pseudopodium
. . . Palm Beach Story

. . .

Hell is the Absence of Wienie King

Being a decent little chappy, I properly joined my voice with John Hogan's to defend the honor of Mary Astor's performance in The Palm Beach Story. But was it proper, I wondered later, for me to have described her character as a "nymphomaniac"? "Horny," yes, but why be so clinical? Intense self-analysis suggests I was influenced by second-time-as-tragedy Written on the Wind:

Joel McCrea = Poor but righteous hunk = Rock Hudson
Claudette Colbert = Practical glamour girl = Lauren Bacall
Rudy Vallee = Feckless rich kid = Robert Stack
Model airport on a table = McGuffin dreams are made of = Model oil derrick on a desk
Mary Astor = Worthless sleeparound sister = Dorothy Malone

From this we learn:

  1. Marry the poor righteous hunk first.
  2. Weird wizened indulgent old guys make better inexplicable strangers than they do fathers.

Responses

Juliet Clark writes, although I hesitate to guess about which part:

Suddenly, I'm completely convinced!

 

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