at Warner Brothers from 1933 to 1952 and worked on costumes for such classics as ADVENTURES OF ROBIN HOOD (1938), TO HAVE AND HAVE NOT (1944), and YANKEE DOODLE DANDY (1942).

5. Grace Kelly in REAR WINDOW (1954)

Alfred Hitchcock’s REAR WINDOW (1954) is not only a masterpiece of suspense; it’s also something of a fashion show with Grace Kelly’s Lisa Freemont trotting out one gorgeous summer ensemble after another for both our and James Stewart’s delight. After all, as James Stewart’s character Jeff Jefferies points out – this is the Lisa Freemont “who never wears the same dress twice”. The costumes in REAR WINDOW were designed by that doyenne of movie designers, Edith Head, who was nominated for 28 Oscars and won 8 times. According to Jay Jorgensen’s book, Edith Head – The Fifty Year Career of Hollywood’s Greatest Costume Designer, Hitchcock’s directive to Ms. Head was that Grace “was to look like a piece of Dresden china, nearly untouchable”. And yet, for most of the movie, it’s Lisa who is trying to seduce the incapacitated (with broken his leg) Jeff … For her second seduction scene – where she’s thwarted by Stewart’s obsession with his neighbors and the possibility that one of them has bumped off his wife – Lisa is a vision of sophistication in a black chiffon dress and ever-present pearls, a triple strand necklace.

4. Anita Ekberg in LA DOLCE VITA (1960)

There is sexy, and then there is Anita Eckberg, whose voluptuous figure splashing around the Trevi Fountain in Rome in Federico Fellini’s 1960 masterpiece LA DOLCE VITA, while wearing that bellissima black dress, was the ultimate symbol of male fantasy. The film won the Academy Award in 1960 for Best Costumes, thanks in large part to the black sleeveless gown that Miss Eckberg displayed in that famous scene. Costume designer Piero Gherardi worked in neo-realist Italian cinema from 1954 to 1971, notably on four key films by Federico Fellini. LA DOLCE VITA, 8 ½ (1963 – which also won him the Oscar), NIGHTS OF CABIRIA (1957), and JULIET OF THE SPIRIT (1965).

3. Rita Hayworth in GILDA (1946)

Before there was bad girl nightclub singer Jessica Rabbit there was Gilda, a bad girl nightclub singer played by Rita Hayworth in the 1946 film of the same name. Wearing a black strapless dress, Gilda ends her marriage to casino owner Ballin Mundson (George Macready) with a striptease to the song “Put the Blame on Mame.” That little number was so explosively sexual that the name Gilda was written on the first nuclear bomb tested after World War II. In GILDA, Hayworth was the ultimate femme fatale, the woman every man wanted to have. The role sealed Hayworth’s status in Hollywood, and gave her an unforgettable movie legacy. According to the posters, ‘There never was a woman like Gilda’, and clearly, there was never a wardrobe like hers either. Designed by Jean Louis, her costumes cost $60,000 dollars, and it was money well spent. The movie was a critical and commercial success, no doubt thanks to Gilda and her perpetual near nakedness – for despite that pricy wardrobe, a surprising amount of Gilda was on show. Jean Louis designed a wardrobe that allowed Gilda to flash her shoulders, and hinted at her bosom through translucent tops. Hayworth’s beauty was the stuff of pin-up legend and in 1949 her lips were voted the best in the business by the Artist’s league of America. Asked what held up the famous black satin dress, Hayworth answered “two things”.

2. Audrey Hepburn in BREAKFAST AT TIFFANY’S (1961)

There’s almost no black dress more iconic than the French designer Hubert De Givenchy’s sheath that Holly Golightly, played by Audrey Hepburn, wore to go window shopping at her favorite jewelry store in BREAKFAST AT TIFFANY’S (1961). Paired with a pearl necklace, long black gloves, a tiara, a pair of dark sunglasses and a cup of deli coffee, Hepburn’s look continues to define New York (and Hollywood) chic. Givenchy made two versions of the famous black gown gown: one which was completely straight and was for the actress to wear as she stood still outside Tiffany’s, and one which had a slit so she could walk in it. She’s glimpsed wearing the same dress again a few scenes later. Indeed, one of the surprises about BREAKFAST AT TIFFANY’S is that there aren’t that many different dresses – the same ones pop up more than once, but with different accessories. BREAKFAST AT TIFFANY’S is undoubtedly the film which cemented Audrey Hepburn’s status as a style icon and linked her forever more in the fashion-conscious public’s mind thanks to De Givenchy, who had previously dressed her for SABRINA and FUNNY FACE.

