Who shall be our Edith?

As promised, we at The Mount are trying to assemble the perfect cast for a proposed biopic of Edith Wharton. Who knows, if we get the right package together perhaps an "angel" will appear with plenty of cash and we will be able to make our dream a reality! We herewith present a potted description of our heroine, Edith Newbold Jones Wharton.

A description of Edith Jones as a small child from Shari Benstock's No Gifts from Chance: "Our first glimpse of Edith is a miniature by an unknown artist made when she was three years old. Pale blue eyes peer wide-eyed from a squarish chubby cheeked face. Her lips are drawn in a bow, eyebrows sketched by two curved lines, the red hair pulled into big sausage curls at the temples. Later pictures emphasize her high, wide forehead and under shot jaw."

From Hermione Lee's biography comes a description of Edith Wharton in 1907 at age 45 at the beginning of her relationship with Morton Fullerton (pictured below):
"Edith was looking handsome and fine, in her dark furs and silks, her laces and pearls and elegant hats, her long, strong serious face with its large dark eyes and strongly arched eyebrows and ironical smile softened by a great sweep of dark-reddish hair pinned up in a large loose bun. She was not beautiful--her nose was too long, her chin too heavy and square, her build too stocky and her smile too tight, and her expression still showed something of that nervous apprehensive reserve that made her looks, in her twenties, so painfully tense."

(As an aside, your blogger, who suffered for years with the most horrible braces, does believe that modern orthodontics might have spared Mrs. Wharton the very prominent underbite which is so apparent in her adult photos.)

We have decided to leave out any descriptions from Percy Lubbock's Portrait of Edith Wharton. As they say in Wikipedia, its neutrality is disputed. Wharton's own godson, William Royall Tyler, said it was written by someone who appeared to "despise" Edith Wharton. Hermione Lee puts it very well: "Lubbock pursues with gusto [his] version of the chilly controlling chatelaine, which can make Edith Wharton sound like the character played by Margaret Dumont in the Marx Brothers films."
But who could have realized that this would serendipitously lead us to another perfect casting opportunity!!!



Please keep on sending in your suggestions and comments!

A tragedy with a happy ending

Warning! Possible Spoiler Alert! And your blogger really hates spoilers!

The first stage adaptation of Edith Wharton’s bestselling novel The House of Mirth was not a success. In A Backward Glance when Wharton describes the reaction of William Dean Howells, who had come at her invitation to see the performance, she writes of “the lapidary phrase in which, as we left the theatre, he summed up the reason of the play’s failure. ‘Yes—what the American public always wants is a tragedy with a happy ending.’”

This seems to have done the trick at least in the beginning. The first film version of The House of Mirth, made in 1918 with Katherine Corri Harris Barrymore starring as Lily Bart, decided to go with the “Sleeping Beauty” ending. As Lily begins to succumb to the blissful sleep provide by her “medication” Lawrence Selden rushes in to her side, sweeps her up into his arms, and assures her that all will be well! This film is tragically among the lost gems of early cinema, and so one can only picture this beautiful scene in one’s mind’s eye.

Did the new ending make the film more successful? What did Mrs. Wharton think about this and about Hollywood in general? She said late in her life that movies were the ”killer of the imagination”, but earlier in her career she certainly understood their earning potential and influence on popular culture. Throughout her literary career she actively pursued adaptations of her works, and was very much involved in the dramatization of many of her most important novels. One of the great as yet unsolved and most intriguing Whartonian mysteries: Did Edith Wharton ever go to the movies herself? Aside from a brief mention of a movie or newsreel in Spain with Walter Berry in 1914, there are no explicit mentions in any letters or memoirs of Wharton’s attending a film. We do know that she disapproved of the reigning queen of the silent cinema, Mary Pickford, and made fun of Greta Garbo. She certainly used images and descriptions of movies in her fiction, from Summer onwards. How did she know how to write about movies and why did she have an opinion about the stars of the day, if she never saw a movie herself? This has puzzled Wharton scholars, and perhaps the answer will come in some as yet undiscovered archive. She certainly did attend stage performances of her novels and some of them met with her approval. The many radio, stage, screen and opera adaptations of her works which continue even today show that her appeal remains stong and crosses the boundaries of generations.

