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Post by Kao on Mar 24, 2024 18:10:11 GMT
I am reading Cecil Beaton's diaries from the 1960's and he speaks about Capote. To put it mildly, he was none too pleased with him for all the lies Truman made up almost to cause drama amonst all of his friends, especially about Cecil. They were all concerned he was taking drugs (Lee, Vreeland etc.) And Cecil thought that the B&W ball was in poor taste and all the success of In Cold Blood made Truman narcissistic. I also didn't realize that there was a movie made from In Cold Blood. (Or that Cecil Beaton abhorred Elizabeth Taylor!) I'm going to side eye here (him, not you) because people who thought that way did so because they were used to a certain type of status quo. The reason why that Ball was remarkable for its time was because Capote threw those ideas out the window; you had your society people like the Vandervilts and Rockefellers mixing with artists (Warhol, Gordon Parks) actors and singers (Mia Farrow and Frank Sinatra, Lauren Bacall), politicians, influential Black people (Ralph Ellison and Harry Belafonte), royalty (Wallis Simpson and the Maharani of Jaipur), etc. It was an exciting mixture of pretty much everyone at a time that society itself was rapidly changing, and there were certain people who felt threatened by that.
With that said, I'm sure his complaints about Capote being a {censored} stirrer and drama queen were pretty spot on.
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Post by beerbelly on Mar 24, 2024 23:41:02 GMT
YES! Also, it was in the 1960s when you had such a dichotomy of the old guard and the youth who were really bucking the status quo. And you have to take it from Cecil Beaton's POV, who was very British and hung out with princesses, dined with the Queen Mother, and photographed the Queen. I mean, he was bullied by Evelyn Waugh at boarding school. lol. I could imagine anything American was in poor taste, according to him! Also, I wonder if Cecil was a little jealous of Truman's success at the time. You could dine with the Queen Mum as much as you like, but it doesn't pay the bills.
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Post by Critical on Mar 25, 2024 0:52:54 GMT
I am reading Cecil Beaton's diaries from the 1960's and he speaks about Capote. To put it mildly, he was none too pleased with him for all the lies Truman made up almost to cause drama amonst all of his friends, especially about Cecil. They were all concerned he was taking drugs (Lee, Vreeland etc.) And Cecil thought that the B&W ball was in poor taste and all the success of In Cold Blood made Truman narcissistic. I also didn't realize that there was a movie made from In Cold Blood. (Or that Cecil Beaton abhorred Elizabeth Taylor!) The movie's a classic, with Robert Blake and Scott Wilson (aka Hershel from The Walking Dead) as the murderers and John Forsythe, as the FBI agent in charge of the investigation.
Truman Capote is one of my all-time favorite writers. I haven't decided whether or not I'll watch The Swans. I tend to sort of hate Ryan Murphy projects.
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Mar 25, 2024 3:07:45 GMT
Post by MissGriss on Mar 25, 2024 3:07:45 GMT
It's quite possible you wouldn't like it, then, Critical. Murphy takes lots of liberties with the stories. I've never read any Capote. I was just familiar with him as a talk show personality both an exciting interesting one in the early days and a sad debauched one in the end. I knew of his books and of the movies that resulted from them, but I wasn't familiar enough to know what was fact and what was fiction when watching The Swans. That inspired me to do a little more digging to learn more about both Capote and the women in the series, so I guess that was good.
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Post by Critical on Mar 25, 2024 4:22:33 GMT
It's quite possible you wouldn't like it, then, Critical . Murphy takes lots of liberties with the stories. I've never read any Capote. I was just familiar with him as a talk show personality both an exciting interesting one in the early days and a sad debauched one in the end. I knew of his books and of the movies that resulted from them, but I wasn't familiar enough to know what was fact and what was fiction when watching The Swans. That inspired me to do a little more digging to learn more about both Capote and the women in the series, so I guess that was good. I'm envious of you that you can experience reading Capote for the first time! He's one of the writers whose work I read and think, "This person had all the same letters and all the same words as the rest of us. How did he do this?" He was brilliant. I know he wasn't a perfect person, by any means, but Ryan Murphy seems to want everyone to be terrible....maybe he expects that because he's rather terrible himself.
