Fifth Avenue, 5 A.M.: Audrey Hepburn, Breakfast at Tiffany's, and the Dawn of the Modern Woman [Hardcover]
I have to be honest, as the author of "Audrey Style" (the much imitated style biography that started the Audrey Hepburn wave) and "What Would Audrey Do?", I did not know what to expect from this biography... Part of me was afraid it might be yet another rehash of AH's life with not too much original thought or effort.
Pas vrai! (as Holly Golightly might say)
Instead, Mr. Wasson has taken "Breakfast at Tiffany's" and Audrey's life and the compelling, endless, sometimes hilarious machinations of Hollywood and brought them to life. One thing that really struck me was how little has changed in Hollywood. The screenwriter had to FIGHT to get a chance to write the script, Henry Mancini was not a lock to write "Moon River" (and a Paramount executive famously thought "the song should go,"), Truman Capote wanted Marilyn Monroe in the lead role, and George Peppard was Mr. Attitude on the set. (Sound familiar?)
I love this book, and I love Mr. Wasson's "voice" as a writer (a very tough thing to teach or describe: either you "have it" or you don't, and he's got it). It is an imaginative, compelling and gorgeously written tale of the making of one of the great movies of our time... It is THE PERFECT hostess gift and I am buying lots and lots for my friends.
And, as an Audrey "expert" even I learned LOTS of behind-the-scenes stuff that I did not know!
Pas vrai! (as Holly Golightly might say)
Instead, Mr. Wasson has taken "Breakfast at Tiffany's" and Audrey's life and the compelling, endless, sometimes hilarious machinations of Hollywood and brought them to life. One thing that really struck me was how little has changed in Hollywood. The screenwriter had to FIGHT to get a chance to write the script, Henry Mancini was not a lock to write "Moon River" (and a Paramount executive famously thought "the song should go,"), Truman Capote wanted Marilyn Monroe in the lead role, and George Peppard was Mr. Attitude on the set. (Sound familiar?)
I love this book, and I love Mr. Wasson's "voice" as a writer (a very tough thing to teach or describe: either you "have it" or you don't, and he's got it). It is an imaginative, compelling and gorgeously written tale of the making of one of the great movies of our time... It is THE PERFECT hostess gift and I am buying lots and lots for my friends.
And, as an Audrey "expert" even I learned LOTS of behind-the-scenes stuff that I did not know!
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