Barefoot in the Park

For some, the Plaza Hotel conjures film images of Hubbell and Katie's chance meeting (The Way We Were, 1973), Roger Thornhill's bar of choice (North by Northwest, 1959), young Kevin McAllister's New York adventure (Home Alone 2, 1992), the chosen venue of brides Anne Hathaway and Kate Hudson (Bride Wars, 2009) or perhaps my particular favorite, the honeymoon site for newlyweds Corrie and Paul Bratter (Barefoot in the Park, 1967). And for children (and adults old enough to remember), the famed location plays  home to author Kay Thompson's beloved Eloise, a six year old who lived in the hotel's penthouse.

Redford and Fonda in Barefoot in the Park

"The Only David X. Cohen in the book" - star crossed lovers in The Way We Were

Cary Grant at the Oak Bar in North by Northwest -
exterior and interior are real and the bar was shot on the soundstage

Anne Hathaway and Kate Hudson duke it out in Bride Wars

Macauley Culkin in Home Alone 2

Walter Mathau and Jean Stapleton in 1970's Plaza Suite 

Opened in 1907, the hotel has been the home to dignitaries, celebrities, well-heeled travelers and host to many a wedding (Michael Douglas and Catherine Zeta Jones) and the social event of the century, Truman Capote's Black and White Ball in 1966. It was even the occasional playground of F. Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald in the twenties. Imagine if those walls could talk.

Truman Capote at the Black and White Ball

Candice Bergen sans bunny mask

I was fortunate to be a guest at the iconic landmark this past month and with the exception of the Oak Bar (now under renovation), I had not visited the Plaza since the sale and renovation. The hotel (now owned by Fairmont Hotels) underwent a major renovation in 2007 and while the rooms with the park view are primarily for those who purchase a residence, the hotel is still majestic and you cannot beat the Central Park South/Fifth Avenue location. (The apartment residences start at $2.5 million). The Palm Court is still open for formal tea and pastries under the 1800 square foot stain glass while a portrait of Eloise watches from the hallway. I particularly enjoyed the Assouline book boutique on the lobby's second floor as well and the one-of-a-kind Royal Plaza Suite comes equipped with a library from the store's selections in the event money is no object.

A portrait of Eloise resides in the hallway

The Eloise Suite

The Palm Court

Beaux Arts Design of the guestroom

Gilt and white mosaic tiled bathroom. Leaf pattern is said to be inspired by Central Park

It's safe to say the Plaza Hotel is perhaps one of the most popular hotel locations for Hollywood as noted by its resume -- The Great Gatsby, Cotton Club, Arthur, King Of New York, Funny Girl, Love at First Bite, Almost Famous, and Crocodile Dundee just to name a few. Gossip Girls and Friends featured the location on the small screen and fans of Sex and the City no doubt recognize the homage paid to The Way We Were (Mr. Big's engagement party) or Samantha picking up a "senior citizen" in the Oak Bar.

And thanks to the wonderful staff at the Plaza -- I enjoyed being a grown up Eloise for a couple of nights.

For more about the Plaza Hotel and its illustrious history, see the website here.

Hotel lobby and bar

Royal Plaza Suite boasts a state of the art Viking kitchen, dining room for twelve and a grand piano 

Royal Terrace Suite

Photo Credits: Columbia, Universal, 20th Century Fox, Plaza Hotel

The Man on Lincoln's Nose

A wonderful man passed away several weeks ago. Robert Boyle, one of the last of the great art directors, was 100 years young and held the honor or being the world's oldest living recipient of an Academy Award. Trained as an architect, he graduated from the University of Southern California and was eventually hired as a draftsmen in Paramount's art department in the thirties and moved on to art director at Universal in the forties. He was a true product of the Hollywood studio system.

Cary Grant, James Mason and Eva Marie Saint in North by Northwest

Perhaps he was best known for his collaborations with famed suspense director Alfred Hitchcock (Saboteur 1942, North by Northwest 1959, The Birds 1963 and Marnie 1964). He gave us some classic film moments -- Cary Grant being chased by a crop duster (Boyle combined a toy truck and toy airplane on a miniature field) and Grant and Eva Marie Saint running across the faces of Mount Rushmore.

Hitchcock wanted to film at the famed National Park but the idea was nixed by the Department of Interior after the director boasted of his stars on the monument. Boyle rappelled down the actual monuments,  took photographs from various angles and made scale-model plaster casts of the presidents back at the studio soundstage. The audience was none the wiser.

The Van Damm house (which Boyle described as a sort of "jungle gym for Grant") was influenced by
Frank Lloyd Wright's Fallingwater house in western Pennsylvania. The floor to ceiling windows and rooms dangling dangerously over a cliff were perfect plot devices for Hitchcock's drama. His work garnered him an Academy Award nomination.

Frank Lloyd Wright's Falling Water

North by Northwest

Hitchcock's Amusing Take on Mount Rushmore

Sean Connery and Tippi Hedren in Marnie

The Birds with Tippi Hedren and Rod Taylor

Boyle's sketch of the climactic Statue of Liberty scene for Hitchcock's Saboteur

His varied resume ran the gamut from sets for The Wolfman, Gaily Gaily, In Cold Blood and Mame (Lucille Ball version) to The Thrill of It All and The Thomas Crown Affair.

The Thrill of It All with Doris Day

Faye Dunaway and Steve McQueen play cat and mouse in Thomas Crown Affair 

Boyle was nominated four times for an Oscar for Best Art Direction but never won. He eventually received an Honorary Academy Award at the age of 98, making him the oldest recipient of an Academy Award. He started a production design program at the American film Institute and taught up until the time of his death. I was fortunate to spend an afternoon at his house, listening to stories and looking through a lifetime of images (his mind was sharp as a tack). He will be missed but thankfully his work lives on.

