Did anyone else enjoy the evening of pen pal flicks on Turner Classic Movies last night? The opening film was one of my all time faves, 84, Charing Cross Road, the adaptation from the book by Helene Hanff, a collection of witty and touching letters between a charmingly sarcastic New Yorker and a straight laced, London book shop proprietor, from the 1940's to the 1960's. What starts as Hanff'squest for obscure classic books, develops into an intimate relationship, in the form of correspondence, between Hanff and the book shop's staff. The film combines two subjects I adore, books and letters.The current blogging phenomenon has enriched the practice of pen pals on so many levels. When we used to have to wait weeks for a response, we instantly share thoughts and ideas with hundreds of international friends. My life has certainly been brightened and enriched by this amazing new form of multi-faceted pen palling.
This TCM presentation was a special treat, since my own DVD copy happens to be a dreaded "pan-and-scanned" version, which I absolutely abhor. (Please don't get me started on this subject.) Anyway, the lovely widescreen presentation was crisp, colorful and as the director intended.
The proprietorship of my dreams is that of Marks & Co., which is no longer there, by the way, but is sadly replaced by a wine bar, and a plaque marking the former shop. I can see myself contentedly overseeing row upon row of books, tucked in this cozy nook of a shop, filled with the scent of must, dust, age, and floors of wood.
There is a touching scene in which Hanff (played by the delightful Anne Bancroft) receives a book of poetry in the mail from Frank Doel (perfectly performed by Anthony Hopkins), in which Doel has tenderly inscribed a message on the flyleaf.
Contrary to what I may have implied, by my disappointment in the second hand copy of Charles Simic's Early Poems, being completely hacked up by words being crossed out and notes written, not only in the margins, but over the text, I actually do love to find endearing inscriptions in the flyleaves of books. They are small personal treasures left behind for us to enjoy. I must remember to inscribe each gift book I give this Christmas.
Here is one particularly romantic treat, I found inscribed in the front of a leather bound first edition of Renascence and Other Poems, 1917, by Edna St. Vincent Millay, last summer in my favorite second hand bookshop, you know, the one with the creaky hardwood floors.
Life seeming only half-lived,
Futile, forlorn, forsaken,
Die swiftly into the moonlight,
Be born again in this pages,
Languid and lovely forever,
The idol of a dreaming youth,
His Lady of Satin and Silver.
Ray
June 1932
Early on, I considered blogging comparable to dairies or pen-pals of my youth.
ReplyDeleteI love the headder picture.
you know willow i never thought of blogging as connected to penpals or letter writing but it so often is! "charing cross" is a movie i once saw in part and at the time i wasn't connected to it but it's interesting to me that as time has passed, people's letters appeal to me more because so often they (like blogs) reveal a lot more than the writer intended at the time - in a good way. have a lovely day at the manor willow. steven
ReplyDeleteRay, Ray, Ray! I'm in love! Was he a victim of the crash of 1929, who was now forced to survive through the dirty thirties, thinking a starlet of the silver screen would rescue him vicariously through the poems in the book? How romantic!!! It was such a long time ago.
ReplyDelete"I am imagining Ray Milland," she sighed, swooning.
Willow,
ReplyDeleteyou know I love that film too and although the bookshop is gone, there is an antiquariat in Cambridge (England) that is worth visiting. I checked with someone who was recenty there that it still exists.
This is so extraordinary, oh don't you love the handwriting? Despite living in Cambridge I have yet to find anything truly special in the second-hand bookstores... but I know if you visited this city you would discover magical things. Perhaps they find their way to you?
ReplyDeleteHave you read 'The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society'? It is in the tradition of 84 CCRoad, and you will be delighted by it. If you let me send it to you for Christmas I would be so honoured! Oh do let me!! I shall inscribe it especially :)
What a special treasure to find in a book, a poem - beautiful.
ReplyDeleteShaista, oh, I would be truly honored, dear friend!!
ReplyDeleteOne of my favorite past times is going through old book stores and looking for inscriptions. I love this post. I will mention a blog that I love that I'm sure you have heard of...the forgotten bookmark.
ReplyDeleteHe finds some pretty interesting things left in books. Have you seen that site?
Linda, I imagined Ray Milland, TOO!!! So handsome, so suave. Sigh.
ReplyDeleteTori, no, I haven't seen this site! He sounds like a kindred spirit for sure. Must check him out!
ReplyDeleteI remember treasured pen pals I had in my youth. I lost touch with them which is sad because we wrote for years. I would wait eagerly for each letter!
ReplyDeleteI don't even know if I saw "Charing Cross" so I will have to add it to my massive Netflix list.