1…….And Your Little Dog Too !!!!!

Finney and Hepburn are TWO FOR THE ROAD January 30th at The Hi-Pointe

TWO FOR THE ROAD screens at 10:30am Saturday morning, January 30th at The Hi-Pointe Theater (1005 McCausland Ave., St. Louis, MO 63117). Admission is $10 and this is a fundraiser sponsored by the St. Louis Metropolitan Medical Society Alliance.

Albert Finney and Audrey Hepburn star in director Stanley Donen’s TWO FOR THE ROAD, which uses multiple parallel flashbacks to chronicle a couples’ 12-year marriage. The marriage in the present is falling apart as their love for one another dissolves. As they drive through the back roads of France they relive two other times in their lives when the same trip was made under much better circumstances. The cinematic trick of jumping from one road trip to the other is expertly handled. Hepburn and Finney are both terrific in the film. And the movie, released in 1967, captures the mood of the 60s before Nam, the Counterculture, and radical politics so altered the landscape. This 60s is a time of youth and hope and redemption and TWO FOR THE ROAD is an unforgettable film.

Doors open at 10am and there will be a silent auction. Admission is $10. Sponsored by the St. Louis Metropolitan Medical Society Alliance to benefit the Medical Scholars of 5 Missouri Medical schools and Voices of Excellence at Layola Academy in St. Louis

The Hi-Pointe is located at 1005 McCausland Ave., St. Louis, MO 63117. Their website can be found HERE

http://hi-pointetheatre.com/

Cary Grant & Audrey Hepburn in CHARADE Saturday Morning at The Hi-Pointe

“She batted them pretty little eyes at you, and you fell for it like an egg from a tall chicken!”

CHARADE plays at The Hi-Pointe Theater ( 1005 McCausland Ave., St. Louis, MO 63117) Saturday, May 9^th at 10:30am as part of their Classic Film Series

It’s been said that CHARADE (1963) is the best Alfred Hitchcock movie not directed by Alfred Hitchcock. Despite a notable body count and a few suspenseful moments, CHARADE is really a romantic comedy. Despite its intricate plot of double crosses, fake identities and a mad search for some missing loot in a picture-postcard Paris, it is designed to amuse. It is Hitchcock-lite; as directed by Stanley Donen, a man best known for directing films like SINGIN’ IN THE RAIN, the film also is constructed like a musical, stringing together a few remarkable set pieces with a silly plot and clever banter. But most of all, CHARADE is an excuse to pair up Cary Grant and Audrey Hepburn, two experts in the field of romantic comedy. CHARADE sports not just pros Grant and Hepburn, but a batch of gifted character actors such as Walter Matthau, James Coburn, George Kennedy and Ned Glass.

Ms Hepburn is simply marvelous as Regina ‘Reggie’ Lampert, a young woman, who upon finding out that her husband was killed on a European train, later discovers that three men (with whom he was once acquainted) are after a hidden fortune they believe that she has access to. The men (played by Kennedy, Coburn and Glass) ransack her apartment and send her threatening messages via telephone, causing her to seek help from Peter Joshua (Grant), a seemingly helpful man with whom Reggie soon falls in love with. However, an official by the name of Bartholomew (Matthau, in one of his early noteworthy performances) also offers to aid Reggie in helping to recover what the men are looking for — a large sum of money that he pilfered with them after WWII. The usual cat-and-mouse formula follows, but with Stanley Donen’s captivating direction and Henry Mancini’s breathless score, this film is anchored far above the standards of regular suspense-filled hokum. Key scenes include Coburn and Hepburn’s ‘fiery’ confrontation in the telephone booth, Grant chasing Hepburn through the subway station, the climax between Grant, Hepburn and Matthau in the theater, and the conclusion (Grant probably has more alias’ in this film that any other character in film history!). A witty and urbane romance-thriller with class that truly delivers. This is one film that doesn’t have to just rely on ‘star power’ to keep it going so don’t miss CHARADE plays as part of The Hi-Pointe Theater’s Saturday Morning Classic Film Series! Doors open at 10am CHARADE begins at 10:30! Admission is only $5!!

