Movie Monday (Tuesday Edition): Coco Avant Chanel

The long weekend threw me off, day-wise, so I will do Movie Monday today! This weeks movie is not an old movie, but it is set in the 1920s, and is about Coco Chanel, so I deem it worthy!

This was my first movie with subtitles, I almost stopped watching it, but I'm glad I stuck it out. Audrey Tautou plays Gabrielle "Coco" Chanel. She is so stunning.

At a very young age, Gabrielle Chanel and her sister Adrienne are dropped off at an orphanage by their father with the promise that he will return for them. Several years after leaving the orphanage to which her father never returned for her, Gabrielle finds herself working in a provincial bar. She's both a seamstress for the performers and a singer, earning the nickname Coco from the song she sings nightly with her sister.

She refuses to follow the popular fashion of corsets and pettycoats. She takes men's clothing and transforms them into something that will fit her tiny frame. She liked clothes to be practical, wearing riding pants while on a horse instead of sitting side saddle for instance.

A liaison with Baron Balsan gives her an entree into French society and a chance to develop her gift for designing increasingly popular hats. When she falls in love with English businessman Arthur Capel further opportunities open up, though life becomes ever more complicated.

I had no idea of how she grew up, where her fashion inspiration came from or that Coco was just a nickname! This movie offered a great look into the lives of one of the world's most important designers. I do wish however, that the movie had focused more on her hat shop and how she got into designing clothes, no so much on the relationships with the men.

Have you seen the movie? What did you think?

What Would Audrey Do Wednesday

Dealing With The Press (part 1)

Instinctively - like so much else she did - Audrey was genius with the care and feeling of the press. And, like it or not, dealing with the media is often a part of our modern lives. You might decide to run for president, you might win American Idol, you might be involved in a coup d'etat with the PTA. In any event, there is a very good chance that you, like Audrey, could find yourself at the receiving end of an interview. Herewith, a few things to tilt the odds in your favor.

Charm the beast. Audrey was so successful with the press because she was always, most notably, herself. Whether being interviewed by Hedda Hopper early in her career, or a People magazine reporter in the late 1980s, she was always light, funny, focused, and charming.

When dealing with the press, charm is you ally. Be lighthearted, be charismatic. Pretend it's a first date. Build rapport with the reporter - seduce the heck out of him/her (metaphorically speaking, of course) - you're a movie star, after all! When in doubt, use the George Clooney rather than Russell Crowe model. While truculence looks great on the screen or while shooting a Calvin Klein print ad, it was a tone that AH never adopted, and gets tiresome in a one-on-one interview. Remember: You're the one who wanted to be a star, so don't bail out now.

Whether you choose the patented Tom Cruise "Hey, isn't life wonderful?" high energy/laugh a lot through the entire interview and reveal nothing technique, or the enigmatic "I am an artist" Pacino mode, make sure you have a game plan going in.

Also, it helps to know that unless you are being interviewed by the Wall Street Journal, Anderson Cooper, or Diane Sawyer, most reporters are really lazy and don't do their homework. (They never did any in school, why start now?) And entertainment "reporters" are probably the worst. Use their inherent slackerdom (very non-Audrey, we might add) to your advantage. With some effort, you can almost chart what the questions might be, so have a few responses ready.

And if you really get stuck for an answer, smile winningly and then say, "Boy, that's a great question..." And leave it at that.

Ditch the PR person. You didn't get where you are by following the rules. With the reporter standing by, tell your corporate PR flunky that you "can handle this" and show them the door. This will make you look like a maverick and will create a false sense of intimacy between you and the reporter. A false sense of intimacy that you will, of course, exploit fully to your advantage.

**all information comes from the book: What Would Audrey Do by Pamela Keogh

Movie Monday: She Went to the Races

Today I watched "She Went to the Races" from 1945 starring James Craig, Frances Gifford and Ava Gardner.

Ava Gardner was the only actor I'd heard of, but I hadn't seen any of her movies. This was kind of a funny movie in that Dr. Ann Wotters (Frances Gifford) and 3 others tried to scientifically figure out which horse would win races depending on weather, wind, dirt vs. mud, time of day... this all played well to my engineering side. It reminded me of projects in college!

