* Glasses to make the character different
This is one of my favorite movies, Lauren Bacall is so hypnotic to watch in any film she in, plus there is Betty Grable and Marilyn Monroe. Marlin Monroe wears GLASSES!!!! Anyone who knows me knows I am a big Marilyn Monroe fan, and this movie she wears glasses. Glasses! one of my favorite icons in cat eye frames.
SO here is the premise of the film:
Lauren Bacall's character Schatze Page was married once before to a "gas jockey" , she knows the money can make or break relationship happiness. Also I think this gas jockey may of been a jerk. Schatze decides to make a plan to end her and her two friends financial troubles; for one of them or all of them to marry someone rich. Shcatze rents huge luxurious apartment in the rich part of town (takes place in NYC). The apartment was made available because the previous owner is running from the IRS, more on that guy later. Shcatze invites her friend Pola Debevoise (Marilyn Monroe). Shcatze explains the plan, great scene. The best way to meet a rich guy is to be that part of town with that apartment. Pola agrees and she invited her friend Loco Dempsey played by Betty Grable in on this. Schatze was hesitant on her but Loco came in with a ton of groceries with a man carrying them, Loco supposedly only had a nickel and this guy bought the rest.
Schatze was impressed with Loco, but not the fella, Tom Brookman (Cameron Mitchell) because he was not wearing a necktie.
Okay let discuss their plan, yes it does seem anti feminist. Instead of developing financial independence; they want to marry rich. The three young women work as models, and in those days models got paid very little. Heck in those days women got paid very little in any job, and not too many jobs were available for women. I've been broke before; it sucks. I'm sure some young women who are broke, feel there is very little they can do to get out of that life. They may day dreamed about meeting a rich guy. Almost no one thinks it could happen, and fewer pursue this dream. Why? because what really matters is if you love someone and they love you back. Well as the movie unfolds the plan looks more silly, and the girls know it. They sell all their furniture to pay the rent and have nothing in the fridge.
Somehow the three girls meet a rich widower and he invites them to a party. The girls all pair off. Schatze attaches herself to the widower, Loco with a very grumpy businessman and Pola with a shady eye patch guy. Pola is very self conscious about her glasses. She wears them in the apartment, but takes them off whenever a man is around. She really does believe the whole "men don't make passes to girls who wear glasses". It makes me think her character was raised by her mother to believe that. Pola really does need her glasses, she stumbles and bumps into walls without them. It's so silly you want to say to her "Please wear your glasses". She didn't know at first her date had an eye patch her eyesight is so bad. Pola's best friend Schatze has this scheme so the pressure is on big time.
This shady gangster eye patch guy invites Pola to meet his mother in Atlantic City. She was suppose to take a bus but accidently got on a plane to Kanas city instead. Big mistake, but a good one. For one reason, we all know that guy is bad news and for another reason she meets someone else, the previous owner of the apartment.
And then this happens:
He Immediately knows she has poor eye sight, because Pola is reading her book upside down. He asks if she has astigmatism, she replies that she is just blind as a bat. He encourages her to wear her glasses, to not hide them. I love this scene. He wears glasses himself so he gets it, and no one want to walk around bumping into walls. Marilyn does this scene perfectly, so vulnerable. You believe Pola been told her whole life she wasn't good enough the way she was because she wears glasses. In this scene Pola finally meets someone who wants her to be herself. How magical it is when you meet someone who likes you for you ( it truly is! it took me a while to have that experience but I have it now, it's truly wonderful). The rest of the movie she wears her glasses. All three of the girls ditch the plan and be with someone they love.
Pola is the opposite of other movies, most movies the character ditches their glasses when they meet a man. In this movie she wears her glasses, after meeting someone. For the first part of the movie she hides who she really is from men. Later she stops hiding because with a little encouragement she realizes none of those people were really worth impressing.
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