This gem of a silent film was on TCM last night, and as DH came to bed and looked up at the screen, he could only wonder aloud, “What are you doing watching a silent movie?”
Prinny is fabulous, fat and garrulous and everything you would imagine. The Beau, John Barrymore, is perfectly entrancing.
The costumes are amazing, the acting conveyed in looks and sideway glances, and the scenes beautiful.
What is most amazing is how this one larger than life character has continued to resonate with audiences since his lifetime. His name has been invoked to sell products, books, and generally encapsulate an age of the dandy.
Countless books and biographies have been written about this arbiter of fashion, who despite his revered status for a brief time met a sad end.
With the rapidly increasing literacy and advancements in printing, Beau was arguably one of the first modern celebs. Along with men distinguished in war (Wellington), word (Byron) and politics (Liverpool), fashion as a singular distinction of the upper classes naturally must have its dignitaries.
I suspect a modern depiction on the silver screen of the Beau would emphasize his womanizing and bad ending, but to me what is far more interesting is his apparent sense of humor (self-deprecating as it must’ve been) for the Ton. Although he is credited with dandyism, his cultivated attention to detail and neatness prophesized how masculinity would shift with the Industrial revolution. So much so, that I can still see hints of the Beau in today’s modern suit and tie. Beau, in many ways, was the first metro-sexual (does anyone still use that term?). Whether or not this was done to depress the trend of feminine fussiness in men’s clothes from the Georgian era, or as a match to the simpler lines of women’s dress, Beau’s fashion sense emphasized masculinity in a different way by placing importance and meaning on what it was to be a man.
I can think of few modern celebs that have as much widespread influence with as much quiet.
I recommend this lovely biography written in 1844 for its wonderful details and musings: http://books.google.com/books?id=kew5AAAAcAAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=beau+brummell&hl=en&sa=X&ei=tmArU9znG8i7oQSzqILwCQ&ved=0CEEQ6AEwBA
