Bonbons at the ready, ladies. Also, help yourself to a large glass of your favourite libation. It is soap opera time. Gentlemen, you needn't pretend you don't occasional enjoy a large helping of mid-century melodrama. I know better since the day I returned home from feminine pursuits outside the home to discover the hubby knee deep in a double bill of The Help and A Summer Place.
Has director Jean Negulesco ever let you down? He gave us Humoresque, Road House, Three Came Home, Titanic and Johnny Belinda. Negulesco also proved himself a master in the popular sub-genre of three girls vs. life which dates back at least as far as 1928s Our Dancing Daughters and includes such titles as 1932s The Greeks Had a Word for Them and Three on a Match, 1946s Three Little Girls in Blue, and 1951s Painting the Clouds with Sunshine which was a reworking of Golddiggers of 1933. Jean Negulesco's contributions, beyond our feature, include How to Marry a Millionaire, Three Coins in the Fountain, Woman's World and The Pleasure Seekers.
Has director Jean Negulesco ever let you down? He gave us Humoresque, Road House, Three Came Home, Titanic and Johnny Belinda. Negulesco also proved himself a master in the popular sub-genre of three girls vs. life which dates back at least as far as 1928s Our Dancing Daughters and includes such titles as 1932s The Greeks Had a Word for Them and Three on a Match, 1946s Three Little Girls in Blue, and 1951s Painting the Clouds with Sunshine which was a reworking of Golddiggers of 1933. Jean Negulesco's contributions, beyond our feature, include How to Marry a Millionaire, Three Coins in the Fountain, Woman's World and The Pleasure Seekers.
And another hundred people just got off of the train...
Three Little Maids from School.
Hope Lange, Suzy Parker, Diane Baker
Hope Lange stars as Carolyn Bender, a young woman from a solid Connecticut background and an equally solid university education. Her emotional side belongs to boyfriend Eddie Harris played by Bret Halsey. He's a businessman embarking on a year long assignment in England while Carolyn begins work as a secretary at Fabian Publishing in the big town. At work Carolyn makes friends with April Morrison played by Diane Baker and Gregg Adams played by Suzy Parker. April is a small town girl from Nebraska with romantic notions. Gregg is a beauty with stage aspirations. Her sophisticated facade is a soft shell for a soft heart. They share an apartment, their dreams and their heartbreaks.
Back burner romance adds interest.
Don Harron, Martha Hyer
Fabian Publishing is a hive of worker women in the bottom rung in the steno pool. The women in executive positions are Amanda Farrow played by Joan Crawford and Barbara Lamont played by Martha Hyer. Miss Farrow is an editor who has sacrificed her personal life to a married man. She is smart, tough and bitter. Secretaries call her "the witch". Mrs. Lamont is a divorced mother of a young child. She finds herself in love with a married man played by Don Harron (Charlie Farquharson!). Theirs is a relationship played out mostly in longing looks. It gives the subplot an interesting and complicated quality.
The other men we get to know are Mike Rice played by Stephen Boyd. Mike has unresolved personal issues that make him a bit of a lush. He needs a reason to pull himself together. Perhaps Carolyn is that reason. Brian Aherne plays Fred Shalimar. Fred may be good at his job, but the girls at the firm learn not to work late in his office and know who has just passed by if they feel a pinch.
Carolyn participates in the business tradition of meeting for a drink after work.
Hope Lange, extras
Gregg falls for a womanizing Broadway director David Savage played by Louis Jourdan. She falls hard. He is a player. It is, as Miss Farrow predicted, a recipe for disaster. April is swept off her feet by rich country club louse called Dexter Key played by Robert Evans. The only thing that will save her is her sincerity.
Joan Crawford brings years of experience to Amanda Farrow.
At this time and place there was very little, if any, talk of the balance of home and work life. One made a choice between the two. The mindset and the pressure was always to choose romance and the home over whatever minor benefits one might derive from the pursuit of a career. You cannot have the best of everything. The opening theme song courtesy of Johnny Mathis' rendering of the Alfred Newman tune and Sammy Cahn lyrics lays it all out.
We've proven romance is still the best of everything
That sudden thrill, the best of everything
That one little sigh is a treasure you cannot buy
Or measure, by any test, the best of everything
You've found the moon and the sun
Yes, he's the one, it seems
But soon it's done
And not the fun it seemed
You walk through the night just groping
It's still alright, you're hoping
Love can be all or nothing, but even when it's nothing
It's still the best, the best of everything
We've proven romance is still the best of everything
Most of us have to have a job. Some of us have a calling. Either way, our relationships with others, romantic in nature or not, ultimately define the success of our lives. I think we can have the best of everything, but it is a matter of priorities and attitude. Whatever we consider success isn't handed to us, it is created by us.
The mid-town skyscraper workplace in The Best of Everything is a dream of mid-century design with its clean lines and bold colours. Costume designer Adele Palmer was nominated for an Oscar for The Best of Everything. The two years she spent at Twentieth Century Fox at this, the end of her career, capped decades of solid work at Republic Studios. The movie is a veritable fashion show without stopping the story to point it out.
TCM is airing The Best of Everything on Monday, July 10 at 10:00 PM during an evening salute to Mid-Century Modern. Ah yes, mid-century modern, the design, the dress, and the cock-eyed philosophy. Let's take that time machine.