Saturday, April 22, 2017

A To Z Challenge-Letter S


The end of another week! We are going into the home stretch but now we must talk about anything with the letter S. Head on over to the A to Z Challenge and see what everyone else is talking about for this letter. My theme is about movies and a person attached to the film. Here is mine....

SABRINA-1954

DIRECTOR: Billy Wilder
STARS: Humphrey Bogart, William Holden, Audrey Hepburn
OSCAR NOMS: Best Actress, Best Director,  Best Screenplay, Best Cinematography, Best Art Direction
OSCAR WINS: Best Costumes
PLOT: A chauffeur's daughter leaves for Europe and comes back much more refined and cultured which grabs the look of the one brother whom she always had a crush on. Seeing this could hurt business, the older brother woos her instead and now she has to decide which rich brother she truly loves.
LOVE: The wittiness of the script and direction plus the gowns! FYI-the gowns were done by Hubert De Givenchy who became the exclusive dress designer for Hepburn from then on.
TRIVIA: Edith Head won the Oscar and took it even though most people loved the gowns which Givenchy created but did not get any recognition for. Hepburn had to pay for the gowns herself since the big wigs stated it was not in the budget. By the way, she got paid $15,000 while Bogie got paid $300,000 and Holden got paid $150,000.  Also, Hepburn and Holden fell in love on the set and he wanted to marry her but when she found out he could no longer have children she broke it off.  Cut to the 1980's when I was watching the Tonight Show with Johnny Carson, Carson asked Holden who was his great love (or something like that)...without hesitation, Holden said Audrey Hepburn. Oh and Bogie was a real S.O.B. on the set and hated everybody:)

SAMUEL A TAYLOR-June 13, 1912-May 26, 2000


OCCUPATION: Playwright and Screenwriter
OSCAR NOMS: Sabrina
OSCAR WINS: Nil
ANECDOTE: I had heard that he left the set of Sabrina after Billy Wilder  changed one too many things in his play but I only read it in one spot so....not completely sure. I do know he wrote the screenplay for Vertigo and Topaz and became friends with Hitchcock. He saw Hitchcock's vulnerability when they, and their spouses, were walking in the snow and Hitchcock fell. Hitchcock did not want to be seen so they circled around him and helped him up which was no easy feat.

Just 2 gowns..I couldn't resist:)




27 comments:

  1. Hi, Birgit!

    I would have gone with Richard Pryor's Silver Streak for the double S-word score and the win. :)

    I saw both Sabrina movies, this one and the 1995 remake with one of my favorite actors, Greg Kinnear. To this day Audrey Hepburn remains an icon and style muse. It's no wonder Holden fell in love with her on the set. It shocks me to learn that Audrey needed to pay for the gowns she wore in the film and how little she was paid for her starring role. More than sixty years later, women are still fighting for equal pay. It doesn't surprise me that Bogie was an s.o.b. on the set. He doesn't strike me as a man with a "warm and fuzzy" personality.

    Hey, dear friend, if you have time this weekend, swing back over to SDMM. Kathleen Mae loved your comment on her mother's birthday post and wrote you a lovely reply last night. I think you will enjoy reading it.

    Have a great weekend, dear friend BB!

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  2. Love Hepburn. As usual, interesting tidbits that I would never have learned, if not for your blog!

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  3. I'm not much into clothes and stuff like that but Audrey's first gown is so so beautiful!! I can't believe I still haven't seen Sabrina.

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  4. The more I read the more it just proves many of this so called cares are a-holes and egotistical. Not that that would be hard to guess.

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  5. Audrey ws so classy. I love the gowns from those old movies. It was a time when women didn't feel the need to hang out of the dress to look sexy.

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  6. One of my favourite films. I didn't know about Hepburn and Holden. She can't have been that much in love if she broke it off like that. Always enjoyed her movies and loved Bogart despite his off screen behaviour.

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  7. Another favourite of mine! ☺ Interesting back story, with Holden and Hepburn. I didn't know that. Disgusting wage gap between Hepburn and her male co-stars. She made the movie what it was. I didn't know Bogart was so miserable in real life. Givenchy had some gorgeous designs. Too bad he missed out on the Oscar.

