On Sunday, after another exhaustive party night at S, we watched TV and caught the last 40 minutes of the musical Ein süßer Fratz (Funny Face) directed by Stanley Donen (Charade, Singin’ in The Rain) in 1957.

The famous Avedon portrait of Audrey Hepburn

Having missed the first part of the movie didn’t hurt at all, maybe it was even funnier starting with the scenes where Audrey Hepburn’s character is modeling for a photographer played by Fred Astaire on location in Paris. The lightning and setting of the photo shoots, which were consulted by Richard Avedon, is fantastic.

At times, the German dubbing of the movie was stilted which only added to our amusement:

Dick: Wie sehe ich aus? (How do I look?)
Maggie: Du siehst bedeutend aus. (You’re full of pizazz!)

Maggie, the fashion editor of Quality magazine is the 50ties version of Anna Wintour, inspired by Diana Vreeland, fashion editor of Harper’s Bazaar in the 1930s. According to my dictionary, pizzazz is said to have been invented by Diana.

Now, after I’ve seen the movie on DVD, the first hour is not to be missed, especially the first 5 minutes. Maggie enters the office, let’s all her assistants come to her desk and proclaims: Think Pink!

This is followed by fireworks of pink sets:

Dick Avery - Fred Astaire - Richard Avedon
Jo Stockton - Audrey Hepburn - Suzy Parker
Maggie Prescott - Kay Thomspson - Diana Vreeland
Prof. Emile Flostre - Michel Auclair - Jean-Paul Sartre

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