Category: Victoria Hinshaw

Miss Marple and Hercule Poirot

Victoria here.  Kristine did a post on the wonderful actress Margaret Rutherford on August 17, 2010, and it got me thinking. Which actress is my favorite Miss Marple?  And which is my favorite Hercule Poirot.

Here is a link to a blog post from a Marple fan, in the Birdie’s Nest.

I saw the Margaret Rutherford films at an impressionable age, I suppose. She looked nothing like I had imagined Jane Marple from the novels, but she was a delight.  All four of the films made by MGM between 1961 and 1964 were black and white, which means they probably don’t get as much attention as they deserve.  My favorite is the first one, Murder, She Said, based on the Christie’s novel 4:50 from Paddington.  It was a wonderful vehicle for Rutherford, a blend of commedy and suspense (if I recall it correctly).

Joan Hickson

 Geraldine McEwan
Julia McKenzie
Margaret Rutherford as Miss Marple

Some of the more recent Miss Marples have looked the part more than Rutherford, but I wasn’t entranced with any of them above the others.  Each one — Hickson, McEwan, McKenzie — had some positive attributes, but I was always afraid Hickson would collapse in her fragility, McEwen to me was still Mapp and Lucia, and McKenzie was too sacchrine. Was it just me, or did she lack the edge?? Or maybe it was the  poor quality of some of the scripts. I think they were often far from Christie’s style in the latest episodes.

I was surprised at how many actors have played Hercule Poirot, including Tony Randall (1920-2004) in The Alphabet Murders (1964).  For the last few years, the role has been magnificently filled by David Suchet.  Occasionally I see him in some other part and it shocks me to see him without the well-waxed mustache.
David Suchet as M. Hercule Poirot
However there were two more of my faves who played the little Belgian detective with the big ego. In 1974, Albert Finney starred in Murder on the Orient Express, and he was terrific.

Albert Finney as M. Hercule Poirot

This production had an all-star cast, with many of the leading lights of British stage and screen. I think I have watched it at least ten times.

And I am sure none of us could ever forget Peter Ustinov’s (1921-2004) performance in 1978’s Death on the Nile.  Ustinov is one of my favorite actors ever.  I think of him as Nero in Quo Vadis? or as the Prince Regent in Beau Brummell (1954).
Peter Ustinov and Stewart Granger in Beau Brummell
 Death on the Nile was a bravura performance for Ustinov, who had many great roles in his career.  Playing Prinny wasn’t one of them. The movie was dreadful — twisted history, indeed, But I must say I thought Ustinov probably nailed the character of the spoiled and self-obsessed Prince.  And Stewart Granger is extemely decorative.
David Suchet

I am sure that all of us, however, think mostly of David Suchet when we think of Hercule Poirot, since he has done more than sixty films and television programs.  And though he has had a distinguished stage and screen career, playing such diverse figures as Sigmund Freud, Edward Teller, Robert Maxwell, Baron Stockmar, and Cardinal Wolsey, his legacy will no doubt be as his alter ego, Hercule Poirot.

I admit I love the Christie’s films and tv programs, probably more than I do reading the novels.  Aaarrggh!  What an admission for a person like me who can hardly bear most of the Jane Austen productions (except for the Colin Firth Pride and Prejudice and the Emma Thompson Sense and Sensibility). I would almost always rather read a book than see a film or tv, but perhaps mysteries are an exception, especially the ones by Agatha Christie. So bring ’em on!

A Visit to Chiswick House, Part One

Victoria here, taking you today to the London suburbs to see a benchmark in the evolution of English architecture. Chiswick House was built by Richard Boyle, 3rd Earl of Burlington (1694-1753) in the second quarter of the 18th century. Not only is it a lovely jewel-box of a structure, it had a widespread and lasting influence on subsequent buildings in Britain.

First we must step back a century or so to Inigo Jones (1573–1652), architect of the Queen’s House, Greenwich (left), the Banqueting House in Whithall (below), and many other neo-classical buildings in London and the countryside.

