My books Leading Men, Leading Ladies & Screen Lovers. Sayonara and Love is a Many-Splendored Thing.

My strict Christian parents sent me to a girls school and being a God fearing young lady I never gave into temptation to meet a boy behind the bike shed, however one sunny day my friends and I were outside sharing a bag of chips when some local boys came by. I got talking to one and things were going great until he told his name is Romeo. It was like a needle scratching across a vinyl record moment, my name is Juliet.

In my youth I hated my name, the so called joke from old people asking me "where's Romeo?" throwing their head back laughing and my English teacher expecting me to love the works of Shakespeare was too much at times, but I grew up and now like my name. 

Some time ago I worked for Habitat on the Kings Road in London. I bought the two books below using my staff discount; Leading Men (1985) and Leading Ladies (1989). They were sold in the shop because Sir Terence Conran owned Octopus Limited which published them. They are a bit tatty now but I regularly look at the pictures to remind myself how glamourous movies stars were.

 

Recently I had a spring clean and took some books to my local Oxfam book shop, I could not believe my luck when I saw this book, Screen Lovers in the window (1990, Shelton Books,Conran Octopus Ltd). I had to have it!

Prior to visiting Oxfam I had no idea this book existed, the listed films are amazing and the pictures; WOW.

My love of films set in the 1920s to 1960s have plots involving love affairs during World War II. I recently bought these two films Sayonara (1957) with Marlon Brando and Love is a Many Splendored Thing (1955) starring William Holden and Jennifer Jones.
 

Sayonara has wonderful Japanese scenery and I love the traditional Japanese houses, (as depicted in the film). Brandon's character Lloyd Gruver is racially insulting to the Japanese people, but he changes his ways when like his friend Joe Kelly, he falls in love with a Japanese woman; famous local actress Hana-ogi played by Miiko Taka. The film has a tragic sub plot but the unfamiliarity and subsequent one liners from Gruver, particularly during a meal at his friend Kelly's house are hilarious.

Love is a Many-Splendored Thing does not deal quite so squarely with racism, the lead characters are Dr Han Suyin who is Eurasian; she is mixed European and Asian ancestry (until seeing this film I had never heard this word) and White American reporter Mark Elliott. Their relationship raises not just prejudiced but moral eyebrows as Mr Elliott is married. You can see its going to end in tears about half way through but it is lovely to look at and the clothes are wonderful.