Truman Capote Was Already a Celebrity by the Time Breakfast at Tiffany S Was Released in 1958

Name: ______Culture & Literature/12

Based on the novella by Truman Capote Screenplay by George Axelrod

Directed by Blake Edwards

Premiered: October 5, 1961

Starring:

Audrey Hepburn……………Holly Golightly George Peppard……………….Paul Varjak Mickey Rooney…………….Mr. Yunioshi Patricia Neal………………..Mrs. Falenson, “2-E” Buddy Ebsen……………….Doc Golightly

Background

Author Truman Capote was already a celebrity by the time his novella Breakfast at Tiffany’s was released in 1958. Like Capote’s other works, Breakfast at Tiffany’s received mixed reviews. Some writers called it “slight” or not living up to Capote’s earlier work. It is a short book that can easily be read in one sitting.

Capote later in life said that Holly Golightly was his favorite character. In an early version of the book, he gave her the inappropriate name of Connie Gustafson, but later gave her the more symbolic name Holly Golightly: for she is a woman who makes a holiday of life, but treads through it lightly.

Along with the book’s publishing came what Capote called the Holly Golightly Sweepstakes, where half the women he knew and some he did not, claimed to be the inspiration for his character. One New York resident, named Bonnie Golightly, even tried to sue Capote for invasion of privacy and libel. But she was a fat forty-year-old woman and lost the lawsuit without much effect. But in truth, the person that Holly most resembles is her creator. She shares Capote’s philosophies as well as his fears and anxieties such as Holly’s panic attacks (“the mean reds”).

-Gerald Clarke, Capote: A Biography. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1988.

Background Questions

1. Why did some critics dislike the book?

2. What legal problems did Capote have after publication?

3. Who was the character of Holly based upon? Discussion Questions

Part 1: Holly Golightly

1. Why is there a man waiting for Holly when she gets home? Who is he?

a.) Why does he think she “owes” him something? What does he mean by this?

2. Why doesn’t Holly open her front door herself? Who does it?

a.) How does this characterize her?

3. How long has Holly lived in her apartment? Why is this surprising?

4. Consider the following quote:

“He’s all right! Aren’t you, cat? Poor cat! Poor slob! Poor slob without a name! The way I see it I haven’t got the right to give him one. We don’t belong to each other. We just took up one day by the river. I don’t want to own anything until I find a place where me and things go together. I’m not sure where that is but I know what it is like. It’s like Tiffany’s.”

a.) Why hasn’t Holly given the cat a name?

b.) What does Tiffany’s symbolize to Holly?

5. What are the “mean reds”?

a.) How are they different from “the blues”?

6. When would Holly be prepared to give the cat a name? 7. What does Holly have to do on Thursdays?

8. Who does Holly visit? Why?

a.) What must she do while she’s there?

b.) How does this characterize her?

Part 2: Neighbors

1. Why does Holly go upstairs to Paul’s apartment?

2. What does Paul do for a living? Is he successful at it?

3. How are the stories in Nine Lives described in the review?

4. How does Holly know Paul hasn’t written anything lately?

5. What has Holly been trying to do with the money she makes?

6. Who is Fred? What do we find out about him?

7. What does Holly dream about?

Part 3: The Party

1. Describe the party. 2. Filmmakers who adapt novels for the screen have the difficult task of interpreting (or reinterpreting) an author’s words. Often, screenwriters change or adapt the original work. Read the following passage from the novella. In what ways does the following passage from the book similar and different from the film?

Within the next quarter-hour a stag party had taken over the apartment, several of them in uniform. I counted two Naval officers and an Air Force colonel; but they were outnumbered by greying arrivals beyond draft status. Except for a lack of youth, the guests had no common theme, they seemed strangers among strangers; indeed, each face on entering, had struggled to conceal dismay at seeing others there. It was as if the hostess had distributed her invitations while zig-zagging through various bars; which was probably the case. After the initial frowns, however, they mixed without grumbling.

Part 4: Sing Sing

1. Why does Sally Tomato say that Holly’s list of expenses would make a book that would “break the heart”?

2. What can you infer is actually going on when Holly delivers the “weather report”?

3. How does this scene characterize Holly?

Part 5: Holly's Secret Past

1. Who does Paul’s decorator friend think is following her, and why?

2. Who is the man and what does he want?

3. What does he say Holly’s real name is? Why do you suppose she’s changed it?

4. According to Doc, what did Holly say when he proposed to her?

a.) How does this characterize her? 5. How old was she when she married? 6. Why do you suppose she left Doc?

