Friday, April 12, 2013 - 5 The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com Tippi Hedren reflects on'Marnie,' Hitchcock AMC Drapers doing what Drapers do best. Don Draper s back * Tides shift in season-six premiere of 'Mad Men' By KAYLA UPADHYAYA Daily Arts Writer Death trickles throughout the season six premiere of "Mad Men." For one, there's a wake: the death of Roger Sterling's (John Slattery) elderly mother. Mad Men There's also a freak accident Sundaysat that causes Don 9 p.m. Draper's (Jon Season six Hamm) door- premiere man to lose AMC consciousness and technically die for a matter of minutes before surging back to life. "What did you see, Jonesy?" a drunken Don slurs days later, hoisted between the arms of Pete Campbell (Vin- cent Kartheiser) and Ken Cos- grove (Aaron Staton). "When you died - what did you see?" Passageways - doors, eleva- tors, windows, hallways - have been recurring narrative and framing mechanisms for "Mad Men" since the beginning. In this premiere - pointedly titled "The Doorway" - Roger tells his therapist, "You realize that's all there are: doors, and windows, and bridges and gates. And they all open the same way. And they all close behind you ... You're just goingin a straight line toyou know where." There's that shadow of death again, lurking in the corners of passageways. For Don and Roger, death never lingers too far behind - it's a formative facet of both characters. Sometimes it sneaks up unexpectedly, like when Don pitches his grand "jumping off point" campaign to SCDP's latest high-profile account, the Royal Hawaiian Hotel. To Don, the sketch of abandoned clothes and footprints at the seaside repre- sents shedding skin, becoming someone new, just as he did when he made the transformation from Dick Whitman to Don Draper. To the client - and everyone, really - it looks like a suicide scene. "Mad Men"has always excelled in giving great meaning to.objects and imagery, sometimes getting a little too assertive in its explana- tions (last season, we probably didn't need someone to tell Don that it's not his tooth that's rot- ten to understand the symbolic weight of an abscessed tooth). In "The Doorway," the imagery is a bit more delicate. An abandoned violin becomes Betty's desire for something that makes her spe- cial, something that uplifts her from the mundane life Sally's perceptive-yet-naive (Sally: "She thinks she's 25 because she uses tampons") friend Sandy points to with disgust. Don accidentally takes the lighter of a soldier he meets in Hawaii, which drums up all sorts of weighted memories of his time in Korea. Plenty of callbacks to "Mad Men" 's early years come up in "The Doorway," some subtle, like the Kodak Carousel Don and Megan use to show their neigh- bors pictures of their Hawaii get- away - the time machine. But nostalgia shouldn't be mistaken as stasis: Though Roger insists in his doorway soliloquy that nothing really changes as life goes on, if he were to step back and view things from where we do, he'd see that's far from the case. The most notice- able change comes in the form of Peggy Olsen (Elisabeth Moss). To say she's a Don 2.0would be unfair to the strength and depth of the character, but it's hard not to think ofher former boss when she effort- lessly convinces a client she's right and he's wrong and takes a well aimed verbal punch at her copy- writing underlings. Last season, the clash of the generations (the Dons and Rog- ers vs. the Megans and Janes and Freddys) picked up speed. Now, it's in full acceleration. The copy- writers have shaggy hair and style that suggest the imminence of the 1970s, making clean-cut Don look almost like a foreigner in his own office, which has been rearranged by photographers shooting pub- licity stills for the company, much to Don's annoyance. He's back to his philandering ways, sleep- ing with his new doctor friend's wife despite his picture-perfect life with Megan. Roger, too, tries to hold onto the life he knows despite the shifting tides around him. Meanwhile, the people around them are going, well, through "The Doorway," into 1968. By NATALIE GADBOIS Daily Arts Writer Tippi Hedren has hardly changed since her modeling days 60 years ago. Star of Alfred Hitchcock's "The Birds" and "Marnie," the latter of which was featured in a specialty screening set up by Turner Clas- sic.Movies at the Michigan The- ater on April 9, Hedren exudes the same delicate beauty and refreshing directness that she did when she became a star half a century ago. The Michigan Daily inter- viewed Ben Mankiewicz, regu- lar host for TCM, and