Gerald's Party: September 2007

Friday, September 28, 2007

Props, pg. 23

a ladies' switchblade
addresses
tranquillizers
credit cards
hormone cream
shopping lists
a toothbrush
candy bars
a dog-eared valentine
flashlight
vial of petroleum jelly
sunglasses
paper panties
little balls of hair and dust
a tube of athlete's foot ointment
a half-completed peckersweater
one knitting needle
one of Gerald's Mexican ashtrays
a fingernail file
a silver pair of tweezers
a bloody hair, or a thread maybe
two glass slides
a pair of transparent rubber gloves
Dickie's toothpick

Thursday, September 27, 2007

Props, pg. 21

a tray of cold cuts ("There were four different kinds of cold cuts, laid out in perfect rows, lapped like roof tiles and spaced with parsley and sliced tomatoes.")
an empty tray
an empty whiskey bottle

Monday, September 24, 2007

Props, pg. 19

the bottle of vermouth and pitcher of old-fashioneds
photographic equipment
a paintbox
cables and cords
a toolkit
a tripod
Inspector Pardew's fedora
Inspector Pardew's white silk scarf

Saturday, September 22, 2007

pg. 17: "Sally Ann wore, as usual, a white shirt open down the front and knotted at the waist, and tight faded blue jeans with a heart-shaped patch sewn over her anus that said, "KISS ME". She'd painted her eyes and lashes to appear grown-up, but had only made herself look more a child."

Props, pg. 17

a tumbler of vodka and grapefruit juice - Patrick's famous "salty bitch"
a French cigarette

"Salty bitch" caught my eye because the drink described is better known as a "salty dog".

Upon further investigation, I learned that "salty bitch" is also a slang term referring to someone who dampens the mood (could this be Ros?).

"Salty dog" can also refer to a pirate and a sex act in which two people have intercourse then meet later to perform oral sex on one another.

Friday, September 21, 2007

Props, pg. 15

Tania's bloody dress
a Byzantine icon depicting the torture of a saint

Isadora/Ros

I've had this fascination with Isadora Duncan and her tragic life and freak death for a long time.
I'm haunted by the very last image in Karl Reisz's film ISADORA (or, "The Loves of Isadora"), starring Vanessa Redgrave, where her new beau picks her up from a fabulous party, she waves to the guests and shouts "Adieu mes amis, je vais a la gloire!" (Goodbye, my friends, I am off to glory!) and she and her lover speed off in his 1924 Bulgatti. The friends are still waving as the car rounds the corner, when Isadora's long flowing red scarf gets caught in the spokes of the wheel. There is a quick cut to a close-up of Redgrave's face contorted in strangulation and then the screen goes black and credits roll.

Her death prompted Gertrude Stein to write: "Affectations can be dangerous."

Pg 12

Ros's body

"We all looked down: there she was, sprawled face-down in the middle of the room. She must have been there all the time."

"Ros's front was bathed with blood--indeed it was still fountaining from a hole between her breasts, soaking her silvery frock, puddling the carpet. I could hardly believe my eyes. I had forgotten that blood was that red, a primary red like children's paintboxes, brilliant and alive, yet stagy, cosmetic. Her eyes were open, staring vacantly, and blood was trickling from the corners of her mouth."