Two Drifters

I guess I should explain both the title of this blog as well as the address. Last week I had recieved Breakfast at Tiffany's in the mail from Netflix. Now normally I am not one for the classics, but one of the reasons for getting the service is that I could see a lot more movies and not spend $6 per rental. I recieved the movie on Saturday and since the Giants were losing yet another baseball game I decided to pop in the dvd. Now I was a bit familiar with the movie, I knew Truman Capote wrote it but that was all. From the opening scene of Audrey Hepburn's character of Holiday (Holly) Golightly at Tiffany and Co. in the morning until the end I knew I had a new favorite.

There was a song she sang (which I later found out was made very popular in 1961) called Moonriver. The way she sang was so lovely, but you could hear just a bit of sadness in her voice. This is going to sound odd, but at that moment I fell in love with Audrey Hepburn. Not THAT way of course, I have a loving girlfriend of two years, but just how she portrayed herself. Holly was an escort but was the most elegant person I had ever seen. Of course then I realized that was Hepburn in her natural beauty and she made Holly a part of herself. I loved how she had such poise and dignity and was graceful and even a bit of a brat. These were qualities I always found attractive in a woman but never could find. Then I realized I had, my girlfriend. I am not comparing the two, but my girlfriend has always had a grace and elegance about her that I had seen when I first met her over six years ago. It was one of the things that made me want her and pursue her. I just never really gave it a thought till I saw this movie.


After I finished this I became a huge Audrey Hepburn fan and chided myself on not seeing her movies earlier. I immediately added more of her films to my Netflix list (Roman Holiday should be here on 8/10) but still felt that wasn't enough. I read her bio on wikipedia and found out she had done a lot of work in the later part of her life with UNICEF as they had helped her when she was a child in the aftermath of WWII. I went to her charity's website and saw they took donations. I had just recieved a rebate in the mail for some software I had purchased months ago and had forgotten about it. I decided that starving children needed the money more then I did, so I wrote a letter (rambling a bit I feel) saying why I was donating the money. I think it was just me saying thank you though I hope they don't think I am TOO odd when they read it.

It's sad she died at the age of 63, but I was so impressed how she always put everyone else above her. Like riding in coach on flights as she didn't think she should be in first class or donating an expensive wedding gown to a poor italian family (who still have it) as she wasn't going to need it. She loved doing movies but I read her greatest joy was helping others. It's too unfortunate that today's starts can't follow this same mantra but care more about being on the cover of People Magazine. With the quality of movies (or lack thereof) today being what they are, I am glad I have Netflix so at least I can see something with class.