I saw the picture and was immediately transported into the bookstore in my mind's eye. I am so disappointed that I missed the movie. I need to subscribe to TCM's viewers guide. When I first read the book I was struck by the loveliness of their words, the slow gentle nature of their building friendship...in a short sentence I fell in love with everything to do with Marks & Co.
ReplyDeleteFrom the beginning I've thought of blogging as the fulfillment of my lifelong desire to have penpals. I enjoy reading about how other people live and think. Blogging has been great for me although sometimes I think I have run out of things to say.
One of my favorite books of all time, 84 CCR, and a movie I wish I could remember, but I was in labor while watching(no need to recall any of that, other than the delightful end result)...
ReplyDeleteInscriptions and used bookstores are things of wonder: I even found a copy of Hanff's "Q" once! Joy, joy!
What a great find that book was. Finding such things is one of the great delights of second hand bookshops but sadly, over here, they are vanishing from our streets.
ReplyDeletewhat a cool find...we have a used bookstore...more like a treasure trove...love to spend hours there...and so true about blogs, they have helped me find some of the best friends i probably would never have met otherwise....just talked to one on the phone today...
ReplyDeleteI've not seen this. On the to-watch list now.
ReplyDeleteInteresting dreaming of overseeing rows and rows of books...the wonderful conversations, suggestions and discussions with customers...dream job!
ReplyDeleteI like Ray's ecriture, too. There's something about the handwritten word...lovely!
ReplyDeleteGreat idea uploading the image of the message inscribed in 1932 on the flyleaf of a book of poems. Sort of like finding a message in the bottle. By the way, I love the new photo of the snowladen tree on your blog. Very powerful. Can you give us any history on it?
ReplyDeleteI did watch the movie again last night. Whenever it comes on television, I feel as if I've been given a gift.
ReplyDeleteAs for used bookstores, I hope we never see their demise. The best of them are wonderlands.
LLL, I would love to claim the wintery willow photo as my own, but it was sent to me years ago, and I have no idea who to credit for the wonderful work.
ReplyDeleteIs that a more modern movie?
ReplyDeleteI never had pen pals, I was too lazy to write. Typing is easier, but I still am not good at that either!
Otin, I think the movie was made in 1986, so yeah, it's a fairly modern film.
ReplyDeleteWillow
ReplyDeleteYou know, I've never seen 84, Charing Cross Road, but I plan to put that right.
Coincidentally, I was having a conversation this very afternoon, about the parallels to be drawn between bloggers and pen-pals.
Oh, and another tidbit of interesting info, is that Mel Brooks purchased the rights to the film and presented it to his wife, Anne Bancroft for her birthday. Isn't that romantic?
ReplyDeleteI love coming upon book inscriptions, esp bks from my own bookshelf that I've forgotten were inscribed.
ReplyDeleteI am a tad confused about pan and scan. So when I get a video which shows the film, on my TV screen, in a long, narrow format, is that the full screen format? The original format? Bec I've always hated that long narrow picture yet it seems that would be the one that would catch more of the original movie as they described in the clip.
What a wonderful bookstore find, made even better by the inscription. Years ago, my sister-in-law found $800 cash in a used book. She took a cab to the airport and flew from Seattle to Boston to visit a friend. (Back in our Bohemian days....)
ReplyDeleteThis is sooooo Willow! Yes, I watched that movie many times, each time enjoying it for different reasons. Blogging feels very much like pen pal correspondence.
ReplyDeleteOften, I ignore the updated run of posts, and scroll down on the left bar to visit my favorite people, hoping to find they wrote something that I missed.
And so, dear Willow, our world turns.
Suki, yes, the films that are the narrow horizontal version on your TV are the widescreen. Click on "pan-and-scanned" in the body of my post for a full explaination and video clip! :^)
ReplyDeleteI really agree with you about blogging. I have met so many super people in the blogosphere and the real world who I'm sure I could lunch with me and offer me a bed all over the globe.
ReplyDeleteRather exciting.
And as for books......
Totally concur - I saw the parallel in Julie & Julia when Julia Child meets Avis and Julie is blogging in her modern world. My friends out here are my pen pals and some know me more than people who think they know me well.
ReplyDeleteCharring Cross is among the best. Have been watching some of your movie suggestions and have Badlands sitting and waiting for me right now. :)
Very cool. One wonders what was going on in his life when he penned that inscription...
ReplyDeleteOne of my absolute favorite movies. Anthony Hopkins did a 'crack up' portrayal, I think. Isn't is great that such movies not only get made but live to become classics? Wonder how many of today's action-packed, computer generated flicks will make the list?
ReplyDeleteI do agree that blogging is a wonderful approach to 'pen pals', however, having grown up in the midwest during a gentler time, I had pen pals who actually wrote letters. Although young, I can still recall the anticipation that came with visiting our mailbox each day hoping for a letter from far away. I learned so much from my young friends who lived in different parts of the world. I regret that I did not carry them forward into my adult stage. I also obtained an appreciation for stamps during this time since many of the ones I received were from foreign countries. I wonder if schools still offer pen pal opportunities to students? A shame if they don't.
