Thursday, March 05, 2009

Breakfast With... Christine Collins (and the Real Walter)

Growing boys need their breakfast. Toasted Corn Flakes it is.


Christine Collins actually makes a joke about eating it before it gets cold. Ha! (Would that Angelina had found a way to bring that sense of humor into the character later on in the movie. sigh) Her son Walter, so independent and capable he won't let her pour it for him, informs her that cereal is supposed to be that way. Kids are so literal. Lighten up, Walter.

I love how absolutely plain the box is but I was curious as to how accurate it was (James J. Murakami and Gary Fettis were Oscar nominated for their 20s/30s based Art Direction). I couldn't find any blue Corn Flakes boxes from the 20s but google searches often let me down. And maybe Christine Collins was buying generic brands. She seemed like the thrifty type. The cereal boxes sure were plain back then ... at least by today's gaudy multi-colored cartoon branding / synergistic tie in standards.

I don't know why I love such random details within movies but I sure do. I will now have a bowl of cold cereal in honor of Walter... though I'll have to substitute Rice Krispies because that's all I got.

previously on "breakfast with"...

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

I want my SON back!
I WANT my son back!
I want MY son back!
I want my son back!
I want my son BACK!

etc.

Michael Parsons said...

Haven't eaten cereal in the mornings for years! Crispx and Apple Jacks and Corn Pops I will always love

NATHANIEL R said...

i haven't either. had the rice krispies only due to the oscar party (the boyfriend whipped up curry flavored rice krispie treats in honor of slumdog millionaire -- i can't even tell you how good they taste)

I once got nostalgic for cold cereal a few years back and bought my favorite brands from childhood. I was DISGUSTED by how sweet they all were. Ewww

Boyd said...

@Andrew:

Great for a drinking game!

Anonymous said...

Keep loving the random details in movies and the movies, and the moviemakers, will keep loving you.

Pedro said...

I eat bran flakes for breakfast every morning. It tastes like straw and is not sweet!!!!! (that should be their motto- ha).

Paul Outlaw said...

A creepy random detail: The amount of makeup she has on when she turns off the alarm clock and rises like Dracula from her bed (at least that's how I remember the scene)...

Glenn said...

Andrew and Pedro's replies both made me LOL very heartily. Thank you!

Also, I eat cereal usually. On days that I work I have to or else I'll be starving five minutes into work and i don't have time to make anything (nor the funds to buy it).

Glenn said...

Also, Nat, I imagine the Academy doesn't take any note whatsoever of the "set decoration" aspect of Art Direction. They could had Fruit Loops in that scene and it wouldn't have mattered, as long as there are old cars and old lighting they're set.

Janice said...

Well, to be fair, Glenn (and indeed you are correct in most cases), corn flakes were so popular when they were first introduced that Kellogg's had Dr Kellogg's name printed on the boxes so you knew you were getting the real thing (like, signatures on cardboard boxes couldn;t be reproduced as easily as any other graphics? It's not like the man personally signed each box...now that'd be a collector's item for you.)

So it actually wouldn't surprise me if a competing company was putting their corn flakes into a box with similar packaging...or maybe the set designers just liked blue better than the original white box?

I confess to not having seen this film (and from trailer and clips, have no desire to do so.) Part of what puts me off is the mere memory of clips and stills etc showing Angie with SOOOOO much makeup (kudos to Paul) - a working class American mother in the 1920's wearing that much facepaint? Hell, a working class American mom wearing any facepaint - unless she was an actress or prostitute - would have been very odd to begin with. I don't know what they were thinking - I hate that sort of anachronistic nonsense with actresses hair and makeup unless it's deliberate (Moulin Rouge).