ROMANCE WASN’T BUILT IN A DAY
To a romantic girl, all roads lead to Romeo. –Evan Esar
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August is ROMANCE AWARENESS MONTH. I’m not sure why a month is needed to raise awareness of romance (a week, or even a day, seems more than sufficient to awaken all but the most world-weary of libidos)….however, if it must take a month, I suppose August will do as well as any other. But then who needs Valentine’s Day — enough is enough!
That may sound tantamount to telling Cupid to take a hike, but before you Romeos and Juliets go Roman off in a huff, be aware I have nothing against romance so long as it doesn’t get out of hand….which, as it happens, makes the title of my previous post (DON’T LOSE YOUR HEAD) appear as if I’d simultaneously had today’s post in mind. Alas, I am not that far-sighted, but as a killer of two birds with one stone, and as a preview of coming attractions, I must admit the title was prescient (and I assure you that the two birds killed weren’t lovebirds).
Anyway, what can I say about romance that hasn’t already been intimated by many others? Not much, I’m happy to say, because it comports with my creative energy level in these dog days of August. Therefore, I shall turn to those others who have already waxed eloquent about puppy love and the like, and relieve myself of further arduous cogitation:
Love is the emotion that a woman always feels for a poodle, and sometimes for a man. –George Jean Nathan
Romance has been elegantly defined as the offspring of fiction and love. –Disraeli
Marriage is a romance in which the heroine dies in the first chapter. –Cecelia Egan
This guy goes to a psychiatrist and says, Doc, my brother’s crazy! He thinks he’s a chicken. The doc says, Well, why don’t you turn him in? And the guy says, I would but I need the eggs. I guess that’s how I feel about relationships. They’re totally irrational, crazy and absurd, but we keep going through it because we need the eggs. –Woody Allen
Love is like an hourglass, with the heart filling up as the brain empties. –Jules Renard
The realist always falls in love with a girl he has grown up with, the romanticist with a girl from “off somewhere.” –Robert Frost
Fools rush in where bachelors fear to wed. –Evan Esar
Men always want to be a woman’s first love. That is their clumsy vanity. Women have a more subtle instinct: what they like is to be a man’s last romance. –Oscar Wilde
By the time you swear you’re his, shivering and sighing,
And he vows his passion is infinite, undying —
Lady, make a note of this: One of you is lying.
–Dorothy Parker
Nobody will ever win the battle of the sexes. There’s too much fraternizing with the enemy. –Henry Kissinger
In as much as we began this romantic excursion with several punning allusions to Rome, it seems fitting to close with scenes from one of my favorite films, the Audrey Hepburn-Gregory Peck romantic comedy, ROMAN HOLIDAY (1953):
arekhill1 10:56 am on August 5, 2016 Permalink |
“You can tell if you’re in love if all of your emotions can be described exactly by the lyrics of popular songs.”
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mistermuse 11:54 am on August 5, 2016 Permalink |
I don’t know who whose quote that is, but perhaps the last person you’d think it applies to was the acerbic satirist Dorothy Parker….and yet she wrote the lyrics to this love song sung by Billie Holiday, backed by the great Teddy Wilson & His Orchestra:
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Michaeline Montezinos 2:40 pm on August 5, 2016 Permalink
too long for me to read sorry but I need new eyeglasses.
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Don Frankel 6:47 pm on August 5, 2016 Permalink |
Great quotes and a great clip of Roman Holiday. Love that Song too.
Acerbic one minute dreaming the next, sounds like maybe somebody was in love.
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mistermuse 8:39 pm on August 5, 2016 Permalink |
Thanks, Don. It sounds as if you’ve seen ROMAN HOLIDAY, but if not, I highly recommend it — it’s a great movie.
Dorothy Parker was married to her second husband (Alan Campbell, a bisexual) from 1934 to 1947, so when she wrote I WISHED ON THE MOON in 1935, she may well have been in love, even though (according to Wikipedia) she said he was “queer as a billy goat” (or maybe she just had a fondness for goats).