 The neo-classical style, however, temporarily was overtaken in most building projects by baroque influences such as the styles of Sir Christopher Wren, John Vanbrugh, and Nicolas Hawksmoor.  However, the style would return and dominate British architecture in the late 18th century and onwards, largely due to the influence of a young nobleman.

Richard Boyle, 3rd Earl of Burlington, 4th Earl of Cork and Baron Clifford (1694–1753), inherited a great deal of money and property upon the death of his father, Charles Boyle, in 1704.  A few years later, young Richard made several Grand Tours of Europe during which he became especially interested in the designs of Italian Renaissance architect Andrea Palladio (1508–1580). Lord Burlington also met William Kent (1685–1748),  a painter born in England, who also took up architectural, furniture, and garden design.

When he returned from Italy, Burlington set about building Burlington House in Piccadilly in London. At right, the elevations by architect Colen Campbell, of 1725. Today’s Burlington House, the home of the Royal Academy of Art, looks quite different, having been greatly modified in the 19th century, though some of the original work can be seen, particularly in the John Madejski Fine Rooms inside.

Lord Burlington was an eager amateur architect, meaning no disrespect, in the same way the aristocrats of his time encouraged and participated in music, the arts, and sciences. One of his first projects, now demolished, was the Bagnio or Casino in the gardens of Chiswick, left.  He designed and built it with Colen Campbell in between his trips to Italy, where he studied the buildings of Palladio. It had several rooms, but was in the nature of a garden folly or decoration.

At right is an 18th century view of the allees of Chiswick’s gardens with the Bagnio as the focal point of the central walkway. At the end of the right path is a small temple Lord Burlington  built as another part of his formal garden, and still remains. It is pictured at the end of this post.

Palladio’s La Rotunda (left) in the Veneto Region of Italy is a prime example of his work, a direct influence on Burlington, Kent, Campbell and many others who soon championed their own versions of Palladianism.

The popularity of the style spread quickly through artistic and wealthy aristocratic circles in Britain.

Among the many properties inherited by Lord Burlington was a medium sized Jacobean mansion west of the city used as a summer retreat to get away from the heat of London. After a fire in 1725, Lord Burlington redid the house, adding a villa with a connecting structure. The mansion itself was pulled down
in 1788 leaving the villa, part of the connecting link, and the gardens.  The villa now known as Chiswick House was used as an office, gallery and rooms for entertaining. In Part Two, we will explore the actual building and its garden.

Lord Burlington (left) used his great wealth in sponsoring the work of many artists, architects and musicians. Handel was first a guest at Chiswick in 1712, and came back many times. The English Heritage Guidebook to Chiswick comments on the character of Burlington’s work: “Lord Burlington’s principal objective was to recreate the architecture and gardens of ancient Rome (and) re-establish its meaning…which told a story or painted a moral. Chiswick House incorporates an allegorical exposition of the polite arts; its garden includes reference to political liberty.”

 

Another house greatly influenced by Palladio and perhaps by Burlington is Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello in Virginia.  Jefferson was also a gentleman architect and there is no doubt that his tastes and those of the American founding  fathers resembled the tastes of those British aristocrats who also loved Palladianism and the neoclassical styles of the late 18th and early 19th centuries.

The 3rd Earl of  Burlington married Lady Dorothy Savile, daughter of the 2nd Marquess of Halifax, an heiress who brought additional estates to the family. She became a lady in waiting to Caroline of Anspach, wife of George II. Burlington held many important government posts before resigning all offices in 1732 over his oppositions to an Excise Bill. From then on, he occupied himself with improving his properties, scholarship and promoting the arts. He had no sons; his only surviving daughter Charlotte (1731-1754) inherited his properties; she was the Marchioness of Hartington, married to the eventual 4th Duke of Devonshire. Note that Charlotte had a very short life; her son William Cavendish (1748-1811), above, was born when she was a mere 17. But through her the possession of Lord Burlington passed into the hands of the Cavendish/Devonshire family. The Cavendish family frequently stayed and entertained at Chiswick.
Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire, wife of the 5th Duke, often entertained at Chiswick, particularly her friends in Whig politics.  In the 1860’s, the Cavendish/Devonshire family rented the villa to a number of prominent persons, but by the early 19th century, it had become an asylum, then a fire station. Eventually, it was sold to Middlesex County and taken over by a trust to preserve the house and gardens.

