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The City of Lights is the setting for Vincent Minnelli’s 1951 An American in Paris; and Stanley Donen’s 1958 Funny Face. Both were produced in the last decade of the Golden Age of musicals, rate among the Top 100 Musicals ever, share the hook of a male protagonist falling in love with an elusive female lead who is won at the end. And their culture influence continues over a half a century later:

American in Paris featured a Black and White Ball as a turning point in its final act, which became a popular theme for balls, and fundraisers. The San Francisco Symphony held its first Black and White Ball in 1956, which continues as the premier annual ball in that party-going town. In New York, after the 1958 release of Truman Capote’s Breakfast at Tiffany’s starring Audrey Hepburn, Capote held his own famed Black and White bash at The Plaza, which was chronicled in Deborah Davis’s 2006 volume, Party of the Century.

And Funny Face influenced America’s most influential First Lady, Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy. Four years after the film’s release, Jackie’s first official trip to Paris embodied the apotheosis that Audrey Hepburn underwent in Funny Face after her earlier persona is vividly remade. Dressed in a luscious red Givenchy gown, Hepburn emerges into an all white scene at the Louvre from behind Winged Victory; her arms raise the gown material around her like exotic butterfly wings.

Like Audrey’s character, Jackie had also been a bookish intellectual at the Sorbonne in Paris in 1951, prior to her 1952 Newport wedding to then Senator Jack Kennedy. Like Audrey Hepburn, Jackie was also born in 1929 and 5′7 ” tall and slim, multi-lingual, artistic and athletic, soft spoken, and also a client of Audrey Hepburn’s life-long friend and collaborator, couturier Hubert d’Givenchy. Jackie refined many of their ideas, and her own, under the tutelage of her mentor and friend, Vogue editor, Diana Vreeland, who later ran MOMA’s Costume Institute at Jackie’s behest. Vreeland was portrayed in Funny Face as the character Maggie Preston, editor of Quality Magazine, by Kay Thompson, who was best known as the author of the Eloise series about a girl who lives at the Plaza Hotel. While a college student, Jackie Kennedy won Vogue’s Prix d’Paris competition for organizing an entire magazine edition. In her submittal she imagined herself as “art director of the world.” Which, in a manner she became as Camelot’s Queen.

Jackie was beloved in France, the world’s capital for style, and especially by that nation’s famed Cultural Minister, Andre Malraux. Two million French citizens crowded the streets waving American flags, screaming, “Viva Jacqui!” during the Kennedy’s official 1961 State visit there. The usually reserved President de Gaulle, the French press, and public were especially rhapsodic over Jackie’s televised interviews given in flawless French. Funny Face expressed what Jackie, by nature, was. And, Jackie’s favored ceremonial color, white, chosen for her ethereal Inaugural gown, closed both American in Paris and Funny Face with the female leads dressed in white tulle gowns waltzing off in the arms of their prince, with Hepburn wearing the chicest wedding dress ever designed.

Art, Music, Dancing, Awards!

American in Paris And Funny Face, both utilized eye-popping color and cinematography, vivid set and art design, and featured Gershwin songbooks. The male and female leads in each film began their careers first in dancing, rather than singing or acting. At 39 years old, Gene Kelly requested 19 year-old dancer Leslie Caron for her debut film as his love interest in American in Paris. And 57 year-old Fred Astaire partnered with then 27 year old Audrey Hepburn, as her condition for accepting the role. Audrey had studied dance throughout childhood, holding fervently to dreams of a ballet career. After WWII when she and her mother fled Holland for London, it was a small dancing role there that won her a screen test for Willy Wilder’s Roman Holiday with Gregory Peck. Hepburn won the Best Actress Oscar for Roman Holiday in 1953, four years before she filmed Funny Face, and the same year she won a Tony for the title role of Gigi on Broadway, also after being spied by accident; this time crossing a hotel lobby in the south of France. Author, Collette, honed-in on Hepburn and cried out, “There’s my Gigi! As Willy Wilder said about Audrey Hepburn, she had unmistakable magic: “God kissed her on the cheek and there she was.”

