I’m blaming this column on Mary Bird, who coordinates the Friday Fiber Friends gatherings at the Page Farm and Home Museum at the University of Maine. In an e-mail exchange in June I mentioned a movie that references sheep, then she mentioned one and so on until I decided that I might as well share the fun with you, dear readers.
The whole thing began one rainy evening when I was watching “The Road to Bali,” that oldie but goodie film starring Bing Crosby, Bob Hope and Dorothy Lamour, released in 1952. It was No. 6 in a series of seven “Road to …” movies.
In the process of getting to Bali, Hope and Crosby end up in Australia, strolling through a vast herd of sheep. Naturally, the two break into a verse of “The Whiffenpoof Song.” When they come to the refrain, “We’re poor little lambs who have lost our way,” the sheep finish the “baa-baa-baa” chorus. It’s one of those hilariously silly movie moments that only Hollywood could produce, and that scene alone makes the film worth seeing.
Other movies on my list that make reference to needlework or sheep are:
• “Top Hat,” made in 1935, starring Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers. There is a scene, supposedly in a grand hotel in Venice, where Helen Broderick and Ginger are sitting at a table. They are all dolled up in hats, gloves and chic clothing. While they wait for Fred and Edward Everett Horton to arrive, Broderick is knitting — it marks her as a sensible, no-nonsense woman.
• “Breakfast at Tiffany’s,” 1961. Audrey Hepburn, after she becomes engaged to a wealthy Brazilian, is knitting for him a bright red sweater. She’s not pretending to knit. You can tell she really knows how. She tells George Peppard that she may have confused the blueprints for the house her beau is building with her knitting directions and may, in fact, be knitting a hacienda. That’s the tip-off that Holly is beyond ditsy, deluding herself that Mr. Right is the answer to the dilemmas in her life.
• “Lost in Translation,” 2003. In this film, Scarlett Johansson is knitting a scarf. While standing on the bed and wearing underwear and a shirt, she asks her husband, played by Giovanni Ribisi, if he thinks she has knit the scarf long enough. Clearly, he’s not all that interested and you know right away the marriage is doomed.
• “Emma,” 1996, based on the Jane Austen novel. Gwyneth Paltrow and Toni Collette bond as friends over embroidery frames set under a splendid tent as Paltrow, in the title role, schemes to find a husband for Collette, who plays Harriet Smith. There is no doubt that Emma is teacher and Harriet is student.
• “Mama Mia!” 2008. Although there are no scenes of needlework being done in this film, that I recall, set decoration abounds with gorgeous clothing, linens and other textiles embroidered in a Greek folk tradition mode. It’s fun trying to spot the needleworked clothing and linens.
• “Silas Marner,” 1985, based on the novel by George Eliot. Ben Kingsley plays the part of Marner, a weaver and miser who has been ostracized by his community when he is accused of stealing money from the local church. The plot thickens when the child, Eppie, shows up, causing Marner to thaw out enough to see to her welfare, thus weaving for him a family.
• “Cousin Bette,” 1998, based on a novel by Honore de Balzac. Jessica Lange plays Bette, a poor seamstress who makes costumes for an actress. Pining for the love of a faithless sculptor, Bette deliberately destroys her family. There are a few scenes in which she is seen plying her needle.
• Last but not least is “The Thorn Birds,” 1993, based on the novel by Colleen McCullough, and “Far From the Madding Crowd,” 1998, based on the novel by Thomas Hardy. Sheep by the thousands serve as extras in both films.
If you, dear readers, know of other films that refer to the needle arts or sheep, let me know. I’ll add them to my list.
Snippets
• Fiber-related handiwork will be a feature at Leonard’s Mills, the Maine Forest and Logging Museum 10 a.m.-3 p.m. Saturday, July 18. Admission is $5, $2 children, free to museum members.
Hanna van Hauen-Lewis will demonstrate how to dye wool and how to spin. Gloria Buntrock will demonstrate bobbin lace making, and Angela Lausten will teach embroidery.
Ten children or adults may sign up to make a woolen cat pin for a $2 materials fee, but all visitors may watch and learn how to make a running stitch, back stitch and French knot.
• Photographer Marti Stone of Rockport did the photography for “99 Yarns and Counting: More Designs from the Green Mountain Spinnery,” a book featuring new knitting patterns, to be published this fall. For more information, visit www.spinnery.com.
• Wear your old, broken bead necklace or bracelet again by learning how to restring the beads onto a new cord. A bead-stringing workshop to teach basic techniques will be offered by Taylor Carson, owner of ABOCA Beads in Damariscotta, Main Street, at 9 a.m. Tuesday, July 21, at the store. The event is sponsored by Spectrum Generations Coastal Community Center. Call 563-1363 by Monday, July 20, to register.
990-8153