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You know, life for a nobody in Hollywood is quite remarkable. Over in I Love Lucy, Ricky's been out in California five minutes, hasn't even made a film yet, and yet has already had lunch with Richard Widmark, tea with Bill Holden, cocktails with Cornell Wilde, and seems to be on very friendly, first names terms with Rock Hudson, Harpo Marx and Van Johnson. I know Hollywood was a different place in 1955, but that still seems just a trifle too rose-tinted. :D Everybody seems to be best friends with everybody else, and to hang out at each other's houses and apartments all the time. That is rather the way that David Niven portrayed it as being in the thirties, certainly, but he still had to work his way up to being invited out to lunch by the rich and famous. All Ricky's had to do is rent a hotel room in Hollywood. So there's your ticket to a life of hob-nobbing with the stars, then. Well, not those stars, obviously. Van Johnson and Richard Widmark, maybe. The others aren't there anymore.
I'm not really getting at the show, though. This is season four, so we're moving on through the fifties. It's all so quaint and dated. So innocent. Fifty-two years old, so I guess that's reason enough to be dated, but it's remarkable how much of a difference that time factor makes. The chintz levels, for starters... Jeepers. Did people really think that that was a good way to decorate their houses?! I can't believe that wallpaper like that was ever thought a good idea. And really, why did people think that hats were so great? And cigarettes. And cutting off animals' heads, and sticking them to the wall. And Harpo Marx. Well - all the Marx Brothers in general, really. It's a bit unfair to single one out as a particularly bad idea. Still, if you're looking for bad ideas, then wearing a red fright wig, and gurning at the camera a lot whilst pretending you're stuck in a silent movie, does rate quite highly on the list. I never did get the appeal of the Marx Brothers. Only good thing they ever did was provide the titles for a pair of Queen albums.
I'm not really getting at the show, though. This is season four, so we're moving on through the fifties. It's all so quaint and dated. So innocent. Fifty-two years old, so I guess that's reason enough to be dated, but it's remarkable how much of a difference that time factor makes. The chintz levels, for starters... Jeepers. Did people really think that that was a good way to decorate their houses?! I can't believe that wallpaper like that was ever thought a good idea. And really, why did people think that hats were so great? And cigarettes. And cutting off animals' heads, and sticking them to the wall. And Harpo Marx. Well - all the Marx Brothers in general, really. It's a bit unfair to single one out as a particularly bad idea. Still, if you're looking for bad ideas, then wearing a red fright wig, and gurning at the camera a lot whilst pretending you're stuck in a silent movie, does rate quite highly on the list. I never did get the appeal of the Marx Brothers. Only good thing they ever did was provide the titles for a pair of Queen albums.
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