Truman Capote (the author of Breakfast at Tiffany's), Audrey Hepburn (who starred in the film version of Capote's novel), and Mel Ferrer (Audrey's then-husband.) Where are they? In a photo booth! The rich and famous seemed to delight in them just as much as the proletariat. The first viable photo booths emerged in the 1920s, but it was really the introduction of Polaroid, i.e., instantly developed film, in the 1940s that these combination vending machines-kiosks took off. You could find them in arcades, amusement parks, train stations, bus stations, airports, and eventually shopping malls. Remember this was before cell phones, and thus before selfies. If you or a couple of your friends wanted on the spur of the moment to get your picture taken and didn't want to bug some stranger to hold the camera, you just ducked into one of these inexpensive little booths. One drawback, at least back in the 1950s when Truman, Audrey, and Mel flashed their smiles for the lens, was the background was always the same. No getting your photo snapped in front of the Statue of Liberty. It wouldn't have fit in the booth!
Capote wasn't bad looking when young. While I knew he wrote Breakfast at Tiffany's, I knew nothing else about him. I know a bit more now. I discovered the line 'Good career move' when someone had died came from Vidal about Capote when Vidal heard of his death.
ReplyDeleteI find it very strange, here at least, that photo booths have survived and are used often by young people who are no doubt also excellent at taking selfies. I wonder why?
Oh, yes, Andrew, Capote was quite a handsome chap when he was young. As for his decades-long feud with Gore Vidal (also not bad-looking when young,) that's worth a post in itself, and I may someday do that post.
DeleteThough I haven't used one myself, it's my understanding that today's digitalized photo booths offer "virtual" backgrounds that can put the user in, say, the Oval Office, or in the Sea of Tranquility or wherever.
What a great photo! I loved those booths!
ReplyDeleteNot everything fun need be slick-looking, Mitchell, and that's what the youth of today have to realize.
DeleteIt would have been a tight squeeze for 3 people in one of those classic photo booths!
ReplyDeleteDebra, in this case it probably helps that Capote was gay. Ferrer wasn't likely to get jealous that he was cuddling up to Audrey.
Delete