7. In your opinion, should Holly return to Doc or stay in New York? Why?

Part 6: Holly Meets Her Husband

1. Who does Holly think has arrived when Paul calls her Lulamae?

2. Explain the following dialogue. What is Holly trying to tell Doc?

Doc: I love you Lula Mae. Holly: I know you do, and that's just the trouble. It’s the mistake you always made, Doc, trying to love a wild thing. You were always lugging home wild things. Once it was a hawk with a broken wing... and another time it was a full-grown wildcat with a broken leg. Remember? Doc: Lula Mae there's something... Holly: You mustn’t give your heart to a wild thing. The more you do, the stronger they get, until they’re strong enough to run into the woods or fly into a tree. And then to a higher tree and then to the sky.

3. What is going to happen in four months?

4. What will happen if Holly doesn’t go back with Doc?

5. What does Holly say she will do about Fred?

6. What does Doc ask Paul to do before he leaves?

a.) How does this characterize Doc?

7. What does Holly want Doc to understand before he goes? Part 7: Two Drunks

Truman Capote was dismayed by the casting of Audrey Hepburn. Marilyn Monroe had spent the time to work up a few scenes, and Capote felt that she would be perfect for the role, bringing to the film the more sexual nature of the novella. In Capote’s words, “Paramount double-crossed me in every way and cast Audrey.”

What Hepburn brought to the screen was a different Holly Golightly than Capote’s written description. In the film version, her background was somewhat toned down (notice how the film tends not to dwell on the details of her past). Still, the haunting pathos of the character comes through. Toning down the sexual side of the novella may have even heightened this, as our attention isn’t diverted to the lurid details, and instead dwells upon the character development and the interaction between the two main characters.

Marilyn Monroe

1. Why did Capote thing Marilyn Monroe would be a good fit for the character of Holly Golightly?

2. Can you imagine Marilyn Monroe in the part of Holly? Why or why not?

3. What has Holly decided to do about Rusty Trawler?

4. What does Holly need? How will she get it?

5. What does Holly say Paul should be used to now?

6. What does Paul say about Holly’s money?

Part 8: Celebration

1. What surprising fact has Holly learned about Rusty?

2. How has Paul been spending his time recently?

3. How does Holly suggest they spend the day? 4. Why does Holly like Tiffany’s?

5. Why won’t Holly wear diamonds before she’s forty?

6. How much have they to spend on a present?

7. What does the salesman offer them and what is the problem with it?

8. What do they decide to do in the end?

a.) How does the salesman react?

9. What does Holly think of the public library?

10. Comment on these scenes in the film. What is the purpose of them? What do they show about Holly and Paul?

Part 9: Confrontation

Read the following and answer the questions that follow.

“Truman Capote I do not know well, but I like him. He is tart as a grand aunt, but in his way is a ballsy little guy, and he is the most perfect writer of my generation, he writes the best sentences word for word, rhythm upon rhythm. I would not have changed two words in Breakfast at Tiffany’s which will become a small classic.” ─Norman Mailer, author

Capote difficulty time coming up with an ending to the novel and it took him longer than he expected to finish it, but he finally did in the spring of 1958. He also signed a deal with the magazine Harper’s Bazaar entitling them to publish it before the book came out. Unfortunately they tried to get Capote to omit the four-letter words and the way that Holly made her living from sex. Capote was of course outraged and refused to change a word.

1. Why was Capote “outraged”? 2. How does this anecdote characterize the 1950’s (the era in which the book was written)?

3. Describe Paul’s relationship with “2-E,” his “decorator friend.”

Part 10: Paul and Holly

1. How does Holly react when Paul interrupts her in the library?

2. What is she reading? Why?

3. What are her plans now?

4. How does Paul react?

5. Why does Paul give Holly a $50 check?

Part 11: The Telegram

1. What does the telegram say?

2. What does Paul tell José to do?

3. How does Holly change after the telegram?

Part 12: Dinner Date

1. How much time has passed?

2. What has Holly been doing? 3. What is she worried she’s been knitting?

4. Where is José? 5. Why has Holly invited Paul to dinner?

6. Who is Holly’s ideal man?

7. What happens when the two go to Holly’s apartment?

Part 13: At the Police Station

1. Characterize Holly as she appears at the police station.

2. Audrey Hepburn became a major fashion and style icon largely as a result of this film. How can this be seen even during her Holly’s arrest and subsequent trip to the police station?

Part 14: In The Bar

1. What has O.J Berman done about Holly?

2. What instructions does OJ give Paul about the apartment?

3. In the taxi, what does Paul suggest Holly do?

4. What does Holly want to do?

5. Why shouldn’t she do it? 6. What info does Paul have about José?

Part 15: The End

Capote was upset with the changes Paramount made in the screen version of his novel, especially with the ending which totally changes the theme of the story. In the book, Holly is always traveling—searching for a place to belong, a place she never finds. Consider how and why Hollywood changed the ending as you watch.