Robert Boyle 1909-2010

For more on the documentary The Man on Lincoln's Nose, go here. He is also featured in a  documentary on art direction called Something's Gonna Live, see more here.

Photo credits: Universal, MGM, 

Hitchcock Style

While it's often hard to equate the legendary rotund British director-auteur-master of suspense Alfred Hitchcock with the word style, his films certainly gave us some great moments in fashion, glamour and interiors.

His penchant for sophisticated blondes is the stuff of legends -- from the tortured Tippi Hedren in The Birds (1958) and Marnie (1961) , Kim Novak in Vertigo (1958) and The Wrong Man (1956) and Doris Day in The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956) to Grace Kelly in Rear Window (1954) , Dial M for Murder (1954)  and To Catch a Thief (1955), Janet Leigh in Psycho (1960) and Eva Marie Saint in North by Northwest (1959) -- icy, cold, unattainable, chic and often heroines turned victims, he never met a blonde he didn't like. (One can look at  Suzanne Pleshette's fate in The Birds to see how brunettes fared).

Sean Connery and Tippi Hedren on the set of Marnie

Kim Novak in Vertigo who Hitch wanted to turn into "the new Grace Kelly"

Cary Grant and Grace Kelly in Edith Head's designs  for the film To Catch a Thief

Que Sera Sera: Jimmy Stewart and Doris Day in The Man Who Knew too Much

Grace Kelly on set

Whether hero or cad or a combination thereof, Hitch liked his male characters handsome, dapper, and above all, well dressed.

Sean Connery takes a break in between Bond films to star in Marnie

Nothing says south of France like an Ascot in the fifties

Cary Grant in To Catch a Thief

The woman responsible for it all was Academy Award winning costume designer Edith Head who designed everything from Tippi's shredded suit in The Birds to Grace Kelly's memorable black and white cocktail dress in Rear Window. More on Ms. Head's contributions in a future post.

From Jimmy Stewart's studio apartment  in Rear Window, Norman Bates house to Rebecca's Manderlay, a Hitch set is designed for suspense, anxiety, action and danger.

The Psycho House on the Universal backlot

His set for the film Rope (1948) was ultra modern and would fit in with today's standards. With its panoramic windows, the Manhattan penthouse apartment was completely designed for city viewing  and the leather sofa  is custom made to fit the entire length of the windows. In a classic Hitch move, look for his profile on one of the illuminated signs.

Hitch with the cast of Rope

James Mason as Phillip Vandamm  in a Long Island for North by Northwest

Even Hitch's symbolism is stylish. The film Vertigo is of course, based on images of a swirl design. We see it in the various motifs... Jimmy Stewart/Scott McKittreck's office,         

the famous bell tower...

Movie Poster for Vertigo

and even Kim Novak's classic french twist has a swirl...

Hitch on set with a sense of humor

For the DEFINITIVE book on the subject, read French film critic Jean-Pierre Dufreigne's book Hitchcock Style by Assouline, 2004. A must have for any Hitchcock fanatic.

Photo Credits: Hitchcock Style, Assouline, 2004.

The House as Character: Iconic Cinema Houses

“It was a great big white elephant of a place. The kind crazy movie people built in the crazy twenties. A neglected house gets an unhappy look. This one had it in spades.” 

--William Holden as screenwriter Joe Gillis, Sunset Boulevard, 1950

Scarlett's Tara, Rebecca's  Manderlay, Citizen Kane's Xanadu and Mr. Blanding's Dream House. All houses that shared billing with the actors and played an integral part of a film. The following a are a few iconic images of famous cinema homes...

The real star of Sunset Boulevard (1950) is the mansion itself. Aging, decrepit and filled with despair, much like Norma Desmond herself. 

The Manderlay estate is a constant reminder of the deceased ex-wife in the Hitchcock thriller Rebecca (1940).  The film's producer David O. Selznick searched all over for an appropriate mansion and was finally convinced a miniature version and matte shots would do the trick.





Frank Lloyd Wright's cantilevered Falling Water house in Pennsylvania became the influence for the villian Phillip Van Damm's (James Mason) residence  in Hitchcock's North by Northwest (1959).

Art Director Robert Boyle designed the set as a jungle gym for Cary Grant's action sequence.



A symbol of vast wealth, Charles Kane's house was influenced by the Hearst mansion San Simeon and Mont St. Michel in Citizen Kane (1941). Director Orson Welles was overextended on his budget and oversize elements from the RKO prop house were used to fill the space.



Perhaps one of the most iconic houses was the Connecticut home of the Blandings in Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House (1948), a film that chronicles the frustration of home renovation. Fleeing the city, the couple, played by Cary Grant and Myrna Loy,  search for a house with rolling hills, a fireplace and a patio for barbeques - a sign of the times in the late forties.

Gone With the Wind's (1930)  Tara was built on the studio backlot at a cost of $12.059.00


Dr. Zhivago's (1965) famed "ice palace"/dacha where the doctor and his lover Lara made their refuge was filmed in the middle of summer in Soria, Spain. The sets were dressed in hot wax and sprayed with cold water to resemble the look of frost and ice. 

The Victorian mansion on the sprawling Benedict ranch in Giant (1956). With no landscaping or neighbors for miles, the house was designed to represent the lonely marriage of the Benedicts played by Rock Hudson and Elizabeth Taylor.

Photo Credits: Rex Features, MGM, Warner Brothers, Margaret Herrick Library