Say, Kid, You’re One Swell Dame

I’ve been hard at work on the screenplay and this is an education. I have a whole new appreciation of movies, theater, and television (well, sort of). This is not easy. One of the first things I realized as I started work on this is that when you don’t have exposition to carry you everything relies on action and dialog. Now, of course, once the visuals are added --- not to mention the skills of actors --- all that changes but writing and trying to give a sense of story is a challenge.

Since much of the backstory is set in the nightclub scene of the late 1940s and 1950s it is important and I really want to capture a bit of that scrumptious film noir mood for those scenes. When I started writing I listened to some CDs by the torch singers of that period. I’ve said this before but I think in a past life I was one of those “swell dames” --- I LOVE that music. “Sentimental Journey” sung by Julie London, “Smoke Gets in Your Eyes” sung by Eartha Kitt, “But Not for Me” sung by Judy Garland, “La Vie En Rose” --- the ultimate --- sung by Edith Piaf. Such great music by Ella and Lena, and Sarah, and Etta --- I play it over and over while I’m working.

But, though the music set the mood, I soon realized it was the language that was lacking. There was a sort of smart-alecky, slang-loaded back and forth that characterized that period and I needed to learn that. Lucky for me Netflix offers a lot of movies from that period in their “Instant” program. So over the last few days I’ve been spending an awful lot of time watching YouTube snippets from old movies (I discovered you can watch ALL of All About Eve in 18 segments on YouTube) and Netflix Instant movies. It’s been absolutely fascinating.

Both of my parents were movie fans and I remember a lot of the old movies they watched but these old film noir classics are different. I suspect my mother thought they were too racy to watch with the children around. I have to admit, I was a little taken aback by the carryings-on however delicately presented. You can’t tell me that Broderick Crawford spent 9 years living with Judy Holliday and never went into her bedroom. Frankly, I can’t remember when I enjoyed a movie as much as I did Born Yesterday. She is about the swellest dame of all times. And Rita Hayworth was quite the little ho in Gilda. Then there is all the wordplay between Bogart and Bacall in all their films --- that scene about horse racing in The Big Sleep --- man, that was pure sex. Some of the films are not available online so I had to put them in my Netflix queue --- Sunset Boulevard and Double Indemnity. I’ll see them next weekend. I also watched parts of a couple of Marilyn Monroe movies. A couple of those dresses in Some Like It Hot --- holy cow! This is all great stuff.

Last night I sat down and watched the Brando-Leigh A Streetcar Named Desire. I don’t know how I missed that. I guess maybe I thought I’d watched it --- or maybe I did and was too dumb then to appreciate it. Of course one would be hard pressed to find a better writer to learn dialog from than Tennessee Williams. Some of the scenes in that were so hot it’s a wonder the film never ignited and burned to a crisp.

So, little by little, I’m getting a feel for this very intriguing skill --- sassy behavior, period slang, and always, always the pulsing under-current of sex. One of the lines in My Last Romance that I loved was when Ruby says that she feels sorry for young people today because “everything is acceptable and nothing is fun”. She knew what she was talking about. There’s something to be said for repression and censorship if it yields the throbbing dialog that fills those movies.

So, I’m learning. Hey, it’s research. I’ll be at the movies for awhile. If you need me just whistle. You know how to whistle, don’t you, Steve? Just put your lips together and blow.

Thanks for reading.