One of the reasons I revived Diary of a Shopgirl was to work on my writing skills more.I have a idea brewing for a book and really need to hone this craft. I saw this writing challenge via Michelle and Big Black Dogs and Spend A Buck Farm and we got to tweeting. Seems she used to be a reader long ago. That's a sign if I ever heard one. So here we go....
My tastes run to camp and out there sort of things. Before the days of cable my television would be tuned into those obscure stations that ran old movies. I loved the glamour of the films in the thirties through the sixties. But amidst all the glamour , I never saw a glamorous black woman. Maybe that's what gripped my heart about Mahogany. This movie would never contend for Oscar status, but when my Mommy took me as young girl to see this movie, the memory of the divine Diana Ross stayed with me through life. Its funny because there are many parallels and incidents in this movie I can actually relate to my past. Mahogany influenced me to want to become a fashion designer, move to Europe, and lead that sort of life. And yes, I did all of that, for a spell. I didn't come from from Chicago,but my mother did. I remember the aggravating feeling of instructors holding you back in your artistic style.The 'dream on' looks and comments others gave you when you voiced your dreams.I love seeing the old shots downtown Chicago's Marshall Fields, a old building I spent most of the last decade servicing in my line of work. I could go one and on. That's the thing about camp films, you can recite them line and verse. They grow on you. Even today's self crowned divas play homage to this film. Remember Beyonces montage in Dreamgirls? A straight rip off of Mahogany.
So call me campy , corny or Whatever ...but remember this in the words of Mr. Billy Dee Williams
"Success is nothing without someone you love to share it with."
and Ms. Ross'
"I'm a WINNER baby"
