| Fifth Avenue, 5 A.M.: Audrey Hepburn, Breakfast at Tiffany's, and the Dawn of the Modern Woman |  | Author: Sam Wasson
Publisher: Harper
Category: Book
List Price: $19.99
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Seller: BRILANTI BOOKS
Rating:  32 reviews
Sales Rank: 1,080
Media: Hardcover
Edition: 1St Edition
Pages: 256
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.8
Dimensions (in): 8.3 x 5.7 x 1
ISBN: 0061774154
Dewey Decimal Number: 791.4372
EAN: 9780061774157
ASIN: 0061774154
Publication Date: July 1, 2010
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
Audrey Hepburn is an icon like no other, yet the image many of us have of Audrey—dainty, immaculate—is anything but true to life. Here, for the first time, Sam Wasson presents the woman behind the little black dress that rocked the nation in 1961. The first complete account of the making of Breakfast at Tiffany's, Fifth Avenue, 5 A.M. reveals little-known facts about the cinema classic: Truman Capote desperately wanted Marilyn Monroe for the leading role; director Blake Edwards filmed multiple endings; Hepburn herself felt very conflicted about balancing the roles of mother and movie star. With a colorful cast of characters including Truman Capote, Edith Head, Givenchy, "Moon River" composer Henry Mancini, and, of course, Hepburn herself, Wasson immerses us in the America of the late fifties before Woodstock and birth control, when a not-so-virginal girl by the name of Holly Golightly raised eyebrows across the country, changing fashion, film, and sex for good. Indeed, cultural touchstones like Sex and the City owe a debt of gratitude to Breakfast at Tiffany's. In this meticulously researched gem of a book, Wasson delivers us from the penthouses of the Upper East Side to the pools of Beverly Hills, presenting Breakfast at Tiffany's as we have never seen it before—through the eyes of those who made it. Written with delicious prose and considerable wit, Fifth Avenue, 5 A.M. shines new light on a beloved film and its incomparable star.
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Showing reviews 1-5 of 32
 The Awesomeness of Audrey June 22, 2010
B. Mernit (Venice,CA)
57 out of 58 found this review helpful
Sam Wasson's just-released and delightful book on the making of "Breakfast at Tiffany's" is so chock-full of great anecdotes that you're sorry when it's over. For awhile, you are there - a privileged insider-witness to a marvelous bygone moment in moviemaking history - and it's with a feeling of bittersweet regret that you step from its closing pages back into a realm of noisy 3D sequels and superfluous comic book franchises. Everything you'd want to know and more is delivered in the book, from the reader's coverage producer Marty Jurow was first handed, re: adapting Capote's book for the screen ("In any event this is more of a character sketch than a story. NOT RECOMMENDED") to the guest list for the post-premiere party (including such unlikely elbow-rubbers as Dennis Hopper, Buster Keaton, Charles Laughton, and Jane Mansfield).
A delicious through-line in the book is how close the movie came to not coming out so well as it did, with such jaw-droppers as everyone's resistance to having Henry Mancini write a song for the thing (eventual collaborator Johnny Mercer's original lyric, we learn, one of three eventually presented to Mancini, was called "Blue River"). An intimate exploration of the myriad personalities in conflict and collusion when a casual classic is being created, the book is cannily adept at detailing the logic of the so many minute decisions that lead to what we now accept as inevitable. Of course Audrey Hepburn played Holly Golightly, you think, until you hear how hard Capote lobbied for Marilyn Monroe.
Wasson is a formidable researcher. He doesn't so much know where the bodies are buried as he knows where the hearts and minds are hidden. The book is written like a good novel, taking you inside the consciousness of its characters with an impressive, insight-laden believability ("Fifth Avenue"'s only recent movie-book rival in this regard is Mark Harris' fascinating "Pictures at a Revolution"). And Wasson's notes on how he arrived at, and can justify, his leaps of imagination and empathy are almost as interesting as the text itself.
Of course the book has its thesis and theories as well, positing "Breakfast at Tiffany's" and Hepburn's stylish, fresh, era-defining performance as a watershed moment in cultural history. If you're a fan of Audrey Hepburn, the book is a must-have, because Wasson's astute take on what she was about, what she was up against, and how she delivered the goods strikes me as definitive. Her spritely, near-angelic spirit comes alive in the pages of this eminently devour-able book, which is kind of an awesome dividend.
Love, love, love it... June 22, 2010
Pamela Keogh (New York, NY)
34 out of 36 found this review helpful
I have to be honest, as the author of "Audrey Style" (the much imitated style biography that started the Audrey Hepburn wave) and "What Would Audrey Do?", I did not know what to expect from this biography... Part of me was afraid it might be yet another rehash of AH's life with not too much original thought or effort.
