topsy turvy

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excerpted from a questionnaire I worked through for Annie at Poetic & Chic.
thank you Annie-It was very therapeutic,
better than  Spring cleaning or a detox cleanse, & what is that all about anyway?

Q from Annie: What film could you watch over and over and still find something inspiring? & Why?

Answer:
There are actually many- and though it isn't necessarily my favorite movie of them all by any means, that question would  never be answered. The Mike Leigh movie Topsy Turvy is always viewing perfection.
Have you seen it?

 It has everything.
The film's central story is the frustration that grows between librettist W.S. Gilbert and Arthur Sullivan, composer- as the famous team of Gilbert and Sullivan. A visit to an 1887 Japanese Village in Knightsbridge Humphreys' Hall  takes Gilbert to turn to the Orient for grand inspiration-and so begets The Mikado- perfect harmony. Layer upon layer it is Mike Leigh's play within a play, where all the characters were real-the composers, the players and the lovers and wives.

 from Topsy-Turvy
Gilbert: Every theatrical performance is a contrivance by its very nature.
Sullivan: Yes, but this piece consists entirely of an artificial and implausible situation.
Gilbert: If you wish to write a Grand Opera about a prostitute, dying of consumption in a garret, I suggest you contact Mr Ibsen in Oslo. I am sure he will be able to furnish you with something suitably dull. 

 

 GILBERT & SULLIVAN

Glorious performances by James Broadbent, Allan Corduner as the musical pair

 W.S. Gilbert

   1886 portrait of W. S. Gilbert by Frank Holl

hanging in the NPG by the Millais portrait of Sullivan

  the Gilbert home at 39 Harrington Gardens

 James Broadbent as W.S. Gilbert

dialog  from Topsy- Turvy

Gilbert: I have other things on my mind, you know that.
Kitty: Yes, I do know that, Willie, and I understand, but a little distraction will do you good.
Gilbert: Kitty, I don't want to be distracted.
Kitty: Yes, you do.
Gilbert: Oh, do I? You know my mind better than I do, do you?
Kitty: I know you better than you think I do, Willie.

   Kitty- Gilbert's wife-play by Lesley Manville

Arthur Sullivan

portrait of Arthur Sullivan by Millais, 1888

Alan Corduner as  Arthur Sullivan

 

 The rooms of Arthur Sullivan's apartment at  No.1 Queen's Mansions

  the bedroom- I have to say, one can easily see how Mrs.Ronald's could be seduced.

 the drawing room- lovely too.

the study

"The good taste which marked his work was even more noticeable in his home."

these photographs were originally published in A Souvenir of Sir Arthur Sullivan (1901) by W. J. Wells

 Three Little Maids

 Sybil Grey, Leonora Braham and Jessie Bond in first performances of The Mikado, 1885

 

& from the movie -

Favorite Moments

Fanny Ronalds and Sir Arthur Sullivan are well played by Eleanor David and Corduner. There is a languid smolder to their moments together on camera. The sets for their rendezvous lend that quality to the scene as do all the sets in the movie. 

The pair make a grand case for grand love. Sullivan composed St. Agnes Eve for Mrs Ronalds (Mrs.Pierre Lorillard Ronalds ), his mistress.

 Mrs. Ronalds:

"Lady Colin is endeavoring to persuade us to take up smoking. She's writing an article for the Saturday Review. She proposes that nicotine is a gift from the gods, and if men may benefit from its soothing qualities, why then may women not also? My poor daughter now believes that smoking is an extension of the... communion between a woman and her husband."

Shirley Henderson stars as Leonora Braham  & Yum-Yum in  the Mikado scenes. I've never seen this actress in a role that she did not embody.

Leonora Braham

English soprano, known for her roles in the comic operas of Gilbert &  Sullivan

 Leonora:
" Yes, I am indeed beautiful. Sometimes I sit and wonder, in my artless Japanese way, why it is that I am so much more attractive than anybody else in the whole world. Can this be vanity? No! Nature is lovely, and rejoices in her loveliness. I am a child of Nature, and take after my mother. " 

 TOPSY-TURVY is chock full of dialog  laced with humor and innuendo, opera, fashion, costume, culture-social mores & theatre.
What more could anyone want?

"On the whole, the terpsichore was executed very magnifiquely, notwithstanding the topsy-turvydom befuddling Mr.Ko-Ko's entrance."

 linked
 all the bold text-are links to the story sources & images-click on them to explore
 more here

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Topsy Turvy

"This is not good. 

This is not right. 

My feet stick out of bed all night. 

And when I pull them in, oh dear! 

My head sticks out of bed out here!"

“I like nonsense, it wakes up the brain cells. 

Fantasy is a necessary ingredient in living, 

It's a way of looking at life through the wrong end of a telescope. 

Which is what I do, 

And that enables you to laugh at life's realities.”

"They say I'm old-fashioned, 

and live in the past, 

but sometimes I think progress progresses too fast!"

Dr. Seuss really does have all the answers, We must find the questions.

Read about this movie here. One of my favourites.

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where Magazines go to die

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"A magazine is like a best friend.
One always keeps Learning from them &
One Loves them more with Age."

I am a magazine hoarder. It is something I admit with a certain sort of Pride-though when dusting across the bookshelves-I say that in hushed tones. It's hard to toss them, always has been.

