Basket of Kisses

19 Responses to “ Cultural References and more ”

1. # 1 Michael Says:
   August 5th, 2008 at 4:33 pm

   An interesting cultural reference is the Drapers’ address on Bullet Park Road. As far as I can tell, there is no such road in Ossining, but Bullet Park is a novel by John Cheever set in the Ossining area.

2. # 2 Deborah Lipp Says:
   August 7th, 2008 at 1:40 pm

   Her name was Rosetta…I think it’s a parody; I don’t think it’s from anything, I think it’s Paul playing on the Niagara Falls routine (“Slowly he turned…”).

3. # 3 Patti Says:
   August 7th, 2008 at 2:23 pm

   The Rosetta Stone, discovered in the late 18th century, resides at the British Museum and is one of it’s most famous artifacts. The stone was created in the second century AD and translated ancient Egyptian languages into Greek. It became the key to the 19th century translations of Egyptian hieroglyphics by the British. The lady that landed Duck in trouble in London worked for the British Museum. Paul loves a pun.

4. # 4 Deborah Lipp Says:
   August 7th, 2008 at 2:34 pm

   I knew what the Rosetta Stone was, although I didn’t pick up the British Museum connection. I am referring to the way that Paul said the line. I’m pretty sure that’s Niagara Falls.

5. # 5 Roberta Lipp Says:
   August 7th, 2008 at 3:06 pm

   What the hell am I thinking of in Vertigo?

6. # 6 hullaballoo Says:
   August 7th, 2008 at 4:08 pm

   @Roberta:

   Mad Men has a lot of indirect references to Vertigo. There’s a dream sequence that features a falling man which is very similar to the title sequence of Mad Men. Both feature an illustrator named Midge. They both explore themes of constructed characters, dual identities, and being haunted by one’s past. Kim Novak’s Judy character worked at Magnin’s, while the Rachel Menken character was originally supposed to be Rachel Magnin. And the scene of Don in the restaurant of the Savoy is reminiscent of the scenes at Ernie’s Restaurant when Jimmy Stewart’s character originally sees “Madelyn,” then becomes so obsessed with her that every woman at Ernie’s begins to resemble her.

7. # 7 Roberta Lipp Says:
   August 7th, 2008 at 4:12 pm

   True dat.

   But what is the line from Vertigo that I thought was the Rosetta Stone line? I gotta rent it.

8. # 8 Deborah Lipp Says:
   August 7th, 2008 at 4:15 pm

   I forgot about Ernie’s. Now I have to rent it too.

9. # 9 hullaballoo Says:
   August 7th, 2008 at 4:23 pm

   I don’t think Vertigo had a Rosetta Stone line. They did say Carlotta Valdes a lot, though. Carlotta, Rosetta…they sound similar…a little. Okay, I’m stretching.

10. # 10 B.Cooper Says:
    August 7th, 2008 at 4:24 pm

    For ‘Flight 1′ you could probably add John Glenn’s space flight - unless that’s considered more a historical reference.

11. # 11 Deborah Lipp Says:
    August 7th, 2008 at 4:37 pm

    Vertigo is on next week. I posted. I think cultural history is both culture and history, Coop. Okay, that was stupid, sorry.

12. # 12 Roberta Lipp Says:
    August 7th, 2008 at 4:42 pm

    THAT’S IT!!!

    Carlotta. They said it a lot.

    wheww. I guess for now I’ll leave it up there, in NvK, as it led to all this discussion. someday I’ll just change it to the niagra thing and delete all this. all this… evidence that my memory is shot to shit.

13. # 13 Roberta Lipp Says:
    August 7th, 2008 at 4:45 pm

    Coop, re-read the top of the page. I amended.

14. # 14 hullaballoo Says:
    August 7th, 2008 at 6:22 pm

    Maybe my Ernie’s references are off. I mean, physically, the scenes don’t resemble each other–Ernie’s was dark with richly saturated colors, while the scenes at the Savoy were kind of pale. I just remember Hitchcock filmed Kim Novak’s character (and other blondes at the restaurant) as if they were ghosts–all wraithlike and ethereal, floating through the restaurant. In FTWTY, they achieved a similar effect by doing the slow dissolves/zooms as Betty descended the stairs. In both scenes you had these apparitions of womanhood, these projections as envisioned by the male protagonists of the story. But the realities of those women were starkly different from the visions of them. It’s why Jimmy Stewart kept trying to reconstruct Kim Novak’s Judy character, but no matter what he did, she was never completely “it.” I think Don is going through the same thing with Betty–she’s never going to be “it,” despite the number of furs he gives her.

15. # 15 Deborah Lipp Says:
    August 18th, 2008 at 4:48 pm

    Look what thus spake drake has:

    But what of the film that Don watches while playing hooky from work? The internetz has been transcribing and discovered that the French narration is in fact a recitation of the François Villon poem “Ballade des Dames du Temps Jadis” (translated as “Ballad of the Ladies of Times Past,”) and a quick search shows that the film La Tour de Nesle (1955,) by Abel Gance, uses that poem to end the film. I haven’t seen that particularly obscure Gance film to confirm, but the story perhaps has allusions to the Bobbi character, in the depiction of Queen Marguerite of Burgandy as a women who wants to take revenge out on her one night stands, only to have the tables turned on her by Buridan.

16. # 16 hullaballoo Says:
    August 21st, 2008 at 8:48 pm

    Hmm. Interesting about Queen Marguerite of Burgundy and her wanting to take revenge against her one night stands. I was thinking Bobbie reminded me of Alex in Fatal Attraction, and we know what happened there. She is the type who would get all up in Don’s business the more he tried to resist her. Maybe she’ll be the figurative body at the bottom of the lake from “A Place in the Sun?”

17. # 17 hullaballoo Says:
    August 21st, 2008 at 8:58 pm

    Okay, I just looked up that film (La Tour de Nesle), and IMDB says that it’s one of the few COLOR films that was produced in the French cinema during the 1950s. The film Don was watching was black and white. So I guess it’s still a mystery. I think I’m still going for Last Year at Marienbad, or possibly Hiroshima Mon Amour. It’s been years since I’ve seen either of those movies, so I could be wrong. It wouldn’t be the first time…

18. # 18 Deborah Lipp Says:
    August 21st, 2008 at 10:09 pm

    I think the color definitely eliminates it.

19. # 19 janet D Says:
    October 2nd, 2008 at 7:57 pm

    Would “red balloon” refer to the children’s story, “Goodnight Moon” by Margaret Wise Brown? The red balloon is in the child’s room at the end of the evening… “goodnight light and the red balloon…”
    Just a thought!

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