UPHOLSTERED PEARL

LOVE SOMEHOW : (CAITLIN MACNAMARA THOMAS DRAMA) MISTRESS MANIFESTO FILM REVIEW

The film LOVE SOMEHOW is an unconventional composition, a monologue of about half an hour.  It presents the widowed wife of Dylan Thomas, Caitlin Macnamara Thomas, as well performed by actress Sally George.  The film is full of beautiful images of Wales and the exterior of the rather ramshackle house the couple lived in.  (I'm not sure the interior shots were done in this house.) Caitlin tells that she was a dancer, following in the footsteps of Isadora Duncan*, and met Dylan in Paris in a bar. He searched her eyes and put his head on her lap. You could say love at first sight.  She is portrayed as boozing herself.  She mentions that he lies, and lies, and lies. What was her reason for staying with him?  Love.

Here is some information on Dylan Thomas and his wife from various other sources.

Caitlin Macnamara was born in 1913 and died in 1994.

The couple married in 1937 and stayed married until his death in 1953.  He broke her heart before he died, it seems repeatedly. They both had affairs. After he died, she gave up drinking and moved to Italy.  She also authored a book called Leftover Life to Kill.

It seems to me that being married to a genius has some difficulties, a famous genius even more. This was never a sober relationship and so her choice to give up drinking and face life without a substance in her system came after this marriage.

I notice that there have been many Dylan Thomas inspired films in recent years, including one called A poet in New York (circa 2012) which perhaps portrays our Mistress of the Month, Pearl Kazin  There is also another film called Set Fire to the Stars with a focus on Dylan Thomas in New York, the Big Apple.  Ditto. Should I get to see one or both of these films, I will try to include my review or what I learned in this blog.

Missy

AN AFFAIR TO REMEMBER : JOSH GROBIN

HE FORGETS HER BIRTHDAY and VALENTINES BUT IS GENEROUS FOR NO GOOD REASON : SHOULD SHE BE CONCERNED? : QUESTIONS FOR MISSY

QUESTION FOR MISSY

Missy,

I've been having an affair with a married man for almost two years. I'm upset because he forgets my birthday and he forgets Valentine's Day.  When we first met, my birthday was a couple weeks away.  I told him about it because he called wanting to meet up and I said I had birthday plans with my friends. I didn't expect a gift so early on. This year however, I was in tears. "Michael" is generous otherwise. He has shown up with flowers for no good reason.  He sometimes brings me a gift from his travels. Am I wrong to expect a special gift for these special days? My friends say if he was at all serious about me there is no way he would forget like this.

Mandy

Alabama

ANSWER FROM MISSY

Mandy,

Through the years I've met many a wife who has an "unromantic " husband who also fails to acknowledge their special days forgetting, ignoring, or not prioritizing their birthday, anniversary, or Valentine's Day. These men are hardworking and otherwise financially supportive. They are good men without any sentimentality. One woman told me that when her father bought her mother a new frying pan as a birthday gift, she was so mad she got in the car and kept driving, not snapping out of her funk until she found herself in Vegas! She stayed there a couple days before returning.  Did he do better the next year?  No!

I personally want to be honored on special days, so it would be difficult for me to deal with such a person.  I'm the type who goes shopping for a little something for a man and has it wrapped and set aside in case he gifts me, not wanting to be caught without a gift to give as well. So, check in with yourself on your personal tolerance and if this is an issue for you, break with him.

Do you expect expensive gifts?

I personally do not think expensive gifts are appropriate for early or not serious relationships.  What do you mean by serious?  Do you have gift-giving and receiving tied in with how serious he is about you? Do you expect him to leave his wife for you? Have you talked about it?

Here is what I think you need to do.  Call a time out on this relationship.  Get busy with your life as an unmarried woman. There is no reason to be especially loyal, faithful, or obligated to wait around when the other person has a wife, unless you want to share a man, and many women do, for a while. You can date.  You might meet someone better to your liking.

Next time your birthday comes around, treat yourself to a couple days out of town with your friends. 

If he finds he misses you and can't live without you, it's time for him to declare himself and take action.

I wish you the best, Mandy!

Missy

BOUNTIFUL PINK

 

EMILY IN PARIS : DEPICTION OF A MISTRESS IN A NETFLIX SERIES

 EMILY IN PARIS

The series takes place in contemporary Paris, France.  An all American young woman, Emily, who has a Masters degree and a career and boyfriend in Chicago, goes to Paris to join the team - as she sees it - of a firm that is considered Old School - and works to promote exclusivity of their client's products. Emily is brilliant and ambitious, but she encounters generational and cultural clashes.

Does this series rely too heavily on stereotypes of American values versus French values?

Perhaps.

Emily is no virgin. She had a serious relationship in America. She has affairs in France. French men have no issues with having sex with the American even if doing so is potentially complicated.  She isn't up for the bluntness of the man who tells her outright he wants American p****. She learns her female boss, who says she is a woman not a feminist, and that expectations of happiness are not realistic, is the mistress of a wealthy client Emily is trying to woo in business.  Her co-workers clues her in that his wife knows. She is startled and doesn't know what to do when a gift shows up for her at work, the most expensive lingerie in the world, from this same man.  And what about sex with a good friend's boyfriend? Or sex with someone who proves to be underage?  Is it funny when the kid's mother only confronts her to know if her son is good at sex?

Perhaps the most interesting dilemma she finds herself in is how to turn down the proposition implied in the lingerie and keep the client, who clearly finds her American brashness charming. His wife knows about this too.  She tells Emily that she approves and thinks she would be a good mistress for her husband.

You may want to read around Paris and France in MISTRESS MANIFESTO BLOGSPOT, using the tags beneath the posts or going through the archives here.

Though I do think the French attitude about Mistresses and Sex in general has long been different than the American, I'm personally sitting on the fence when it comes to this Netflix series.  Are you a fan?  Why?  Let me know in Comments!

Missy

ALL THE SECONDS BEFORE AND SINCE YOUR LOVELY LAST LETTER...

 "All the seconds before and since your lovely last letter (oh, thank you, Pearl darling) I've tried to write to you, I've tried to say who and what you are to me, but I didn't know the words."

ITVCOM: DYLAN THOMAS LOVE LETTERS PUBLISHED (Good Photo too!)

VALENTINE

DYLAN THOMAS to PEARL KAZIN : IT'S TAKEN SO LONG

 "It's taken so long to write your name.  Pearl, dear Pearl.  And every moment of every day I think of you, feel you, want you."

WALES NEWS 2014 : DYLAN THOMAS LOVE LETTERS PUBLISHED FOR THE FIRST TIME (includes photos of the lovers)   has photo of pearl and dylan