Re: the first time ever I saw your face....

Camille Scaysbrook (verona_beach@hotpop.com)
Mon, 08 Nov 1999 10:11:51 +1100 

My goodness me. My *goodness* me. Please, whoever you are (could you be
Scottie's wife, well knowing his sharp tongue and hoping, to paraphrase
Dorothy Parker, that he hadn't yet again landed on someone's feet?) Yes, I
would appreciate the comparison to Swanson. A strong woman with enough gall
to date Joseph Kennedy but enough vulnerability to make a murderous madwoman
seem quite sympathetic. But Audrey Hepburn? I could never be as fragile as
her. No comparison at all. I would align myself with another Hepburn - and
what other Hepburn is there but Katharine? I like a girl with guts - and I'd
hope I am one myself. Like I said - Ethel Merman may not have been a
strictly pretty woman, but boy did she have a booming voice! I love the
stars of the silent era, the first real stars, who had a beauty all of their
own as you say, that were valued for their uniqueness rather than their
generic quality. Theda Bara, Louise Brooks, all the ones that wouldn't
taking nothin' from nobody!When I was (shall I use the word?) A Lass at
school some people found that concept very hard to understand. I was a Very
Unpopular Lass at school as a result. But now that I am out in the great
wide world I realise how many people admire and appreciate that in a woman.
And therefore, when anyone suggests that I am anything but just plain
strange, I am still young and foolish enough to blush and give a tiny
litttle smile as I type.

I will repay your gallantry by not reporting this to Bananafish as final and
conclusive proof that - yes, Scottie's really a softie at heart (:

P.S. Although I don't drink chardonnay (or anything for that matter - not
for want of trying but by instruction of doctor) I'm afraid you'll have a
lot of trouble wooing me away from socialism. Sorry.

Camille

>     Camille,
>
>     Since I don't remember any glasses or even a furtive
>     spectacle-case I think Matt must indeed be not very well
>     when he likens you to Glenn Close.  And knowing him
>     to be the kindest of men, we can rule out any question
>     of malice in his invocation of probably the ugliest,
>     least appealing of contemporary actresses (after Vanessa,
>     that is.)  I only hope the problem isn't in his visual cortex.
>
>     On the other hand, you yourself are surely mistaken
>     in suggesting Rita.  For those of us young enough
>     to remember, that strange, sleepy, half- amused,
>     half-damaged look about the eyes, framed by that
>     bell of hair could never be repeated.
>
>     No.  From now on, I shall be saying - not that
>     Camille Scaybrook is a bit like Gloria Swanson,
>     or Audrey Hepburn or whomever, but rather -
>     to the next lovely girl I wish to soften up:
>     'You know?  There's something about you that
>     reminds me of Camille ...'
>
>     All the great beauties are like no one except
>     themselves.  A principle exemplified by yourself.
>
>     As Leo REALLY wished he'd said:
>             Ugly women are all ugly in the same way.
>             Each beautiful woman is beautiful in her own
>             particular way.
>
>     Now, if I could just wean you away from all those
>     Chardonnay socialists ...
>
>     Scottie B.