For those new readers to my blog, whenever I have a post and can't find an appropriate picture to go with it I just feature some Natalie Wood photos.
But today I'm going to do something better. (I have your attention now, don't it?)
So much of eroticism is in the mind. Seeing what we're forbidden to see is what makes something stimulating. And I'm going to show you Natalie Wood's most erotic scene. But it's not sexy for the reason you expect.
It's the famous bathtub scene in SPLENDOR IN THE GRASS. You're thinking -- oh sure, it's erotic because she's naked in a bathtub. Other than her bare back you don't really see anything. Still, you're saying -- just the suggestion that she's naked is exciting. Nope. That's not it.
So back to SPLENDOR IN THE GRASS. There was this scene in the bathtub. It would look unnatural for someone to be naked except for a bracelet and so somehow director Elia Kazan convinced her to remove it.
So that's what erotic! Not to turn this blog into X-rated porn, but in the following scene you actually see Natalie Wood's left wrist. Is that a giant turn-on or what?
18 comments :
The sex term you're looking for is "deep wristing."
I prefer 1969 Natlie Wood. There isn't a single scene in "Bob & Carol..." where she isn't loaded for bear.
You can tell even there she is trying to hide it.
Like the pearls on June Cleaver's neck that she wore all the time only to hide a cleft in her neck - and they became an item of social significance.
I've enjoyed your obsession.
But not in a creepy way.
Ken, Ken, Ken. Dude. This post cracks me up. It is so adorably goofy. Still, it notes how a trusted director can get something extraordinary from an actor. Yes, I'll focus on that aspect of the post. :)
Excellent post Ken. Its erotic but also creepy as it eerily foreshadows what happened in a scene 14 years later. Take the word "Splendor" out of the title and place it on the side of a yacht, remove Natalie from this bathtub and place her in the biggest bathtub on the planet, the Pacific Ocean. Replace the woman in the scene with R.J. Wagner and you have this:
R.J. - Did Chris spoil you?
NW - I hate you, I hate you, I hate you!
(2 hours later) R.J. - What do we do now?
The only thing missing is Elia Kazan's directing. Kazan said he was too busy to direct because he "had a really long blacklist of things to do"
The Naked Wrist Fetish... Now there's a new one I haven't heard of...
BTW, Elia Kazan is the same guy who talked Marilyn Monroe into having sex with him right after Joe DiMaggio proposed to her. Either the man's powers of persuasion were monumental -- or Marilyn was just a girl who couldn't say "no"... I've got the feeling the latter is the case...
The pie fight in The Great Race. That is all.
Sure, just keep telling yourself that your obsession with Natalie has not crossed over -- that it's just borderline. Like we all have left wrist fantasies that we don't share with anyone.
But still...
(With apologies to Robb)
I've enjoyed your obsession.
.....in a creepy way.
And ENOUGH about this talk about GIRLS!....Scully checks in.....
http://m.dodgers.mlb.com/news/article/169108746/vin-scully-will-miss-fans-after-retirement
(How about you arrange to sit down with Scully for an hour interview about "inside the booth" stories? You are JUST the man to do it! ;^)
Natalie is back in the news. Her daughter has introduced a new perfume in her name.
It's called: "Eau no! (Bateau sur l'eau.)"
The fact that I don't plan to wear it confirms that I'm waiting for the right dress.
*****
Someone mentioned a sitcom called The McCarthys.
That '50s Show.
Int. Offices of the FBI.
Senator McCarthy: I'm sorry madam, I was looking for... J Edgar, is that you?
Her wrist? You might want to think some more on whether or not you've slipped over into unhealthy.
I first saw "Splendor in the Grass" at UCLA film school, and I'll never see it again. As a 21 year-old, I found it devastatingly sad. I was haunted just thinking about it for weeks. Natalie was great, but man, that ending was a killer.
To quote Chloe Moretz in DARK SHADOWS, "You've very weird."
A recent profile of Natasha Gregson Wagner in the New York Times, with some photos:
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/20/fashion/natalie-wood-natasha-gregson-wagner.html?_r=0
To be honest, Ken, I always thought your suspicions regarding her death - as I think with most conspiracy theories - was really out there. THEN I came across this quote from Robert Wagner's IMDB page - "[When Natalie Wood began dating Warren Beatty]: I wanted to kill that son of a bitch . . . I was hanging around outside his house with a gun, hoping he would walk out. I not only wanted to kill him, I was prepared to kill him." YOWZA!
On the same topic, I've read that Gary Burghoff perferred not to have his left hand seen on camera because of a slight deformity. Did you ever have to rewrite or toss an idea for a Radar scene because you thought, "There's no way we can make that work without seeing his hand"? Or did you just leave it up to Gary and the director to figure out a way to work around it?
The scene in which Natalie seduces Robert Culp in their bathroom i "Bob, Ted, Carol and Alice" earns five stars on the Wood-o-Meter.
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