February 10, 2006. Hi all. I'm sorry I've been scarce here as of late, but I've been busy getting settled into a new job, blah blah life stuff. Anyways, I've been sifting through about 10 pages of Audrey news I was behind on, and besides the new Breakfast at Tiffany's DVD (ah, did you forget?), I'm afraid not much has been happening. She is, of course, mentioned all the time in fashion, especially with all of the awards shows going on lately and Fashion Week, but I'm afraid there's been no real meat. I could be wrong, since I still have a lot to go through, but just to let you know. But on a side note, did anyone see Natalie Portman at the Golden Globes? She's being compared to Audrey now more than ever after that night.
February 13, 2006. I got my anniversary edition Breakfast at Tiffany's today! I think I'm going to watch it tomorrow as my Valentine's celebration. I try to get everyone to do this, instead of buying into the hype of a made-up holiday. :)
*later*
I think when the message board's gold status is up in June, I'm going to take the whole thing down. It's pretty useless.
February 21, 2006. I just thought you guys might like to know that today is Givenchy's birthday! He's 79 today. I often wonder about what he's up to now.
March 7, 2006. I know this isn't directly Audrey-related, but I think it's relevant: Dana Reeve, wife of actor/activist Christopher Reeve, passed away from lung cancer at the age of 44. She had never smoked in her life, but she was still stricken with this disease. I'm on the Christopher Reeve Paralysis Foundation's mailing list and she always was positive that she would beat this thing, so it comes as a double shock now. On the links page is some information and a link to the foundation, if you're interested and would like to learn more. I think Audrey would definitely have supported the Reeves.
April 9, 2006. *insert various excuses about busy personal life here* There. Now that that's out of the way, we can get to the real business. Are you sitting down? Because I think you should be when you read this. It's pretty much set in stone that Keira Knightley has been cast as Eliza Doolittle in a remake of My Fair Lady. Yes, you did read right. Apparently, the man in charge of the Broadway revival wants to do a film remake of that beloved show, and thought Keira would be great for it. Even though he doesn't know if she can sing and she's never performed on stage. Erm. For the full story, hit the news section. And for our unbridled opinions, hit the message board.
April 16, 2006. Still not much news lately. The Nun's Story is now out on DVD -- do you have it? And Audrey was voted the #1 most beautiful woman by New Woman magazine, thankfully topping out above the flash-in-the-pan current celebrities. Other than that, not much new news has been popping up. I have added two more articles to the Keira Knightley as Eliza Doolittle entry, but there's no new information there, besides an article claiming that the new My Fair Lady is going to be a West End stage production instead of a film.
One last thing: if there is an Audrey movie that's not yet on DVD that you would like to see on DVD, be sure to stop by Amazon.com and see if they have a DVD page up. Even if there isn't a release date and it's not being produced yet, there's sometimes a page where you can enter your email address to be notified when it does come out on DVD. Not only that, but each email entered is a "vote" to get the movie released on DVD. The studios are made aware of this. So if you want They All Laughed and One Wild Oat released, tell them! (Links in the news section as well)
P.S. The new Audrey biography being released in June in the UK? Well, it's coming out September in the States. FYI. ;) Pre-order information is in the news section. Cheers!
May 13, 2006. A HUGE thanks to Carl, for nudging me in the ribs and reminding me that there's still plenty going on to report about. Mainly, that there's four new books coming out on Audrey, not counting the new biography I'd already reported! As a quick summary, the new books are: a blank, lined hardcover journal to write all your wonderful ideas in; a leatherbound edition of Sean's Elegant Spirit; a new "treasures" book that sounds like the most spectacular book yet; and a book on Audrey's Paramount Studio years, with loads of pictures and poster art. So much for saving your money this year. ;) Head over to the news page for more details on each book and links.