In Part Two, we will explore the specific design of Chiswick House, which incidentally is prounced Chis-ick, with a silent W.

For more information on Chiswick, click here.

For an interesting article on recent developments, click here   

Happy 50th to Colin Firth, Actor Extraordinaire

Victoria here, wishing many happy returns to Colin Firth, another actor that fascinates me — handsome, talented, versatile and all the other adjectives one can apply to British actors in the tradition of Olivier,  Gielgud, and so many others.  I wonder if Firth ever realized what a heart-throb he would become by playing Jane Austen’s memorable hero in the 1995 version of Pride and Prejudice, with a screenplay by Andrew Davies, produced by Sue Birtwistle and directed by Simon Langton for the BBC and A and E.

Of course, some of that had to do with the famous wet shirt scene, at which one might swoon — over what Jane Austen would have made of it!! 
But it also had to do with the smoky, sexy looks Darcy cast Elizabeth’s way — sigh!  Talk about “fine eyes.”  Firth made an excellent Darcy, looking suitably grim and bored at the beginning, and changing over the six episodes to recognize his love for Lizzy. This did not preclude his continued arrogance and his reluctance to share the real story of Mr. Wickham. But in the end, was anyone in doubt of the happy- ever-after ending?  Not I.
Firth did a sort of reprise of his P and P role when he played Mark Darcy in the Bridget Jones movies in 2001 and 2004.

Colin Firth was born September 10th, 1960, in Grayshott, Hampshire. He lived in Nigeria during part of his childhood later spent a year in the U.S. as a teen. He studied acting at the Drama Centre and was “discovered” while playing Hamlet.
Firth has appeared on the stage in London but has kept very busy with films, such as the role of the artist Vermeer in The Girl with the Pearl Earring (2003).  He appeared in Valmont (1989), The English Patient (1996), Shakespeare in Love (1998), and Love, Actually (2003), among many more.
Firth has worked with many fine actresses, none better than Judi Dench in Shakespeare in Love.  Kristen Scott Thomas, Jennifer Ehle, Meg Tilly,  Renee Zellweger, Isabella Rossellini, and Emma Thompson, to name a few more.
If I had been advising Colin Firth on his choice of roles, I guess I would have nixed Mamma Mia (2008).  Perhaps they had a great time filming it. Or working with Meryl Streep was impossible to give up.  Although Colin’s singing was just fine, Pierce Brosnan was dreadful.  But that last scene with all of them dressed in those shiny suits fro the 70’s and parading across the stage made me howl with laughter.

Firth received international kudos for his role in A Single Man (2009), including the BAFTA, an Oscar nomination, and awards from the Venice International Film Festival.   In the role of Professor George Falconer, he mourns the death of his long-time companion.
In the meantime, A Single Man has been released on DVD. Colin Firth’s performance is truly excellent.  His co-star is Julianne Moore who is also very good, much better than in her usual roles. 
Among Firth’s upcoming films is his starring role as King George VI in The King’s Speech, co-starring Geoffrey Rush as the coach who helped the King, father of the current Queen Elizabeth II, overcome his stammer. It should be released later in 2010.

I am sure that Colin Firth will continue to engage us with his portrayals on stage, screen and television, into his middle age.  And aren’t we lucky that we all can own a copy of Pride and Prejudice to watch whenever we like? In fact, you can watch a damp Firth in the  “lake scene” from Pride and Predjudice here. And the marriage proposal here.

Victoria (Magazine) at Holker Hall

I guess I have a “thing” about Victorias — writers, queens, magazines, whatever. I loved the first Victoria magazine, published from 1987 to 2003, and I love the new version, published since 2007.  When it arrives every other month, I put it aside until I have a couple of quiet hours in which to enjoy it uninterrupted.

