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Post by Fading Fast on Aug 22, 2023 17:19:32 GMT
This Sunday, August 27th at 3pm ET / 1pm MT / 12pm PT, we will be watching and sharing our thoughts on the 1956 movie "Tea and Sympathy," starring Deborah Kerr, John Kerr (no relation), Leif Erickson, Edward Andrews and Darryl Hickman
While it's set at a prep school and not college, "Tea and Sympathy" has more of a college feel as it explores the very college-like themes of vicious peer pressure, parents not accepting their children as they are and, of course, young men in particular, looking to have their first sexual experience.
Writer Robert Anderson and director Vincent Minnelli, for the most part, avoid cliches resulting in well-rounded characters where even the "bad guys" are treated as complex men and women whose motives are sometimes coming from, what they believe is, a good place.
It's a nuanced look at 1950s culture that also includes indirect references to homosexuality with a, for the time, mainly sympathetic view. Plus, it has a pretty surprising ending.
Link to the movie: "Tea and Sympathy"
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Post by Andrea Doria on Aug 22, 2023 17:54:18 GMT
I watched this about 20 years ago and I'm looking forward to seeing it again. There's so much going on I'm sure I missed a few undercurrents. It's a brilliant study of very complex people.
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Post by Fading Fast on Aug 24, 2023 3:40:37 GMT
Please join us Sunday, August 27th at 3pm ET / 1pm MT / 12pm PT, for "Tea and Sympathy" with, for a mid-century movie, a reasonably balanced and thoughtful exploration of parent-teenager relationships and late-teenage sexuality.
Link to the movie: "Tea and Sympathy"
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Post by topbilled on Aug 24, 2023 13:50:25 GMT
Would you say TEA AND SYMPATHY is a sexual awakening story?
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Post by Fading Fast on Aug 24, 2023 14:52:28 GMT
Would you say TEA AND SYMPATHY is a sexual awakening story?
The main one is the John Kerr character who has come to believe he might be gay because of all the teasing he gets because he's not like the other boys. It's Deborah Kerr's (no relation to John) character who understands that he's not gay, but (and she says something to this effect, if my memory is at all accurate) that, for him, sex has to be about love, which is why he doesn't act like the other boys who talk about girls like objects. Let's leave that one there until the movie, for those who haven't seen it, to see how it's resolved.
The other sexual awakening is really one the viewer sees, but the character doesn't. Leif Erickson's character - the big, macho coach of the varsity team - it's heavily implied is gay. This is clearly part of the problem in his marriage, but his character's identity is way too wrapped up in being macho to see it. Plus, what would he do in the 1950s if he did see it? Come out and end his career?
It's all pretty daring stuff for 1950s America and good to see as it shows these ideas were out there - this was a major movie release - even, of course, if they had to be cloaked a bit. |
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Post by Fading Fast on Aug 26, 2023 11:26:43 GMT
Please join us tomorrow, August 27th at 3pm ET / 1pm MT / 12pm PT, for "Tea and Sympathy" to close out our month-long exploration of the theme of "coming of age" at college and prep school and, maybe, for a coo-coo-ca-choo moment 1950s style.  Link to the movie: "Tea and Sympathy"
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Post by Andrea Doria on Aug 27, 2023 12:07:13 GMT
"Coo-coo-ca-choo moments." LOL I just told my husband we hadn't needed a word for it until we got to this modern color stuff!
I'm wrong though. Come to think of it Barbara Stanwyck had about eight coo-coo-ca-choo moments in "Baby Face" alone.
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Post by Fading Fast on Aug 27, 2023 18:51:02 GMT
Me: "You know they make Sno-caps with multi-colored nonpareils?"
Fawn: [dismissively] "Then they wouldn't be Sno-caps."
Me: [sighing] "Well, I guess technically, no, they wouldn't be. But they could be good."
Fawn: "As a not-Sno-caps candy."
Me: "Yes, you're right. [with nervous enthusiasm] Do you want to try them?"
Fawn: "Sure."
Me: [excitedly] "That's great. I'll..."
Fawn: [cutting him off with disdain] "Of course, you don't mean for our movie candy?"
Me: [sighing heavily] "No, no, I'll get the regular Sno-caps for us for today's movie."
Fawn: [blithely] "If you like."
Me: "Grrrr."
Fawn: "Did you say something?"
Me: [defeated] "No." |
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Post by topbilled on Aug 27, 2023 18:58:12 GMT
Thanks for the laugh before our movie begins...
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Post by topbilled on Aug 27, 2023 19:01:57 GMT
Not very MGM films were made in CinemaScope (a Fox process).
The role played by Darryl Hickman was done by Dick York on Broadway.
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Post by Fading Fast on Aug 27, 2023 19:03:25 GMT
Not very MGM films were made in CinemaScope (a Fox process).
The role played by Darryl Hickman was done by Dick York on Broadway. |
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Post by topbilled on Aug 27, 2023 19:05:19 GMT
The two Kerrs and Erickson had been in the Broadway version, which ran for over 700 performances from 1953 to 1955. But Deborah Kerr left the production midway due to film commitments and her role was taken over by Joan Fontaine.
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Post by Fading Fast on Aug 27, 2023 19:06:06 GMT
The boys'/men's clothes in this one are mid-century "Ivy-style" perfect. His belted-back chinos, Oxford cloth button-down shirt and canvas sneakers are spot on to the style.
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Post by topbilled on Aug 27, 2023 19:06:54 GMT
When John Kerr needed a temporary break during the Broadway run, Anthony Perkins filled in.
And actually, I think Perkins (who was bisexual in real life) would have been interesting to watch in this.
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Post by Andrea Doria on Aug 27, 2023 19:08:35 GMT
There's our song, I think that's the fifth movie we've watched featuring it.
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