Dear Pillow,
Pillow Talk was of course a 1959 film starring Doris Day, who had a public reputation as an eternal virgin, and Rock Hudson, who had a Hollywood reputation as a poofter, before that reputation became public knowledge some twenty years later. What a pairing, huh? Would that make Doris Day a faghag? In any event, the film was directed by Michael Gordon who had previously directed Jose Ferrer in Cyrano De Bergerac (1951). The plot was a story of two neighbours who shared a telephone line and hated each other, before becoming involved romantically.
A light romantic comedy it was, like many others of the kind. Today, 48 years later, you can not say that they don't make them any more like they used to, because they do, and do, and do. During a long flight to Europe or from Europe a few years ago, I watched and didn't watch a then recent romantic comedy starring, as I recall, Hugh Grant and Julia Roberts. I watched it a minute at a time every ten minutes or so, while switching to and from a Lyle Lovett double album on the audio channel. And, amazingly, though not surprisingly, I didn't miss anything in the plot of the film! Now I suspect I wouldn't have missed anything of the plot by not watching the film at all. Boy meets girl, etc.
Pillow Talk was very successful at the time, and if they could, Hollywood hacks would remake it in a New York minute for the modern audience, starring some current heartthrobs, whoever they happen to be, but then, how to update the essential plot element of a shared telephone line? The dramatic change in our telephoning habits has had an equally dramatic, some might say disastrous, effect on the plot contents in films and in popular music as well. It's a serious sociological issue that we have neither time nor space to fully explore here, but be aware that you won't hear songs any more about having or not having a dime for a telephone call, or films about sharing a telephone line. So you're right, they don't make them any more like they used to! It's our loss. Pity.
Pillow Talk was of course a 1959 film starring Doris Day, who had a public reputation as an eternal virgin, and Rock Hudson, who had a Hollywood reputation as a poofter, before that reputation became public knowledge some twenty years later. What a pairing, huh? Would that make Doris Day a faghag? In any event, the film was directed by Michael Gordon who had previously directed Jose Ferrer in Cyrano De Bergerac (1951). The plot was a story of two neighbours who shared a telephone line and hated each other, before becoming involved romantically.
A light romantic comedy it was, like many others of the kind. Today, 48 years later, you can not say that they don't make them any more like they used to, because they do, and do, and do. During a long flight to Europe or from Europe a few years ago, I watched and didn't watch a then recent romantic comedy starring, as I recall, Hugh Grant and Julia Roberts. I watched it a minute at a time every ten minutes or so, while switching to and from a Lyle Lovett double album on the audio channel. And, amazingly, though not surprisingly, I didn't miss anything in the plot of the film! Now I suspect I wouldn't have missed anything of the plot by not watching the film at all. Boy meets girl, etc.
Pillow Talk was very successful at the time, and if they could, Hollywood hacks would remake it in a New York minute for the modern audience, starring some current heartthrobs, whoever they happen to be, but then, how to update the essential plot element of a shared telephone line? The dramatic change in our telephoning habits has had an equally dramatic, some might say disastrous, effect on the plot contents in films and in popular music as well. It's a serious sociological issue that we have neither time nor space to fully explore here, but be aware that you won't hear songs any more about having or not having a dime for a telephone call, or films about sharing a telephone line. So you're right, they don't make them any more like they used to! It's our loss. Pity.
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