Hedren, who discussed the gravity of film appreciation and her com- plex relationship with the eponymous Hitchcock with the same level, refined voice that she so eerily used to play psycho- logically dysfunctional Marnie. She said this character was her favorite and most rewarding role. "I felt so fortunate in being able to do this film because it was such a groundbreaking story at the time," Hedren said. "With- out the story you have nothing. You can have the best producers, the best actors, the best direc- tors, but if you don't have a story, you have nothing." The film was advertised as "Alfred Hitchcock's suspense sex mystery," and it follows Marnie, an intensely disturbed woman - a calculating thief and compulsive liar - as her tragic past is uncovered by her beguil- ing boss Mark Rutland, played with dark humor by Sean Con- nery. "Actresses in Hollywood knew that this was a compli- cated leading lady, a leading lady with a whole lot of depth," Mankiewicz said. "You knew she was messed up, but there was a full sort of range, a fully human character, which I think was rare at the time." Although the film was not well received at the time, since its release it has been hailed as an innovative look into the effects of traumatic incidents during childhood on a person's psyche. "All those years ago, nobody realized that what happens to a child traumatically can have such an effect later on in life," Hedren said. "It wasn't a big film when it came out because people didn't understand it, but I read the book over and over again, I talked to psychiatrists about this issue ... It was really kind of a wonderful (thing) to have hap- pen, to be able to play that role." Hedren wasn't the obvi- ous choice for this role; a host of famous actresses, including Grace Kelly, vied for the part of Marnie. As a model and com- mercial actress, Hedren lacked* any dramatic experience, but Hitchcock became enamored with her during one of her com- mercials and decided to sign this beauty without ever having met her. The signing of a seven-year contract between Hedren and Hitchcock began a tumultu- ous and abusive working rela- tionship that effectively ruined Hedren's promising career, and revealed the film master's dark- er side. "He isbrilliant. He will always UNIVERSAL Step One: Cut a hole in the box. be rem majorr the dat awful, She cla with I stantly mate d togethe "The that I' for, an: take th side th of him 'Why i said. having had, w the life scary.] a nembered as one of the great he is, and tell funny and motion picture giants, but amusing stories about him, and rk side of him was really at the same time she will tell really ugly," Hedren said. these awful stories about him. ims he became obsessed She has reconciled herself to her, following her con- the idea that there were mul- and demanding her ulti- tiple sides to this man." dedication to their work In addition to their inter- er. view with the Daily, Hedren ere are so many things and Mankiewicz discussed this would have to thank him complex relationship in front d I would certainly never of an audience at the screening at away. But on the other of "Marnie" at the Michigan ere was this deviousness Theater, which was filled with n, and I kept thinking, the diverse combination of col- s he doing this?"' Hedren lege students there to see a leg- What was the reason for end speak, and older fans who this obsessive thing he remembered when "Marnie" vith wanting to squeeze was first released. Both sympa- e out of a person? That's thetic laughs and murmurs of Talk about a scary movie." shock rang through this crowd when Hedren reflected on her commitment to this warped Hitchcock character and highlighted Hitchcock's idiosyncrasies as a both made director and a man. "Hitchcock may have ruined Lnd ruined my career, but he did not ruin my life," Hedren said 45 min- her career. utes into her conversation with Mankiewicz. The entire audience rose with resounding applause. ing the production of Although she has never ie," Hedren demanded to since reached the fame she had oved from her contract. while under Hitchcock's tute- ponse, Hitchcock vowed lage, Hedren has continued to n her career," which he work, finding a passion in her using their contract to love of animals. Forty years any choice roles offered ago she opened Shambala, a reserve outside of Los Angeles e Girl," a film released for neglected lions and tigers, BBC in 2012, directly where she now lives and dedi- sed the unsettling rela- cates most of her time. p between Hedren Even now, her most signifi- itchcock, a relationship cant memory