The Literature Network - Toying with Boutonnieres.(Design For Living: Alfred Lunt And Lynne Fontanne, A Biography)(Book Review)

Toying with Boutonnieres.(Design For Living: Alfred Lunt And Lynne Fontanne, A Biography)(Book Review)

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From: American Scholar
Date: 20040101
Author:Cohen, Paula Marantz

DESIGN FOR LIVING: ALFRED LUNT AND LYNNE FONTANNE, A BIOGRAPHY By Margot Peters. Alfred A. Knopf. $30.

In Henry James's short story "The Real Thing," a painter, intent on creating an image of extreme refinement, hires two impecunious aristocrats to pose for him. After attempting unsuccessfully to capture the effect he wants, he finally dismisses his models, dresses his servants in their clothes, and finds that they present a far more convincing impression of nobility than "the real thing."

The story could serve as an allegory of the success of the Lunts, America's ...

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