Funny Face won an Oscar for Best Art Direction, Cinematography, Costumes by Givenchy, and, Original Screenplay by Alan Lerner (who often teamed with long-term collaborator Frederick Lowe to write hits like Gigi, My Fair Lady, Brigadoon, Paint Your Wagon, and Camelot, which of course became synonymous with the Kennedy Administration.) Plus a Director’s Guild Award for outstanding directorial achievement by Stanley Donen, also a choreographer, (and who later directed Gene Kelly in Singing in the Rain, and Audrey Hepburn and Cary Grant together in Charade, about which Donen said there was never a more enchanting couple in film history.) Funny Face also won a Palme D’Or at Cannes. And a Laurel Award from the Writer’s Guild of America for Best Written American Musical.

American in Paris was nominated for eight Oscars and received six, including Academy Awards and Golden Globes for Best Picture and Best Director; a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor, Gene Kelly. In addition, Kelly received his only Oscar, as an honorary award that year for “versatility as an actor, singer, director and dancer, and specifically for his brilliant achievements in the art of choreography.” The film also received Oscars for Best Cinematography, Best Costume Design, Best Musical Score, Best Writing, Scoring and Screenplay, and Best Editing,

American in Paris’ 18-minute phantasmagoria at the end cost half-a-million to produce, making it one of the longest and most expensive dance pieces in film history. Producer Arthur Freed was MGM’s famed czar of musicals, and lured then Broadway genius Vincent Minnelli to direct some of the greatest films of the 20th Century, including American in Paris where so many scenes echo with Minnelli’s stagecraft, as do others like his Meet Me in St. Louis, Kismet, Brigadoon, and Gigi.

The tonal differences in the two films is that Funny Face is the wittier, more sophisticated film, with a more absorbing plot that holds up with repeated viewings. Astaire and Hepburn were much more elegant, deft and subtle. Gene Kelly himself said that Astaire was the more aristocratic dancer; and that his own dancing reflected his background in athletics and gymnastics, plus his regular everyman Pal Joey, role. He termed Astaire the Cary Grant of dance, to his Marlon Brando. Kelly aimed for a distinct American look. Astaire, and Hepburn were European at heart. As was said of Hepburn who spoke at least five languages, she had an unidentifiable accent that hovered somewhere over the Atlantic. Ironically Caron in this film, while being French herself, very much echoes Kelly’s exuberantly American style.

The costumes in Funny Face were hands down superior, with Audrey Hepburn’s iconic classic image remaining undated fifty years later. In fact, director Stanley Donen said that Audrey Hepburn was much more about fashion, than acting or dancing. One of Audrey’s rare disagreements with any director occurred when Donen insisted she wear white socks along with the skin tight black slacks and sweater in her solo dance number in the Paris beatnik club. She was reduced to tears from fear the white socks would “break the line.” Hepburn spoke of the importance of the silhouette, and that clothes should be a sleeked down vase that contains the flower. The idea of the white socks she thought was ruinous, though later, she admitted it had worked.

At MGM Arthur Freed acquired the American in Paris title from Ira Gershwin, recognizing it would make an unbeatable film title. It was from one of three of George Gershwin’s symphonies, (the other two were Porgy and Bess, and Rhapsody in Blue) and became the title song. Tragically, the prolific musical genius George died much too young in 1937 at age 38 following surgery for a brain tumor, to see one of his symphonies made into a major film.

Funny Face’s Marketing Snafu

Hepburn had just completed King Vidor’s War and Peace (1956) and wanted something light like Roman Holiday (1953) or Sabrina (1954.) She was in Paris when she first received the Funny Face script. Her first husband, Mel Ferrer said that she generally took three days to decide, but read and accepted Donen’s project, which was originally named Wedding Day, in just two hours. Her mother said Funny Face was “Audrey, all the way through,” while Musical Film Magazine called Funny Face the most “directorially ravishing of all American films,” and Rex Reed said it was the “Best fashion show ever recorded on film.” But the marketing posters fail to project any of that.

American in Paris had superior film posters. Funny Face posters failed in two ways; one they were varied and never allowed the public to grasp one single strong ‘brand’ that conveyed the memorable story in a glance; and two, it was a marvelously colorful film, yet most of the poster images were muddied. It was Audrey Hepburn’s first American film not to gross in the top ten of films in the year of its release. For many film fans her titles: Roman Holiday, Sabrina, Breakfast at Tiffany’s, conjure distinct images, while Funny Face does not.

For me, An American in Paris relies on flamboyance, and seems larger because of its theatricality, though Funny Face is only ten minutes shorter, and beautifully cohesive. And while the budgets for both films were similar, many scenes in American in Paris were shot on stage sets. Funny Face, filmed mostly on location, sustains an authenticity that makes watching it a pleasure, again and again.

