Tuesday, October 05, 2021

Breakfast ही कथा अशीच , फुलझाड उगवावे तशी सहज ताजी...Breakfast at Tiffany's @60

Truman Capote , 'Breakfast at Tiffany's', १९५८:
"... Also, she had a cat and she played the guitar. On days when the sun was strong, she would wash her hair, and together with the cat, a red tiger-striped tom, sit out on the fire escape thumbing a guitar while her hair dried. Whenever I heard the music, I would go stand quietly by my window. She played very well, and sometimes sang too. Sang in the hoarse, breaking tones of a boy's adolescent voice. She knew all the show hits, Cole Porter and Kurt Weill; especially she liked the songs from Oklahoma!, which were new that summer and everywhere. But there were moments when she played songs that made you wonder where she learned them, where indeed she came from. Harsh-tender wandering tunes with words that smacked of pineywoods or prairie. One went: Don't wanna sleep, Don't wanna die, Just wanna go a-travelin' through the pastures of the sky; and this one seemed to gratify her the most, for often she continued it long after her hair had dried, after the sun had gone and there were lighted windows in the dusk...."

"... पण Breakfast वाचल्यानंतर काही स्वत: लिहावे ही इच्छा बऱ्याच काळापर्यंत ठार मेली. काही लोकांच्या painting मध्ये रंग जिवंत, ताजे वाटतात, तर इतरत्र तेच रंग पोतेऱ्यासारखे होतात. (ही नवी आठवण सुट्टीत मी oil मध्ये थोडे landscape करण्याचा प्रयत्न केला होता. त्या अनुभवाचे हे ज्ञान !!) Breakfast ही कथा अशीच , फुलझाड उगवावे तशी सहज ताजी; पण मनात आठवण ठेवून जाते. तरुण (व सुंदर) स्त्रीच्या चालीप्रमाणे शैली अशी लवचीक, सहज पंचेंद्रिये इच्छापूर्ती- स्वप्नरंजनाने भरणारी असावी. आपल्या पुषकळशा कथा मनाचा एक कोपरा गढूळ करतात. ..."

(८-७-१९६२, 'जी.एं, ची निवडक पत्रे: खंड २', पृष्ठ ११०, १९९८)

किती गोष्टी वरील पत्रात पहाल? ३९ वर्षीय अविवाहित जीएंचे चित्रकलेचे ज्ञान आणि त्यांची पेन्टिंग्स, तरुण स्त्रीच्या चालीची लवचिकता....

Breakfast at Tiffany's हे पुस्तक त्या नावाच्या सिनेमापासून (१९६१) वेगळे करताच येत नाही जीएंनी सुद्धा तो सिनेमा वरील पत्र लिहायच्या आधी बघितला असायची शक्यता खूप मोठी आहे.










सोबतच्या चित्रात सिनेमातील ऑड्री हेपबर्न आणि तिचे Orangey नावाचे मांजर

Painter With Light: John Alton@120


Five Books: Who is the greatest cinematographer of film noir?

Barry Forshaw: John Alton. He is a genius who made the work of directors such as Anthony Mann look even better. The classic image of men in trench coats and hats silhouetted against smoky, rainy streets.



A scene from Canon City, 1948