Charles: Are you an adventuress?Jean: Of course I am. All women are. They have to be. If you waited for a man to propose to you from natural causes, you'd die of old maidenhood. That's why I let you try my slippers on. And then I put my cheek against yours. And then I made you put your arms around me. And then I, I fell in love with you, which wasn't in the cards.
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I just finished watching The Lady Eve. The 1941 classic femme fatale, 'adam bites the apple again' movie. Barbara Stanwyck was fantastic. Unwittingly falling for the man she was trying to con a fortune from and then facing rejection.. what can she do but win him back?
Jean Harrington: I need him like the axe needs the turkey.
Deception, humiliation, for poor Henry Fonda, not Stanwyck, and the most awkard proposal scene ever (a horse keeps butting in), all combine into the movie which was number 1 on the New York Times Top Ten Movies list of 1941.
And did I mention the fashion? The highlight of the shoe-fitting scene.. seduction at its finest.. is Stanwyck's amazing black dress.
It's virtually a two piece bejewelled gown which breaks in the middle to show off a substantial amount of midriff (and this was 1941). I couldn't find any pictures to do it justice so you'll just have to watch the movie.
*All credit for the costumes goes to 8 times Oscar winner, Edith Head. As you can see below she was one stylish woman.
Jean: I'm terribly in love, and you seem to be too, so one of us has to think and try and keep things clear. And maybe I can do that better than you can. They say a moonlit deck is a woman's business office.
Inspiration Item #32
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