A Creative + Cultural Snow Day: Redecorating + The Last Picture Show

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TEXT, VIVIAN KELLY

Yesterday brought the third blizzard of the winter, but, as Rhett Butler so famously said to 'Scarlett' in Gone With the Wind, "frankly, my dear, I couldn't give a damn."

Why? What?!

No, I'm not part Aleutian or soft in the head.

I just need to be forced to stay home to have the excuse to indulge and work on some projects that are near and dear to my heart.

First - there was the ongoing redecoration of TheFE Home Office inspired by a page in the Farrow & Ball catalogue I picked up at Robert Verdi's Luxe Lounge last NYFW. To say that attaining the garden gazebo look on the page has been obsessing me these past few months is an understatement. Yesterday, I finished the cream trim and applied the first layer of 'arsenic' paint on two walls - only partially though.

While rolling away, I had the stepladder strategically placed so I could watch The Last Picture Show on my little Home Office TV, rigged only for DVD watching. I had the Comcast Cable guy do this as part of a commitment to watch old Hollywood Classics, Art Films, and anything else that promises to have good sets and costumes in it.

Last weekend, Victoria, my favorite Reference Librarian, raised a well arched brow when I asked her if they had The Last Picture Show on DVD, and 'was it in'?

We both agreed that the movie was worth watching if only for the pool scene in which a young gorgeous Cybill Shepherd 'Jayce' literally and figuratively strips-down, shedding her pristine white foundation garments and innocence, while poised on the diving board.

I wound up of course, getting wrapped-up in the movie and what should have been a one-hour painting job extended into three, four even. I played back over portions of the black and white masterpiece to hear scenes I'd missed while turning my head towards the wall.

While I said I tend to watch movies for their visual bang, this one has a h--l of a good story attached to it as well - several stories in fact.

First and foremost, there's the indescribably gorgeous 'Jayce'. Directed by Peter Bogdanovich, Cybill got across beautiful and cruel character of 'Jayce" who as the iMDb reviewer captured in this description, "Jacey is Duane's steady, wanted by every boy in school, and she knows it. Her daddy is rich and her mom is good looking and loose. It's the general consensus that whoever wins Jacey's heart will be set for life."

She looks great in every single frame and I'm seeing references to her style in her every outfit:

• The party dress - Christian LaCroix's "poof"
• The foundation garments she strips-down to at the party -Eres swimsuits
• The plaid shirt, dungarees - Abercrombie & Fitch
  
• The white shirt tied under her breasts in the pool hall scene - Guess Ads for the last 15 years
• The slippers in the opening car necking scene - Chanel slippers

'Picture Show' gave me much more than I'd bargained for. In addition to the clothes, there's a little bit of a history lesson here about what it was like to live in West Texas in the fifties. Some things never change, all small towns rely on sports, the social pecking order, sex, secrets, and how tough it is to come-of-age.

Today, the bamboo trellis wallpaper arrived, as the UPS Man bombed through nearly two feet of snow to deliver it to my garage. My biggest challenge now is to find another movie that will equal or top 'Last Picture Show' as I resume painting the next wall tomorrow.

Any suggestions?