May 22, 2006. Good news! Keira Knightley isn't going to remake My Fair Lady. The director has said that he's happy with the two actresses currently playing Eliza in the stage revivals of MFL, and there's obviously no film remake in the works. Our film is safe . . . for now. :)
June 29, 2006. By accident I stumbled across a relatively new book of poetry all about Audrey called The Book of Faces. If you've searched Amazon then you might have seen older, out of print and impossible to find poems about Audrey listed, but this new book came out at the end of September and is relatively easy to find. There was a copy at my local bookstore and Amazon actually has this book in stock. I skimmed it last night and it seems that every poem is about her. However, I personally think the poems are terrible. Check the news section for links, including a link to two poems from the book so you can decide for yourself. Taste in art is very subjective, especially when it comes to poetry, but keep in mind that I warned you, and you should at least skim the book before buying. :)
P.S. If you're from the UK, don't forget that the newest biography, Enchantment: The Life of Audrey Hepburn is out now! Us Americans will have to keep waiting until September, unless you want to pay $35.66 standard air mail (6-10 days), $63.99 for priority (1-2 days). !!! I'll wait, thanks.
July 1, 2006. Look, semi-regular updates! Will wonders never cease? This one's a funny one. It turns out that Audrey actually was a princess! Sort of. Geneologists have been tracking celebrities' family trees, and they've found that Audrey is a descendant of none other than Henry VIII. Yes, the Henry VIII. I was really excited when I read this, but the bottom of the paragraph said that about 80% of England's population is descended from him. Don't even try to think about incest with this one. Especially when you consider that Humphrey Bogart is also a descendant! But here's a thought to comfort you: if you have any English blood in your veins, you just might be related to Audrey and a descendant of royalty yourself!
Bonus: do you remember me talking about a new Breakfast at Tiffany's journal that was supposed to come out in May? There were no preview pictures up at the time, but now that it's out, here's what you can expect:
I haven't seen it around in bookstores yet, but you can always go with Amazon.
July 16, 2006. A reader by the name of Franklin was kind enough to write in to say that there's yet another new Audrey book coming out this year! The publisher is Taschen, whom I love. If you're not familiar with them, they have approximately a zillion spectacular art books out on just about any subject imaginable, and they're all very well done and very affordable. According to Franklin, Audrey has topped Taschen's movie star polls over a series of years, so now she gets her own book! It's going to be released in Germany (and on Germany's Amazon site) in October sometime and will come out in the U.S. in November. I can't find it as yet on the UK Amazon, sorry guys!
I also looked up Enchantment while I was on the UK Amazon and while it's only had one review so far, it was a pretty "meh" review at that. The reviewer said that it was a good biography for beginners, but didn't offer anything new and didn't even really talk about her impact on fashion. Hmm. I still want to judge for myself, but I'll definitely be looking for more reviews. Any UKers here that have read it yet?
A big thank you to Franklin for the info! Check the news page for links to pre-order.
July 25, 2006. Look what I got yesterday!
Seriously, I've been waiting years to get it on vinyl. It's apparently very popular with DJs here, so it's never in record stores, at least in my neck of the woods. Hallelujah!
July 30, 2006. The big news flying around lately is that the black dress from Breakfast at Tiffany's is going up for auction at the end of the year. I say the black dress because it's the one everyone and their grandmother has copied since the movie came out (and not the shorter black cocktail dress with the yards of fringe along the bottom).
It's to be sold at Christie's in London on December 5 and is expected to go for between £50,000 to £70,000 -- about $130,000 US and €102,500. It's for charity, which is good, with the proceeds going to City of Joy Aid, which helps poor children in India. It's said that the founders of this charity were given this gown from Givenchy himself as a gift for charity. I guess that makes me feel better about them auctioning it off. :) As always, hit the news link for scads of articles on this.
P.S. The other day I found the Charade soundtrack on vinyl for $1! Life is good.
