Breakfast at Tiffany’s and Three Stories
“If she was in this city I’d have seen her. You take a man that likes to walk, a man like me, a man’s been walking in the streets going on ten or twelve years, and all those years he’s got his eye out for one person, and nobody’s ever her, don’t it stand to reason she’s not there? I see pieces of her all the time, a flat litle bottom, any skinny girl that walks fast and straight–…
It’s just that I didn’t know you’d been in love with her. Not like that.”
So it is we know that Holly Golightly is gone, that she’s been gone for years. And she had her effect on Joe Bell, the bartender at that little place down on Lexington Avenue in the Big Apple.
Yeah, there’s Joe’s place. Look hard enough, it’s one of those little places tucked away. You probably can’t see it. One of those Yellow Cabs is hiding it. Yeah, Joe had it bad. Most men who knew her did, unless they just wanted to use her. There’s always that niggling little thought on the nature of what love really is. That it is pure and natural or that it can be purchased. Anything is possible, after all, because everything is negotiable.
first published
It was considered too obscene for Capote’s usual sources for periodical publication, Harper’s Baazar and Mademoiselle. After all, it’s open to question as to whether Holly is a prostitute. And being a woman who speaks her mind, she wishes she could have a bull dyke for a roommate because they make such excellent housekeepers. Such language would never do, so it was off to Esquire. Random house followed suit, publishing “Tiffany’s” as a novella.
What man hasn’t known and loved a Holly Golightly. I have. I lost her. She was hit and killed by a drunk driver–hit her on the wrong side of the road. It was head on. She never had a chance. She was driving home on a Sunday evening, after dinner with her parents, her adopted parents.
She shared several characteristics with Holly Golightly. She didn’t know her real parents. She enjoyed men. Her hair was that shining perfect blond with bands of white that made her always look as though the sun shone directly on her head and hers alone. She liked her men older, too, like Holly. Maybe it was being adopted, not knowing where she came from, not knowing where she truly belonged.
But Holly Golightly had taken a new identity, running away from Tulip, Texas, married at the age of fourteen to Doc Barnes, a veterinarian. Her real name is Lula Mae Barnes, just as Capote’s mother’s name had been Lillie Mae Faulk before she took a more sophisticated name, Nina, after she married Cuban business man Joe Capote.
I attended her funeral, one of so many, her male coterie. But it was when the minister pulled out a copy of
Oh, you say Holly Golightly was a brunette–like Audrey Hepburn. Well, that was Blake Edwards’ idea of what Holly Golightly looked like. But it wasn’t Capote’s idea who should play her. It was Marilyn Monroe. No question. It was that blonde hair, almost platinum. But Capote only sold the film rights. He maintained no control over the direction or production of the film.
Capote was such a wonderful dancer. I can still remember photographs of him swirling Marilyn across the dance floor.
But Lee Strausberg told Marilyn playing Holly Golightly, a prostitute, wouldn’t be good for her career. Monroe turned down the role for “The Misfits.” It would be her last film. But that’s another story.
History took its course. Henry Mancini composed “Moon River” for the score. George Peppard and Audrey Hepburn had chemistry. Following its release in 1961, Edwards’ work became one of the iconic American films. However, it bears little resemblance to Capote’s work, although Audrey Hepburn is stunning in that little black dress.
It was not uncommon that movies made from Faulkner’s books premiered in Oxford, Mississippi. One, to Faulkner’s chagrin, bore so little comparison to his original work, when called to the stage to make opening remarks, Faulkner said, “Ladies and Gentlemen, the film you’re about to see bears absolutely no resemblance to the book I wrote from which the title of this film was taken.” He walked off stage and out of the theatre. I can’t imagine Capote taking that approach, he was still connected to a famous film that led to further sales of his work. Perhaps it was that desire for fame that ultimately destroyed Capote.
Of course, in the novella, the young writer is unpublished. Holly takes it upon herself to make him famous by introducing him to her Hollywood agent. In the movie, Peppard is a kept man, whose, shall we say, sponsor, is played by Patricia Neal, who is known to Holly as 2E, the lady’s apartment number. And, of course, the movie ends happily ever after with George Peppard and Audrey Hepburn embracing in the rain and having found “Cat” whom Holly had kicked out of the taxi cab.
But Capote tells Holly’s view regarding love, or whatever feeling she is capable of describing as love.
“Never love a wild thing, Mr. Bell,” Holly advised him. “That was Doc’s mistake. He was always lugging home wild things. A hawk with a hurt wing. One time it was a full-grown bobcat with a broken leg. But you can’t give your heart to a wild thing: the more you do, the stronger they get. Until they’re strong enough to run into the woods. Or fly into a tree. Then a taller tree. Then the sky. That’s how you’ll end up, Mr. Bell. If you let yourself love a wild thing. You’ll end up looking at the sky.”
Truman Capote considered Holly Golightly his favorite character. I think he was right in his feelings. Of course, Capote, has said that the narrator of Breakfast at Tiffany’s was gay. In fact, it has been repeatedly surmised that Holly Golightly is the literary embodiment of Christopher Isherwood’s Sally Bowles. What divine decadence. The movie would never have ended the way it did, had Capote maintained creative control.