I cannot watch the metamorphosis of Hepburn’s character without recalling that this was the little girl in Nazi occupied Holland who saw her family broken apart, her lovely home ruined, her uncles taken out and shot, who was starved and existed on flower bulbs. She’d been grabbed by a machine-gun toting guard and put on line for a bus bound to a work camp, and fortunately broke away. As a child she aided the WWII Dutch resistance, grew to become a great humanitarian, an Ambassador for UNICEF, and my favorite actress.

A fighter strips down to the barest essentials, the essence. Audrey Hepburn’s childhood was a fight to survive the horrors of war. As Hubert d’ Givenchy said, she became a “very precise person,” and this shows in her acting that always conveys the essence.

For me, Funny Face personifies charm, magic, beauty and the idea that when we open our eyes to eternal things; everything changes.

I find ultimate value what takes me to the lovely places, Audrey Hepburn in Funny Face. One of my all-time favorite films. And that’s a wrap.

Copyright 2007-Suzanne de Cornelia. All worldwide rights apply.

The author’s novel, French Heart, will be out in 2008. Sign up for the book’s release announcement on her blog at:
http://web.mac.com/myfrenchheart

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Facts About Paris

The craze to be in on every little thing recent jailbird Paris Hilton does reached a new epiphany upon her release from prison news that she has apparently agreed to author a new book, called The Parish Hilton Prison Diet.

Rumor of the revolutionary diet fad began on the Larry King show when she commented idly, which is her usual mode of communication, that food in the lockup was not very tasty and she could hardly eat it.

An entrepreneur, alert to the copious financial rewards in satisfying the most idiotic demands of the public, approached the unreality starlet with the idea that her culinary experience had the makings of a new fad diet. It would be easy to put together. All she would have to do is remember the meals she was accosted with during her imprisonment.

This diet has everything! the entrepreneur enthused, Star power without willpower. You just read the recipes and lose your appetite.

Hilton immediately agreed to license her name and jotted down, as best she could recall, the inedible meals she was served during her 23-day stint behind bars.

Distressed that she could only remember what she was served on 21 days, she was consoled by the resourceful entrepreneur, who told her, Perfect, Paris! 21 days is brilliant. We can subtitle it The Revolutionary 3-Week Weight-Loss Program.

News of the remarkable diet was evidently leaked to the press by Paris Hiltons publicity machine.

But throngs of fans were so eager to live her life vicariously that they were unable to wait for the book and began to show up at prisons across the nation, begging to be imprisoned but for only 21 days.

Informed by prison officials that they cant be arrested without committing a sufficient offense, they have resorted to jail-time provocations that mimic Hiltons own infractions.

The favored tactic is to pull up to patrol cars, tear up their drivers licenses, and then jump back behind the wheel and speed off. While annoying the cops, fans pleaded, Arrest me! Arrest me! Put me on the Paris Hilton Prison Diet!

One fan commented, Im really looking forward to the day I get out and look like Paris Hilton. Maybe Ill even get invited to talk about my time behind bars, and, Larry King, take notice: Ill do it for less than a million dollars.

Others have gone so far as to have a drink before they attempt to achieve their own arrest, so they can be put in the slammer for the same that resulted in Hiltons probation: DUI.

One wag commented, I guess in this case, DUI stands for dieting under the influence.”

Tom Attea, humorist and creator of http://www.NewsLaugh.com has had six shows produced Off-Broadway. Critics have called his writing “delightfully funny,” “witty,” with “good, genuine laughs” and “great humor and ebullience.”

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A friend Bronwyn and I were on our way to a two week fun-filled holiday in Paris, France. Even though we were warned that the French can be quite abrupt, it didn’t stifle our determination to spend some time in the city of love, so we booked an apartment in Paris and were soon on our merry way.

Des Amants

We wanted to book into a hotel at first, but decided to book an apartment to experience what it would be like living in Paris instead, all the while doing a lot of tourist activities. Our apartment was located in the heart of Montmartre. Just a short walking distance from our apartment was the infamous Moulin Rouge and also the Sacre Coeur with bakeries, jazz bars and markets in abundance.

The apartment was very stylish with teakwood floors and a comfortable lay-out, but my favourite feature, and I think Bronwyn would agree, was the patio. It had a very charming feel to it and became our favourite spot when we just wanted to sit outside without having to leave the apartment. The street in front of our apartment block was always busy, but without affecting the serenity of our holiday accommodation.

