THE
STELLA DALLAS GUIDE TO BREAKING HEARTS
Buckets. Rivers. Oceans
of tears. King Vidor's STELLA DALLAS (1937) is a twelve hanky weeper that stars
one of the greatest of the great actresses of all time, Barbara Stanwyck, in
the title role. I think Stanny might be my all-time favorite, and Stella is a
fantastic, fascinating character because she is over-the-top and garish, but
also incredibly generous and loving; there is something completely lovable
about her and she is someone that you want to root for. However, she doesn’t
realize that she is too much (too loud, too unsophisticated, too ambitious) for
the refined, upper-class peeps that she wants to associate with, and they are
certainly not rooting for her. One of the many things that makes this film so
devastating is that from the beginning, we (or at lease I) see where things
will most likely end up, yet we are powerless to stop it, even by shouting at
our tv, computer screen, or iPhone as we slowly cry our eyelashes off. No one
does heartbreak like Old Hollywood, so I give you:
Five
Ways To Channel Your Inner Stella Dallas
5. Aspire to a higher
station in life, when we all know it's going to be a train wreck when you get
there. Young Stella has her eye on the finer things in life; as we might say
today, she has champagne tastes on a beer budget. Her ticket to the good life
comes in the delicious package of Stephen Dallas (John Boles), a rich, eligible
bachelor who is smitten by Stella and marries her after a whirlwind courtship.
He whisks her away to an elegant home, dresses her in fine apparel, takes her
to high-society events, and dotes on her after their baby girl is born.
4. While your husband
is in New York working most of the time, have the inappropriate guy (Ed, played
by Alan Hale) you recently danced with in front of your hubby over to the
house, serve him a drink and then make sure he is holding your precious baby
girl as your husband WALKS IN THE DOOR from NYC. Surprise!
3. Get dressed up in
your “fancy” clothes, the ones you have made yourself because you are no longer
Mrs. Stephen Dallas and money is tight, put on lots of makeup, wear high heels
and a ginormous hat and stroll through the high-society crowd at the ritzy
vacation spot looking for your daughter (Laurel, played by Anne Shirley) and
the mother of the boy she likes. Look around as the crowd makes fun of what
they consider your vulgar appearance.
2. After your daughter
hustles the two of you away from the ritzy resort without telling you why
(Laurel has a heart of gold and doesn’t want you to be hurt by the nasty
comments), settle into your berth on the train for some much-needed rest. Be
wide awake as you hear some young girls that know Laurel ripping you to shreds,
and let the realization that this crowd will never accept you play out on your
face in a subtle way. When your sweet daughter looks into your berth so see if
you have overheard, pretend to be asleep.
(In order to NOT give
away the ending, I am going to omit a scene that should be here. If you have
seen the film, it is where Stella meets with Helen to pitch her an idea,
followed by what Stella does when Laurel comes home.)
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