There was the classic struggle for love between Hilda (Ava Gardner), a beautiful socialite and Ann, the brilliant scientist. Both were vying for the attention of Steven (James Craig), who was a horse owner and racer.

This movie didn't keep my attention like some do, but all in all, it was pretty good. The costumes looked amazing, I just wish it was in color so I could have seen what they really looked like! But the shapes and the gloves and hats were so feminine and pretty.

Have you seen the movie? What did you think of it?

What Would Audrey Do Wednesday

How To Be A Movie Star in Your Own Life (Part 4)

Don't be afraid to disappear. From the way she naturally conducted her life, Audrey understood the inherent appeal of not making yourself too available...to the press, your fans, that guy who wants a date on Saturday night. She also realized that you need to take time out for yourself. In the middle of an arduous day of shooting, Audrey would skip the commissary and have a quiet lunch in her dressing room - even if it did cause one (male) columnist to accuse her of being stuck-up. She felt that she needed to conserve her energy and not fritter it away socializing.

When she was single, after a long week on the lot, Audrey would occasionally hole herself up in her apartment on weekends, reading, resting, and listening to her beloved jazz records, and just gearing up for the week to come. So don't be afraid to disappear for a while. In other words, leave them wanting more.

Don't trade on your personal tragedies. Audrey certainly had some heartbreak in her life - life during WWII; her father leaving her mother when she was six years old - but she did not dwell on it. And she very pointedly did not dwell on it in the press to score points, raise her Q Score (frankly, she didn't have to), jump on Oprah's couch, or promote whatever movie she was in at the time.

Audrey kept her private life and her public life separate. Something we would all do well to keep in mind these days.

Be enigmatic. A natural sense of discretion will give you the reputation of being enigmatic. This is very good for a movie star, and you, to emulate. It also makes people wonder and, who knows, just might even raise your stock.

Live the part. When Audrey was starting out, she had very little money. By the time she was a world-famous movie star in the late 1950s, she was buying Famous, her Yorkie, diamond collars at Van Cleef & Arpels. Clearly, she understood the role of the starlet and could look - and live - the part. Buy quality, not quantity.

**all information comes from the book: What Would Audrey Do by Pamela Keogh

Movie Monday

I'm starting a new weekly series: Movie Monday!

I've watched several old movies in the last few days, but today I watched East of Eden from 1955.





This was my first James Dean film, believe it or not! He's very handsome and the modern day Channing Tatum reminds me of him. The movie was based on the novel by John Steinbeck, which I haven't read, so I didn't know what to expect.





Cal Trask (James Dean) sees himself as the black sheep of the family and is always competing with his twin brother Aron, who seems to be perfect in the eyes of their father. Cal desperately wants the love and affection from his father that Aron receives. The year is 1917 and we see the tumultuous times leading up to America's entry into World War I. Cal discovers that his mother is alive - the boys were told she had died - and lives only a few miles away in Monterey, CA. This helps him realize that he is just like his mother, which is why his father treated him differently from his brother, who took after their father.





His father loses most of his fortune trying to ship refrigerated lettuce to New York, so Cal decides to speculate on a crop of beans to pay his father back for the money he'd lost on the lettuce. He makes a small fortune, but he soon realizes that he can't buy his father's loves either. After a disasterous birthday party for their father, Aron, Cal and their father's lives all take very different turns.



I enjoyed this movie, much more than the one I watched yesterday (A Mouse on the Moon)! I loved the leading lady's name, Abra, I thought it was very unique and quite pretty. She was played by Julie Harris. I'd compare her looks to a modern Cynthia Nixon.



Have you seen the movie? What did you think of it?

What Would Audrey Do Wednesday

How To Be A Movie Star In Your Own Life (part 3)

Hire a good publicist. Birth, Marriage, and Death - in the old days, that's how often members of society wanted to be in the press. Now, with the advent of cable television, youtube, Us Weekly, Perez Hilton, video stalkerazzi, the Forbes list, IPOs, gawker.com, the opportunities to end up in the media are endless. Is this a good thing? Probably not. All the stuff we know about celebrities and out public figures today is just noise. And once the press gets a hold of you, they can lift you up, but they can also - and probably will - be the first to drag you down, as we see in the increasingly public dramas of Brittney, Lindsay, Paris, etc. Being a publicity hound can backfire, so choose your appearances carefully.

