Original Sins

by Kim Krizan

  sleeveless, metallic tunic

  and tie it ‘round the waist with a sash that has hanging tassels.

  Flat slippers.

  Extra points: Thin brows, dark lips, elongated eyeliner.

  (As worn by Salome, played by Alla Nazimova in “Salome.”)

  Pets

  While human beings can be such stunning disappointments, a pet never lets the femme fatale down and she particularly loves the stray who reminds her so much of her inner innocent and vulnerable self. The Fatale has even been known to make charitable contributions to animal protection organizations. Tippi Hedren, coolly glamorous star of Hitchcock’s “The Birds” and “Marnie,” runs her own badass animal reserve, which allows her to slink around all day with lions and tigers.

  Garbo had two kittens she named Laurel and Hardy. She also collected bread to feed to squirrels and birds. Anaïs Nin had a succession of white poodles. Ava Gardner loved her Corgy. Theda Bara kept a snake. Rita Hayworth had a Doberman in the early ’40s and a poodle named Pookles in the late ’40s. The young Elizabeth Taylor adored her menagerie of pets before she just went ahead and married a menagerie of men.

  Rock star Siouxsie is an animal lover with a particular fondness for cats, and she has publicly stated that she often prefers animals to human beings. When asked about Britain’s practice of systematic “culling”—or hunting—animals that are believed to over-populate the countryside, Siouxsie has said, “The one thing there is too much of is people.” Spoken like a true Fatale.

  A Fatale’s Reading List

  Never let it be said that the Fatale isn’t literate. She, more than most, knows that good books can make life livable.

  Garbo was known for going to bed early with some heavy reading and especially enjoyed philosophy, including exotic Eastern tomes. Dietrich, no intellectual lightweight, counted macho novelists Ernest Hemingway (known primarily for having written A Farewell to Arms, The Sun Also Rises, and For Whom the Bell Tolls) and Erich Maria Remarque (famous for having written All Quiet on the Western Front) among her closest friends. Ava Gardner, tired of husband Artie Shaw’s accusations that she was a dumb country girl, read the books he foisted upon her and finally asked a psychiatrist to give her an I.Q. test; the results indicated that she possessed a very high degree of intelligence, naturellment. And Marilyn Monroe, with a genuine eagerness to expand her mind, purchased many books and even took a literature class in which she was required to read poetry by William Butler Yeats.

  Elinor Glyn: Rhymes with Sin

  In true Fatale style and through sheer force of will, Elinor Glyn rose from humble beginnings to become an early 20th century pioneer in was then considered “erotic fiction.” She began by penning several novels, including one called Three Weeks (which scandalized society by describing an illicit affair). Ms. Glyn went on to grip Hollywood by the balls, helping popularize the concept of the vamp, creating the term “It,” and writing scenarios for the screen. Her work inspired the following poem:

  Would you like to sin

  With Elinor Glyn

  On a tiger skin?

  Or would you prefer

  To err with her

  On some other fur?

  Anaïs Nin : Not for Ninnies

  From an early age, Anaïs Nin devoured contemporary literature. Though she did not graduate from high school, she created a strenuous reading program and kept long lists of the novels she read. Some of her early favorites included Ralph Waldo Emerson, Colette, and the now-forgotten novelist John Erskine with whom she later had a flirtation. In adulthood she fell head over heels in love with the writing of Marcel Proust and was strongly influenced by the surrealists. In later life she became a friend and supporter of her young contemporaries, including famed Beat poet Allen Ginsberg.

  Anaïs Nin is most famous, though, for her mutually supportive, creative, and romantic relationship with novelist and essayist Henry Miller, whose Tropic of Cancer she fought to have published. Earthy, street-smart Miller was yang to Nin’s ethereal yin and without their mutual creative support it’s questionable whether they would’ve been published at all. The two also established a kind of Three Musketeers relationship with novelist Lawrence Durrell, whose most famous work is The Alexandria Quartet, which features a femme fatale in the character of “Justine.”

  Nin herself went on to write and publish diaries for which she is now famous and that detail her spectacular Fatale life. She also wrote short stories, essays, and experimental novels, though she is probably most famous for her erotica—some of the first female erotica ever published—which she wrote for a rich patron when she was in need of money.

