Scene 41
ARTS CORNER
STUFF & THINGS
Unravelling Greta Garbo
Lift that weight, pluck that eyebrow
) Greta Garbo is one of the biggest stars in the history of cinema. It’s now 80 years since she gave her final performance in The Two Faced Woman. That movie was her only flop. Stung by the lacklustre response to her poor casting in a screwball comedy, she left Hollywood and never acted again. She was 36 years old.
) There’s something I need to confess. It’s been weighing on my mind for sometime now and I feel that the time is right to unburden myself of it. The thing is... as a gay man... I don’t know how to say this, but... I don’t really do any grooming. There! I’ve said it! It’s out there.
Garbo lived for another 50 years. Over that time, she become one of the world’s most famous recluses. How could the Divine Garbo, one of the most desired women in the world, just walk away? The hope for a potential Garbo comeback haunted the minds of many cineastes, but it wasn’t to be. Did Garbo ever regret walking away from Hollywood? We’ll never know. She wasn’t really prone to discussing her feelings in any detail. She remained a mystery to even her closest friends.
I don’t pluck or sculpt my eyebrows. I don’t own a hair dryer or put product in my hair. I don’t use beard oil. I once bought an under eye rejuvenating thing but it didn’t seem to do anything. I’ve never had an exfoliating facial massage. I don’t use aftershave. Shocking!
Robert Gottlieb is a revered literary editor and lifelong Garbo devotee. His latest book Garbo attempts to unravel the mystery of Hollywood’s most elusive star. He’s 90 years old so his age gives him something of an advantage. He’s been around long enough to remember when a Garbo comeback was a possibility.
I moisturise. I trim my beard. I use a roll on deodorant. And that’s about it really. Oh, and wash everything on a daily basis of course. I wonder if this absence of grooming loses me some gay points. I see people out and about and on social media and everything is trimmed, plucked, scrubbed, exfoliated, firmed, tweaked and perfumed. I then I rock up, a bit scruffy round the edges but still looking good. You definitely couldn’t describe me as an uber gay though that’s for sure.
WITH ALEX KLINEBERG
Her films may have dated, but her performances are still captivating. She was able to elevate often clunky scripts, making them seem like high art, at least while she was on the screen. Her performance in Queen Christina is probably her best. It’s one Swedish queen playing another. Garbo uttered her most famous line in Grand Hotel (“I want to be alone”). It seemed to sum up her life. She had a loathing of crowds and photographers. She made a point of covering her face when the press pursued her around the world: she wasn’t going to allow them a decent shot. So, how does a biographer approach a subject as difficult to pin down as Garbo? In some ways she was quite a simple person. Born into the Swedish peasantry in 1905, she dreamed of becoming an actress. It was quite an ambition for someone who came from nothing. Clearly, her ambition was fulfilled not long after she left drama school. Throughout her years of success, she remained an unpretentious Swedish woman who wanted a simple life. She didn’t seem to derive much pleasure from becoming a superstar, or from her vast wealth. On the rare occasions she attended social events, she’d eventually say “I tank I go home now” and leave. She was always leaving, always on the run. Gottlieb looks at Garbo from every angle. He’s read everything that’s been published about her. The Garbo he brings to life in 2021 is a combination of banality and brilliance. Someone you can’t pin down. In other words, the same star who captivated audiences throughout the 1920s and 1930s, and then vanished, never to be forgotten.
BY JON TAYLOR
“I certainly couldn’t afford to buy these products and get a gym membership and perhaps that’s why I look at them slightly disdainfully. If you can do these things, good for you! I will envy your tight skin and muscles! I think I’d rather spend my hard earned dosh on mugs, charity shop bargains and what not.”
Make up for men is becoming a standard kind of thing with concealers, foundations and tinted moisturisers all available. I can’t see myself ever using them and this is coming from someone who has never had the best skin. The list of creams I’ve tried to banish the pimples is a long one but my skin remains defiantly the same and what with ‘mask acne’ now being a thing, I’m kinda letting it do its own thing. So a concealer might be useful I guess. I will ponder such things. I don’t go to the gym either. Losing more points by the second! I wonder what percentage of gay men do go to a gym and whether it would be as high as I think. It’s almost totally accepted that gay men should join gyms. I saw a film the other day with two gay men as central characters. They chatted about what a gay man does when he first moves to a new town. The second thing mentioned, after finding a home, was to join a gym. It’s almost ubiquitous. But I won’t join a gym. I will walk. I will swim... occasionally, and perhaps do the odd push up. The unsaid thing about all these grooming products and gym memberships is that they all cost a fair bit of money. I certainly couldn’t afford to buy these products and get a gym membership and perhaps that’s why I look at them slightly disdainfully. If you can do these things, good for you! I will envy your tight skin and muscles! I think I’d rather spend my hard earned dosh on mugs, charity shop bargains and what not. And biscuits, obviously. I’d find it hard I think to spend that much on biscuits I guess but I’ll give it a good go!
