BOOKS Audrey Hepburn, Not Tawdry Hepburn

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 called Fifth Avenue, 5 A.M.: Audrey Hepburn, Breakfast at Tiffany’s, and the Dawn of the Modern Woman, 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.

[Sam Wasson, author of Fifth Avenue, 5 A.M. kindly sent me a note of thanks regarding my review: "Andrew, this is the sort of review an author dreams about! I was just surfing the internet (okay, I admit it, I googled my name), scanning through some old (embarrassing stuff) when I found this. Thanks for getting the book – and for being so generous." Thank YOU for your wonderful book, Mr. Wasson!]