August 8, 2006. Remember the news stories about the Breakfast at Tiffany's dress being up for auction, and how some of the stories had a model sporting the dress? After looking at these pictures and thinking for a little bit, I don't think she's wearing the real dress. In the picture of this model just walking down the street in the dress, you see a peek of a slit up the left side of the dress, and when she's sitting at an outdoor cafe table, you can see her entire arse hanging out of the dress because the slit goes all the way up to the waistband. !!! I even popped the DVD in last night to double check, but the original dress has no slit whatsoever. That's why she walks a little funny, with small steps at the beginning of the film, and that's why she has the dress hiked up to her knees to run across the street when she gets home from her breakfast. I know it sounds crazy and nitpicky, but it had been bothering me. So is the dress up for auction a fake, or had it been altered and a slit added, or is the model just wearing a copy and the pictures were mislabeled? Dunno, but there it is for you, if you were wondering.
But on to the real news: according to Amazon, there's supposed to be another two books coming out on Audrey next year. One is due out on May 1st, and the other has no date whatsoever set, so I'm a little wary about it. And unfortunately that's all the information given, besides author names. :/ I'll post more when I find out more.
August 13, 2006. Wanna see what's inside the upcoming Audrey Hepburn Treasures book? Hit the news page. :)
Plus, the classic Roman Holiday tea commercial and three new ones! Well, new to me.
August 14, 2006. There are certain Audrey movies that most fans haven't seen. They All Laughed, for example, was kind of hard to find and not really heard of by many people. But it's still coming out on DVD October 17th!
I think I might hold off watching it until then. :) As always, check the news page for the pre-order page and more information.
August 28, 2006. Any readers here from the UK? The National Portrait Gallery has a show going on about Angus McBean, the photographer who shot the memorable early-Audrey Calomine ad photographs.
Actually, the picture above is part of the exhibit! McBean had a prolific career, though, and made a big impact in the photography world, as well as photographing many more celebrities. The show is up in London until October, and then will tour the UK with a stop in McBean's native Wales until the middle of next year. As always, hit the news link for more information.
*later*
I don't have TV, so I nearly missed this one: apparently, there's a new Gap ad for skinny black pants they're selling, and they use Jo Stockton to sell them! Erm . . . judge for yourself.
UPDATE: The commercial above will only be aired for one month! So if you like it or just compulsively collect Audrey clips, you might want to download it while you can.
August 31, 2006. I'm not much one for sports and I'm terrible at tennis (I can only do backhands), but this story just kept finding its way into my inbox, so I'm sharing it. Apparently at the US Open on Wednesday, Russian player Maria Sharapova was inspired by Audrey and sported an all-black, sequin bedecked tennis dress. It apparently did some magic, because she won both sets. She also says that she's really inspired by Audrey.
September 1, 2006. Wow. I just got a copy of the Funny Face soundtrack on vinyl (record), and it sounds amazingly different! The Verve CD sounds excellent because they did a great job remastering, but listening to the record is like practically watching the movie. Plus, I like some pops in my music sometimes. :) Audrey singing "How Long Has This Been Going On?" sounds completely different somehow. If you ever can, try to get this soundtrack!
P.S. Expect some big changes soon . . .
September 4, 2006. I was going to wait on this one, but since we've been talking about Audrey clips on You Tube in the message board, why wait? I was meandering around the site the other day when I found this cool clip. It doesn't have Audrey in it, but I'm also a big Henry Mancini fan, and Andy Williams's version of "Moon River" is the most popular version outside of Audrey's. So here's a video of Andy singing and Mancini playing "Moon River":
Anyone know where this footage is from?
September 7, 2006. AFI (The American Film Institute) has released their list of the 25 Greatest Film Musicals, and My Fair Lady came in at number 8! There's also been some grumblings about the movie making the list -- or just being so high on the list -- because of Audrey's dubbing debacle.
And now you're going to learn something new! I just found out today that Audrey was responsible for the Louis Vuitton "Speedy 25" bag being made. It's still one of the most popular bags around today, too.