Have a great day, Willow, and thanks for your lovely blog.
Thanks for the reminder of that lovely book and film... I'll have to look for it again.
ReplyDeleteI always feel a little sad at those fervent flyleaf inscriptions -- either the recipient is deceased -- or didn't like the book and passed it on -- and the inscriber as well.
ReplyDeleteWillow,
ReplyDelete84, Charing Cross Road,both book and movie are favorites of mine: who'd of guessed?
rel
I loved the comment about scanning the original message, like finding a message in a bottle. Makes me think that I should write things in books that I give as gifts. Maybe do a small drawing inside.
ReplyDeleteWillow, you are so lucky, all i find in my secondhand books are stains sweetwrappers and toenails.
ReplyDeleteI caught just the end of 84 Charing Cross Road. It's one of my favorites, too. I wish I'd know if was part of an evening of pen pal movies - I love letters and stories told by way of letters. I hadn't thought of blogging as a form of the pen pal relationship - interesting way to think of it.
ReplyDeleteI have a friend who rarely checks her email, is not on Facebook, etc... and I was giving her a hard time about this, saying how out of the loop she was and how hard it was to communicate with her... "Don't you write letters anymore?" she asked. Shortly afterwords I got a card with a long written message from her in the mail and remembered what a treat a message sent by post can be.
I have never seen the movie, but it sounds charming! My dream job is as proprietor of a quaint bookstore, the likes of which I seldom find anymore. I like the idea of Cyberpenpals, too, and I'm grateful for all of mine!
ReplyDeleteWe used to write a message in the front of every gift book, write out every Christmas card by hand, and send condolences for every grief and thankyous for every gift. Are we now busier, or lazier?
ReplyDeleteInteresting take on penpals/blogging. I never thought of it that way!
ReplyDeleteSounds like an interesting movie.
Thanks for sharing.
The tactile nature of letters is the thing missing from blog posts - the feel of the paper, the color of the ink, the stamp and envelope. That is why I have one mail art pen pal. It is so personal.
ReplyDeleteBut my, how we have found so many liked minded folk here in the blog world.
"The current blogging phenomenon has enriched the practice of pen
ReplyDeletepals on so many levels."
Yea. Right! neat.
Loved the poem. a lovely treasure for sure, to find such words ...
greetings, Beth
I always inscribe books when I give them as gifts.
ReplyDeleteWhen my daughter graduated from high school, she received a book of Shakespeare plays, inscribed by her grandmother. My daughter lost the book for a few years, and when she found it again and read the beautiful inscription from her grandmother -- now passed away -- she cried with tears of joy. It was like a visit from her grandmother.
"84 Charing Cross Road" is one of my all-time favorite movies. I love bookstores, and have spent a lot of time in them.
Well, its midnight exactly dear Willow, and I simply can't stay up another mo, certainly not lucid enough to read this post, but did want to at least say how incredibly amazing that Willow tree is. How apropos indeed!
ReplyDeleteWell, i will be sure to come back tomorrow to read this post and leave something a little smarter then. Good night to your lovely manor and all who dwell in it.
OK, I'm getting a lil' slap happy so better wrap it up before I start blessing your tree's squirrels or something.
'84 Charring Cross Road' is a very favourite of mine too, xv.
ReplyDeleteThat poem at the end is exactly what I needed to read this morning. Thank you, Willow!
ReplyDeleteDon't get TCM with my basic cable, but I do love that film. Haven't seen it in ages. It is going on the netflix list.
And yeah, pan and scan? Don't get me started either.
My son and I watched 84 Charing Cross yesterday! His first time to see it--I don't know how many times I have. One of my all-time favorites. And, yes, blogging certainly did cross my mind yesterday as I watched this movie again! Thanks for letting me know you were parked in front of the TV, watching a great movie, and thinking the same thing! Great minds....C
ReplyDeleteYes, I watched that favorite movie of mine again and marveled, again, at the skills of Bancroft and Hopkins.
ReplyDeleteLove that you found this fabulous poem!
Never seen th' movie but will look for it( alas, I don't have telly ). The store-front reminds me of one round my area( even the tiles )...
ReplyDeleteI did this writing back and forth thing with hundreds of scribes around the world during the 1970s and thankfully didn't cripple up my hand or arm.
ReplyDeleteI like the idea of writing and waiting because there is a day when the answer comes and is completely unexpected and such a thrill it is to get.
How gorgeously romantic! I wonder who he was?