  Music

  Her life is a bit of an opera, but the femme fatale isn’t above listening to popular music. Dietrich liked the Beatles. Garbo was enthralled by Michael Jackson. Ava Gardner, married to both Artie and Frankie, haunted jazz clubs. Lana preferred soft, romantic music. Meanwhile, Anaïs Nin, whose father and brother were composers, loved classical music, especially piano (which sometimes made her cry), though she hated orderly Bach. Nin was also enthralled by ’30s jazz and ’60s avant-garde music, which seemed to complement her “break all the rules” philosophy.

  Some of the Fatale’s Favorite Songs

  •George Bizet’s “Carmen”

  •Bessie Smith’s “Send Me to the ’Lectric Chair,” “Me and My Gin,” “Tain’t Nobody’s Bizness if I Do,” “Aggravatin’ Papa,” and “I Ain’t Goin’ to Play Second Fiddle”

  •Adelaide Hall’s “Doin’ What I Please”

  •Marlene Dietrich’s “Falling in Love Again,” “I am Naughty Lola,” and “Black Market”

  •Nat King Cole’s “Gee Baby, Ain’t I Good to You?”

  •Dinah Washington’s “Trouble in Mind”

  •Eartha Kitt’s “My Discarded Men” and “I Want to Be Evil”

  •Wanda Jackson’s “Fujiama Mama” and “Hot Dog That Made Him Mad”

  •Odetta’s “Gallows Pole,” “Midnight Special,” “Shame and Scandal”

  •Peggy Lee’s “Big Spender” and “Is That All There Is?”

  •Tom Jones’s “Delilah”

  •Shirley Bassey’s “Diamonds Are Forever,” “This is My Life,” and “I Am What I Am”

  •Nancy Sinatra’s “These Boots Are Made for Walkin’”

  •Nina Simone’s “Nobody Knows When You’re Down and Out,” “I Put a Spell on You,” and “A Single Woman”

  •The Velvet Underground’s “Femme Fatale”

  •The Runaways’ “Cherry Bomb,” “Born to Be Bad,” and “I Love Playin’ With Fire”

  •Blondie’s “X-Offender” and “One Way or Another”

  •Joan Jett’s “I Love Rock’n’Roll” and “Bad Reputation”

  •Carlene Carter’s “Me and My .38” and “I’m So Cool”

  •Pat Benatar’s “Hit Me With Your Best Shot”

  •Diana Krall’s “Peel Me a Grape” and “Pick Yourself Up”

  •Lucinda Williams’s “2 Kool 2 Be 4-Gotten”

  •Siouxsie and the Banshees’ “Sin in My Heart,” “Voodoo Dolly,” and “Peek-a-Boo”

  •Siouxsie’s “Here Comes That Day”

  •The Dixie Chicks’ “Lubbock or Leave It” and “Goodbye Earl”

  •Suzanne Vega’s “Frank and Ava”

  •Amy Winehouse’s “You Know I’m No Good”

  •Ladytron’s “Destroy Everything You Touch”

  The Femme on the Loose

  Get Out of Shitsville in Style

  “It took more than one man to change my name to Shanghai Lily.”

  —Shanghai Lily, played by Marlene Dietrich in “Shanghai Express”

  Fatales are often exotic creatures with foreign accents, strange ways, mysterious pasts, and hidden agendas. They seem to come from half-way around the world, clear across the country, from the rival high school across town, or from an entirely different mind-set. And if the fatal femme hasn’t just arrived from some strange an
d slightly suspect place, she’s plotting to go there as soon as she can.

  If the femme fatale was—oxymoronically—a known quantity, if she’d stay put long enough to be understood, her life would have become a cohesive narrative. Instead, large pieces of her story are missing, nor can they be easily ascertained. The incongruity of it all forms a mystery that leads to rumors and these rumors create a fog of glamorous confusion that does nothing but add to her powerful allure. For this reason, she keeps moving, much like a shark that must continue swimming so as to breathe.

