WT was teasing me the other day about my blog Life at Willow Manor being like Roger and Irene's radio show in Woody Allen's
hilarious movie, Radio Days. The show features a socialite couple
who describe their daily activities and social scuttlebutt in their
finest radio voices, to their adoring listeners, who are at home in
their humble bathrobes and curlers. It is quite amusing to him
that I can cook a pot roast in an old house and people actually
want to read about it!
The characters of Roger and Irene in Allen's film are apparently
based on Alfred Lunt and Lynn Fontanne, who were the most
acclaimed acting team in the history of the American Theater. Irene
was well known for serving a glamorous tea, daaaalings, from their
beautiful home, Ten Chimneys, in Genesee, Wisconsin, which is now
a National Historic Landmark. I think I might just have to start
serving a fancy daily tea at Willow Manor, don't you think?
Lynn FontanneDecember 6, 1887 – July 30, 1983
.
"Warm the pot first, please, then put two heaping
teaspoonfuls in the pot-no bags-in boiling water,
and when it's in, stir it. And when it comes here,
I will stir it again."
I'll take tea with you at the manor any day!
ReplyDeleteYou and WT should recreate that teatime photo for your Christmas cards!
ReplyDeleteYou are constantly reinventing yourself, Willow. Your blog is beautiful. And while I too love the nostalgia and the preservation of the past, I would love to see you come out of the manor sometime into the real world, into the new millennium. It's a harsh reality that you could embrace with dignity. It needs the hug of an intelligent and sensitive mind such as yours. Working women don't have tea. They scarcely have time to pee. Throw us a bone now and then.
ReplyDeleteSilver solo, the idea of having a fancy tea was my attempt at being funny. The idea, of Roger and Irene, if you know the film "Radio Days", is hilarious because, in fact, it was so far from reality.
ReplyDeleteWhy, Willow - what a lovely stamp!
ReplyDeleteCute post! I enjoyed the film clip. That's a funny comparison. If you'll do a Tea Time with Willow at the Manor show I'll put on an old bathrobe, bring out the Melmac and hang some laundry over my kitchen stove while I read it.
Okay, let's do! It will be too funny! I'll practice saying "daaaling" in my best, deep radio voice.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad someone out there could see the humor here!! ;^)
I've got to watch that movie. The smile hasn't left my lips since it ended.
ReplyDeleteThat's my yearly New Year's Eve film, w.
ReplyDeleteThe baseball pitcher sequence gets funnier every year.
Oh, what a great post! I love tea done properly, with china cups and little sandwiches.
ReplyDeleteI loved that Woody Allen movie, BTW.
You have one of the nicest blogs in the blogosphere.
I'll wear curlers and my "good pajamas." Do you have a formica table to seat us all and plenty of Lipton?
ReplyDeleteI'll have to bone up on the c.1950 fast-talking starlet accent. I don't remember my grandmother talking as fast as they did in old movies and radio.
Nice post, made me smile (even though I don't like tea).
ReplyDeleteI would love to have tea with you daaaling but I have a kitchen floor to mop and a carpet to vacuum, you just can't get the staff these days.
ReplyDeleteAs always, your blog made me smile!
I think blogging is an odd exercise., now I can say that having blogged for two years. I used to photograph our dinner table, my parties, my salmon and halibut shipments, the weekends, art, etc. and blogged about them. My children jokingly told me to get a life. But then you meet some interesting bloggers...
ReplyDeleteSteph and I are planning to travel to your neck of the woods in hopefully the not too distant future! We would LOVE to have tea at your place. :)
ReplyDeleteHey, girls, the kettle is always on! :D
ReplyDeleteIt is kind of funny, isn't it?
ReplyDeleteVery pretty and nice post, Lady Willow... Very nice, yes...
ReplyDeleteYour photos are lovely, and Your text so "fun"...
Idon't like tea, so no "ciguë" in my coffee...
Web, oh, darn! And I had a fresh bunch of lovely hemlock here with you in mind.
ReplyDelete:^D
ReplyDeleteOh, I'm rolling over the image of curlers and house slippers...Tee hee...Very cute post...
Great idea Willow! I have never been one for tea ~ unless it's sweet and iced. Is it a no-no to have coffee at tea time? But, for this I would gladly sip tea :-)
ReplyDeleteReally enjoyed the clip. I'm going to have to look for this movie at the library....looks great!
Nice cup of tea willow.
ReplyDeleteExcellent post. I loved Radio Days and I used to love Woody when he was Woody. Was completely unaware of the background to the movie.
ReplyDeleteFancy a cuppa, willow ;-)? As they over here in GB.
Greetings from London.
Oh I do love a cuppa any time of the day. I'm a real tea lover, but there's something special about "taking tea" in the afternoon, with all it's ritual. You will let me know when the Manor Tea Room is open for business won't you daaahling.
ReplyDeleteI'm with Rob, Willow. Just let us know when the Manor Tea room is open. =)
ReplyDeleteLoved the video, it just stopped to soon.
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing,
Troy and Martha
You must read the suspense novel, "Two O'clock Eastern Wartime". It's set in a old radio station just like this from Radio Days. (Kevin is a big Woody Allen fan).
ReplyDeleteI think a daily spot of tea would be marvelous!
Kat
Let's enjoy our tea, dawlink. It will be mawvelous. :o) ♥ ∞
ReplyDeleteWell, as you know, I too love the old Woody Allen movies. Love this one too. ...and hey, I'm glad you have tea. It's a lost art, isn't it?1 Lovely post!
ReplyDeleteI once read an interview with Lynn Fontanne in the book Actors Talk About Acting. She said she was in a play and had the line: "Could I have a cup of tea?" She thought the line was very funny in context but even though she said it all different ways, night after night she never got a laugh on it. Then she decided to forget about it. That night, she said her line and it brought down the house. The problem, she explained, was that before I had been asking for a laugh instead of a cup of tea.
ReplyDeleteShe must have been quite a lady.