For this reason (among others), AH generally disliked dealing with the press. She was just too private a person and, as she became more famous, grew wary of the intrusive questions she was forced to endure (mostly about the state of her marriage to Mel - or lack thereof). In fact, once she married her second husband, Dr. Andrea Dotti, in 1969, and moved to Rome, she limited interviews to half an hour because she believed that after that, the reporter would start asking personal questions.

But - and here is her dichotomy - if she had to promote a movie, or a good cause like UNICEF, she was more than happy to speak to the press, because she knew she could use her fame to do some good.

And if you don't hire a publicist, be your own good publicist. If you are about to do something in public, ask yourself, "What would Audrey do?" And if that doesn't give you pause, think about how it would look on the front page of the New York Post or the National Enquirer. And act accordingly.

Throw a tantrum once in a while. Okay, AH never did this, but if you occasionally throw a tantrum, if can be extremely memorable, especially if you don't normally behave like a diva. the only known instance of Audrey behaving badly (for Audrey, we mean) was during the extremely arduous filming of My Fair Lady. She had been training nonstop for several months, in addition to singing lessons, dancing lessons, elocution lessons with a professor from UCLA, putting up with Rex Harrison's ego, and practically carrying the entire picture herself. One fateful day, the musical director, Andre Previn - possibly taking pity on all of her hard work - finally let her know that her singing voice was not going to be used in the film. (Instead, her singing would be dubbed by Marni Nixon, although AH can be heard in the restored 1994 MFL print.) She said, "Oh," walked off the set, out the door, and went home.

The next day she returned and apologized.

**all information comes from the book: What Would Audrey Do by Pamela Keogh

Sailor Pants

I was so excited to find these pants. Pastel plaid, sailor style, sailboats on the buttons.

They sold immediately and my customer, Lauria, sent me a photo of them! Doesn't she look great!!

What Would Audrey Do Wednesday

Sorry for the lack of posts lately, last Wednesday, North Alabama was rocked by over 200 tornadoes and we lost power for several days. My house is fine, we have power back now and it's time for another edition of: What Would Audrey Do!

Today is Audrey's birthday! She was born May 4, 1929. In celebration, I'd like to impart some of her wisdom onto you!

How To Be A Movie Star In Your Own Life (part 2)

Surround yourself with great people. Audrey was well-mannered, but she generally got what she wanted, and that is because she surrounded herself, professionally, with people who operated at a very high level. When Hedda Hopper asked her about the details of her Paramount contract, she said, "I have no regrets. I had very good agents. I think if I deserve more money, I'll get it. I have a very happy contract." Her agent, the former boxer Kurt Frings, was (according to Audrey's first husband, Mel Ferrer) a "devoted and fanatical defender of her interests."

Move beyond your fears. In spite of the grace and calm that she portrayed on-screen or while giving a speech in public, Audrey suffered from stage fright her entire life. In 1991, she was honored by the Film Society of Lincoln Center, and Ralph Lauren was with her backstage before she walked out to give her acceptance speech. He remembered her being so nervous, "pacing back and forth."

The director of the tribute, Wendy Keys, has a similar recollection. If there was just one moment she could keep in her mind, it was AH walking onstage. "She threw her shoulders back, and this beautiful white chiffon skirt swirled around her legs as she walked out to greet those people who were so thrilled to see her. It was heightened by the fact that she was so nervous. The sight of her back, with that beautiful French twist and those shoulder blades like nobody else's - it was a moment I'll never forget."

Have a vision. Even at a very young age, Audrey had an instinct for what worked for her and what didn't. Develop yours. And not to get too New Agey or anything, but before you walk onto that stage, into that boardroom, onto that airplane, take a few minutes, sit quietly, center yourself, and think about what it is that you want to accomplish. Then, feel it, really feel it - and allow the experience into your life.

Look the part. We will get the specifics of this later, but Audrey said that when she wore Givenchy's clothing, she felt protected. As a struggling chorus girl starting out in London, she understood the power of clothes (She had just one scarf, which she "knew how to tie 17 different ways," recalled a friend). And with the first money she earned as an actress - a small role in Monte Carlo Baby, shot in May 1951 - she bought her first piece of couture, a Givenchy coat.

**all information comes from the book: What Would Audrey Do? by Pamela Keogh