January 7, 2023

"As an advertising copywriter in her 20s and early 30s, Ms. Weldon was associated with the enduring slogans 'Unzip a banana' and 'Go to work on an egg.'"

"Another offering — 'Vodka makes you drunker quicker' — was rejected by her bosses."

From "Fay Weldon, ‘She-Devil’ Author Who Challenged Feminist Orthodoxy, Dies at 91/By turns elusive and confessional in public, she used dark satire to explore the divides between men and women" (NYT). 

I'm not sure if I ever read the novel "She-Devil"...

The book tells the story of Ruth Patchett, a tall, clumsy woman whose husband, Bobbo, embarks on an affair with Mary Fisher, a wealthy, successful novelist who lives “in a high tower, on the edge of the sea,” as the opening lines put it.

Ruth narrates: “I am fixed here and now, trapped in my body, pinned to one particular spot, hating Mary Fisher. It is all I can do. Hate obsesses and transforms me: It is my singular attribution.” 

... but I love the movie:

23 comments:

John henry said...

What a coincidence!

I had never heard of Fay Weldon until Thursday when Kim du toit mentioned her in a post. Based on tha I downloaded the sample of "habits of the house"

Sounds interesting and I'm looking forward to reading it. When I finish "the silk road" by Colin falconer.

Ann and Kim and me. Gmta, I guess

John Henry

RideSpaceMountain said...

"Challenged Feminist Orthodoxy..."

So it does exist! All that's needed now is to assault D.C.'s Hotel Zena, kill the high priestess, steal their syballine books, and we can crush it forevermore.

John henry said...

Re the vodka slogan,

Vodka did not sell well in the us until someone in the 50s came up with the tagline "it leaves you breathless"

Or, as someone pointed out, people will just think you are stupid, not drunk

John Henry

Lurker21 said...

I didn't read the novel or see the movie, but I wondered back then if Roseanne Barr's low comedy could really do the novel justice. Nowadays, I don't think of literary and movie culture as that different or of novelists as much higher than entertainers.

narciso said...

There was also a series on a&e or bravo

Nancy said...

Oh noes! The Death Triad just became a Death Quad!

Kate said...

I haven't read or thought of Fay Weldon in decades. She was English course material in the 80s. Is she still assigned by professors? It isn't often that a writer leaves so little impression on me. RIP

Ann Althouse said...

"What a coincidence! I had never heard of Fay Weldon until Thursday..."

She died on Wednesday. Not much of a coincidence that people are talking about her.

Joe Smith said...

Didn't know about that movie.

It is so crudely done...like a high school production.

Was she the original Peggy Olson?

Ed Begley, Jr. is one of a very few lefty environmental wackos I absolutely respect because he lives that life.

MacMacConnell said...

I never read her books. Both adaptions of her book, "The Life and Loves of a She-Devil" were great. The first was the 1986 BBC mini series of the book's name staring Julie T. Wallace as the Barr character and Patricia Hodge as the Streep character.

cassandra lite said...

"Another offering — 'Vodka makes you drunker quicker' — was rejected by her bosses."

Years ago I considered becoming an ad copywriter and met with the head copywriter at Foote Cone in San Francisco. He told me to come up with a bunch of ad lines, but all I could think of were ones like that. "Jack Daniels: It comes up as easily as it goes down" was my favorite.

I also invented two products: a self tanner called "Negr-on" and "Paste-on Herpes, for when she's in the mood and you're not."

Needless to say, I didn't become a copywriter.

jim said...

Sounds like remake of Polyester.

Tina848 said...

I have both read the book and seen the movie. The book is much better and more detailed. There are a few more characters and it delves into the relationships of the women after their divorce more. The movie took a few short cuts and liberty, but it was also OK.

Do read the book if you can download it.

loudogblog said...

'Vodka makes you drunker quicker' That's really funny. I had a college theater friend, Jon Bastian, who would get really drunk really fast on vodka. Back before the turn of the century, we used to have cast parties in the Wine Cellar Theater at LMU on the opening nights of our shows. In those days, the LMU students used to vote on how much money they gave to the student clubs. We started a student club for the Del Rey Players (our most famous member was Bob Denver.) called the Wine Cellar Rats and we used the money that we got from the voting to buy booze. To demonstrate how much times have changed, a few years ago I read how the Del Rey Players got punished by the "powers that be" at LMU because an underage student actor was drinking water out of an actual beer bottle onstage during a show. SERIOUSLY. Alas, poor Jon Bastian died a few years ago. The L.A. Times described him as "the" famous gay playwright, Jon Bastian. He was a good, valuable, important person and he is missed.

PM said...

'Vodka makes you drunker quicker'
Huh, gotta try that.

Readering said...

Go to work on an egg was one of the top ad slogans. Brilliant. Don't remember the banana line.

Saint Croix said...

not big on feminism but this book

Death of a She-Devil

I might give it a whirl

The women of the world gave up romance, subservience and submission, and once empowered, took to hard work, truth and reality. Much good has it done them.

Ruth Patchett, the original She Devil, is now eighty-four and keen to retire. But who can take up her mantle? Enter Tyler Patchett, our new kind of heroine and Ruth's grandson. He's an ultra-confident, twenty-three-year-old man: beautiful, resentful and unemployed.

Tyler won't be satisfied until he can transition into the ultimate symbol of power and status. A woman.

In Fay Weldon's 1983 classic, The Life and Loves of a She Devil, women fought men for power and won. In 2017, men take a decisive step to get their power back


Feminists who know what a woman is are interesting! Maybe not humbled, exactly, although some of them are starting to wake the fuck up.

ha ha ha ha

Saint Croix said...

'Vodka makes you drunker quicker'

This is true, I think.

Also if you fast drink Vodka you are more likely to vomit it all up and not have much of a hangover, either.

I did that when I was 16 and my stomach would retch every time I smelled vodka in college.

Saint Croix said...

Did not like Roseanne when I was a kid and now I am a fan (I think)

any feminist who likes Trump is interesting to me

Saint Croix said...

I've added She-Devil to #3 in my Netflix queue.

If you like vengeance movies, you might enjoy the trailer to Vengeance. Also in my Netflix queue, I haven't seen it yet.

Master Diver said...

The 1986 BBC production was much better, and much darker. Nothing was played for laughs. The production values were very high, and the final ending was one of the best examples of Karmic justice I've ever seen.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Life_and_Loves_of_a_She-Devil_(TV_series)

n.n said...

Where's the beef?

Yo quiero Taco Bell.

One, two, three... two. Two slogans. Ha. Ha. Ha.

Known Unknown said...

Mary Wells (not the singer) was the original Peggy Olson.