Fast-Talking Dames [Paperback]

Professor Maria DiBattista (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 11, 2003

"There is nothing like a dame," proclaims the song from South Pacific. Certainly there is nothing like the fast-talking dame of screen comedies in the 1930s and '40s. In this engaging book, film scholar and movie buff Maria DiBattista celebrates the fast-talking dame as an American original. Coming of age during the Depression, the dame--a woman of lively wit and brash speech-epitomized a new style of self-reliant, articulate womanhood. Dames were quick on the uptake and hardly ever downbeat. They seemed to know what to say and when to say it. In their fast and breezy talk seemed to lie the secret of happiness, but also the key to reality. DiBattista offers vivid portraits of the grandest dames of the era, including Katharine Hepburn, Irene Dunne, Rosalind Russell, Barbara Stanwyck, and others, and discusses the great films that showcased their compelling way with words-and with men. With their snappy repartee and vivid colloquialisms, these fast-talkers were verbal muses at a time when Americans were reinventing both language and the political institutions of democratic culture. As they taught their laconic male counterparts (most notably those appealing but tongue-tied American icons, Gary Cooper, Henry Fonda, and James Stewart) the power and pleasures of speech, they also reimagined the relationship between the sexes. In such films as Bringing Up Baby, The Awful Truth, and The Lady Eve, the fast-talking dame captivated moviegoers of her time. For audiences today, DiBattista observes, the sassy heroine still has much to say.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"A smart book about very smart women." Benjamin Schwarz, Atlantic Monthly "Brief quotation can do only partial justice to the loving acuity with which DiBattista considers this band of admirable women, who give as good as they get, if not a great deal more." Robert Gottlieb, New York Times Book Review "A reverent reading of the screwball and romantic comedies of the 1930s and '40s and the leading ladies who brought them to life." Darcy Cosper, Variety

From the Publisher

Selected as one of the Best Nonfiction Books of 2001 by the Los Angeles Times Book Review

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Product Details

• Paperback: 384 pages
• Publisher: Yale University Press (March 11, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0300099037
• ISBN-13: 978-0300099034
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.1 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 2.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,625,078 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

21 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The Fast-Talking Women of Comedy, August 8, 2001

By 

Ricky Hunter (New York City, NY United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Fast-Talking Dames (Hardcover)

Maria DiBattista, in Fast-Talking Dames, looks at the women (Jean Harlow, Carole Lombard, Ginger Rogers, Myrna Loy, Jean Arthur, Claudette Colbert, Katharine Hepburn, Irene Dunne, Rosalind Russell, Barbara Stanwyck, and, even, Great Garbo) who helped create a new woman, a dame as it were, in screen comedy in the late thirties until the mid-forties. This woman relied on her voice for her wit and her power and the author does a very good job of looking at the effect and originality of this voice in the beginning of the book. The text can veer into over-analyzing at times, particulary in the chapters devoted to just one movie, but that is part of the charm of a film studies book. It will make one look a little longer and lot more carefully at these comic screen gems in the future. Anyone interested in screwball comedy will enjoy this book whether they agree with all the conclusions or not. The text may get a little bogged with a heavy scholar's hand but the material being studied always helps the lighten the load. An interesting addition to film studies books.

24 of 29 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Disappointing, August 26, 2001

By 

Jillian M. Beifuss (Middleburg, VA United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Fast-Talking Dames (Hardcover)

Maria Di Battista's look at the lively and complex women of '30s comedy is ultimately disappointing. While chapters on individual films are often interesting, the book contains too much repetition (the first few chapters seem to consist of di Battista pointing out--over and over--that these dames did indeed talk fast), and Di Battista's argument suffers from her failure to provide much of a historical context. Worth a look if you have a strong interest in the field; if you're just beginning to read about it, try Elizabeth Kendall's *The Runaway Bride* (which provides a context for actresses, movies, and genre), James Harvey's *Romantic Comedy from Lubitsch to Sturges* (not as analytical as it might be, but positively majestic in scope), and Stanley Cavell's *Pursuits of Happiness* (aimed at academic readers).

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Nostalgia with fine women actors, June 25, 2003

By 

Mr. Wynn (State of Confusion) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Fast-Talking Dames (Hardcover)

This book discusses the role of women in film, particularly those women from the earlier years of film that were fast-talking and smart. This is a great record of how film tried to sneak intelligent women into their movies, even though society at the time dictated that women should be docile and silent.

A great analysis of women and their roles in United States history.