Which reminds me of the best ad campaign I might have ever seen:
This Vuitton ad was shown in Japan and based on characters created by the most well-respected Japanese modern artist around today, Takashi Murakami. And, as always, hit the news link for more stories and information.
September 8, 2006. Just a couple of quick little things, because I'm busy doing big things that you can't see yet. ;) First up, it turns out that Gap is going to (or already did) donate a good sum to the Children's Fund in conjunction with their use of Audrey's image for that crazy commercial. (My mum loves it, by the way.) And it wasn't even supposed to debut until yesterday! I can't believe I was actually ahead of the curve on that one.
In other news, I found an interesting article on why the Japanese are still so infatuated with Audrey, and just how much they use her image on a daily basis to change their lives, be it selling (supposedly nasty) tea to improving worker's morale. It also reminded me of something I stashed and then promptly forgot to share: the Audrey Hepburn credit cards! Yes, in Japan you can have a credit card with Audrey on it. No, she won't pay your bills. There's four designs to choose from that I'm aware of:
Do I even have to tell you about the news page anymore?
September 11, 2006. I went out tonight for tea and was absolutely deluged with Audrey. It was quite nice! :D Tomorrow I'm going to go out and get pictures of her new bus ads and some Gap displays, but for tonight I'll share that the Gap website -- www.gap.com -- now has the commercial up. Actually, if you just type in gap.com, the commercial below will automatically play, with "hello audrey" written underneath. If you click the "shop the ads" button just below the window it'll take you to the latest ads, where you can see a full 60 second version of the commercial. Twice as long as the original. There's also a neat behind the scenes video showing (sort of) how they made the commercial. There's also copies of the print ads they have with modern models sporting the skinny black pants, but tonight I saw ads with Audrey herself in them which aren't on the site. So tomorrow, come back for those.
Before I go, I just wanted to add a neat little story I found earlier. The shuttle Atlantis is in space right now on its way to the space station, and Sunday morning they were awoken with Audrey singing "Moon River." I'd say that's a pretty nice way to start the day anywhere. The whole story is in the news section.
September 12, 2006. As promised, pictures of Audrey's Gap ads! Sorry I'm late in posting them, but whenever we go to this neighborhood, we end up spending the whole day there. I must say, though, that the ads for these stupid pants are absolutely everywhere. You can't get away from them! At least in this city. Right after we photographed these we went across the way to get me some ice cream, and a girl walked by sporting Audrey's entire outfit, like she'd just come out of the store with a new wardrobe. Well, if it makes women stop dressing like bag ladies, I'm all for it. ;)
They put the skinny pants at the back of the store (at least at my branch they did), which was kinda sleazy after all the advertising they're doing on them, but this sign did indicate that they have some charity in them. This on a table full of skinny pants.
I think we were nearly thrown out of the store for getting that last picture, too. (My review of the pants themselves: meh.)
As if that weren't enough, someone was good enough to post the 60 second Gap commercial on You Tube. So if you haven't been to the Gap site yet or are just too lazy to go, here it is:
edit: video has been taken down by the original poster. And before I could save it, too!
Lastly, I can't believe I forgot to post these before. There's a Japanese girl group called Vanilla Mood that apparently plays lead-in music on some morning show (or talk show, my Japanese isn't spectacular), and they play all sorts of American music. A lot of their minute-and-a-half videos are on You Tube, but I've found two that would interest Audrey fans.
Moon River
The Rain In Spain
Aren't they cute?
*later*
Bad news for those of you -- like me -- who haven't been to the New York Tiffany & Co yet. It's been remodeled on the inside. :( I don't know for sure how different it is because I can't seem to find any pictures on the Internet yet, and I'm a little busy to be flying out just for that. But it sounds like a good amount of work had been done, taking most of this year to do the construction. So alas! The Tiffany we know from Breakfast at Tiffany's might be gone forever. Check the news page for the whole story and details on the new look.