ReplyDeleteI've always loved 84 Charing Cross Road - book and movie. I've had penpals all my life (my first was an elderly great aunt) and thus am always after stories about correspondences, and I have numerous collections of letters on my bookshelves. I have a book called "The Norton Anthology of Friendship" and it's got a number of wonderful letters in it. Particularly charming is a series of letters between Groucho Marx and T.S. Eliot.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, I too see blogging as an extension of having penpals, sharing our little corners of the world with far-flung friends. As everyone would agree, the making of friends is probably the greatest satisfaction in blogging.
Wow, this is such a a FANTASTIC post you wrote. My eyes actually are watering up from its loveliness and that flyleaf inscription.
ReplyDeleteI so agree with you on the new found joys of meeting people one never would have the opportunity to except for blogs and all freindships that can come from that too. If their is any degree of penmanship, all the better. Well, at least electronically, as my actual penmanship is so illegible I can't even read it!! (Sad, isn't it?!)
Of course, talk about "84 Charring Cross Road" and I'm a gonner anyway. Perhaps my favourite movie of all time, if not, certainly in my top 5-10.
Yes, I can SO picture you rummaging through the books there and being delighted with each find....oh, AND smelling each book as you go along, lost in reverie. Just think, all that paper, those aromas, all those works of art and beauty adn comfy chair scattered around on which to sit and get lost in another world. Yes, yes, please please transport me at least to your creaky floored bookshop.
I am an addicted letter writer. Have been all my life. I write fewer real letters now because of internet, emails and blogging, but I will never ever turn against this my first love :-) Thanks for your post.
ReplyDeleteWillow,
ReplyDeleteI could see your eyes popping out when you first discovered this note of Ray's. I know you. You found a hidden treasure! Good for you!
The Bach
I have been pals with my French pen pal since 1980, my freshman year in high school. I was in French class. She was taking English. We've been writing ever since. We've also visited each other's homes (last time I saw her was this summer!). What a great gift.
ReplyDeleteI missed seeing those movies...though I knew they were coming on...I am putting 84 Charing Cross on my Netflix list!
ReplyDeleteSuch a sweet inscription...wouldn't you love to know the backstory...better yet...write it??
And hey, you sure do have a lot of penpals! Just glad I am one of them!!
had not thought of my new blogger friends in this way-- pen pals-- but apt. love the last inscription you found...
ReplyDeleteThe manor in the snow. Oh boy is that making me homesick. The book inscription is a fantastic find.
ReplyDeleteForget Ray,the young James Mason is
ReplyDeletethe man!84 Charing Cross Rd is one of my favourite books.New York rents were so cheap in those days.
Lucky!
Weren't Anne Bancroft and Sir Anthony Hopkins relationship refreshingly endearing. It was a wonderful film, and so evocative of the quality of relationships of all kinds. A splendid sense of place/time in the film. The movie so very tactile; nostalgic; and an TCM essential! The passion being rare books and the consequent rare friendship which ensued over the years. Anne Bancrofts odd way of speaking to the audience, like books or movies can and do talk directly to the reader/viewer; simply amazing! Only true bibliophiles and rare persons could hone these humanistic skills as an exacting science. To understand the relationship is to understand the times in which these characters lived. It is etched in newsprint like our lives attached to the times we live, inseparable. Like stamp collecting, book and people collecting is an exacting art. The genre of choice is romance which reflective of the need to find the past's significant quality of being; an essence rare. As in any true romance love taking on a unique context in book/film format. There is a quote in the film which reminds me so much of Willow's quote; re: the scent of old paper etc. I, too, imbibe in such lofty old book revellry and esoteric sensory pleasures. As I, too, having an extraordinaryly rare copy of The School For Scandal play. The color plates are amazing. It is probably not worth much, as with age it is beyond binder twine repair and is c'est damage" but this book has the essence of history. Who touched/owned this book before? What were they like, what did they do for a living, where they thesbian? What year did they live, when did they depart of this mortal coil? Yes, indeed, the real thing is so much better! As authentic as one can get to feel history as if it were "alive" in your hand, I can understand this obsession! Yes, so stamped and sealed with trueness; priceless and enduring as life and bookdust magic. No wonder books need dust jackets! The quality of rare books is amazing! Maybe I'll look for more of these old shops so rare today. Anyone have any names or addresses of great ol' book stores?
ReplyDeleteBest flyleaf ever!
ReplyDeleteI still have 84 Charing Cross Road on my desk . . .
I loved 84 Charing Cross Road so much that I bought it for my mother and grandmother to watch.
ReplyDeleteExcellent stuff!
Hi Willow,
ReplyDeleteThis is my all time favorite book and movie. I can watch it over and over.
I came here by way of Britt's House in the Woods. I share in the delight in finding something handwritten in a vintage book.
I'll be back again...have a wonderful Christmas.
Balisha