9. Why does Holly still want to go to Brazil?

10. What does she say the government wants with her?

11. What does Holly want Paul to do?

12. Consider the following quote:

“You know what's wrong with you, Miss Whoever-you-are? You’re chicken, you’ve got no guts. You’re afraid to stick out your chin and say, ‘Okay, life’s a fact, people do fall in love, people do belong to each other, because that's the only chance anybody’s got for real happiness.’ You call yourself a free spirit, a ‘wild thing,’ and you’re terrified somebody’s gonna stick you in a cage. Well baby, you’re already in that cage. You built it yourself. And it’s not bounded in the west by Tulip, Texas, or in the east by Somaliland. It’s wherever you go. Because no matter where you run, you just end up running into yourself. Here – I’ve been carrying this ring around for months...I don’t want it anymore.”

a.) What is Paul trying to tell Holly?

b.) What does the ring symbolize to Paul? What do his actions suggest?

13. Why does Holly throw the cat out of the cab?

b.) Why does she change her mind about the cat and go after it?

14. Consider our course themes this semester: identity, family, and love. c.) What does the film say about identity?

d.) What does the film say about family?

e.) What does the film say about love?

15. Read the ending of the book as printed below and consider the differences between the film and the book.

But the cat was not at the corner where he’d been left. There was no one, nothing on the street except a urinating drunk and two Negro nuns herding a file of sweet-singing children. Other children emerged from doorways and ladies leaned over their window sills to watch as Holly darted up and down the block, chanting “You. Cat. Where are you? Here, cat.” She kept it up until a bumpy-skinned boy came forward dangling an old tom by the scruff of its neck: “You wants a nice kitty, miss? Gimme a dollar.”

The limousine had followed us. Now Holly let me steer her toward it. At the door, she hesitated; she looked past me, past the boy still offering his cat (“Halfa dollar? Two-bits, maybe? Two-bits, it ain’t much”), and she shuddered, she had to grip my arm to stand up: “Oh Jesus God. We did belong to each other. He was min.”

Then I made a promise, I said I’d come back and find her cat: “I’ll take care of him, too. I promise.”

She smiled: that cheerless new pinch of a smile. “But what about me?” she said, whispered, and shivered again. “I’m very scared, Buster. Yes, at last. Because it could go on forever. Not knowing what’s yours until you’ve thrown it away. The mean reds, they’re nothing. The fat woman, she nothing. This, though: my mouth’s so dry, if my life depended on it I couldn’t spit.” She stepped in the car, sank in the seat. “Sorry, driver. Let’s go.”

TOMATO’S TOMATO MISSING. And: DRUG-CASE ACTRESS BELIEVED GANGLAND VICTIM. In due time, however, the press reported: FLEEING PLAYGIRL TRACED TO RIO. Apparently no attempt was made by American authorities to recover her, and soon the matter diminished to an occasional gossip-column mention; as a news story, it was revived only once: on Christmas day, when Sally Tomato died of a heart attack at Sing Sing. Months went by, a winter of them, and not a word from Holly. The owner of the brownstone sold her abandoned possessions, the white-satin bed, the tapestry, her precious Gothic chair; a new tenant acquired the apartment, his name was Quaintance Smith, and he entertained as many gentleman callers of a noisy nature as Holly ever had — though in this instance Madame Spanella did not object, indeed she doted on the young man and supplied filet mignon whenever he had a black eye. But in the spring a postcard came: it was scribbled in pencil, and signed with a lipstick kiss: Brazil was beastly but Buenos Aires the best. Not Tiffany’s, but almost. Am joined at the hip with duhvine $enor. Love? Think so. Anyhoo am looking for somewhere to live ($enor has wife, 7 brats) and will let you know address when I know it myself. Mille tendresse. But the address, if it ever existed, never was sent, which made me sad, there was so much I wanted to write her: that I’d sold two stories, had read where the Trawlers were countersuing for divorce, was moving out of the brownstone because it was haunted. But mostly, I wanted to tell her about her cat. I had kept my promise; I had found him. It took weeks of after-work roaming through those Spanish Harlem streets, and there were many false alarms — flashes of tiger-striped fur that, upon inspection, were not him. But one day, one cold sunshiny Sunday winter afternoon, it was. Flanked by potted plants and framed by clean lace curtains, he was seated in the window of a warm-looking room: I wondered what his name was, for I was certain he had one now, certain he'd arrived somewhere he belonged. African hut or whatever, I hope Holly has, too. a.) Compare the end of the film, with the book. What major differences are there?

b.) Consider what you know of high culture and low culture. Why would Hollywood change the ending of the book – a high culture form – to create the film – a low culture form? What is the difference between the two endings in relation to high and low culture?

c.) In the novella, Paul is gay, and there is no romance between Paul and Holly; it is merely a strong friendship. Why do you suppose this was changed? Again, what can be inferred about high culture vs. low culture from this switch?

Study Guide questions adapted from Graham Stanley, September 1999 - February 2000.