Fifth Avenue, 5 A.M.: Audrey Hepburn, Breakfast at Tiffany's, and the Dawn of the Modern Woman (23 page)

The Cat in the Alley
: “As a woman…” Judith Crist to SW on January 30, 2009.

The Raincoat
: “Edith did the raincoat…” Patricia Snell to SW on February 9, 2009.

7.
LOVING IT
, 1961

One of Bennett Cerf's Dinner Parties
: Joan's story is from
Truman Capote
:
In Which Various Friends
,
Enemies
,
Acquaintances, and Detractors Recall His Turbulent Career
(Doubleday, 1997).

One of Billy Wilder's Dinner Parties
: We can see now that Blake was right to go for his ending, however unconvincing it might be. It is of a piece with the misty, wistful tone of the picture. George's ending, though it makes more emotional sense than Edwards's, was out of step with the conventions of the romantic comedy of the early 1960s, and as such, had to be forsaken. Both are equally right and equally wrong, but that wouldn't keep George from harboring resentment toward Blake, especially considering his long history of getting screwed out of his own material. Pat Snell's explanation, “What Blake did with the cocktail party…,” came from our conversation of February 9, 2009. George's anger at the Mickey Rooney segments, “Each time he appeared I said…,” can be found in George Axelrod in
Screencraft
:
Screenwriting
(Focal Press, 2003). What Billy said to Axelrod about leaving New York is paraphrased from
Backstory 3
(University of California Press, 1997). Axelrod would repeat the same conversation, with negligible variations, throughout his career.

Mancini Is Ready to Score
: Mancini's autobiography,
Did They Mention the Music?
, was indispensable here, as was
The Sixties
, Paul Monaco's volume in the
History of the American Cinema
(University of California, 2001). There is simply no way to write about Hollywood without consulting this series. Audrey's letter to Mancini can be found online at http://www-personal.umich.edu/~bcash/music.html.

That Fucking Song
: As I state in the book, there are many versions of this story, and most of them credit Audrey with saving “Moon River.” In my conversations with Richard Shepherd, I was sure to remind him of this, and he was sure to confirm that he was the one to stand up and speak out. Fay McKenzie's anecdote about Mel Ferrer, “After the preview…,” came from our conversation of February 20, 2009. Richard Shepherd's summary, “The song had been an issue for Rackin…,” is from March 13, 2009. The quote of Mancini's version of that meeting, “Audrey shot right up out of her chair…,” was taken from Warren Harris's
Audrey Hepburn
:
A Biography
(Simon & Schuster, 1994)

The Kook
: The kook stuff was everywhere. “Let's face it now, what is a ‘kook'?” from the AMPAS Library's Paramount Publicity Files, October 26, 1960. “When you publicize this unusual role…” from “Behind the Scenes with
Breakfast at Tiffany's
,”
Screen Stories
(October 1961). “If you're an Audrey Hepburn fan…” from
Photoplay
(July 1961).
“Since Miss Audrey Hepburn has never played…” from the AMPAS Library's Paramount Publicity Files, September 13, 1960.

The Poster
: Robert McGinnis interview with SW on August 5, 2009.

What the Critics Thought
: For an authoritative listing of reviews of
Breakfast at Tiffany's
, consult David Hofstede,
Audrey Hepburn
:
A Bio-bibliography
(Greenwood Press, 1994). Weiller's notice in the
New York Times
from October 6, 1961;
Variety
's review from October 5, 1961; Brendan Gill's glorious
New Yorker
review from October 16, 1961; and Penelope Gilliatt's review can be found in her book,
Unholy Fools
(Viking, New York: 1973). Irving Mandell's letter to columnist Hazel Flynn, which includes “The
Tiffany
picture is the worst of the year…,” comes from
Hollywood Citizen-News
, February 20, 1962.

Working Girl
: Letty Cottin Pogrebin interview with SW on March 6, 2009.

One of Swifty Lazar's Dinner Parties
: “Sometime after the movie came out…” Patricia Snell to SW on February 9, 2009. “The book was really rather bitter…” quoted in an interview with Eric Norden,
Playboy
(March 1968). Capote's lament, “Oh, God, just everything…” from
Conversations with Capote
(New American Library, 1985). “Truman was strongly opposed to the screenplay,” Richard Shepherd to SW on March 13, 2009..

One of Akira Kurosawa's Dinner Parties
: The incredibly funny, incredibly sad story about Kurosawa, beginning “When I was an agent at CMA…,” came from my conversation with Shepherd on March 13, 2009. Mickey Rooney's feelings about playing Mr. Yunioshi have been paraphrased from a remark he made in Bruce Calvert, “Racism in Reel Life” (
Sacramento Bee
, September 9, 2008), after what was to be a free outdoor screening of
Breakfast at Tiffany's
was canceled on account of anti-Yunioshi protests.
Ratatouille
was screened instead, which, given the chance, I would have protested. Blake Edwards has apologized—publicly, on various editions of the
Breakfast at Tiffany's
DVD—for casting Rooney in the part.

Letty Cottin Pogrebin Goes All the Way
: Letty Cottin Pogrebin to SW on March 6, 2009.

The Envelope Please
: In
Did They Mention The Music?
Mancini describes the events leading up to his Oscar acceptances. He and Johnny Mercer's dialogue was pulled verbatim from the telecast of April 9, 1962.
The transcript from the Thirty-fourth Academy Awards can be found at the AMPAS Margaret Herrick Library in Los Angeles.

The End of the Romantic Comedy
: For more specifics on how Audrey overcame her concerns about
Two for the Road
and finally accepted the role, consult
Dancing on the Ceiling
:
Stanley Donen and His Movies
(Knopf, 1996). “I must confess to having been uncertain about taking on the role,” Audrey writes in her introduction to the book, “but it was Stanley who, through sheer persistence, convinced me to accept it. Freddie Raphael had done a brilliant script, perhaps one that was slightly ahead of its time. It was extremely sophisticated, both in its exploration of the various stages of the man's and woman's infatuation with one another and in the way the story played itself out backward and forward in time.”

8.
WANTING MORE, THE 1960S

The Beginning of the Romantic Comedy
: “The Audrey I saw during the making of this film…” Stanley Donen quoted in Ian Woodward,
Audrey Hepburn
(St. Martin's Press, 1984). “Audrey's the one who asked for the divorce” from Lina Das, “Another Audrey,”
Mail on Sunday
(London), November 7, 1999. Judith Crist,
New York World Journal Tribune,
April 28, 1967. Richard Schickel,
Life,
May 12, 1967.

The First Ms.
: Letty Cottin Pogrebin to SW on March 6, 2009.

Adieu Edith
: The story about Edith and Audrey's encounter in the commissary is well told in David Chierichetti's
Edith Head
. Rita Riggs's anecdote, beginning “When Gulf + Western bought Paramount,” is from our conversation of February 13, 2009.

Truman's Swan Song
: Sally Bedell Smith's
In All His Glory
:
The Life & Times of William S. Paley and the Birth of Modern Broadcasting
features what could very likely be the best biographical material that will ever be written about Babe and catalogues her reaction to “La Côte Basque, 1965” in exquisite and painful detail. Naturally, Gerald Clarke's
Capote
tells the same story from Truman's side, and contains, on its final page, a record of his last words.

Jacket design by Mumtaz Mustafa

Jacket photograph © Paramount Pictures / Photofest