I meant to post about this when it happened but things got away from me. When I imagine the shapely Neels heroines with a little sauce to them I picture Maureen O'Hara who is gorgeous and timeless and so jolly-looking that one couldn't take exception to it.
Here is an informal interview with her long-time screen love interest John Wayne.
Here is a fantastic episode of This Is Your Life--I'm always struck by how much she wants to help an interviewer get the best out of her. She is Maureen-FREAKING-O'Hara but she's so excited to do this!
Anyway, I don't have too much to add except to say that so much of my interests as a teenager were shaped by the classic films I'd watch after school (not for me the preachy, eye-rolling After School Specials on network TV) on AMC and TCM which made me highly susceptible to The Great Betty when I stumbled across her.
Favorites include The Quiet Man, The Parent Trap and The Spanish Main (where her love interest is a DUTCH pirate!)
Always so classy! Perfect good looks. Thanks for the links. Did you hear what she said during the interview? She has one more thing in common with a few of Betty's heroines―she doesn't care for flying!
ReplyDeleteI later found this bit on information that makes her fear so poignant. "She married her third husband, Charles F. Blair, Jr., on 12 March 1968. Blair was a pioneer of transatlantic aviation, a former brigadier general of the US Air Force, a former chief pilot at Pan Am, and founder and head of the U.S. Virgin Islands airline Antilles Air Boats. A few years after her marriage to Blair, O'Hara for the most part retired from acting. Blair died in 1978 while flying a Grumman Goose for his airline from St. Croix to St. Thomas, crashing after an engine failure. O'Hara was elected CEO and president of the airline, with the added distinction of becoming the first woman president of a scheduled airline in the U.S."
DeleteWow. So that’s what John Wayne said, at the beginning of the interview. I didn't get it the first time because the others were talking at the same time. Maureen O‘Hara said she came all the way from St Croix in the Virgin Islands and she doesn’t like to fly, and John Wayne said, "She’s married to one of the greatest pilots in the world."
DeleteSooooooo sad about her husband. She doesn't like flying and he crashes.
The Parent Trap was a great favourite of mine. There was one outfit that I would dearly have liked to own and wear. Alas, I didn't have the figure to carry it off or I might have copied it. ― I should propbably mention, though, that it was not one of Maureen O'Hara's film costumes but one of Hayley Mills' 1961 film teenage school girl outfits. ;o)
ReplyDeletetsk, tsk, "probably"!
DeleteI've been following the blog! Thanks for the occasional post! I try to get my Betty Neels fix here, when I'm not re-reading her books. I have 9 books that I'd like to give away, or sell if people are willing to buy. These are extras from my collection: The Convenient Wife, Hannah, Making Sure of Sarah, The Magic of Living, Not Once But Twice, Only By Chance, A Small Slice of Summer, Tulips for Augusta, and Visiting Consultant.
ReplyDeleteDo you know if there is anyone who might want them? If someone is willing to pay for just the shipping fee, I'd gladly send them to a good home!
Thanks!
Drisdy
dris209@gmail.com
I will post this in our Facebook group (same name: The Uncrushable Jersey Dress) to see if somebetty is interested.
DeleteBetty Drisdy, count me in as quite interested. Any idea what the ballpark figure for shipping to a US address would be? Betty Gise
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