Last night ThisTV, 111 on Cablevision in NYC, ran What's New Pusstcat (1965), Woody Allen's first screenplay for the big screen, before he began directing. He also had a part similar to the ones he played in his early strictly comedic films. The stars were Peter Sellers and Peter O'Toole, but the film now is most notable for, besides Tom Jones' title vocal, its female cast: Capucine, Romy Schneider, Paula Prentiss, and Ursula Andress. The latter two are still alive, the former pair left us long ago. The lovely Capucine, French, always a sunny presence, committed suicide in 1991. She'd failed in several previous attempts. As intelligent as she was beautiful, she had a degree in foreign languages. She amassed 56 credits and is perhaps best known for her turn as the adulterous wife of Inspector Clouseau in The Pink Panther (1963). Before that, she was John Wayne's love interest in North to Alaska (1960). Here's an interesting personal quote from her bio at IMDb: "Every time I get in front of a camera, I think of it as an attractive man I am meeting for the first time. I find him demanding and aloof--so I must do all in my power to interest him." She succeeded admirably. Schneider, Viennese, died at 43 in 1982, at first a suspected suicide, later deemed cardiac arrest. She was a heavy smoker and fought alcohol and drug abuse. It is said that the death of one of her children had a devastating effect on her. She piled up 62 credits in her short life and in 1999 was voted "Greatest actress of all time" by readers of French newspaper Le Parisien. I'm only vaguely familiar with her work. She starred opposite Jack Lemmon in Good Neighbor Sam (1964), which I saw way back when and has escaped my memory. Most of her films were based in Europe. Here's a quote from her that seems quite telling: "I am nothing in life, but everything on the screen." And here are pics of these fascinating women, Capucine first:
A married couple pulled off a double of staggering odds. Tony and Janet Blundy had an ace on the same hole. The husband, 53, hit a seven iron from 135 yards. The wife, 43, playing from the ladies' tee, used a pitching wedge from 110 yards. The odds of two players in a foursome doing this are 26 million to one. They played as a twosome, so the odds are about twice that. The feat was verified by players nearby, who saw them celebrating.
It was one of those sessions where the floating book shop veered into the absurd. I received more than 50 books from multiple sources. Only Candy responded in the affirmative when I told her to pick out any book as a thank you. She chose Rising Star and said she once worked in the rock n roll industry for bands like the Grateful Dead. Uh-oh, I thought, certain she would see the novel had been written by an outsider. Regardless, thank you, and to the others and to the kind folks who made purchases, especially the woman who bought the last six of the Danielle Steel romances in English.
Vic's 5th Novel: http://tinyurl.com/okxkwh5Vic's 4th novel: tinyurl.com/bszwlxh
Vic's 3rd Novel: http://tinyurl.com/7e9jty3
Vic's Short Story on Kindle: http://tinyurl.com/k95k3nx
Vic's Short Story Collection: http://www.tiny.cc/Oycgb
Vic's 2nd Novel: http://tiny.cc/0iHLb Kindle: http://tinyurl.com/kx3d3uf
Vic's 1st Novel: http://tinyurl.com/l84h63j
Vic's Short Story Collection: http://www.tiny.cc/Oycgb
Vic's 2nd Novel: http://tiny.cc/0iHLb Kindle: http://tinyurl.com/kx3d3uf
Vic's 1st Novel: http://tinyurl.com/l84h63j
Vic's Rom-Com Screenplay: http://tinyurl.com/kny5llp
Vic's Horror Screenplay: http://tinyurl.com/cyckn3f
Vic's Blog: http://vicfortezza.blogspot.com/
Vic's Web Site: http://members.tripod.com/vic_fortezza/Literature/
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