darlings

as we lie back on the movie starlet counterpane….

we’ve been thinking a lot (always a slightly dangerous activity) about Why People want to be published.

because there seem to be Quite a few people around us who, well, might have Wanted to have written a book (too) and, well, haven’t quite got round to it (yet). so when they see a copy of the book SOMETIMES (and only sometimes) there’s a – how can we put this – rueful smile when they see IT.

of course Morrissey sang it wickedly at his best (and with a lovely slightly shiny blue blouse)

it doesn’t matter at all.

we wish them well.

in fact we wish they’d just get on with it and write the bloody book and publish it.

because…..

*looks_around*

they CAN.

what’s that?

oh.

well there’s a Big difference between wanting-to-write-and-communicate-with-the-World and what’s perhaps the True Reason:

wanting to be Validated by the Establishment

(book deal, critics, cocktail parties, protection from poverty, escaping from one’s Past)

for a start: not sure if you’ve noticed, but the Establishment doesn’t run things anymore (and it stopped throwing really big parties when the accountants became mgmt and started looking at the “numbers”).the court(ship) of public opinion (and direct to consumer publishing via mr. amazon and the like, blogs, sharing, social feeds) is Us.

(and are Ever so grateful to Miss French Navy for sending us this clipping about our article in Harper’s Bazaar Australia)which is DELICIOUS.

so there you go – we’ve said our piece.

publish and be hugged.

nobody’s stopping you (but you – as the sages say).

and we’ll be the 1st to buy a copy. but you knew that. in other news:

the DIVINE Miss Vickie Lester has written a blog post featuring the Scar (which is ever so happy to be mentioned, it’s been a while)

now just in case you’re Very Young, Miss Vickie Lester’s Post features a picture at the top (providing Context and Hollywood deliciousness) of the divine Elizabeth Taylor (not who-we-are-in-RL).

co-in-ci-dent-ally – we have a Quote (about) Miss. E. Taylor framed on our wall from a vintage copy (1981, we believe) of Interview magazine where Mr. Warhol talks about how famous people have this entree to each other that brooks no need to stand on ceremony. 
having been around a few famous people in our Time, we can confirm this is True.

there’s a subtle nod of recognition – just like in the corridors at a particularly grand school – between the chosen beauties and those-who-will-run-corporations (while those-who-will-write furiously take in the Scene). 

talking of Fame and wanting-to-reach the Top, we happened to catch Stage Door (1937) last night (that’s a slightly understated allusion – we deliberately picked up the DVD while retrieving the latest cache of Requested Materials at the library). 

have you seen it?

the snappy dialog(ue) is Genius.

I see that, in addition to your other charms, you have that insolence generated by an inferior upbringing.

Hmm! Fancy clothes, fancy language and everything!

Unfortunately, I learned to speak English correctly.

That won’t be of much use to you here. We all talk pig latin.

And I use the right knife and fork. I hope you don’t mind.

All you need’s the knife.

If you were a little more considerate of your elders, maybe Mr. Powell would send his car for you someday. Of course, he would probably take one look at you and send you right back again, but then you have to expect that.

Is that so?

Do you know, I think I could fix you up with Mr. Powell’s chauffeur. The chauffeur has a very nice car too.

Yes, but I understand Mr. Powell’s chauffeur doesn’t go as far in his car as Mr. Powell does.

*giggling*

now that’s writing. 

there were two men’s names on the screenwriter credits (although you know that only the last people who touch a script get credited, right?) but there was something so Heartfelt and dirty (in a good way) and Real that we KNEW the person who wrote the Original words *must* have lived in a boarding house (or similar) for theatrical “girls” in the late 1920s in the sniper fire of midtown manhattan.

bingo. 

“The writer is a writer because [she] cannot help it. It is a compulsion. Sometimes it is called a gift, but actually it is an urge for expression that simply cannot be denied.”
Edna Ferber. 

“Is this, they ask, the story of your life?…Yes. My inner life. The life of imagination and creative ability. Writing is a lonely work but the creative writer is rarely alone. The room in which one works is peopled with the men and women and children in the writer’s imagination. Often they are difficult—but rarely boring—company. This is a fortunate thing, for they are with one day and night, they never leave while the book or play is in progress…” (A Kind of Magic, 1963)

darlings – will you excuse us?

we simply *must* click over to the Los Angeles County Library Requested Materials department to request EVERYTHING by Edna Ferber.

we shall return.

with pictures.