cinema history

Over the years, and confirmed by my vacation, a remarkable difference between tourists and locals lies in the number of clothes they wear. Tourists, especially in national park country, get by with shedding as many garments as they dare. No worries about sunscreen there—as all the masculine bare chests and feminine short shorts attest. The locals, on the other hand, believe in the principle of covering up. An 85 degree day calls for long sleeves and black denim pants. One common denominator, however, for both groups is the ubiquitous baseball cap. In addition, all the tourist towns, led by Moab, Utah, specialize in sporting goods stores with more creative uses for nylon material than you’d ever imagine (more on this later). A fashion tip for those passing through Salt Lake City: A.A. Callister has been catering to the genuine cowboy set for decades. You’ll find the real duds here, minus the high fashion cost.

However, I found that the 1920s pursued me even on vacation. One night in the hotel room, I turned on the television to find Billy Wilder’s 50s tribute to the screwball comedies of the 20s and 30s, Some Like It Hot. This movie is a classic, if only for the comedic teaming of Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon, disguised as flappers to evade a murderous gang of mobsters. Curtis and Lemmon made fetching women in their get-up, but their charms were eclipsed by an ethereal Marilyn Monroe, whose incandescent performance as Sugar was enhanced by what must surely be the most indecent dress ever worn in the cinema (she had to be sewn into it, and the sequins barely covered her nipples…) Catch this film on DVD if you can.