What would I do without them?
I never thought I'd have to really answer that question. I will never go without, as my stash goes back more years than I will admit. I honestly find many back issues more inspiring than the current issues I see staring back at me on a bench in my sitting room. Why?

What will the landscape of the magazine be in say-ten years, twenty, thirty?
The future looks bleak...

from my prized possession of all the now defunct NEST magazine issues
One of THE Absolute BEST EVER Magazines of its kind
(it was too good for this cruel world)

NEST issues Archives

Magazines are emotional. No one NEEDS a magazine, (No, You really don't), but there is something about the beautifully laid out articles, the gloss, the text and the photography that a blog page can not do." As one veteran editor once explained to me, the best magazines make you feel like tearing open the plastic wrap the second that they arrive in your mailbox and curling up on the couch with them, ignoring whatever plans you had for the evening." (quote from Gabriel Sherman's article The Magazine Isn't Dying) This couldn't be more true- however less and less do I find a magazine that lures me in this way. Why?



What does the our style and design blogging community bring to the table?
Can it fill the gaps that the loss of magazines such as HOUSE & GARDEN, DOMINO, SOUTHERN ACCENTS ? These my dears represent only a tiny bite from the apple. I miss them- but there are so many more defunct reads-check out the site- Magazine Death Pool- sadly, but aptly named, chronicling the magazines demise. It is Truly astounding.



Domino- for me was the substitute magazine sent to fulfill my subscription when HG passed on to the Conde Nast scrap heap.I was angry with Domino for inserting itself into my post box- when I didn't ask for it I was missed my House and Garden. It was like losing a dear old companion-cat and immediately dropping a crazy little kitten at my door. It was darling,but I just wasn't ready. Out of Magazine LOVE, I grew quite fond of Domino though- and then what happens? Domino- does just that- it folds.

So what is next for design Magazines & Blogs ?
With still standing favorites, Elle Decor, World of Interiors- I find myself heading to the middle or back of the issue to read the content. I will admit- I always "read" them that way. Later I will go through the entire magazine and read regular features and columns, quickly skipping over the ADs- and therein lies the conundrum. Advertisers drive the magazine-It's why we continue to get these rare birds in the post.The magazine world has been glutted for a few years now with offspring- Vogue> Teen Vogue> Men's Vogue> Vogue Living. (Personally I think Vogue had something with Vogue Living but-). Booming economy & business, More advertising. Economic decline-advertisers pull ADs from magazines that do not have viable subscriber numbers. According to a number of online sources- This is the key to a particular magazine's demise.



What I love seeing- is an unstyled, lived in home. I love reading interviews with actual quotes from designers. I recently remember a blog post about designer ELIZABETH MARTIN from Lana Burroughs at Topsy Turvy. The post was an interview elaborating on the Elle Decor cover story about Ali Wentworth's home. The house was also featured in The Washington Post too. For me, the story came to life with the designer's interview from Lana Burroughs. The Elle Decor and the Post story emphasized the owner- front and center as decorator, the Topsy Turvy story focused on the designer. Why the print stories focus attention on much of the work as Wentworth's - I do not kn0w, But that is certainly another story? This example for the most part is a beautiful blending of three sources about one home. The photographs from the Post and Elle did not overlap- the content was unique in them all. (I've linked these three stories in this text).
If magazine articles are what drive a blog's content- extending the story should be a prerequisite when deciding to post magazine photographs lifted from its pages. Light content loaded with images does little to elevate an original story taken from any magazine. I ALSO enjoy the NYSD posts about Designers- it is an interview format with unstyled photographs. The NYTimes- T MAGAZINE is one top notch publication in every way. The most some of the most original content, perspective and photography anywhere. The MOMENT blog dovetails with it seamlessly.


What next? Interestingly enough- as I thought about this post and sought comments from respected friends- few responded. Maybe it is the unanswerable question. It is new territory for everyone.
One of my friends in the business did say this:

"Quite honestly I enjoy blogging (reading them) as much actual magazines, however, I can't imagine blogs replacing magazines entirely. I find that blogs are easier to get through in short amounts of time and you get a much broader array of opinions/outlooks. The one thing that I do especially enjoy is being able to rip out magazine pages to add to my ever growing files." Alex

I agree Alex. I do find magazines exciting, let's face it -It is THE original. Certainly every blogger aspires to write for one of the magazine's left on the stands today- Don't they?

..in a SWIDE interview Blogger Liberty London Girl gave her take on Print v. Web

"Although I get most of my news online, & think most front of book pages have been made pretty much redundant by the web, I still prefer to look at fashion editorial in print. There’s something about the smell & the tactile quality of paper, the saturation of the colour and the size of the pages. I do think we will see dramatic changes in the print world in the next five years as advertising revenues decline and audiences become more sophisticated."

SO the Question to pose is- "As the pool of magazines gets smaller and smaller, it will inevitably mean the interiors available to cover will become more competitively sought after. How many people who read style blogs would be willing to read about a full house online rather than in the pages of a magazine?"

Will the future of your favourite be ONLINE- ? or on your shelves labeled "Magazine Death Pool?"
What do you think?

Read More at the following sites:
Ad Age
Mr Magazine "New Launches"
Blog List from the MOMENT NYTIMES

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