September 14, 2006. *sigh* Yet another film either ripping off (or, as the filmmakers like to call it, giving homage to) Breakfast at Tiffany's and/or blatantly basing the lead female character on Audrey's Holly Golightly. This latest one is Love and Other Disasters, which opened at the Toronto Film Festival. There's not much information on it out yet, since the film festival is still going on, but I did find some stills shot during filming and one movie poster. I'll leave you to judge for yourselves. Note how Brittany's hair is styled an awful lot like Audrey's:
Brittany Murphy as Holly Golightly Emily "Jacks" Jackson
A nod to the scene of Holly brushing her teeth and talking to Paul.
But to make you feel better after looking at that nonsense, I found some more previews of Audrey Hepburn Treasures! Less than a month now . . .
To see more, hit the news link.
And lastly, it seems that a lot of people are upset over the Gap using Audrey in their ads. I mean a lot. Just searching for her name in Blogger turned up nothing but diatribes against the commercials, actually. I'm curious as to what percentage of the fans really don't like these commercials. Can I get some feedback?
P.S. Fixed the picture problem. Sorry about that!
September 15, 2006. Did you ever catch yourself sighing "I wish I had that camera/lighter" when you were watching Roman Holiday? Well, sigh no more! Zippo has come out with a camera lighter -- well, actually this one is just a camera, and digital at that -- for the quite reasonable price of $29.99. I'm unsure on quality but it does have a pretty decent memory for being so small. The main bugger with me is that it looks more obviously like a camera than Irving's little contraption:
Hit the news page for more details.
*later*
Maybe this explains the sudden flux of rip-offs: Breakfast at Tiffany's was voted the #1 most influential trend-setting film fashion-wise in the UK. Coming in at #6 is My Fair Lady, a pleasant surprise. While I don't see many people in giant Ascot hats, it's pretty amazing to see two of her starring films in the top ten. (The Great Gatsby is number 8, which started a huge 20s flapper revival and is another favourite era of mine.)
Also, there seems to be an intense bidding war on an Audrey book right now on eBay. The book is currently going for -- are you ready for this? -- $3,050! (US) Why is it going for so much? Well, it's an advance copy of Audrey Hepburn: The Paramount Years, signed by the author and with an alternate hardback cover that won't be seen in the U.S. The book actually was supposed to come out next month in hardcover, according to Amazon, but after just checking the page, it seems as if the release date has been pushed back indefinitely. You can't pre-order anymore; actually, you can only sign up to be notified of when you can pre-order now. The eBay listing says that the book is to be released in the UK next month, as planned, but it won't come out in the States until March 2007. The news page has links and more details.
September 17, 2006. I've found three more videos on You Tube you might be interested in. The first is a bit old and actually nothing very spectacular, but I just love watching (and hearing) Audrey sing "La Vie en Rose." So here she is singing it in the scene from Sabrina, plus funny Spanish subtitles. (Well, I think it's funny to talk of fixing the brims of sombreros.)
Next up is two videos for the same song. Apparently this German band called Erdmöbel recorded a song called "In den Schuhen von Audrey Hepburn," which translates to "In the Shoes of Audrey Hepburn." The first video is more of a music video, and the second is just the guys standing around performing. Sort of like an early Weezer video. The lyrics don't really say much, just talk of curtains opening and lights going up and repeating the chorus over and over again.
Das ist alles.
September 18, 2006. In case you were interested, Donald Spoto, who authored the latest Audrey biography called Enchantment, will be on the Early Show (CBS) tomorrow morning at 7 am to talk about the book. Also of note is the fact that I just learned that a CD for the Green Mansions soundtrack was released last year! Amazon doesn't have any new copies available, but there are a few up from independent sellers and you can at least see the track listing. I also found an article that gives the soundtrack a really good review, even though Tony Perkins's song isn't on the album.
As always, check the news page for links.
P.S. Check it out: Audrey in Legos!
This was done by artist Henry Lim.