Jane Austen, who never loses her appeal, and Edith Wharton address similar societal subjects. Wherein lies the difference? Is it that Mr. Darcy turns out to be the most wonderful guy ever and he and Elizabeth Bennett live happily ever after? On the other hand, Newland Archer and Ellen Olenska are entrapped in a cycle of eternal frustration.
A tragedy with a happy ending?

Casting call comments

The Mount is thrilled to see that our casting call is already garnishing some interesting responses! However, a stalwart Mountie seems to have an issue with my suggestion of Squidward from Spongebob as Walter Berry. One feels that the resemblance should be glaringly obvious to all, from the high intellectual brow to the somewhat arrogant stance (see below). Her comments: "Tom Cruise as Morton!...not Teddy !!! That deadly cold charm. (blue eyes, Teddy's were hazel)...Hmmmm and as a (distant) and lowly cousin of Walter I think I resent that one....I will think on my "perfect Walt" !!!"

Although we stand by our choice, we will admit that Squidward does not sport a moustache. As this Mountie, who shall remain nameless here, is of an old Knickerbocker family and thusly a relative of Mr. Berry (the closest thing to aristocracy here at The Mount), we shall defer to her sensibilities and entertain other suggestions. Mr. Berry had electric blue eyes and white hair so our two next suggestions are the late Paul Newman, and the German singing superstar sensation Heino. (The image of Mr. Newman above is from the Daily Telegraph). The list is growing, so keep your suggestions coming in the comments!

Casting Call!!

Do you have a secret desire to be a casting director?
Ever spent hours around a café table, at your favorite pub, or even online debating the merits of the choices directors and producers have made for your favorite books or films?

Would you have cast Robert Redford as Jay Gatsby, George Clooney as Batman, Keira Knightly as Elizabeth Bennett, Johnny Depp as Captain Jack Sparrow, William Shatner as Alyosha? If you answered yes (or even no!) to any of these questions, then you are more than eligible to join The Mount’s Cast Your Own contest.

In conjunction with our 2010 exhibit Dramatic License: Wharton on Stage & Screen, we not only will entertain suggestions on the “perfect” Madame Olenska or Ethan Frome, but more perhaps the more challenging prospect of casting an imaginary “biopic” of Edith Wharton’s life here at The Mount. There have been several attempts at this already, but we at The Mount feel that the time is ripe for another! For the next few weeks we will post a brief biographical sketch of each of our main characters.






















A few excellent suggestions have been made already: Julianne Moore as Edith Wharton, Tom Cruise as Teddy, the possibilities are endless! For example, your blogger cannot help but notice the very strong resemblance between Walter Van Rensselaer Berry and Squidward of Spongebob Squarepants fame!

We encourage all Whartonians and film buffs out there to post their own casting ideas in the comments section of the blog. We will take the most popular names posted over the next few months and make a shortlist for the competition. Rules and regulations will follow. Post early and Post often!

Wharton on stage and screen

Greetings!

At The Mount we are hard at work on our 2010 exhibit: "Dramatic License: Wharton on Stage and Screen". We want to share not only some of the most recent and well-known adaptations of her works, but also those which have faded from memories, such as a 1935 film called Strange Wives based on a Wharton short story initially entitled Bread Upon the Waters, and later changed to Charm, Inc. The movie Strange Wives was not a great box office hit it seems, but if anyone has ever seen it, please share!

Most people remember Michell Pfeiffer as Madame Olenska in the 1993 Age of Innocence, but we have tracked down other great actors who have portrayed Ellen on stage and screen including Beverly Bayne in a 1924 silent film, Katherine Cornell in the 1928 stage version, and Irene Dunne in the 1934 film version. Edith Wharton called one of them "my perfect Ellen". Any guesses which one she meant? Who would be your "perfect Ellen"? Think on it, blog it.

Thanks,
The Mount