Adolphe Menjou's Tailors

[marcelo]

I'd be very interested to hear whether anyone here has ever unbuttoned heir coat cuffs to wash their hands?
NJS

And what is more: ... whether anyone here has ever unbuttoned their coat cuffs to IMAGINARILY wash their hands?

I did with my first bespoke suit do exactly this. In undertaking the exercise, imaginarily to wash my hands, I discovered that one undoes the coat cuffs and turns them back but then has to undo the shirt cuffs and turn those back too and that, in doing so, I would exceed, by several minutes, the time that it takes an average female of our species to powder her nose and so I abandoned further thought of putting the trial run into actual practice but, maybe, the dogged persistence in having all future cuff buttons to undo, even on top coats, reaches for the brightest star of frivolity. And that makes me smile. Because at least I can reach up there.
NJS

The extent to which functional buttons on the jacket sleeves are practical when one is washing one’s hand may be a matter of debate. Yet, they may prove quite practical when a gentleman has to perform an autopsy in the middle of a trip by train without neglecting his sense of style, like the Greek physician on the left. In the middle Hercule Poirot, flanked by the director of the Orient Express line. The image bellow stems from the film Oritent Express, by Sidney Lumet.

[storeynicholas]

Maybe he has surgeon's cuffs on his shirt too!
NJS

[Richard3]

I received the book today (ordered via Adebooks).

[marcelo]

It has been noticed that there is a nice photo of Menjou’s standing before his vast collection of shoes in Flusser’s book (page 187). A second photo, in the same book, was posted by myself in this thread some time ago (posted: Tue Sep 23, 2008 10:11 pm. to be more precise). I it seems there is a third photo of him in the book, though no information on the photo is provided. It appears on page 238 (Chapter: “Full-Dress Trouser”) and I assume he is wearing the very same cloths he wears while showing his magnific shoes, plus a flower in the buttoniere. A fourth photo, again, with the same cloths, seems to be reproduced on page 233. He holds a quite unusual accessory which both smokers and non-smokers might incidentally be pleased to contemplate…
Does any one confirm these photos show the same person, Menjou for that matter, and the same cloths?

[schneidergott]

Here is another picture of Mr. Menjou wearing Knize:



My inspired guess for the trouser cuffs would be 5cm or 2 inches.


SG

[RWS]

I've begun to think that I may abstain from viewing these delightful photographs: I don't want to cultivate envy!

[JLibourel]

Menjou may have been well-dressed, but he was disliked by the Hollywood community. Nobody in the picture biz who had worked with him wanted anything more to do with him. He was considered a miserable SOB.

JMB

Could part of this antipathy have been because he was so conservative? When I was a young man (shortly before he died), he was very active in far-right politics.

[marcelo]

... in those times running water was not as common, particularly in the country, so situations did present themselves when someone poored some water for you to wash your hands....

I have just learnt there is a specific word to refer to the afore mentioned jug out of which water was formerly poured, namely: EWER. One should definitely have workable button holes on the sleeves and find one's appropriate ewer.

[Costi]

Thank you, Marcelo, for sharing this word - I might never have encountered it. The particular ewer in the picture is quite elegant - it woukd go well with a silver sink on a tall three-legged frame (trepied?), a cake of old fashioned soap (no creamy liquids) and linen towels...One thing I miss in foreign languages is just this: knowing specific words for specific objects or actions. These are the words that give colour and character to a language, unlike modern universal words like "telephone".
I also like your preference for the "learnt" form of the past participle, to differentiate it from the adjective "learned"

[storeynicholas]

Thank you, Marcelo, for sharing this word - I might never have encountered it. The particular ewer in the picture is quite elegant - it woukd go well with a silver sink on a tall three-legged frame (trepied?), a cake of old fashioned soap (no creamy liquids) and linen towels...One thing I miss in foreign languages is just this: knowing specific words for specific objects or actions. These are the words that give colour and character to a language, unlike modern universal words like "telephone".
I also like your preference for the "learnt" form of the past participle, to differentiate it from the adjective "learned"

Costi - tripod - but close and many LL members amaze me with their linguistic ability - I am afraid that many (not all) Brits tend to rest complacently on the assurance that people from other countries can and will speak English and so accommodate them. It isn't that we do not learn languages, it's just that we take them to the necessary level to pass examiniations and then haul them out in desperation in some remote foreign place to buy things in shops and so on (normally resulting in bemusement until the grandchild of the shopkeeper arrives to translate) - but I couldn't dream of participating on an even playing field with you (and others too such as MA, FiS and marcelo) in any of the several other languages that you speak. I suppose that my generation would generally know what an ewer is - but I am not so sure about the youngsters in the UK; they might say 'pitcher' but I dare say that many would say 'water jug' - which it is - but is lacks the specificity of 'ewer'.
NJS

[marcelo]

Dear Costi and Nicholas
These are very kind words. Thank you. We can virtually share anything within the premises of the LL, even unusual words like ewer…

[storeynicholas]

Dear Marcelo,
For my part, it is simply an acknowledgement of clear evidence of a mastery of the language which enables us all here to communicate clearly with each other. There are, I am sure, more beautiful sounding languages (although English spoken at its best is very fine) but of all the contributions that the British have made to the world, the language ,which brings together in friendship (echoing the words of the the motto over the BBC's Bush House in the Aldwych), English-speaking peoples, must be the very finest.
NJS

[Frog in Suit]

Dear Marcelo,
For my part, it is simply an acknowledgement of clear evidence of a mastery of the language which enables us all here to communicate clearly with each other. There are, I am sure, more beautiful sounding languages (although English spoken at its best is very fine) but of all the contributions that the British have made to the world, the language ,which brings together in friendship (echoing the words of the the motto over the BBC's Bush House in the Aldwych), English-speaking peoples, must be the very finest.
NJS

I would add, in passing, that all the languages I have heard (when visiting or over the wireless) sound beautiful when carefully enunciated by educated speakers. Think announcers on classical music stations in the fifties or sixties....Standards since then have gone down. Most present-day announcers/producers on France Musique cannot compare to their predecessors. They mumble and use flattened vowels. I remember a France Musique producer called Mildred Clary (I think she wrote a book on Benjamin Britten), obviously of English ancestry, who could speak both French and English with the utmost clarity and elegance. Listening to her speak was a delight.

This topic might more properly find its place in Elegant Living.

Frog in Suit

[rjman]

Menjou may have been well-dressed, but he was disliked by the Hollywood community. Nobody in the picture biz who had worked with him wanted anything more to do with him. He was considered a miserable SOB.

JMB

I believe this was in part due to his participation with the House Un-American Activities Committee...

On another note, in his memoirs, published before those years, there is a picture of him during WWII with Admiral John McCain -- the current senator's grandfather!!!