Southfork Redux

I am headed to Dallas this week for a book event and thought this entertainment news was timely and of interest. TNT has announced a remake (or shall I say retread) of the popular series Dallas set to air this summer. You can see a preview tomorrow during the television shows The Closer and Rizzoli and Isles.

The cast of Dallas now....

and then

The series ran from 1978-1991 and viewers were glued to the weekly primetime soap antics of the Ewing family. Big hair, big money, sordid affairs and over the top portrayals of an oil rich life in Texas were the order of the day and audiences loved it. (I often wonder how Texans felt about it). Many of us recall the infamous "who shot J.R. episode" and the season premiere that answered that question was the highest rated television episode in history.

Set to return are Larry Hagman as now patriarch J.R. Ewing (father Jock is long gone), Linda Gray as long suffering wife Sue Ellen (I can't remember if they divorced or not as there were so many women!), and Patrick Duffy returns as brother Bobby. Actress Jordana Brewster of Fast and Furious co-stars along with Josh Henderson as John Ross Ewing and and Jesse Metcalfe as Christopher, adopted son of Bobby Ewing.

The new generation of Ewings

This go-round will explore familiar plot lines as family rivalry will erupt over the family fortune, oil and of course, a love triangle as the cousins battle over the affections of Brewster.

Southfork makes another appearance and like many an iconic set, the sprawling ranch becomes an additional character on the show. The house was actually a Texas residence owned by Joe R. Duncan (known as J. R.) and eventually sold as it became such a popular tourist destination. Located in Plano, Texas, the ranch is now a museum, event and conference center and even a popular wedding spot. To read more about Southfork, check out the ranch's website and you can read more about the show on TNT's Dallas website.

Larry Hagman at the Southfork Ranch

JR Ewing bedroom at Southfork Ranch

If you are in the Dallas area this week, I will be lecturing on the styles of the film Pillow Talk followed by a screening at the Dallas Museum of Art on Thursday, July 14th. I will be signing my book prior to the lecture at 6:30 PM. You can read more about the event at the museum's website here. Hope to see you there!

Photo Credit: TNT, Lorimar Productions, Southfork Ranch

Happy Birthday Doris Mary Ann Kappelhoff

You know her as a beloved actress, animal rights supporter and if you've ever visited Carmel, perhaps you have stopped by her hotel, The Cypress Inn. And you know her as Doris Day a.k.a. Doris Mary Ann Kappelhoff, America's sweetheart and one of the most stylish women of sixties cinema.

This week marks Day's 88th birthday. Her career began as a big band singer (she first recorded the hit Sentimental Journey) and she has starred in 39 films that have ranged from melodrama (Young at Heart with Frank Sinatra) to suspense (Hitchcock's The Man Who Knew Too Much which gave birth to her hit Que Sera Sera). But it was her romantic comedies that teamed her with handsome leading men that really put her on the map.

Doris on set of Pillow Talk

Giving new meaning to the film term "romp," Doris starred in several films with Rock Hudson (a lifelong friend) such as Send Me No Flowers (1964), Pillow Talk (1959), and Lover Come Back (1961). She also starred in two of my personal favorites, Move Over Darling (1963) and The Thrill of it All (1964) with James Garner. Move Over Darling was originally supposed to be "Something's Got to Give" with Marilyn Monroe and Dean Martin (eventually that title was used for a very popular 2003 film:) )

Pillow Talk above and center

The Thrill of It All  and its classic sixties master bedroom with twin beds

Her films were filled with iconic sixties costume and interior designs. Audiences loved her as the quintessential (and virginal) Manhattan career woman (and one of the first interior decorators on film) Jan Morrow in Pillow Talk, a competitive Madison Avenue ad woman in Lover Come Back and the housewife turned commercial pitch woman in The Thrill of It All. She was nominated for an Oscar in 1960 for Best Actress on Pillow Talk. (Note - look for a set design piece soon on Move Over Darling).

Perhaps a sign of the times, she was the ultimate role model on screen and women everywhere wanted to be like her and dress like her. Dubbed as the world's oldest virgin in her movie roles, she turned down the part of Mrs. Robinson in The Graduate. Imagine how different that film would have been!

Chic in Pink

Doris could have been a sixties Tory Burch

America's sweetheart was not without her tragedies. She was married four times and sadly her third husband Martin Melcher bankrupted her and after he passed away, she learned he had committed her to a television series, The Doris Day Show. The show was a huge success and lasted five seasons. Her son Terry Melcher had the ultimate near death experience as police believe he was possibly targeted in an unsuccessful murder plot by Charles Manson and his "family." Manson approached him at his home (which he shared with actress Candice Bergen)  in Los Angeles for a record deal (through an introduction from Beach Boy Dennis Wilson). Melcher turned him down and legend has it he returned with revenge on his mind and found renters Sharon Tate and friends instead, and of course, the rest is history.  He passed away at the age of 62 after a long battle with melanoma.