The Hi-Pointe is located at 1005 McCausland Ave., St. Louis, MO 63117. Their website can be found HERE

http://hi-pointetheatre.com/

Two-Time Oscar Winner Audrey Hepburn Returns To The Red Carpet

©WAMG

Photos of movie stars from Hollywood’s Golden Age are lining the red carpet for Sunday’s big show, including the one above of actress Audrey Hepburn.

The two-time Oscar winner will be featured this Sunday, March 2, for a new TV ad, airing during the OSCARS “Red Carpet Live” on ABC. The cinematic ad for DOVE Dark Chocolate uses 3D computer-generated technology to capture Hepburn’s classic style and infectious smile.

The ad shows a stylish Hepburn taking a tour of an Italian town by bus, which gets stuck in a traffic jam. Out her window, a handsome stranger in a convertible tempts her to leave the bus and ride with him. She accepts the offer and playfully hops into the backseat. As they drive away, she rewards herself with a bite of a DOVE® Dark Chocolate bar and leans back with a pleased expression.

To recreate Hepburn’s appearance and gestures, the visual effects (VFX) team at Framestore, in partnership with the BBDO network, used the star’s entire feature film catalog and all available photographs as reference. Many scenes required frame-by-frame hand animation techniques to ensure the model was authentic from every possible angle.

Hepburn’s children, Sean Ferrer and Luca Dotti, encouraged the use of their mother’s image and likeness in the ad, which originally launched last year in the UK to promote Galaxy chocolate bar. Ferrer said, “Our mother loved rewarding herself with a piece of chocolate, but it always had to be dark chocolate.”

WAMG Interview – Susan Claassen: A Conversation with EDITH HEAD – SLIFF 2013

ALL ABOUT EVE, ROMAN HOLIDAY, THE TEN COMMANDMENTS, A PLACE IN THE SUN, THE STING. These great films and hundreds more have one thing in common: costume designer Edith Head (1897–1981). The small woman with the familiar straight bangs, black-rimmed saucer glasses, and unsmiling countenance racked up an unprecedented 35 Oscar nods and 400 film credits over the course of a sixty-year career. The golden age of Hollywood sparkled with extravagant cinematic productions and stars such as Bette Davis, Elizabeth Taylor, Natalie Wood, Mae West, Cary Grant, Audrey Hepburn, Grace Kelly, Barbara Stanwyck, and Robert Redford were made even more glamorous by donning the costumes designed by the incredibly talented Mrs. Head.

Theater director Susan Claassen, a New Jersey native, got the idea for a project based on Edith Head several years ago after she watched a televised biography of the designer. She realized that her physical resemblance to the designer was uncanny, especially when she put on a pair of large dark glasses. Sharing Edith Head’s passion for fashion, she came up with the idea of a one-woman show. In A Conversation with Edith Head, Susan walks around the theatre as Edith Head. She interacts with her audience, allowing them to ask questions and even bringing one or two into the production with an improvisation that only an accomplished actress like Susan Claassen can do. She imparts many “Edith-isms”. Some of her favorites are – “Early on, I learned the most important person to please is the Hollywood director.” Or “The director I’m currently working with is always my favorite.” And “When you find a magic, stick with it and never change it.”

Susan Claassen will be bringing A Conversation with Edith Head to The Sheldon Ballroom (3648 Washington Blvd, St Louis, Missouri 63108) on December 6^th and 7^th (details and ticket info for that event can be found HERE)

http://www.sheldonconcerthall.org/showdetail.asp?showID=672

Susan Claassen will also be in town this weekend as a guest at the St. Louis International Film Festival (SLIFF). As part of the five-program Fashion Reels, SLIFF offers Alfred Hitchcock’s TO CATCH A THIEF (1955), one of the Master of Suspense’s most nimble-footed, lighthearted entertainments, with costumes by Edith Head and performances by Cary Grant and Grace Kelly. American expatriate John Robie (Grant), a retired cat burglar, lives in high style on the Riviera, but a wave of jewel heists forces him to catch the copy-cat thief to avoid blame. High on the list of prime victims is the bejeweled Jessie Stevens (Jessie Royce Landis), in Europe to help daughter Francie (the never-more-gorgeous Kelly) find a suitable husband. Knowing that the Stevens gems are ripe for the pilfering, Robie charms his way into the women’s lives with the intent of trapping the cat.