  Born to Run (in High Heels)

  Fatales hit the road for one of several possible reasons:

  Get Out of Shitsville

  The femme fatale has a restless need to get out of the shitsville town in which she lives. And she does think of it as Shitsville. Maybe it’s Shitsville because of the shitty people. Maybe it’s Shitville because it’s boring, ugly, and a veritable cul-de-sac of mediocrity. Anyway, if it wasn’t Shitsville then she’d have settled down with some decent lug and created a gingham-swathed love nest and had ten kids. If she had the bad fortune to realize she was living in Shitsville after she married some grease monkey or two-bit flimflam man or, as in poor Cora’s case in “The Postman Always Rings Twice,” after she married some old guy who actually expects her to work in his lousy middle-of-nowhere diner until the end of time, there’ll be nothing to do but kill him and start fresh. She’ll blow that flea trap Shitsville dump and move on to a town far far away from Shitsville— maybe even to the Big Shitty.

  Appropriate Ensembles for Every Occasion

  Hitchhiking Out of That Hellhole of a Hometown

  Casual sweater with large buttons secured to throat,

  dark skirt, casual shoes appropriate for walking.

  (As worn by Vera, played by Ann Savage in “Detour.”)

  Something Terrible Happened in Shanghai

  Something bad, something really bad, happened in her past. Maybe her parents sold her into white slavery and she had to work in a gambling establishment in some sultry port town. Maybe she was trapped in a marriage to a rich but cruel husband who had detectives follow her and she finally had to just go ahead and kill the guy. Maybe she’s changed her name and identity so that no one will find out about what happened back in South Carolina. In any case, she hits the road in a desperate bid to forget (or find temporary distraction) from something painful.

  To wit, in the superb film “The Lady from Shanghai,” what exactly was it that happened to poor Elsa/Rosalee in Shanghai? Was her marriage to rich but exceedingly creepy criminal lawyer Arthur Bannister a hideous mistake? Why does it seem that Bannister is trying to keep Elsa/Rosalee busy and distracted? Did Bannister purposely put handsome seaman Michael in her path to set a trap? Is Elsa/Rosalee in on Grisby’s scheme to fake his own death? Is she genuinely in love with Michael, or does she know that Michael will be used as the fall guy? Oh, it’s all too rotten! Consequently, Elsa/Rosalee floats here and there, from Shanghai to New York, from Acapulco to San Francisco, from deep ocean swims to courtrooms to Chinese theaters, but her misery and frustration only grow. Finally, what is there left to do but blow her husband away in a hall of mirrors?

  Give Frisco’s Finest the Slip

  The femme fatale must vamoose because she did something bad and needs to get the hell outta town before the coppers throw her in the clink. Who knows what she got up to in the last town where she hung her black veiled hat? It’s a mystery to everyone, but the perfume of danger, close calls, and near-misses floats off her skin like a good dose of Jungle Gardenia. A little change of scenery (and possibly a name switch, new hair color, and a fake passport) is always the best way to make a fresh start.

  And that’s what Sadie, played to perfection by a young Joan Crawford, did in “Rain.” Not only did she get outta town, she sailed clear to the other side of the earth. The only trouble was that Sadie always managed to bring the party (in the form of friendly sailors) with her. And when a pious fellow traveler—a man of God no less—objected strenuously to the fact that Sadie played her phonograph records on Sunday and invited persons of male persuasion to her room, Sadie found herself deported back to Frisco where she’d surely be incarcerated. Gee, is it any surprise that Reverend ended up dead—and by his own hand? Such is life with a femme fatale on the run. Everybody best keep quiet if she wants to play her phonograph records and dance with sailors on Sunday.

  Check Off One Last Item on Her “ To Do” List

  The femme fatale has business. That’s right, business. Instead of waiting around for fortune’s wheel to roll her way, the Fatale will grab that wheel and strong-arm it to point in the direction she wants.