September 19, 2006. For those of you who missed the interview this morning with Donald Spoto, there's a couple of CBS affiliate pages up with video of the entire interview.
Also, it's an expensive time to be shopping for Audrey on eBay! First there was the thousand dollar Paramount book (there's another one up on the block that's only up to $100), but there's also some foreign original film posters up starting at $1,000 each! I personally don't see why they need to start that high, and I guess other people agree because there's been no bidding yet. Check the news page for links to the Spoto interview and the more expensive auctions.
Lastly, the NASA video of the astronaut wake-up call, Audrey singing "Moon River":
September 23, 2006. Still more word on the Gap ad campaign. I've come across many angry editorials, but haven't bothered to post them because while they all stress valid points, they also all say the same thing: Audrey was class, this ad campaign isn't. But while the L.A. Times report today says the same thing, it also insinuates that the ads are doing well for them. The ads were called "polarizing," and stated that while a lot of people like them and a lot of people hate them, it stirs up passion, which makes people buy those overpriced pants. Apparently. The story doesn't really say anything new besides that, but you can see the whole story in the news section.
Now on to something else that's been bothering me. Marni Nixon, who secretly dubbed Audrey's singing in My Fair Lady without Audrey's knowing (or approval), is having a mini-tour and performing in L.A. soon. If you've been to You Tube lately and have done a search for Audrey Hepburn on there and sort by date, then you might have seen these. They're clips from movies she's dubbed for interspersed with Marni herself talking about her hidden career, and she always sounds very bitter about it. Whether reading Audrey biographies or watching the commentary on My Fair Lady, you get the impression that she really had something against Audrey and refuses to believe that Audrey didn't know about the dubbing beforehand. But even if she had, she would have been -- and was -- heartbroken to know that the studio would lie to her about something she considered so important. But that's a topic for another day. Here's two Marni ads, focusing on the very hidden career that she's been longing to shed for over 30 years.
Granted, there were many "ghosts" back in the golden days of Hollywood. Hundreds of thousands of people were never credited for their work, from extras on up. But no one seems to have made such a big stink about it, or have such a vendetta. It was just something that happened on a daily basis at the time.
September 25, 2006. Some startling news! Apparently, in the just released Donald Spoto biography Enchantment, he talks more intimately about Audrey's love life than any other biographer, including an early, never before mentioned affair with a screenwriter during her marriage to Mel and before the birth of Sean. He also claims that she was vaguely hypocritical of adultery, dabbling in it herself while flying off the handle when a man cheated on her. There's a link in the news article for you.
On to more positive news, there's some more watcheable videos from You Tube for you:
The Gap ad remixed. It doesn't fit as well, since the ad was edited for the AC/DC song, but I'd personally take almost anything over metal.
A short, very sweet clip of Audrey reading an excerpt from Anne Frank's diary while enjoying the great outdoors. From the "Gardens of the World" series.
More of those cute Vanilla Mood girls! This time playing "Get Me To the Church On Time" from My Fair Lady.
September 27, 2006. Donald Spoto sure has been making news while promoting his new biography on Audrey. Every news article about her lately is due to some new revelation he's dropped about her! But this latest article is so good and so parallels exactly what I'm feeling that I'm going to copy it verbatim. It's a long read, but definitely worth it:
Hollywood legend Audrey Hepburn is back in vogue as a style icon more than 13 years after her death -- but a biographer fears the revival will feed a misconceived image of the actress, who never cared much about fashion.Hepburn, who is often named as one of the most beautiful women of all time, is inspiring the new season's fashion line-up with her classic but simple style of skinny black pants, flat pumps and little, black dresses.
Retailer Gap is leading the drive, using pictures of the actress in skinny black pants on billboards and in a television and Web ad, dancing in the 1957 movie "Funny Face" set to rock band AC/DC's song "Back in Black."
Another U.S. retailer J. Crew has set up a Little Black Dress Shop in its stores.
