My mother set tight limits on me when I was young. I was not trendy. I did not wear go-go boots, Mondrian dresses, Twiggy eyelashes. She didn’t let me pierce my ears when all my friends did. I did not have a blunt cut “Sassoon” hairstyle. I didn’t go ga-ga over the boy bands of the ’60s. Classical or Latin music was the currency of our household. My parents were never better together than when dancing the cha-cha.
I did love to play Hula Hoop in my driveway in Detroit and could swivel my hips, wearing my “pedal pushers”, with the best of them. That was about as “faddish” as I got as a kid.
In the summer of 1970, before heading off to Brandeis, I visited relatives in Cleveland and Toledo. My Aunt Stella was smitten with “Love Story” and had me read it while visiting her. I sobbed through it. The movie, starring Ali MacGraw and Ryan O’Neal, came out in late 1970, just as I came home for Christmas vacation from my first semester at Brandeis. Of course I went to see it and LOVED it. I flattered myself to think that perhaps, with my long dark hair, I looked a bit like Ali MacGraw (as if).
The scenes of the romantic leads frolicking in the snow near Harvard Square are iconic. She became famous for wearing a little crocheted hat. If I couldn’t be Ali, at least I could wear a hat like she wore.
While home for vacation, I ditched my big, puffy hat and got two hats, one little crocheted number that wasn’t very warm, and a warmer, wool version and a midi-coat like she wore, as you can see in the Featured photo in front of my Huntington Woods home (with snow flying to add to the effect). I don’t have any photos of the little crocheted hat, which had no warmth at all. I wore the one in the photo much more often. Both were inspired by Ali MacGraw, the tragic Cliffie from “Love Story”.
Can you hear the music swell? “Love means never having to say you’re sorry!” No, we didn’t have that poster on our dorm room wall. We had the Anne Frank one…”In spite of everything, I still believe people are really good at heart.” Boy, were we young.
Betsy PfauRetired from software sales long ago, two grown children. Theater major in college. Singer still, arts lover, involved in art museums locally (Greater Boston area). Originally from Detroit area.
A really lovely story, Betsy. Given all the fads you might have followed, being inspired by Ali McGraw is about as good as it can get. And, if you want to feel even better about it, the word among those of us who were at Harvard when “Love Story” was being filmed there was that Ali was very friendly and kind to all the humble students who were extras or just gawkers. (As you might have expected, Ryan O’Neal was much more aloof and acted like a jerk.)
I think all of us on Retro will agree that you looked as beautiful as Ali. Maybe she was emulating you.
Good to hear that Ali was nice to all you Crimson on-lookers/gawkers. Even now, she seems to have class. Ryan, not so much. You are very kind to equate me to Ali. I don’t quite have her bone structure or stature; just the long dark hair.
Betsy, you really took me back in time. Of course, I cried through Love Story, both book and movie. Love your Ali/Betsy photo. You captured the look perfectly. (Although we do know now that love means saying sorry — a lot!)
Thanks, Laurie. Yes you’re correct! Love means apologizing all the time!
So cute, Betsy…you did the boho Ali look very well! I remember those coats … weren’t they called afghans? I always wanted one, but the closest I got was a vest.
Thanks, Barb. I think you are right about “afghan coat”. Mine was definitely a knock-off and not as warm as I would have wanted, but I liked the look.
Really cool that you tried to emulate Ali, Betsy, and to know that she actually seemed like a nice person. Yes, we all sobbed reading the book and watching the movie, with love being a much simpler emotion as we experienced it then.
I think it was common to all of us at that point in time, Marian.
Thanx Betsy, love your and Laurie’s comments about saying “I’m sorry”!
I don’t remember my folks being strict about much, but I do remember they forbid me to have my ears pierced and so I did it as soon as I turned 21!
Unlike you, I never did pierce my ears, Dana. My grandmother gave me her pair of pearl studs that were French screws and I so cherished them, that I never bothered to pursue piercing. I wore those earrings on my wedding day. They were my “something old”. My grandmother died when I was 15.
Great story, Betsy! Sorry your mother was so strict with you and you missed out on some fun fads. But seems like you turned out okay anyway. I love the pic of you looking like Ali MacGraw – beautiful! It will amuse you to know that we real Cliffies were very disdainful of Ali playing a Cliffie because she had actually gone to (…oh the horror!…) Wellesley, and here she was in her second movie role as a Cliffie, the first being Goodbye Columbus.
Thanks for the Cliffie’s insider’s view! I remember Ali in Goodbye Columbus; I liked her in that too! Funny that she went to Wellesley. Some Seven Sisters shade…
Loved your last line, Betsy — “Boy, were we young.” I missed LOVE STORY, I really should watch it. I was delighted to see that Ms MacGraw has remained healthy and independent (read her blurb in IMDB). I particularly liked this quote: “Often it’s difficult for a man over 40 to deal with the amount of independence that most women of my generation are enjoying. Nowadays I spend a lot of time by myself.” She was also Gloria Steinem’s roommate for a while. A great person to channel, Betsy!
Thanks, Charles. I confess that I watched it again recently. While it is very sentimental, I found that it held up fairly well; worth a look, if only for the fun of seeing the old familiar places, and seeing Tommy Lee Jones as one of the roommates. Love your added Ali-info.
Just to confirm Suzy’s accurate representation of the movie (and the book) in the land that it was supposed to represent! Side trivia: Erich Segal had some kind of visiting scholar position at Harvard about a year later; at that time, he was fresh from having spent a few months with the Beatles. Yellow Submarine was just coming out, and he claimed to be the unacknowledged co-author of many of the lyrics!
All that being said, you told this tale very well. I would have taken you back then over the actual Ali Macgraw any day!
Great info, Dale. And thanks for the compliment.
Yes “Love Story” is one of the few movies I remember from my college days. I probably remember it since it was one of the few times I had a date in college. She was a great woman, but we certainly did not fit. With my hopes that her life has been good, and the memory was good.
I hope so too.
I think I remember that coat! And I definitely remember that look. I think it was right after your Olivia Hussey “Juliet” look. You pulled them both off with aplomb!
John, you know me too well! I’m sure you saw that coat. I was your third wheel for both “Love Story” and “R&J”. (Well, I saw “R&J” three time; only once with you two), since I didn’t date much back home and share your taste in movies. (After all these years, on Patti’s recommendation, I finally watched “Robin and Marian”, weeks before Sean Connery’s passing.)
The “R&J” poster hung above my dorm bed for years, and Patti made the Juliet cap I wore at my wedding a few years later. Thank you very much for “aplomb”!
That made me smile. So what’s your verdict on Robin and Marian?
Well, it was nice to see beloved old pros working together, but the story line left me a little flat and I didn’t love the ending. Sorry.
There’s no accounting for tastes, apparently!
I think it comes from the anti-hero era and (IMHO) hasn’t aged all that well.