Susan Claassen will introduce TO CATCH A THIEF in character as Edith Head and will conduct a Q&A afterwards. The event is Sunday, November 17^th at The Plaza Frontenac Theater at 1:00pm. More information can be found at Cinema St. Louis’ site HERE

http://www.cinemastlouis.org/catch-thief

Susan Claassen took the time to talk with We Are Movie Geeks about Edith Head and her upcoming events here in St. Louis.

Interview conducted by Tom Stockman November 11th, 2013

We Are Movie Geeks: Hi Susan, are you looking forward to coming to St. Louis to talk about Edith Head?

Susan Claassen: Yes, did you see the Google doodle on October 16th?

WAMG: I did not.

SC: It was Edith Head. It was her 116th birthday – the face of costume design in film

WAMG: Neat! Have you been to St. Louis before?

SC: Not for many, many years.

WAMG: Edith Head’s mother was from St. Louis. Do you know much about her?

SC: She was born there but then moved to San Bernardino, so she didn’t really have roots there. But that’s interesting and I always adapt my show to each city. I’ll be back in December to do my show, A Conversation with Edith Head. It’s kind of a history of film. She worked for 60 years in the film industry. It’s kind of amazing.

WAMG: Tell me about what you are doing in conjunction with the TO CATCH A THIEF screening at SLIFF next Sunday?

SC: That was one of Edith Head’s favorite films. Edith designed for all of the Hitchcock blondes. She and Grace Kelly were great friends. So, as Miss Head, you won’t get to meet me next Sunday, you’ll be meeting Edith. She will intro the film from her perspective, giving some back story, things to watch for, and what it was like to work for Hitch. They were great friends. That will be kind of what will happen on Sunday. Have you seen the film?

WAMG: I have it on DVD, but have never seen it on the big screen.

SC: Exactly, that often happens when we come in to town with the show. Cinemas will show these films on the big screen. TO CATCH A THIEF was quite a sensation when it came out.

WAMG: Why TO CATCH A THIEF? Was that your choice?

SC: I think it was their (Cinema St. Louis’) choice. We considered several choices that were fashion oriented. REAR WINDOW was one of them. I Iove to introduce that one as well because that’s a fashion film.

WAMG: I think TO CATCH A THIEF is a good choice because it’s one Hitchcock film that has not shown theatrically in revivals the way something like REAR WINDOW has.

SC: Yes, and the restoration is gorgeous.

WAMG: What are special about the costumes in TO CATCH A THIEF?

SC: The thing about Hitchcock is that he was very detailed about all aspects of his films. And Grace Kelly was the ultimate Hitchcock blonde. It was very interesting because Hitch literally wanted to go on a paid vacation to the South of France. They made the film and he got Cary Grant out of retirement to do the film. And that was the last film Grace Kelly did with him so all of those are interesting factors. The costuming, especially the gowns, were proof that Edith Head really understood that costumes further the narrative and I think that’s a key point in this film. Before the film begins I’ll talk about some of the gowns and first impressions and second impressions. Regarding the color choices, you could always tell that Hitch wanted Grace Kelly, in this film as well as REAR WINDOW, to look like a piece of Dresden china. So those are the kind of interesting things throughout the film. And of course you have the chemistry onscreen between Cary Grant and Grace Kelly that rivals any in cinema history.

WAMG: So you’ll introduce the film and talk about the costumes. Will you answer questions about the film when it’s over?

SC: Yes, and whenever I portray Edith Head, it has to be time appropriate so I can’t answer questions about Edna Mode (the Edith Head-based character voiced by Brad Bird in Pixar’s THE INCREDIBLES) or the Google Doodle when I am Edith. When you see the full show (A Conversation with Edith Head) there are actual questions. I have a host who takes them to make sure they’re time appropriate but the show changes with every performance depending on the questions.

WAMG: When did you first develop an interest in Edith Head?