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Post by MissGriss on Mar 25, 2024 6:48:39 GMT
I really don’t understand Ryan Murphy’s falsifying things in a supposedly true story or “embellishing“ them, especially not in this case where what happened was interesting enough.
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Mar 25, 2024 11:39:40 GMT
Post by beerbelly on Mar 25, 2024 11:39:40 GMT
I really don’t understand Ryan Murphy’s falsifying things in a supposedly true story or “embellishing“ them, especially not in this case where what happened was interesting enough. Agreed! I think the stretched truths and embellishments turned me off of 'The Swans' I haven't finished the series.
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Post by Kao on Mar 25, 2024 13:25:33 GMT
It's quite possible you wouldn't like it, then, Critical . Murphy takes lots of liberties with the stories. I've never read any Capote. I was just familiar with him as a talk show personality both an exciting interesting one in the early days and a sad debauched one in the end. I knew of his books and of the movies that resulted from them, but I wasn't familiar enough to know what was fact and what was fiction when watching The Swans. That inspired me to do a little more digging to learn more about both Capote and the women in the series, so I guess that was good. I'm envious of you that you can experience reading Capote for the first time! He's one of the writers whose work I read and think, "This person had all the same letters and all the same words as the rest of us. How did he do this?" He was brilliant. I know he wasn't a perfect person, by any means, but Ryan Murphy seems to want everyone to be terrible....maybe he expects that because he's rather terrible himself. The acting on it is impeccable (as are the clothes) so if you take the series with a HUGE grain of salt it's enjoyable. The B/W Ball and Baldwin episodes are the highlights.
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Post by Bearcata on Apr 9, 2024 17:46:27 GMT
Lost King Based on The King's Grave: The Search for Richard III; by Philippa Langley; Michael Jones.
I do enjoy movies based on true stories. This was an interesting one regarding a lady on the hunt for where King Richard III of England is buried. I like the bit about the Tudors giving a smear job of Richard that is emphasized in Shakespeare's play, after all history is written by the winners and they want to justify their actions and want to look heroic.
Academia can be a vicious backstabbing field as seen in the movie and argued in real life between the University of Leicester and Philippa Langley.
This is one of those quiet, quirky, Brit films.
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Apr 9, 2024 18:41:09 GMT
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Post by MissGriss on Apr 9, 2024 18:41:09 GMT
Thanks, Bearcata. I’ll have to check it out.
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Apr 10, 2024 6:07:13 GMT
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Post by MissGriss on Apr 10, 2024 6:07:13 GMT
Just finished watching it. Very enjoyable. The University really screwed her (and King Richard) over. I’m glad that he finally got his due and she got her MBE.
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Post by Bearcata on Apr 10, 2024 14:12:42 GMT
Just finished watching it. Very enjoyable. The University really screwed her (and King Richard) over. I’m glad that he finally got his due and she got her MBE. I looked up Philippa on wikipedia and she got honors for her work and wrote a book about it as well as being an executive producer for some a BBC documentary about the search for Richard III.
I do like the part in the article that because she did not have a doctorate or was a professor she was dismissed. Academics can be such snobs.
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Apr 23, 2024 23:12:44 GMT
Post by JustJuls on Apr 23, 2024 23:12:44 GMT
I highly recommend Apples Never Fall with Annette Bening and Sam Neill, along with the rest of the great cast. It's a mystery/drama that kept me guessing until the end.
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Apr 24, 2024 2:22:49 GMT
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Post by MissGriss on Apr 24, 2024 2:22:49 GMT
Interesting, JustJuls! I’ve had my eye on that but hadn’t decided whether or not to watch it.
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Post by JustJuls on Apr 24, 2024 2:37:00 GMT
Let me know what you think! I'm a true crime/mystery girl, so it was up my alley, but those aren't for everyone!
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