Wednesday, January 9, 2008

A pocket notebook in The Palm Beach Story



[Written and directed by Preston Sturges, 1942.]

John D. Hackensacker III (Rudy Vallee) is buying clothes for Geraldine "Gerry" Jeffers (Claudette Colbert). Why? Because Gerry has no clothes, because she left her suitcase, or so she says, in the Ale and Quail Club's car, which was uncoupled from the rest of the train after the club's members shot up the lounge car. What John D. doesn't know is that there was no suitcase in the Ale and Quail Club's car. Gerry had to abandon her suitcase in a confrontation with her husband Tom (Joel McCrea) as she boarded a taxi to Penn Station so as to get on a train to Palm Beach and get a divorce.

But all that aside: John D. Hackensacker III is keeping track of his purchases in a pocket notebook.



More notebooks on screen
Les Dames du Bois de Boulogne
Moleskine sighting (in Extras)
Notebook sighting in Pickpocket
Pocket notebook sighting (in Diary of a Country Priest)
Pocket notebook sightings in Rififi
Red-headed woman with reporter's notebook

comments: 4

Anonymous said...

Cool.

Tom the Piper's Son said...

Great post! You've got me on the lookout now. In my mind's eye I don't see any pocket notebooks...just the waitress in Five Easy Pieces and I don't know if she had a order pad.

Anonymous said...

At those prices, I'd keep track too. To get an idea about the kind of money we are talking here, multiply all the figures by thirteen (to account for all the inflation we have had since 1942). Today that bathrobe would cost around $650. The lady most assuredly did not shop at Sears.

Michael Leddy said...

Thanks for the comments, all. When I watch old movies now, I have a little man in my head who looks out for notebooks and telephone exchange names.

$650! The bathrobe must've been "(fancy)" too.