All the Men I've Ever Loved
You were Lord Nelson and I was…you’ll never guess!
You were a Victorian architect, I embellished your reputation
You were a Highwayman, I was your Wicked Lady
You were Richard Hannay, I was your Mata Hari
You were a Dutch sailor, I was your girl-in-every-port
You were a 1930's matinee idol, I was your art deco IT-girl
You were a safe cracker, I was your unsuspicious getaway driver
You were Atticus Finch, eyes ablaze, I was MM on the wrong set
You were a businessman, I - the trophy secret of your success
You were my fave pop star and I was your last groupie
You were a romantic poet and I was your Bloomsbury muse
You were a journalist and I was your Exclusive!
I was your luck with women - you were my fate with men.
What larks we shall have when I turn you on again
(there’s an extra TV dinner in the fridge).
© LS King 2008
I was thinking the other day about all the silly romantic dreams that helped me through a somewhat bleak childhood, and was inspired to write the above. Lo and behold I have been off ill most of this past week and found some key inspiratory films-of-old cropping up again on digital, so it seemed apt to post it, unpolished as it is. I still adore old films. Funny how film stars seemed so much more glamorous then - black and white film was surely the Botox of its day!
Stills from The Wicked Lady (1946) starring James Mason and Margaret Lockwood
13 comments:
A TV dinner in the fridge will do it for most men (we're simple souls)... ;-) Hope you're feeling better now.
That's a really nice use of language, Laura - every line is packed with imagery and irony.
If you can't watch old films while you're ill, what use is being ill in the first place?
OOh James Mason.
Did he ever play Heathcliffe?
If he didn't he should have.
Oh all of this talks to my hopelessly romantic heart.
I hope you're well again!
XO
WWW
I am always in films. When I watch them I give myself a part and imagine myself there. I get up to all sorts on occasions. That's why I can't watch film that only have men in them (what would I do in those?), or Cowboy films (because I am scared of horses).
I hope you are feeling better. You were in my dream last night (panic not - it was harmless) - you had a thing about lamp-posts (antique ones) and were giving a guided tour around some city or other and I was in the tour and kept thinking, "I'm sure I know her but can't think where from." I realised when I woke up that it was you. Ooops maybe I should delete that - makes me sound a bit weird!
It was Greta Garbo hamming it up in Camille, taking an age to die, that turned me on to black and white. Then Greer Garson in Random Harvest (sob!). I'll take my cue from you and look forward to my next bout of flu to catch up on them.
Brigadoon does it for me; I love the idea of that wee village!
"I was your luck with women - you were my fate with men." - by the way, fantastic line...I really liked that one best!
Hope you're feeling better! Lovely poem. So true. Alain Delon in his early 20s, Steve McQueen ditto, Gene Kelly (say what you like but he was the first Hollywood dance star to actually look like a Real Man..)...
You mean James Mason could have been mine but for a TV dinner Steve - crikey!
Rol - an old film fan after my own heart. How I wish I could just step back into celluloid sometimes(taking the internet/my blog with me of course)
Kaz you are so right - but James Mason's pretty amazing in 'Pandora & The Flying Dutchman' with Ava Gardner. Interesting how he was able to convey such a sense of intimacy on screen too, when you note that in the Wicked Lady for example, he and his co-star were actually clothed to the hilt.
wisewebwoman, I think there is too little romance in today's world. Like style and dignity and people taking things seriously (and I speak as a hard-core comedy fan).
RB, I hope there are at least some films you are able to dreamily cast yourself as heroine of! A most enjoyable occupation, particularly when ill or feeling battered by real life's vissitudes.
Old Fogey, I take it you are a fan of Greer Garson then! Though in a way it is the very lack of sophisticated filmic gimmickry that made old film stars have to actuallly try harder to convince. They had to work so hard with every look or movement, I reckon today's stars would really struggle!
Sagittarian I am glad to hear you have your special film too. And thanks for the compliment re the line.
Ah LucyFishWife - a veritable selection there! Though at least we won't be competing for the same stars, much though I reckon Louis Jourdan at his best was a match for Alain Delon
Ahhh Mr. Mason. What a charming psychopath.
"You're going to die, Quilty. Try to understand what's going to happen to you. You're going to die."
"Games, Mr. Kaplan. Must we?"
Big Al
For me first it was Waterloo Bridge, with Robert Taylor and Vivien Leigh--highly romantic, then as Old Fogey stated Greta in Camille again with Robert Taylor. Then Laura with Gene Tierney (that magnificent over-bite of hers and those cheek bones) and Dana Andrews. The Welles as Rochester and the romance goes on and on...
Beau in Seattle\
Ah James Mason! Fight you for him!
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