SC: I first became interested in Edith Head when I watched a biography of her. I’m an artistic director of a theater so I act and direct and put things together for other people but I had never put anything together for myself. I was watching Biography and I thought that I sort of look like her, and I was aware of her and I thought her story was fascinating. It was really a boy’s club when she came to Hollywood in 1923.

WAMG: So you never met or corresponded with her?

SC: No, but my collaborator wrote the book Edith Head’s Hollywood, so we had thirteen hours of taped interviews. The Academy put a reel together that I watched and studied and what’s really so wonderful is that people who did know her all have such rich stories to tell about her. Obviously, I know I’m not Edith Head, and most people know that I’m not, but they want to share a moment, a moment of memory of a movie palace or a film that they saw or who they were with or where they were in their lifetime when they saw one of her films. And I say, as Edith after the show, to share those memories and we’ve had people attend the show that did work with her. Tippi Hedren has seen the show several times. She was very good friends with Edith Head. After Alma Hitchcock, the next person Hitch had Tippi meet was Edith Head. They did a three day screen test together, full costuming and all, and they remained very good friends.

WAMG: There were two movies made bout Hitchcock a couple of years ago, HITCHCOCK and THE GIRL. I don’t recall, but was Edith Head a character in those films?

SC: No, HITCHCOCK was about PSYCHO and she didn’t do PSYCHO. She did do both THE BIRDS and MARNIE, but she was not a character in THE GIRL.

WAMG: She should have been. You mentioned you were a theater director. Were you a budding costume designer yourself?

SC: No, I’ve always had a sense of style, and I always collaborate on the set with costumes and all so I was always certainly aware of Edith Head. People who knew her have been so generous with sharing information. Art Linkletter for example, did a show called House Party that Edith Head worked on and we interviewed him, Bob Mackie was a sketch artist for Edith. And others. Elke Sommer came to see the show and Sally Kirkland, who made her film debut as a stripper in THE STING, has seen the show as well. Everywhere I go, somebody has known Edith because she was a household name. If you think ‘Costume Designer’, who do you think of? Nobody will ever achieve what Edith Head achieved.

WAMG: Do you own any of her costumes or drawings?

SC: Yes, I own costumes and drawings. I’m going to bring a miniature of the fabulous gold dress from TO CATCH A THIEF on Sunday. But when you see A Conversation with Edith Head, there are lots of great things on the set. There’s a recreation of the dress Bette Davis wore in ALL ABOUT EVE and a dress Elizabeth Taylor wore in A PLACE IN THE SUN.

WAMG: Tell me more about the A Conversation with Edith Head show. You say there’s a moderator that interviews you?

SC: Actually, we set it as if it’s a the Sheldon, because she was everywhere. He takes questions for me, questions for Edith Head to respond to. Again, you don’t have to know anything about film to enjoy it. You really understand what drives somebody and their inner workings. She was so driven She never walked off the set in a huff in 60 years. That’s phenomenal. She died two weeks after the wrap of DEAD MEN DON’T WEAR PLAID.

WAMG: I was going to ask about that. Her final job was for DEAD MEN DON’T WEAR PLAID where they incorporating Steve Martin and other actors into old movie scenes. Was this a challenging project for Edith Head?

SC: Carl Reiner, the director, wanted Edith for that film because of her work in Film Noir, DOUBLE INDEMNITY and others. And Edith Head loved working on that. The film is dedicated to her. She worked right up until the end. She was a big animal rights activist and advocate.

WAMG: Were there any films that Edith Head was embarrassed to have worked on?

SC: Yes. The final Mae West films.

WAMG: Oh, yes, MYRA BRECKINRIDGE and SEXTETTE.

SC: Yes. Edith Head was great friends with Mae West and she did those films as a favor to her but she never saw those films.

WAMG: Vincent Price was from St. Louis. Did Edith Head ever design any costumes for him?

SC: She was with Paramount and occasionally she was lent out just like stars were lent out. In the later years she was with Universal, but she did design the costumes for THE TEN COMMANDMENTS which co-starred Vincent Price, so yes, she would have worked with him.

WAMG: Good luck with your show at the St. Louis International Film Festival this weekend and your show next month. It sounds like a pair of interesting events.

SC: Thank you.

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