Let’s just say this one will always touch a nerve in me. This one is for all the Holly Golightlys in the world and the Joe Bells who have the sense to listen to them, and I offer it with all the heartfelt sympathy I can muster for those who can’t understand what it means to love a wild thing.
So it is we know that Holly Golightly is gone, that she’s been gone for years. And she had her effect on Joe Bell, the bartender at that little place down on Lexington Avenue in the Big Apple.Yeah, there’s Joe’s place. Look hard enough, it’s one of those little places tucked away. You probably can’t see it. One of those Yellow Cabs is hiding it. Yeah, Joe had it bad. Most men who knew her did, unless they just wanted to use her. There’s always that niggling little thought on the nature of what love really is. That it is pure and natural or that it can be purchased. Anything is possible, after all, because everything is negotiable. Truman Capote first published Breakfast at Tiffany’s in the November, 1958 issue of Esquire Magazine.It was considered too obscene for Capote’s usual sources for periodical publication, Harper’s Baazar and Mademoiselle. After all, it’s open to question as to whether Holly is a prostitute. And being a woman who speaks her mind, she wishes she could have a bull dyke for a roommate because they make such excellent housekeepers. Such language would never do, so it was off to Esquire. Random house followed suit, publishing “Tiffany’s” as a novella.What man hasn’t known and loved a Holly Golightly. I have. I lost her. She was hit and killed by a drunk driver–hit her on the wrong side of the road. It was head on. She never had a chance. She was driving home on a Sunday evening, after dinner with her parents, her adopted parents.She shared several characteristics with Holly Golightly. She didn’t know her real parents. She enjoyed men. Her hair was that shining perfect blond with bands of white that made her always look as though the sun shone directly on her head and hers alone. She liked her men older, too, like Holly. Maybe it was being adopted, not knowing where she came from, not knowing where she truly belonged.But Holly Golightly had taken a new identity, running away from Tulip, Texas, married at the age of fourteen to Doc Barnes, a veterinarian. Her real name is Lula Mae Barnes, just as Capote’s mother’s name had been Lillie Mae Faulk before she took a more sophisticated name, Nina, after she married Cuban business man Joe Capote.I attended her funeral, one of so many, her male coterie. But it was when the minister pulled out a copy of The Velveteen Rabbit and began to read from it that I was stunned. For I gave her that book, in the hope, the dream that she would realize if you love anything enough it will become alive. She kept that book all the many years we were apart. Perhaps on some days she thought of me. I know that I still think of her and on some days, like Joe Bell, the bartender, I see bits and pieces of her as I walk the city streets, especially when the sun illuminates the gold, the white, the platinum of a feminine head of hair as if it showed on no other person on boulevard, no matter how bright the sun.Oh, you say Holly Golightly was a brunette–like Audrey Hepburn. Well, that was Blake Edwards’ idea of what Holly Golightly looked like. But it wasn’t Capote’s idea who should play her. It was Marilyn Monroe. No question. It was that blonde hair, almost platinum. But Capote only sold the film rights. He maintained no control over the direction or production of the film.Capote was such a wonderful dancer. I can still remember photographs of him swirling Marilyn across the dance floor.But Lee Strausberg told Marilyn playing Holly Golightly, a prostitute, wouldn’t be good for her career. Monroe turned down the role for “The Misfits.” It would be her last film. But that’s another story.History took its course. Henry Mancini composed “Moon River” for the score. George Peppard and Audrey Hepburn had chemistry. Following its release in 1961, Edwards’ work became one of the iconic American films. However, it bears little resemblance to Capote’s work, although Audrey Hepburn is stunning in that little black dress.It was not uncommon that movies made from Faulkner’s books premiered in Oxford, Mississippi. One, to Faulkner’s chagrin, bore so little comparison to his original work, when called to the stage to make opening remarks, Faulkner said, “Ladies and Gentlemen, the film you’re about to see bears absolutely no resemblance to the book I wrote from which the title of this film was taken.” He walked off stage and out of the theatre. I can’t imagine Capote taking that approach, he was still connected to a famous film that led to further sales of his work. Perhaps it was that desire for fame that ultimately destroyed Capote.Of course, in the novella, the young writer is unpublished. Holly takes it upon herself to make him famous by introducing him to her Hollywood agent. In the movie, Peppard is a kept man, whose, shall we say, sponsor, is played by Patricia Neal, who is known to Holly as 2E, the lady’s apartment number. And, of course, the movie ends happily ever after with George Peppard and Audrey Hepburn embracing in the rain and having found “Cat” whom Holly had kicked out of the taxi cab.But Capote tells Holly’s view regarding love, or whatever feeling she is capable of describing as love.Truman Capote considered Holly Golightly his favorite character. I think he was right in his feelings. Of course, Capote, has said that the narrator ofwas gay. In fact, it has been repeatedly surmised that Holly Golightly is the literary embodiment of Christopher Isherwood’s Sally Bowles. What divine decadence. The movie would never have ended the way it did, had Capote maintained creative control.Let’s just say this one will always touch a nerve in me. This one is for all the Holly Golightlys in the world and the Joe Bells who have the sense to listen to them, and I offer it with all the heartfelt sympathy I can muster for those who can’t understand what it means to love a wild thing.