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  8. Hi Birgit - Audrey Hepburn was an amazing lady - just the bees knees ... she was special. Interesting extra snippets you've given us ...

    You didn't see my 'N' post ... where a Castlemilk Moorit sheep was compared to Audrey - by Country Life!?

    Dreadful that wage gap .. cheers Hilary

    http://positiveletters.blogspot.co.uk/2017/04/s-for-sheep.html

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  9. Not too much discrimination on salaries was there. Snort.

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  10. For as iconic as she is, I haven't seen one of her movies I don't think

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  11. I never liked Sabrina and I don't think it holds up very well. The male leads look old enough to be Audrey's grandfathers.

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  12. Wouldn't it be literally 'outta-this-world' to be dressed-up like a queen in Seventh-Heaven?

    trustNjesus.
    ALWAYS.
    God bless your indelible souls.

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  13. Surprised to hear that about Bogart, since most of what I've read about him in his personal life (rather than his characters) made him out to be a fairly good guy.

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  14. This is one of the most beautiful women Hollywood has ever produced starring in the big bright lights.

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  15. I don't doubt the wage gap between Hepburn and the men, but I was surprised that she paid for her gowns. I certainly hope she got to keep them after the movie was "in the can." I think I might have seen this movie, but I can't be sure. The reason I say that is because I thought I recognized her in the second dress (the dark one).

    Always love your bits of trivia. It makes it even more interesting.

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  16. The standout fact here is the pay differential - I know it was bad, and still is, but that bad? And this was Audrey Hepburn!

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  17. BIRGIT ~
    I'm late, I'm late, it isn't great that I'm late! Heck, I'm totally behind in my blog commenting and I'm not even a participant in the "Decapitated Chicken Race" (also known as the "A To Z Blogfest").

    I don't think I've ever seen this movie but I should since William Holden is one of my all-time favorite actors.

    Few if any Hollywood stars were in more excellent movies than Bogart was (Paul Newman might be pretty close to him), but Bogie and Bacall were both Communist sympathizers and someone once said that Humphrey Bogart was, in truth, the biggest coward in Hollywood. I forget now where that quote originated but I do remember that it came from someone who was in a position to know.

    Have a wonderful Sunday, Birgit. Catch ya later.

    ~ D-FensDogG
    Check out my new blog @
    [Link:) Stephen T. McCarthy Reviews...

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  18. Sabrina was one of Hepburn's best!

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  19. As many times that this has been on TCM I don't think I've ever watched Sabrina in its entirety. Parts I know I've seen, but I can't recall seeing it from start to finish. Have to watch for the next showing.

    Arlee Bird
    Tossing It Out

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  20. Another wonderfully informative and entertaining post. Audrey Hepburn was amazing.
    You've been working very hard this month, Birgit. Keep going - the finish line is around the corner.

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  21. Lovely gowns, and Miss Hepburn turned them into gold.

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  22. I do love this movie. Audrey Hepburn was a treasure.

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  23. Birgit, "Sabrina" is an excellent vintage movie. Audrey Hepburn is great in this film. I wouldn't mind seeing it again sometime soon. The retro flick is better than the remake with Harrison Ford and I'm Ford fan. :) Thanks for visiting Art Sketching Through the Alphabet “S” (Snow White & the Seven Dwarfs). I'm playing catch up this morning. ;)

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  24. Thanks again to everyone for giving your comments. I'm surprised that some of you have not seen this film and also surprised that some didn't care for it but that's what makes opinions grand! Bogie was known to be quite disagreeable on this set because , rightly, he felt too old for the part. I think Holden would have been better in the Bogie role and some younger man in the part played by Holden. She was able to keep her gowns and tha black dress created quite the rage.

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  25. Well, for one, she should have made more, but guess she wasn't a big name yet...either that or they thought men deserved more, which also seems likely. The gowns are gorgeous. The remake was not nearly as good. good choice!

    "Female Scientists Before Our Time"
    Shells–Tales–Sails


    "Female Scientists Before Our Time"
    Shells–Tales–Sails

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  26. Audry's black dress is my favorite. Sabrina is among my top favorite movies. I didn't like Bogart in the role at first but after several viewings, I thought he was perfect. He certainly looked goofy in that old rah-rah sweater as he strummed the ukelele.

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