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linnetmoss 8:44 am on August 6, 2016 Permalink |
Love these, especially the Oscar Wilde quote 🙂
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mistermuse 2:06 pm on August 6, 2016 Permalink |
Likewise, but the Oscar for most surprising quote goes to Henry Kissinger. Who knew he was such a wit?
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linnetmoss 3:19 pm on August 6, 2016 Permalink
I understand he was quite a ladies man as well. Not sure I see the appeal…
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Jane 9:44 pm on August 6, 2016 Permalink |
I’ve always been a bit of an Audrey Hepburn fan (OK, maybe a big fan) and I’ve watched Roman Holiday many times. Gregory Peck is a favourite too. I can’t help being sad at the end of watching it though. Love, responsibility…it’s not easy. A lot in life is all about compromise. Romance is delightful. Real life gets tricky. I think the Dorothy Parker quote probably struck a chord with me most! Now that I’m approaching 50, I think I appreciate Joni Mitchell’s song, “Both Sides Now.” 😉
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mistermuse 6:57 am on August 7, 2016 Permalink |
Jane, your well-observed comment deserves a more complete response than the rather hasty one I dashed off last night. I agree (although many politicians sadly think otherwise) that “A lot of life is all about compromise.” And I equally agree (my humorous/satirical post to the contrary) that “Romance is delightful” and there are few better movies that exemplify that than ROMAN HOLIDAY. Real life indeed gets tricky, as is so bittersweetly depicted in that film.
And speaking of “delightful,” your thoughtful reply certainly qualifies. 🙂
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Jane 7:23 am on August 7, 2016 Permalink
Thank you, Mistermuse, for the equally thoughtful and delightful responses. 🙂
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mistermuse 10:05 pm on August 6, 2016 Permalink |
You can’t go wrong with a Dorothy Parker quote. I written about her and/or the Algonquin Round Table (of which she was a big part) several times, and may do so again before long (she has a birthday coming up on Aug. 22).
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inesephoto 9:11 am on August 7, 2016 Permalink |
Great post, and I love the quotes and the video – Italian cinematography is exquisite.
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inesephoto 9:22 am on August 7, 2016 Permalink |
Well, half of my comment just got posted, but I haven’t finished yet 🙂 Audrey Hepburn is an exquisite actress, and she fits in Italian settings like no one other non-Italian actress. Still, my favorite romantic movies are Italian, and I love the music from these movies. Old timer I am 😉
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mistermuse 10:40 am on August 7, 2016 Permalink |
Another romantic American film set in Italy that you might like is SUMMERTIME (1955), starring Katherine (rather than Audrey) Hepburn as an American on holiday in Venice, co-starring Rossano Brazzi. 🙂
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D. Wallace Peach 10:16 pm on August 7, 2016 Permalink |
Pretty funny. Who knew Kissinger was such a wit! Happy romancing 🙂
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mistermuse 7:37 am on August 8, 2016 Permalink |
Thank you. We’ve both spoken of Kissinger in the past tense (“WAS such a wit”), but he’s still alive at age 93. Let’s hope people don’t speak of us in the past tense when we’ve seen better days! 🙂
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D. Wallace Peach 8:27 am on August 8, 2016 Permalink |
Well, he was a wit when he said it. Didn’t mean to imply he was dead. Hopefully, he’s still just as sharp-witted today. 🙂
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BroadBlogs 9:35 pm on August 8, 2016 Permalink |
It seems strange to need romance awareness month, and yet we do have February 14 as a day devoted to romance. And I always wished there were nicer weather for that day. I guess now there is — for a whole month!
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mistermuse 7:16 am on August 9, 2016 Permalink |
Where I live, August is too much of a ‘nice weather’ thing (heat & humidity). I vote for May (meeting halfway between Feb. & August) to celebrate both Valentine’s Day and Romance Awareness Month.
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