The Book!

I found the book in a pile of last copies of novels at my local bookstore and bought it for $2.99 or some other such ridiculous price. I'm so glad I did!! I just bought the movie on ebay and can't wait to see it (even though, like you said, I don't expect it to be anywhere near as great as the book!).

I just reread this wonderful book for probably the tenth time or thereabouts. I first read it in 1972 at age 20, the same age my mother was when she bought it in 1943. It is one of my most treasured possessions, and is a refuge to which I turn for occasional escape from the desensitization to vulgarity that occurs with immersion in today's humor. Ms. Skinner was a true humorist: witty, intelligent and able to find hilarity in almost any situation. Her memoir (with Emily Kimbrough) of "going abroad" in the 1920s is a classic that retains its freshness with each reading. She conveys not only the awkward innocence and naivete of unsophisticated, sheltered youth but also captures the sights, sounds, colors, textures and scents of post-WWI London and France and their denizens with brilliance and obvious affection. The literal translations in English of conversations in French are hysterical (the description of the Bureau of Lifesaving in Dieppe is SO funny!) and the situations in which Cornelia and Emily find themselves makes me wonder if Lucille Ball got her start after reading this book. Our Hearts Were Young and Gay is a gem in any era. (I've never seen the movie and am debating whether I want to alter the images my imagination has created and held onto over the years with each reading. I'm curious, but I'll probably skip it.)

This book is a HOOT! I read it every couple of years, along with the sequel by Emily Kimbrough, "We Followed Our Hearts to Hollywood", which is about hers and Cornelia's misadventures while assisting with the screenplay of the film. In fact, all of Kimbrough's books are delightful, as well as all of Skinner's.
I do not seek to understand so that I may believe, but I believe so that I may understand.

I have never forgotten the quote "Emily attracted calamity the way blue serge attracts lint." (I may have the word calamity wrong...my copy is at my mother's house!)