Camelias

Getting on for two years ago I was prompted to buy a copy of a book by Dumas fils about camelias. A prompt which it took long enough to turn up at reference 1, blog search caring whether I spelt camélia with an accent or not, despite it not usually fussing about capital letters or terminal esses. And although the post advertises further information in due course, that does not seem to have been forthcoming; very sloppy.

And then a few weeks ago, at reference 2, I happened to buy a set of Garbo DVDs, including one called 'Camille', one of a long line of films, plays, operas and ballets based on the Dumas story. A DVD which actually contained two films, the Garbo version of 1936 and the Nazimova version of 1921, which we watched in reverse order, that is to say Garbo first.

We thought that they were both rather good. I was especially taken with the silent version, it being the first time for a long time that I have enjoyed such an old film, not usually getting on with them at all. One feature of the film was the pages of written story, put up for much longer than it took to read them, with the long time perhaps serving as punctuation. Another was the score, rather good and perhaps the reason why they kept the long pages: one might trim them, but trimming the music to suit would be more or less impossible. But the big feature was Nazimova, of whom I had not previously heard, but who, according to wikipedia, was a flamboyant star of the silent era. A Crimean-American. YouTube offer a striking clip of her doing 'Salome' - reminding me of the contemporary interest in tableaux vivants and suggesting that there is a chance that I will become an early film buff yet.

Maybe we ought to take a look at 'La Traviata', now that we have got a grip on its inspirational story.

PS 1: despite their important rôle in the Dumas story, I am not really aware of camelias being used as cut flowers, their not usually growing on the sort of stems which would make that convenient. But BH tells me that she has seen them for sale at the flower shop in the Ashley Square entrance to the Ashley Centre here in Epsom. Must look out for them.

PS 2: it was also an occasion to search out my copy of Abbé Prévost's 'Manon Lescault', which has an important role in the Dumas story and which inspired at least two operas of its own. The copy duly found turned out to date from 1892 and to contain engravings which would have been considered a little risqué in this country at that time. See for, example, that opposite page 4. Bought, as I recall, from the second hand bookshop that used to be in Sunbury, on the river road.

Reference 1: http://psmv2.blogspot.co.uk/2013/10/amazing-fun.html.

Reference 2: http://psmv2.blogspot.co.uk/2015/06/resweded.html.