Just an ordinary day

We tried to get up as early as possible in the mornings so that we could have more time to enjoy activities in and around the city. Every day started with a typical French breakfast of coffee and croissants. After that we would start our day’s activities which included some of Paris’ biggest tourist attractions, starting with the Eiffel Tower. You can’t go to Paris without seeing the Eiffel Tower, and as expected it was simply breathtaking.

For our cultural experience, Bronwyn booked a bike tour for us. The French really do love their bicycles and it’s easy to see why. It was a well paced tour around the city and our tour guide was very friendly, giving us a detailed background of the city while patiently waiting for Bronwyn and me to try and keep with the rest of the group. One thing Bronwyn and I didn’t keep in mind is exactly how unfit we were, but because we were cycling at a relaxing pace, we were able to not get left behind all the time and managed to learn a few things. We both laughed at our own unfitness, something the rest of our tour group didn’t really understand.

It makes you feel like a kid again

The thing both of us wanted to do was to go to Disneyland. Yes, some might say that it is a little childish at our age, but I reckon you’re never too old to have some fun in an amusement park. We went on Crush’s Coaster, took on some boys in the Cars Race Rally driving along Route 66 to Radiator Springs, and a tour through the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror. We tried to go on as many rides as possible, had take aways for lunch and all kinds of candy. No wonder we didn’t feel too healthy at the end of the day, but our over-indulgence was well worth it.

Bronwyn has always loved the story The Hunchback of Notre-Dame, so we decided to pay it a visit to the church where the legend stems from. Notre-Dame is Paris’ Gothic landmark and with the 387 steps we had to climb to get to the top, it did feel quite daunting, but the incredible view made up for each and every step we had to take. Once in the tower, we came eye-to-eye with gargoyles and amazing architectural detail like no other.

The rest of our trip included outing to: Parc Asterix, the French comic character of Asterix and Obelix; Parc Zooligique de Paris; Tour Montparnasse; Cinaqua, a state-of-the-art aquarium; Chateau, the fun way of experiencing and learning about France’s famous wines and lastly, but definitely not the least, the extravagant palace of Versailles. Paris is a city filled with adventure and although it is regarded as the city of love, it really is a city for all, offering even two best friends the holiday of a lifetime!

Author Bio:

WayToStay online apartment bookings offers short-stay self catering Paris Apartments as the smarter alternative to hotels for leisure and business travelers.

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Paris is an old city full of intrigue with a long history; it sits on the banks of the river Seine and is also known as the City of Lights. Paris short stays are primarily taken by couples wanting a romantic weekend; you will however, discover that more time is required to fully appreciate what it has to offer.

It is renowned for its wonderful Gothic inspired buildings and street markets; these include the Eiffel Tower, Arc de Triomphe, markets and a history only matched by a few other European cities. Fortunately for tourists, Paris has a first rate transportation system; the underground train system or Metro can take you to anywhere within the city and is simple to use.

The Eiffel Tower at over 300 meters tall and is a magnificent steel structure; there are only a few places in the city where it isn’t visible. Illuminated at night it dominates the city’s skyline; it is possible to take organized tours which tell the story of the Tower and the history of France.

The famous Paris Avenue ‘the Champs Elysees’ must also receive a visit; you can see beautiful shops, sit and drink coffee from the many cafes or have a meal in a first class restaurant. This avenue may be select but it attracts large numbers of visitors daily; top class hotels are found here, although if you want to stay at a more reasonably priced hotel, they are available outside of the city center.

This city is also the home to the renowned Louvre Museum; with over 300,000 wonderful artistic works, you simply cannot see all of it in one day. If you are an art lover then you could spend your whole short stay in Paris inside; many of the world’s art collections are housed here, which includes the renowned ‘Mona Lisa’. Over the years, Paris has been home to many of the world’s famous artists; many of whom left large collections of their paintings here like Monet and Picasso.

The Arc de Triomphe another famous landmark was built by Napoleon in 1806; engraved with the names of generals that commanded his troops, it has become a popular photo spot for tourists visiting Paris. Although not generally well known, the Arc had an observatory installed after it was constructed to provide views of neighboring areas; including all the avenues of which it is a focal point.

Of course this article can only give a small sample places to visit; but these should certainly not to be missed because many offer regular guided tours, some at little or no charge at all. On your short say in Paris you will only see a small sample of what is available for a visitor; that would require a longer visit as you probably won’t have time to visit the gothic churches and castles in only a few days.