Doris at home

A tireless animal rights activist, Doris founded Actors and Others for Animals in 1971 with fellow colleagues Mary Tyler Moore and Angie Dickinson. This eventually led to the Doris Day Animal League in 1994 which focuses on pet overpopulation in the United States (note - the group merged with the Humane Society in 2006). DDAL also founded Spay Day in 1995 and the group also has been at the forefront of legislation on animal testing, puppy mills and horse protection. Apparently she saw animals being mistreated during the filming of The Man Who Knew Too Much and the cause against animal cruelty became a lifelong passion.

If you are ever in Carmel, be sure to stop by or stay at the Cypress Inn. Animals are welcome and it's truly a delightful place. 

She lives a very quiet and reclusive life on an ll acre estate in California and still works on behalf of our four legged friends. Happy Birthday Doris! Movie lovers  and animals thank you!

For more on the life and times of Doris Day, check out these books:

Doris Day: The Untold Story of the Girl Next Door by David Kaufman (Virgin Books, 2009)

Considering Doris Day by Tom Santopietro (Thomas Dunne, 2007)

Michael Freedland's bio Doris Day Illustrated (Andre Deutsch, 2009)

Photo Credits: Leo Fuchs, Ross Hunter/Universal Pictures.

Sixties Cinema Style: Lisa Perry

One of my favorite fashion designers is Lisa Perry. Her look is contemporary yet Jackie O with a twist and reminds me of one of my all time favorite design periods in film history, the sixties.

It's as if Perry channelled Doris Day, Audrey Hepburn,  a touch of Julie Christie in Darling (1965), 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)  and a dash of Faye Dunaway in Thomas Crown Affair (1968). Her interiors and color palette personify sixties mod in every sense of the word and notes people often remarked  "This is where Barbarella meets Austin Powers" of her 2002 NYC apartment.

Perry's Dining Room interior, 2002

Perry's beachfront house, present day

Simple yet bold colors are the hallmarks of a Perry interior

Her sixties inspired room complete with shag circular carpet

 Saarinen inspired sets from the film 2001: A Space Odyssey

The Chicago native is said to be an aficionado and collector of sixties vintage couture (particularly Courreges, the iconic designer whose look was a mix of couture and sci fi) and grew up in a house filled with Saarinen and Marimekko. Schooled in textile technology -- and no doubt osmosis as her family owned a textile company --  the fashion designer has completely modernized the crisp primary colors and three dimensional shapes of the sixties into a timeless collection for our closets as well as our homes. 

Perry's  Block dress

and Op Art A line from the 2009 collection

Style icon and legendary actress Audrey Hepburn

Givenchy's sketches for Hepburn in Charade (1963)

Faye Dunaway and Steve McQueen in The Thomas Crown Affair (1968)

Doris Day and Rock Hudson in Pillow Talk (1959)

Julie Christie on set with director

John Schlesinger in Darling (1965)

Perry's flagship store in New York's Soho

For more on Lisa Perry, check out her website here.

Photo Credits: Lisa Perry, Vogue Living Houses Gardens People, Margaret Herrick Library, 

MGM, United Artists. 

The Interior Designer on the Silver Screen

 They have been portrayed as predatory cougars, virginal ingenues peddling antiques until they find Mr. Right and pushy social climbers. Hollywood pays little attention to the profession of interior designer. And they don't fare any better on television either -- Grace is neurotic and  food obsessed while Designing Women gave us four ditzy southern socialites.

Here are a few of my favorite portrayals...

Patricia Neal as the first "Mrs. Robinson" turned designer in Breakfast at Tiffany's (1961)....

And everyone's favorite...Doris Day as Jan Morrow in Pillow Talk (1959). I love how she had the apartment with  Manhattan skyline view and full time maid on a designer's salary.



And her ubiquitous French boss, Pierot...



Darryl Hannah as Darien Taylor, an Upper East Side designer who wants to take antiques mass market in Wall Street (1987)...

Diane Keaton as a textile designer married to a philandering architect (Warren Beatty) in the little viewed film Town and Country (2001)...

Julie Kavner as the decorator pushing an obscure basket vase in Alice (1990)...


Everyone's favorite designer Grace Adler who makes interior design fun in Will and Grace...

And last but not least....the Designing Women of Sugarbakers Design House. Did these women ever work?

Photo credits: Paramount Pictures, Universal Pictures,  Twentieth Century Fox, MGM, NBC/Universal Television, Columbia Pictures Television, New Line Pictures