  Such is the case with lovely, seemingly demure Ruth/Brigid, played by Mary Astor in “The Maltese Falcon.” Her misty-eyed story to detective Sam Spade was awfully compelling—the one about wanting to locate her missing sister who’d come to San Francisco with a bad man. And her crush on Mr. Spade seemed convincing. But it turned out that Ruth/Brigid had a hidden agenda the whole while. It seems Brig had acquired a priceless 16th century jewel-encrusted bird statuette from a Russian general and she hoped to unload the thing—perhaps for some serious dough. And the bad man who’d been with her “sister”? Well, he was really with Brigid, but now he’s dead. Oh well. On to the task at hand: the little black falcon. She’d keep it but it doesn’t really fit in with her decorating scheme, so she’ll launder it. And if Sam’s partner comes snooping around and has to be made to go away, what of it? Life is a messy business.

  The Trans-Femme Express

  When the femme fatale is ready to roll she doesn’t need a private jet, first class railcar, or special edition automobile. She is a woman who is far more interested in her destination and her purpose. She’s willing to hitchhike, swim, unicycle, or tango to reach her destination.

  Crawl Over Broken Glass

  Hey, she’ll get there if she has to crawl.

  Cora, dressed in an all-white ensemble and carrying a suitcase in “The Postman Always Rings Twice,” hits the road on foot with her new boyfriend Frank. They’ve bailed on Cora’s husband and said good-bye to slaving away in his dumpy diner to hitchhike to Los Angeles, for Cora is determined to escape her dead-end existence in Shitsville. Finally Cora stumbles to a halt at the side of the road. Why? Not because she can’t handle the arduous trek, not because she isn’t more than determined to change her life, but because she knows that when she does get to L.A. she’ll be back working in a “hash house” and back to square one. No, there must be a better way.

  Vera, played by Ann Savage in “Detour,” has, by her own admission, “been around.” She stands at the side of the highway with her hands on her hips and her suitcase beside her. When a good Samaritan rolls up and asks how far she’s going, she asks “How far you goin’?” He invites her into the car. When he asks her where she’s coming from, she replies, “Oh, back there.” But then she does some fast thinking and realizes that the guy is up to no good. She’s been in this car before and she realizes that the “good Samaritan” has stolen it. She openly threatens him, saying: “Just remember who’s boss around here! If you shut up and don’t give me any arguments, you’ll have nothing to worry about. But if you get wise, well Mister, you’ll pop into jail so fast it’ll give you the bends.” And then she really takes him for a ride.

  Cleopatra traveled by boat from Egypt to Rome with the intention of impressing Caesar, leader of the known world, and she wanted to make a memorable entrance. Sneaking up on a man is always the best course of action, so Cleopatra arranged for a lovely gift to be offered to Caesar: an exquisite rug. Now what megalomaniacal world ruler would turn down a good rug? The gift was carried into Caesar’s chamber, dramatically unfurled, and—viola!—out sprang Cleopatra into Caesar’s inner sanctum (nearly as clever a ruse as delivering pizza to the Oval Office). Yes, long before the Chairman of the Board sang the song, Cleopatra did it her way.

  Take the Train

  There is nothin
g like a train for real Fatale ambiance. Train travel seems to whisper “Garbo” and call for the wearing of black fedoras. Fortunately, romantic train travel does still exist and provides ample opportunity for true intrigue, what with its deliciously temporary social reality. Being boxed in a train car with people she can know on only the most temporary of bases as the countryside zips by in an impressionistic blur is one of the femme fatale’s great pleasures. Inevitably, one fellow passenger appears to be a spy. Another, a potential lover. Another fellow traveler might just be a criminal. Someone else is young and embarking on a great adventure, while another one is very old and approaching the dénouement of their life story.

  True life Fatale Mata Hari traveled extensively by train while on her glamorous campaign as Europe’s most seductive star. As a frustrated housewife in the suburb of Louveciennes, Anaïs Nin took the train to and from Paris for assignations with Henry Miller and Gonzalo More. She also took the train to Valescure, France where she met her absentee father and stomped on his heart.

  Fictional Fatale Shanghai Lily had a little drama on a train while taking three-day trip from Peking to Shanghai in “Shanghai Express.” She’s described by fellow passengers as a “notorious coaster,” a woman who lives along China’s coast. Gene Tierney’s character Ellen in “Leave Her to Heaven” traveled in sleek style, deftly manipulating her engagement to a choice mark while in transit. And Lana Turner’s Cora traveled by train to her mother’s funeral in “The Postman Always Rings Twice.”