Pillow Talk and Sex on the Moon

Pillow Talk (1959)

Cathy Whitlock

Ooohh la la...it has been such a romantic weekend...oh, not for me, but for the Dallas Museum of Art! Thursday evening was the opening night of our new Pictureshow series, in which we play films that have a connection to an exhibit in the museum. Last Thursday we played Pillow Talk the 1959 film starring Doris Day, Rock Hudson, Thelma Ritter, and Tony Randall. It is a hilarious movie full of innuendo and desperate schemes all for love. It also has a fantastic set of wonderful Modern furniture and absolutely gorgeous costumes.

We asked Nashville writer Cathy Whitlock to introduce the film. She is an interior designer, author, and a popular blogger. Her book, Designs on Film, is a wonderful and thorough exploration of cinematic set design throughout the century. She covers films like The Wizard of Oz (1939) and Ben Hur (1959), all the way to Harry Potter (2001-2011) and Something's Gotta Give (2003).   Check out her blog here!

Pillow Talk was even more suitable for our audiences as Rock Hudson takes on the persona of "Rex Stetson," perfect gentleman from a Texas range, attempting to win the heart of chic and professional interior decorator, Doris Day. If you haven't seen this movie, I highly recommend it. It is flirty and witty all the way through and a downright classic. Check it out!

After the movie, Lisa, my supervisor in adult programming, took Cathy, me, and Kevin Tucker, the curator of decorative arts, out to a swanky tapas restaurant on Ross Avenue. It turns out, Kevin is from Columbia, S.C., and used to be the director at the Owens-Thomas House in Savannah! It was so nice to have someone to talk to about home for a little while.

Mezrich's Sex on the Moon

The following evening we hosted an interview of best-selling author Ben Mezrich. If you haven't heard of Mezrich, you may recognize him as the man who wrote the books behind the films 21 (book: Bringing Down the House) and The Social Network (book: The Accidental Billionaires). In an interview with Texas Monthly editor Brian Sweany, Mezrich discussed his latest book, Sex on the Moon, about Thad Roberts, a young NASA intern who stole a safe of moon rocks to impress his girlfriend. Evidently, he and his girlfriend spread the rocks beneath the mattress of their bed to have "sex on the moon!" Mezrich discussed his cinematic writing style that many critics such as Janet Maslin of the New York Times dismiss as supposition and exaggeration (click here for Maslin's scathing book review). Mezrich, however, insists that he does in fact do research (in this case he obtained Robert's entire FBI file as well as interviews with characters involved). He knows what was said, when it was said, just simply doesn't know the precise dictation, so he improvises.

Author Ben Mezrich

In the interview, Mezrich is a funny, endearingly nerdy guy, joking offhand about his numerous rejections from publishing companies as a young writer. That's not including even more rejections by women for being a geek! He kept the audience chuckling even as he addressed Maslin's review, saying that he writes for himself and those that enjoy reading his work, not for Janet Maslin.

This is an important note for anyone reading this. I want everyone to know that the word "novel" strictly applies to fictional books. This was my lesson learned this weekend. In the program for Ben Mezrich, I wrote, "Mezrich's novel Sex on the Moon has already been snatched by Hollywood to be made into a film by the same producers and studio as The Social Network." Seemingly harmless statement. WRONG. During the Q&A session, a woman approached the mic, read that sentence aloud, and put in a Maslin-esque argument about the fictional value of Mezrich's non-fictional work. A little awkward, but not a terribly big deal, except for the fact that C-SPAN was recorded this interview for the DMA and as promotional material for Mezrich's book. So just remember: novel=fiction. Yikes.

I had to go into the museum yesterday evening to help out family programming in the Center for Creative Connections (C3). We were gleaning inspiration from a Lee Bontecou sculpture to build our own large-scale sculpture. I can appreciate the artistic work of this Bontecou piece, but frankly, I think her work is terrifying, and grotesquely ugly.

Lee Bontecou, Untitled (35), 1961

It is constructed of welded metal, and canvas from old post bags, as well as copper wires. It's difficult to tell in the two-dimensional picture, but it is indeed very three-dimensional, looming out at the viewer with that ominous black hole. Just by looking, it is impossible to tell where the whole ends. The kids participating in this project loved it, saying it looks like a black hole, or the engine of a spaceship, or a volcano. The spaceship was the most overwhelming response, so, that's what we decided to construct using PVC pipes, chicken wire, and canvas. 

The spaceship!

My contribution!

We have another busy weekend coming up in July's 9x9 programming when the museum is open until 9pm for 9 days of the month. I'll be working with my co-worker, Hayley, on the DMAzing Race, a big scavenger hunt throughout the museum. It'll be a blast! 

Only three more weeks left of my internship...