Experience Paris, even if its only for a short stay

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Expat health insurance is something that you should take a close look at before you move overseas. There are many people who travel overseas every year on vacation and find themselves falling in love with their vacation destination. This is something which happens everyday and you have to remember that your need for health insurance is not going to change no matter where in the world you are.

You will still face all the same accident risks overseas that you will face here at home but you may well encounter a very different set of issues when it comes to the cost of your own healthcare and the healthcare of your family. One of the things that you certainly do not want to end up with is being caught up in limbo. Let’s say for example that you are working abroad and that while driving to work you are involved in a car accident and sustain a number of minor injuries. The local police who attend the scene of the accident take you to the local hospital for treatment and, once the hospital has finished attending to your injuries, they present you with a bill for their services. How are you going to pay?

If you are living abroad and still retain your US citizenship then you will probably not be eligible for free treatment, assuming of course that the country concerned has a system of free healthcare. There is of course the matter of your health insurance from back home but, unless you’ve only been away from home for a relatively short period of time and can claim this expense as vacation cover, it’s unlikely that this will cover you. In the end you will have to pay for your treatment in cash and hope that you have enough money.

The best thing to do is to look into obtaining health insurance which is specifically designed for expats like yourself before you set off abroad. There are a large number of health insurance programs available to cover just about any situation imaginable and, by looking into this before you leave, you will give yourself a great deal of peace of mind.

If you are going overseas to work for a company based here in the states then they may well have an insurance plan available to cover you and your family while you are working and living overseas. This is certainly something that you will want to explore as many employers will cover some or all of the healthcare and medical costs of their employees working abroad.

If your employer doesn’t provide the cover that you need, or the question of provision by an employer doesn’t arise, then you can do a search on the internet for expat health insurance and you will find a wealth of information from a wide variety of companies and brokers who will be more than willing to assist in providing a suitable healthcare policy.

If you do shop for expat health insurance online however you will need to read through the details of any policy carefully and make sure that you know exactly what is covered and what is not covered. You certainly don’t want to arrive at your destination and then find when you come to make your first claim that the insurance you have purchased doesn’t cover you for your claim or that it is void in your chosen country.

Finally, make sure that you start your search for a policy as soon as you know when and where you will be going to ensure you get the best possible deal.

For more information on US expat health insurance and to find a suitable low cost health insurance policy then there is no better place to begin your search than right here on the internet.

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California Individual Health Insurance

Whether you are self-employed or work for an organization that does not offer health care benefits, you will need to buy your own health insurance plan. Most young and energetic people enjoy good health and require cheap individual health insurance plans providing basic coverage with low premiums, and adequate benefits to meet emergency expenses. Those with pre-existing factors may want a simple insurance plan with high deductibles. Several insurance providers offer low cost individual health insurances for those who can afford most low-cost medical expenses themselves and need coverage only for hospitalization, surgery, or unforeseen events. Insurance quotes are the first step in the direction of acquiring financial coverage in the event of some untoward occurrence, and securing your health. Availably of affordable insurance plans may depend upon your geographic location, the regulations of your state, and other factors that are beyond your control.

It is often difficult to decide on which health insurance company will be appropriate for your requirements. There are a number of ways to look for a reliable health insurance provider. The simplest one is to go online and type the words health insurance quote on some search engine. A comprehensive directory of health insurance companies and their websites will be shown. It is a good idea to select a website that presents comparisons of different health insurance companies.

Individual health insurance agencies can also be contacted over phone or via email, but this process can be time consuming and laborious.

While searching for individual health insurance quotes, it is to be borne in mind that the term Individual refers to the person making the purchase of the insurance plan. There are health insurance plans that cover your entire family. Researching the various options presented through individual health insurance quotes can bring up bargains that save you money over the amount you would have had to pay if you relied on the cost of your COBRA.

Before looking for individual health insurance quotes, you need to be clear on certain points. Firstly, you should do well to decide whether you want o be covered under PPO or HMO. In the first case, you are free to select any medical practitioner of your choice as long as they accept the terms of your insurance policy. In the second case, your choice is limited and you can obtain insurance benefits only if you consult the doctors mentioned in a list presented by the agency. Also, you must make certain about the type and extent of coverage you need, because these affect the cost of your policy.

Want to learn more about Individual Health Insurance Quote?, feel free to visit us at: http://www.health-insurance-land.info

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