Recently I was at my local DVD store and the music playing was Henry Mancini’s score of Moon River from Breakfast at Tiffany’s.
It struck me as an unusual choice of music but I was very happy to listen to it.
I commenced rummaging around in a pile of old LP’s the store sells and I stumbled on the original LP of Breakfast at Tiffany’s.
Naturally I was intrigued as this LP was quite dated. It also got me wondering about how the film came about being.
Audrey Hepburn as Holly Golightly in Breakfast at Tiffanys. Photo Credit: Pixabay
It seems hard to believe, the novella, Breakfast at Tiffany’s, was published in 1958.
Truman Capote’s fictional creation, Holly Golightly, was supposedly based on friends and acquaintances of the author Truman Capote.
It has been argued the character is based on Truman’s Mother. Both his Mother and Holly had grown up in the south, escaped family responsibilities by moving to New York and achieved café society status through the men they had relationships with.
The novella was originally sold to Harpers Bazaar for $2,000 in 1958. It was to be published the same year within its own pages, accompanied by a photo montage. However, the existing editor, Carmel Snow, was ousted from the magazine and existing editorial staff deemed the material to be unfit for its pages.
Esquire magazine snapped up the novella for $3,000 and commenced serializing its chapters in the November 1958 issue. Random House published the entire novella and the general public loved it. Breakfast at Tiffany’s received very good reviews and Truman Capote was regarded as a literary wunderkind.
Photo credit, Pixabay
With the overnight success of the novella, Truman sold the film rights to Paramont Studios. Truman was adamant the eccentric party girl Holly Golightly should be played only by Marilyn Monroe. When Audrey Hepburn was cast as Holly in the 1961 film, Truman was far from impressed.
Hubert Givenchy was asked to create a wardrobe for Holly Golightly. Givenchy created perhaps the most iconic Little Black Dress ever to be worn in a film.
It is impossible to forget the image of Audrey Hepburn staring in the window of Tiffany’s whilst wearing a tiara, fake pearl necklace and the oh so fabulous black dress by Givenchy.
Image from Pixabay
Happy 60th birthday Breakfast at Tiffany’s!