Author Donald Spoto, who this week released a new biography on the Oscar-winning actress called "Enchantment: The Life of Audrey Hepburn," said he is not surprised by the renewed focus on Hepburn.
"Audrey Hepburn represents a kind of elegance that may be especially appreciated in an era of torn jeans. Her combination of modesty and simplicity are a wonderful corrective in these times of vulgar and empty celebrity," he told Reuters.
But he said he felt this emphasis on fashion and style minimized Hepburn's significant achievements as an actress. Later in life Hepburn was very active in humanitarian work.
"(It) also directly contradicts her own sense of values, which did not place clothes very highly on a list of important things," he said.
Hepburn, who died of colon cancer in 1993 aged 63, always played down her own beauty, saying her look was attainable.
"Women can look like Audrey Hepburn by flipping out their hair, buying the large sunglasses, and the little sleeveless dresses," she once said.
But her classic style has endured and remained in demand. The black Givenchy dress she wore in the 1961 movie "Breakfast at Tiffany's" is expected to sell at an auction in December for around $100,000.
Spoto said he wrote about Hepburn because he was disappointed in previous works on her, with the actress treated as a "stained glass window figure" rather than a human being who struggled.
His book reveals Hepburn desperately wanted children but had bad luck with famous boyfriends who were sterile.
She did finally have a son, Sean, with American actor Mel Ferrer in 1960. Sean Ferrer allowed Gap to use his mother in their campaign with a significant donation to be made to the Audrey Hepburn Children's Fund. She had another son in 1970 with second husband, Italian psychologist Andrea Doretti.
"The most surprising thing was the constant thread of heartache and disappointment in her life, which she bore with magnificent grace and courage," said Spoto.
copyright Reuters 2006. All Rights Reserved
An interesting side note: if I remember right, Gap and Banana Repulic are both owned by the same parent company. I sure hope they made a BIG contribution to the Children's Fund to pay for the double use of Audrey.
But the main point the article stresses, and which I stress, is that a facet of her is being blown out of proportion and copied in excess and believed to be all of her. It seems as if people are unable to separate her from her onscreen persona, Holly Golightly, and they've become melted together into one two-dimensional fashion plate. Through the years this website has been around we've seen plenty of women mimic the big sunglasses and black dresses, from footballer's wives to "celebutard" socialites, but who ever bothers to imitate her wonderful personality, or her overwhelming desire to help less fortunate children? Where is the "put others before yourself" attitude? Maybe the gross caricatures are actually damaging her image and legacy. The video below is an excellent example:
September 28, 2006. While the Taschen picture book isn't due out for another two months, their website is nice enough to offer a good selection of previews on the layout of the book. At 193 pages, I believe it's more of a pocket book than a coffee book, which is a little disappointing. But I haven't complained about an Audrey picture book yet! Here's a preview of a two-page layout:
For more previews and a brief rundown on the book, click on the picture above or hit the news page.
Also: I've been mentioning Donald Spoto and his new book a lot, but it wasn't until last night that I actually bought the book. I'm halfway through today (I pretty much eat books), and I must say that it's a very good read. I haven't gotten to the part about the "new" affair with Robert Anderson, but this book does offer answers to questions that other biographies have raised and never seem to have been answered. For example, what led to the breakup of her engagement to James Hanson. Spoto also seems to have talked to Sean quite extensively and been given some new information, though he's clever and cites Sean often as "his/her grandson" when talking about Audrey's parents or "one of her sons" or "Audrey's eldest son" when you know it's always Sean. It's all very interesting so far. Has anyone actually finished the book yet? I will have by tomorrow afternoon, I'm sure, but I want to hear what other people have to say.
September 29, 2006. Did any of you catch "CSI: New York" two nights ago? I personally only watch the original Vegas show, but apparently the latest episode of "New York" featured three female robbers dressed as Holly Golightly. I don't have any screengrabs yet, but if they're any good, I'll get some. I'm vaguely curious as to how this will turn out . . .