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| Pickfair: the original Hollywood portmanteau |
I've had a lot of fake "boyfriends" in my time, but Douglas Fairbanks and his son, Doug Jr., are the only father-son team to steal my heart. A biographical report I did on Charlie Chaplin in high school English class seeded my love of Classic Hollywood history. Doug, "The Great Swashbuckler," was bound to sweep me off my feet. I adore Douglas Fairbanks for many things: his charm, his smile, his breathtaking acrobatic feats (he did all his own stunts), and his epic films. But there's also a very special tidbit of history involving this dashing figure--he's the first to bring an all-talking Shakespeare production to the silver screen.
It took a silent film star--THE silent film star of his time, to be perfectly honest--to present Shakespeare with actual spoken dialogue to theatre audiences. The Taming of the Shrew also marked the first time Doug and his equally famous wife, Mary Pickford ("America's Sweetheart"), appeared together in a film. Apparently, the tension and chaos created by Petruchio and Kate's characters did not stop when the cameras did.
Doug and Mary were very different animals. He was classically trained and a very astute student of Shakespeare, so he wanted his first big "talkie" to be Shakespeare, of course! Mary never had Shakespearean experience. He was comfortable with the archaic dialogue; she was so uncomfortable that she re-dubbed all her speaking parts in the film decades later. The public was surprised at their choice of The Taming of the Shrew for this beloved "idyllic" pairing. In a 1929 New York Times interview, Doug was quoted as explaining the decision thusly:
"There is no story that we have ever read--modern or otherwise--with leading parts that so exactly fit us."
Ah, romance.
It's a short and cheeky production (only about an hour long), and while it's not the most faithful screenplay to the original text ever written, it's definitely worth a watch.
Petruchio and Katharina are essentially more juvenile precursors to Benedick and Beatrice in Much Ado. Their banter is more jagged and angry than pointed and urbane, and the marriage is born of monetary desire and not the eventual realization of their deep adoration. In the end, irony prevails, and Petruchio and Kate tame each other. The speech I chose represents Kate's post-wedding distress at being treated the same way she had treated so many herself.
It took a silent film star--THE silent film star of his time, to be perfectly honest--to present Shakespeare with actual spoken dialogue to theatre audiences. The Taming of the Shrew also marked the first time Doug and his equally famous wife, Mary Pickford ("America's Sweetheart"), appeared together in a film. Apparently, the tension and chaos created by Petruchio and Kate's characters did not stop when the cameras did.
Doug and Mary were very different animals. He was classically trained and a very astute student of Shakespeare, so he wanted his first big "talkie" to be Shakespeare, of course! Mary never had Shakespearean experience. He was comfortable with the archaic dialogue; she was so uncomfortable that she re-dubbed all her speaking parts in the film decades later. The public was surprised at their choice of The Taming of the Shrew for this beloved "idyllic" pairing. In a 1929 New York Times interview, Doug was quoted as explaining the decision thusly:
"There is no story that we have ever read--modern or otherwise--with leading parts that so exactly fit us."
Ah, romance.
It's a short and cheeky production (only about an hour long), and while it's not the most faithful screenplay to the original text ever written, it's definitely worth a watch.
Petruchio and Katharina are essentially more juvenile precursors to Benedick and Beatrice in Much Ado. Their banter is more jagged and angry than pointed and urbane, and the marriage is born of monetary desire and not the eventual realization of their deep adoration. In the end, irony prevails, and Petruchio and Kate tame each other. The speech I chose represents Kate's post-wedding distress at being treated the same way she had treated so many herself.
The Taming of the Shrew, Act IV, Sc. III
Katharina: The more my wrong, the more his spite appears:
What, did he marry me to famish me?Beggars, that come unto my father's door,
Upon entreaty have a present aims;
If not, elsewhere they meet with charity:
But I, who never knew how to entreat,
Nor never needed that I should entreat,
Am starved for meat, giddy for lack of sleep,
With oath kept waking and with brawling fed:
And that which spites me more than all these wants,
He does it under name of perfect love;
As who should say, if I should sleep or eat,
'Twere deadly sickness or else present death.
I prithee go and get me some repast;
I care not what, so it be wholesome food.
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