Summaries

Synopsis

WARNING! THIS SYNOPSIS CONTAINS SPOILERS! Hollywood Mouth 2 is a parallel rather than a sequel to the film Hollywood Mouth. Part 2 stands on its own as a separate story. Both films take place at approximately the same time but emphasize different aspects of the story. Movie fan Berlyn Ferlinghetti takes a friend on a tour of movie stars' homes that still look similar to how they were in the 1920s-1960s...everything from modest hotels and apartments to Beverly Hills mansions. Berlyn is preparing a one-woman show about Simone de Beauvoir and later, at a local beach, she recalls the countless residential hotels and apartments de Beauvoir lived in until she finally was able to purchase her own home. Berlyn's friend Rick, who operates a movie memorabilia business, has asked her to go to a carnival at a county fair to look into some James Dean/Marilyn Monroe posters that he may buy for a client. Berlyn remembers a reference to Simone de Beauvoir going to a carnival in Paris and comments, "I don't think I could relate to anyone who didn't like carnivals. As Kirk Douglas said in The Bad and the Beautiful, maybe everybody likes to be cheap once in a while." (Also, Berlyn recalls, some of the early movie people came out of carnivals--passing on some of the nomenclature like "the back lot.") At the fair Berlyn buys some incense (e.g. "Race Track, a blend of gasoline, motor oil, and skid marks" and "Sun Tan Lotion, the sexy scent from the original Sea and Ski from the '60s") for Camille (the friend from the stars' homes tour) and Camille's brother Gary; they run a nightclub in Hollywood where they use incense to create different moods. ("They're French with some Russian in their ancestry and have an interest in movies.") Berlyn works at a movie museum and invites Camille and Gary (AKA Guri) to the opening of the Max Factor exhibit because "Max Factor had been the cosmetician to the Imperial Family of Russia before he came to America." During the party vandals turn over Camille's car which is parked near the museum. Berlyn is originally from Venice (its "maze of narrow pathways, alleys, and confusing streets" remind her of one of her favorite movies, Pepe le Moko), and she thinks the museum should have an exhibit on movies filmed at nearby Malibu (such as Mildred Pierce and Whatever Happened to Baby Jane). She submits a proposal for the Malibu exhibit and another on the Brown Derby restaurant, but the proposals are ignored. Berlyn finds out the museum is having other problems..."new people" are coming into the museum as guides, as part of their probation. The museum also has a program for youth offenders, and thefts from the gift shop and other incidents are being reported. Berlyn goes to a theater to make arrangements for her play and picks up a flyer for a show about Steve McQueen that she'd like to attend. "Soaking up local color" for her play, Berlyn takes a walk around Hollywood, visiting some places from 1947 when Simone de Beauvoir came to Los Angeles-- buildings that were Rexall and Thrifty drug stores, Newberry's, Woolworth's, etc. (Simone de Beauvoir fell in love with American drug stores and dime stores when she visited the U.S.) Berlyn hears some of the stories about the new guides at the museum, such as "the blowtorch bandit" and the one who babysat cocaine bricks. The museum can be rented for parties and events, and Berlyn is asked to show it to a girl who wants to have a wedding with a movie theme. Rick's client Sal Getty has moved into a larger house and wants to decorate it with movie memorabilia and collectibles; Rick's ideas include a wall poster of The Magnificent Seven, an Elvis Presley rug and chair, a Harold Lloyd clock, and Gone With the Wind plates. At Sal's, Berlyn meets an artist who's made a sculpture of Dean Martin for Sal and later, back at the beach, she tries to answer the Melon-Twisters quiz in Rick's newsletter ("This Hollywood star wanted to play Lawrence of Arabia in the 1940s"..."This blond male star always wore mascara off screen," etc.). Berlyn returns to the theater and encounters the manager who was gone on vacation when she was there earlier. He tells her he's too "busy" to work with her--"I'm directing! You continue with who helped you before." Camille has a miniature carved rabbit made by Faberge and tells Berlyn that it may have been one of the "thousands and thousands" of pieces of Faberge that belonged to Prince Yousoupov, who murdered Rasputin. After finding out more about the Prince (he and his wife were involved in a famous movie-related lawsuit that resulted in the disclaimer "any resemblance of the characters in this motion picture to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental"), Berlyn reads her comparison of Yousoupov with Joan Crawford to some friends, impersonators of James Dean, Orson Welles, Bela Lugosi, and Janis Joplin (both had the same birthday...both of them had one brother...both had theaters in their homes...both took care of their appearance--"Yousoupov touched himself up with make-up and Joan kept her figure by eating a pickle for dessert"). At the museum Berlyn gets a tip sheet for self-defense and security, and after being hassled by one of the newer guides she decides to resign. She takes a cruise around the Sunset Strip, going by the former Ciro's nightclub, the Whisky A Go Go, a house that belonged to Steve McQueen, and other places. When Berlyn meets with the lighting tech for her play, she learns that the show about Steve McQueen was sabotaged by the theater manager, who told people not to come to the play. (Berlyn quotes Sal Getty's belief that you should "stand by your fellows.") Someone from the museum tells Berlyn that it's going to close ("the guides weren't any good any more and word of mouth was getting around"). Berlyn gets a phone call from the girl she had shown around the museum. The girl had paid for a wedding rental and the museum isn't returning her calls. Berlyn tells her the museum is closing. The girl had signed an agreement stating there are no refunds and she's despondent. Berlyn remembers something Simone de Beauvoir wrote--"Whether we like it or not, we do impinge on other people's destinies, and must face up to the responsibility which this implies." She decides to ask Sal Getty if the wedding can be in the backyard of his new house. The film ends with the bride and groom getting married as Marilyn Monroe and Arthur Miller, with Sal Getty (dressed as W.C. Fields) giving the bride away, surrounded by posters of Beau Geste, The Wizard of Oz, The African Queen, and other classic movies.