Happy Labor Day, darlings!
Labor Day used to mean a screening of "Picnic," where that line came from. How long has it been since any of us were old enough to utter that line? Much too long, in my case, I can tell you.
What follows next is more self revealing. Mrs. Owens answers her daughter, Madge, by saying-- "And the next summer you will be nineteen, and after that, twenty, and
after that twenty-one, and then (turning her face in horror) forty!!!!!!!!!!!"
Oh, my God! The idea of forty as a horror show? Can you imagine? With that kind of thinking, most of us would have at least a foot in the grave, already!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Maybe this is why "Picnic" is no longer shown, though with that cast--Kim Novak, Betty Field, Rosalind Russell, Susan Strasberg, William Holden, and Arthur O'Connell--it is just about perfect!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Now, I don't want all you out there fretting about not being eighteen, or looking like Kim Novak. This is Labor Day, the last blast of Summer, so get out there, and enjoy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
And if you think forty is a horror show....wait!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I remember reading Susan Strasberg's autobiography when I was in junior high; even at that young age I had to roll my eyes at all the name-dropping.
ReplyDelete
ReplyDeleteVictoria.
The two best bios I ever read,
and recommend them all the time are
"Bittersweet" by Susan Strasberg, and
"Haywire" by Brooke Hayward. Both
are exceptionally well written, yes, they
name drop, but considering who the parents
were, it seems justified.
Susan had a tragic end. An early girlhood
full of promise, a failed marriage, drugs, a
daughter with a heart condition, and then dying'
impoverished in a friend's apartment of cancer,
at 60, having no health insurance.
When I read this, I wonder if fame is worth it.
Ah, I Loved Haywire. The Strasberg one was called Marilyn and Me; I will see if I can find Bittersweet.
ReplyDeletePoor Susan, my heart goes out to her.