So in this busy summer, it took me a long time to get around to the September-October issue, which arrived a few weeks ago. On pp. 40-45, I found a lovely photographic story about Holker Hall, a stately home in the English Lake District which I have visited.  How delightful to experience the house and its gardens all over again.  Here is a link to Victoria magazine and here is a link to the Hall’s website.

The Holker estate belongs to Lord and Lady Cavendish, a branch of the family of the present 12th Duke of Devonshire. It has been in the Cavendish-Devonshire family for many years, coming into their possession by marriage.  Largely  rebuilt in red sandstone after a fire in 1871,  its style is  neo-Elizabethan. one of the popular recreated architectural fashions of the Victorian Era.

The 7th Duke of Devonshire left Holker to a younger son (in 1908), and thus it passed out of the direct control of the dukes themselves.  That younger son was a grandfather of the present Lord Cavendish.


Of particular interest are the gardens, which have been designed carefully to bring out the best in seasonal plantings.  These spring time rhododendrons must be amazing.

 

The newer wing of the house, built in the 1870’s contains many outstanding features in woodworking, plaster designs, lighting and furnishings.  If you look at the pictures in the magazine article, it is almost possible to think of yourself sitting in one of the comfortable armchairs, waiting for tea or reading one of the 3,500 books in the library.  The cantilevered staircase pictured at left was carved by estate workers of local wood.

In the Blue Guide to Country Houses of England, Geoffrey Tyack writes of Holker Hall, “Few houses open to the public convey better than Holker the sense of late-Victorian aristocratic life and tastes.”
The estate is a busy commercial concern, including forestry, lumbering,  and slate cutting businesses as well as agricultural produce, tourism, hunting and fishing, and many special events such as festivals, concerts, and exhibitions.  The fallow deer herds are maintained for their traditional beauty as well as for their meat. 

By the way, in the September-October 2010 issue of Victoria magazine, there are also excellent articles on the Lake District and its benefactress, the late author Beatrix Potter, who created Peter Rabbit and all his friends.

I hope Peter is still at Mr. McGregor’s House and not stirring things up at beautiful Holker Hall.

Handel and Hendrix???

Here is a pair for you! 

Jimi Hendrix 1942-1970

George Frederic Handel 1685-1759

Yes, friends, Hendrix and Handel are together at last. Or, rather, at first!  In a wonderful coincidence, the two composer/performers lived in the almost the same building, separated by one wall and about 200 years. Here is the article that explains the new exhibition at London’s Handel House Museum.

Handel House Museum
25 Brook Street, Mayfair, London

For more about the Handel House Museum, click here.


For those of us who see little in common among the two, other than gender and profession, the article points out several things.  Both were immigrants to England, Hendrix from the U.S., Handel from Germany. Both were improvisers, Hendrix on the electric guitar and Handel on the harpsichord.


The actual Hendrix apartment is now used as office space for the museum, but they hope to restore it to the look Hendrix had in the 60’s.


I (Victoria) visited a couple of years ago when the exhhibition, in addition to the restored rooms of Handel’s time, concerned The Messiah and its performances, first in Dublin in 1742, and later, when the most familiar version was adapted as a benefit for the Foundling Museum in London in 1754.


The buildings used for museum have shops on the first floor. The access to the museum is from the rear, where new entrances with elevators have been added in a creative adaptive reuse, worth seeing in itself. I recommmend it as a nice respite from the large museums of London — or the tribulations of Mayfair shopping.


Last June 2010, when Kristine and I were in London, we attended a wonderful concert at St. Martin’s in the Fields off  Trafalgar Square. As we considered whether to go, Kristine said she wanted to hear Handel’s Royal Fireworks Music.  Guess what they played?? Yes, selections from the Royal Fireworks Music, as well as music by Bach, Mendelssohn, and others, including a rousing rendition of the Hallelujah Chorus from the Messiah.  Not a note, however, from Jimi Hendrix.


The Handel-Hendrix exhibition runs through November 7, 2010.