Why Breakfast at Tiffany’s Never Goes Out of Fashion Holly Golightly exits a yellow taxi while wearing a sleek black Givenchy outfit. She wears a striking strand of pearls around her neck. Her eyes are concealed by thick black sunglasses. She has coffee and a Danish while observing the Tiffany’s window display.
This moment marks the birth of a fashion icon. Upon its premiere in 1961, the Oscar-winning film Breakfast at Tiffany’s became an instant classic, notably lauded for its heroine (the gorgeous, gamine Audrey Hepburn) and her stylish, oft-imitated style, under the watchful eyes of Hubert de Givenchy and famed costume designer Edith Head.
This month, the classic cinema network TCM is collaborating with Fathom Events and Paramount Pictures to present screenings of the film on November 30. (There were further screenings on November 27.) This information is also viewable on the website it originated from.
- Tiffany Vazquez, host of TCM’s Saturday midday program, tells Vanity Fair that there are several reasons for the film’s illustrious place in cinematic history, but the “one constant thing” is its sense of style.
- She explains, “This film is one of the reasons why the little black dress became a wardrobe essential.” “I don’t think you could wear a black dress and pearls without thinking of Holly Golightly, or have a cigarette holder or any of those things.
people constantly reference it, and you don’t have to explain what the allusion is.” TCM frequently works with theaters for countrywide screenings, but bringing great films to locations outside of large cities is always a unique occasion. Vazquez explains, “We can always watch a great film here, although in many other parts of the nation, this is not the case.” Though the film’s notoriety has only risen over the years, TCM must always clarify one shocking fact before screenings: The gaudy rendition of the Japanese character Mr.
Yunioshi by Mickey Rooney. It is an offensive version of yellowface, since Rooney wears a wig and talks with a strange accent while sporting enormous artificial teeth. The performance is a terrible stain on the film’s reputation; Rooney himself has apologized for it in the decades since the film’s release.
“It is a delicate issue that must be handled,” adds Vazquez, noting that Hollywood still has. Although it may not be as severe, it is still something that will persist. According to the TCM presenter, one of the film’s strongest aspects is its narrative core; ultimately, it’s about “one woman and her one New York experience,” beginning with a simple morning ritual.
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What makes Breakfast at Tiffany’s so well-liked?
This article includes affiliate links. When you make a purchase through these links, we may receive a commission. Breakfast at Tiffany’s, both the film and the novella on which it was based, has enthralled admirers from several generations for almost fifty years.
It appears that Audrey Hepburn, the beloved actress who stepped into the shoes of one Miss Holly Golightly and never looked back, is largely responsible for the story’s popularity. The role not only revolutionized her career and image, but also helped bring in the era of ” sex and the single girl “, to use a phrase from Helen Gurley Brown.
Decades before The Mary Tyler Moore Show or Sex and the City, Holly Golightly wore her classic little black dress adorned with the finest jewels to emphasize that women could have it all. Before Breakfast at Tiffany’s was made into a timeless cinema classic, literary great Truman Capote conceived the narrative of party girl Holly and the man fascinated with her.
Initially, he sold the novella to Harper’s Bazaar for $2,000. However, the magazine later claimed that a narrative about an independent lady with several male pals and an active nightlife was simply too risqué to publish. Capote, an excellent grudge-holder, promised never to collaborate with Harper’s again and momentarily claimed that Breakfast at Tiffany’s would never be published.
However, just a few months later, in October 1958, Random House published the novella and Esquire magazine serialized it in its entirety in its November edition. As Breakfast at Tiffany’s has continued to demonstrate its importance in each succeeding period, concerns over its genesis have persisted.
What is the storyline of Breakfast at Tiffany’s?
| Breakfast at Tiffany’s | |
|---|---|
| Original theatrical release poster by Robert McGinnis | |
| Directed by | Blake Edwards |
| Screenplay by | George Axelrod |
| Based on | Breakfast at Tiffany’s by Truman Capote |
| Produced by | Martin Jurow Richard Shepherd |
| Starring | Audrey Hepburn George Peppard Patricia Neal Buddy Ebsen Martin Balsam Mickey Rooney |
| Cinematography | Franz F. Planer |
| Edited by | Howard Smith |
| Music by | Henry Mancini |
| Production companies | Jurow-Shepherd Spinel Entertainment |
| Distributed by | Paramount Pictures |
| Release date | October 5, 1961 |
| Running time | 114 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Languages | English Portuguese |
| Budget | $2.5 million |
| Box office | $14 million |
Breakfast at Tiffany’s is a 1961 American romantic comedy film directed by Blake Edwards and written by George Axelrod, based on Truman Capote’s 1958 novella of the same name, and starring Audrey Hepburn as Holly Golightly, a naive, eccentric café society girl who falls in love with a struggling writer.
Which actors appear in Breakfast at Tiffany’s?
How Breakfast at Tiffany’s Turned into a Totally Different Movie | Adapting a Classic
Morning at Tiffany’s (film) The picture starring Audrey Hepburn and George Peppard, as well as Patricia Neal, Buddy Ebsen, Martin Balsam, and Mickey Rooney, was released by Paramount Pictures on October 5, 1961.
Exist any unreleased Breakfast at Tiffany’s soundtrack pieces?
It took me a while to figure out what Holly Golightly was all about in terms of music. One night after midnight, I continued my efforts. I seldom consume alcohol, but I was sipping. And I thought of it. I wrote for thirty minutes. Richard Mancini Throughout the film, Hepburn performed “Moon River” by Henry Mancini and Johnny Mercer, the film’s hallmark song.
Based on songs Hepburn sang in the 1957 film Funny Face, the song was adapted to her narrow vocal range. On the Anniversary Edition DVD of Breakfast at Tiffany’s, co-producer Dick Shepherd states in his audio commentary that after a preview in San Francisco, Martin Rankin, the head of production at Paramount, wanted “Moon River” to be replaced with music by someone else, but “Marty and I both said ‘over our dead bodies'” – a remark attributed to Hepburn herself in another account.
According to Time magazine, Mancini “His melodies begin with a strolling bass, are extended with choral and string variations, and are varied with the rapid sounds of combo jazz. The melody of “Moon River” is sobbing by a harmonica, repeated by strings, hummed and then sung by the chorus, and finally concluded by the harmonica.” Henry Mancini composed and led the score, while he and Johnny Mercer wrote the songs.
- Moon River” by Mancini and Mercer won the 1961 Oscar for Best Original Song.
- The winner of Best Original Score was Mancini.
- There are other unpublished Breakfast at Tiffany’s soundtrack parts; “Carousel Cue” is from an unsurfaced scene, and “Outtake 1” is a variation on the main theme from a deleted scene in which Holly and Fred visit Tiffany’s.
In 2013, Intrada published the whole score from the film’s original performance (as with many soundtrack albums by Mancini and others at the time, the album released alongside the film was a re-recording).