of the making of n did not speak about for "Marnie" was not Hitchcock's in an effort to keep the claustrophobic attention or her ehind her. The film has meteoric rise to fame or even d some understandable her famous kiss with then "Sex- m from Hitchcock devo- iest Man Alive" Sean Connery. Instead, she remembers what pi is one of the few peo- made her happiest: Forio, her th a really rounded view character's horse. itchcock," Mankiewicz "I really, really loved that She will talk about how animal so much." A book lover visits Literati By TEHREEM SAJJAD Daily Arts Writer I rememberwhenmy7-year-old self would spend hours maneu- vering through the aisles in the children's section of the library, surfing through the collection of "Junie B. Jones," "Magic Tree House" and "Diary of a Wimpy Kid" books, gathering the ones I wanted and ultimately carrying the stack to my mom to take them home. As a child, it was the anticipa- tion of flipping through the pages of a book, taking quick glances at the forthcoming pictures and the growing excitement and desire to reach that particular place in the plot. As a teenager, it was the words, rather than the pictures, that amplified my exhilaration. I can still recall the nights when I would stay awake long after midnight, turning the pages of a "Harry Pot- ter" book - fully immersed in J.K. Rowling's magical world - and painfully longing to be a part of it. Though it has been only a few years since then, I see more people reading books on their iPads, Kin- dles and other devices. Sometimes, I feel like every such instance serves to remind me that this is the era of the e-book. With technological advance- ment, including the expansive reach of the Internet and mobile applications, e-books are slowly crushing the publishing industry. Amazo movem times a hardcoi the fa the oth afflicte accordi haps it' maybe the tab e-book As if Drum Border: store ci its doo lovers downto void of - until Re] On A ning, c bundle: Literati its doo the spa me feel favorite an entic A lot store so Of cot purpos( n, at the forefront of this thought of a bookstore as a com- ent, already sells three munity center. It's the place where is many Kindle e-books as people bring their kids for story vers. E-books are by far hour, it's the place where authors stest-growing element of from all across the nation come erwise stagnant, recession- to do readings. You can pick up a d publishing business. So, book, you can sit in a chair and you ng to e-book fanatics, per- can just be there. It's the "being 11 be another two years - or there" part that I'm so good at. five - but sooner or later Though Literati is tight on les will turn. Or so those space, its collection of books is fanatics think. expansive. From "The Scarlet Let- the departure of Shaman ter" to "Twilight," I found that the Bookshop wasn't enough, store's fiction collection (my favor- s, the second largest book- ite) not only covered the classics, hain in the country, closed but also contemporary writing, rs to Ann Arbor and book something that stands out to me. like myself. Since then, I must've spent an hour making )wn Ann Arbor has been my way around Literati, flipping an independent bookstore through books I'd already read and now the ones I wanted to read, glanc- ing through a few good recipes in the cooking section and ending up kiindling love at the magazines. It felt reward- ing and peaceful to be amid books for books again. People think that with the rise of e-books, book stores will soon be extinct. However, the tables kpril 3, after weeks of scan- haven't turned quite yet in Ann ategorizing and stocking Arbor, and the crowds that Literati s upon bundles of books, receives every day are a testament Bookstore finally opened of that. ors to Ann Arbor. Though Sometimes, when I turn to the ce is tight, I like it; it makes last page of a good book, I feel as if as if I'm cozied up in my I've lost a friend. When I stepped quilt on a rainy day with out of Literati the other day, I felt ing book in hand. as if I had lost a whole group of of people think of a book- friends. lely as a place to buy books. And, of course, the only thing urse, that's its primary better than the smell of a new book e. However, I've always is the smell of a new bookstore. Dur "Marn be rem In rest to "rui did by refuse to her. "The by the addres tionshi and H Hedret yearsi past b receive criticis tees. "Tip ple wit of H said. " STILL HAVEN'T HEARD BACK FROM THAT INTERNSHIP? JOIN THE SUMMER DAILY AND GAIN USEFUL JOURNALISM EXPERIENCE. E-mail a rts@michigandaily.com to request an application.