Pas vrai! (as Holly Golightly might say)
Instead, Mr. Wasson has taken "Breakfast at Tiffany's" and Audrey's life and the compelling, endless, sometimes hilarious machinations of Hollywood and brought them to life. One thing that really struck me was how little has changed in Hollywood. The screenwriter had to FIGHT to get a chance to write the script, Henry Mancini was not a lock to write "Moon River" (and a Paramount executive famously thought "the song should go,"), Truman Capote wanted Marilyn Monroe in the lead role, and George Peppard was Mr. Attitude on the set. (Sound familiar?)
I love this book, and I love Mr. Wasson's "voice" as a writer (a very tough thing to teach or describe: either you "have it" or you don't, and he's got it). It is an imaginative, compelling and gorgeously written tale of the making of one of the great movies of our time... It is THE PERFECT hostess gift and I am buying lots and lots for my friends.
And, as an Audrey "expert" even I learned LOTS of behind-the-scenes stuff that I did not know!
Audrey Hepburn, not Tawdry Hepburn June 29, 2010
Andrew Budgell
19 out of 20 found this review helpful
When Paramount was gearing up to release "Breakfast at Tiffany's," a film that would go on to usher in an entirely new and more authentic depiction of women on screen (even if it had still had a long way to go), they had to be careful. Audrey Hepburn, the darling of such films as "Roman Holiday" (which won her an Oscar) and "Sabrina," was very conscious of her public image. Unlike other stars who carefully constructed their images, Audrey was essentially the kind woman she was perceived by the public to be. Hepburn, who could sometimes be found knitting on set, didn't want that reputation tarnished. So, unsurprisingly, Hepburn nearly turned the role of the free spirited good time girl Holly Golightly, the film she is most remembered for today.
And therein lies the crux of Sam Wasson's masterful book on the making Breakfast at "Tiffany's" and its cultural significance. At this time in film history it wasn't okay to play this type of character. On screen good girls were good and bad girls were bad. There was no gray area. But "Tiffany's" would change all that, and show the world that not only did this gray area indeed exist, but it was a hell of a lot of fun to be single and sexually liberated woman--even if you were just playing one.
Golightly, as it turns out, was an amalgam of so many of the society ladies that Truman Capote (the author of the original novella on which the film is based on) knew and socialized with, but it was Babe Paley and Capote's own mother, Nina, who most pervaded the character of Holly.
This slim volume (coming in at just over 200 pages) is also a history of Hollywood during the mid 1950s and through the filming of "Tiffany's." Not having read Capote's original novel, I was unaware that the Paul Varjak character in the film was actually Holly's gay friend in the novel. The social mores of the day dictated that the character be turned into a love interest.
I think Sam Wasson's book is clever and unique and witty in its telling of the story behind the story of how "Breakfast at Tiffany's" paved the way for a new brand of filmmaking and depiction of women on screen. Often irreverent, always engaging, Wasson's book does not disappoint.
More fun than wearing a tiara from Tiffany's... June 22, 2010
Penny Baxter (New York, NY)
9 out of 10 found this review helpful
After all the critical praise I've read, I have to admit, I had high expectations for Fifth Avenue, 5 AM, but this gem of a book actually managed to exceed them. (When does that ever happen?)
I think that's due, in part, to the way Wasson deftly weaves together the full story of the making of the movie, a social history of the era, Audrey, Capote, Edith Head, Paramount, et al. The end result is a sparkling tapestry of considerable heft -- substance and FUN. Peter Bogdanovich (famed director of Paper Moon & The Last Picture Show) asserted "it reads like a compulsively page-turning novel" and I couldn't agree more. I devoured it. But I also picked up quite a bit of new info along the way--about Audrey, about the film, the era, fashion, and the genesis of the now prevalent `single girl' phenomenon. Wasson's prose is delightful--rich and alive. This book belongs at your bedside table, in your beach bag and maybe even selected as next month's read for your book club.
Really, I thought it was fantastic.
Fifth Avenue, 5AM is a classic HAUTE COUTURE book June 23, 2010
Avid Reader (santa monica, california)
7 out of 8 found this review helpful
This book is as fun and elegant as a perfect little black dress, but unlike my little black dress, I just wish it had been longer! When I finished it, I ordered 10 more to give as gifts as I'm sure just about all of my friends will love it too. Just like Audrey Hepburn and Tiffany's, I think this book will become a classic that is always in style.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 32
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