the sweetheart tree

Natalie Wood rehearses “the Sweetheart Tree,” on set of “the Great Race,” 1965.

Natalie Wood in Splendor in the Grass (1961, dir. Elia Kazan)

During my Ophelia stage, I began to watch films starring Natalie Wood that were shot in the 1960s. There was something about her wide eyes and fragility that reminded me of these drowning women, the fair Ophelia. In Splendor in the Grass, Natalie’s character Deanie loses her mind and self-destructs in more and more glamorous ways, eventually wading into a pond decked out in a gorgeous flapper dress for her suicide attempt. Deanie is saved, goes to therapy, and gets set to marry a nice doctor. But I didn’t care about that. I cared about the frantic way she slid into the water, the way she picked her footing as she climbed down. In her beauty and self-destruction, she wielded an ugly power. Why were these fictional beautiful women always losing their minds so extravagantly? Why are they so compelling? I’ve always found wilting orchids more compelling [than girl bosses] - women who burn bright and burn out, undermined by their own desire for love or wholeness or whatever it is that pushes them under water. Some of us choose the self-destructive model and discover power in the tatters. - Patricia Grisafi; Why Are We So intrigued by Beautiful Drowning Women? A Look at Natalie Wood’s Hysterical Glamour

Natalie Wood rehearses “the Sweetheart Tree,” on set of “the Great Race,” 1965.

“The next day, she ... went to see Dean in “East of Eden,” which had opened at the Egyptian Theatre in Hollywood. “She walked out and said, ‘I’m gonna marry him.’ Natalie later admitted she had ‘a big crush’ on Dean. “I remember going with my school girlfriends to see East of Eden like fifteen times, sitting there sobbing when he tried to give the money to his father. We knew every word by heart.”

SPLENDOR IN THE GRASS, 1961

NATALIE WOOD in PENELOPE (1966)

James Dean and Natalie Wood on the set of Rebel Without A Cause, 1955.

SPLENDOR IN THE GRASS (1961, dir. Elia Kazan)

SPLENDOR IN THE GRASS (1961) “We took them to lunch at a place on East Fifty-eighth street, and my dear, we shouldn’t have been there. They were entwined, lots of hugs and kisses. The restaurant was rather crowded. But that didn’t deter the lovers. They went at it all through lunch. I loved it!” - Eleanor Kilgallen

SPLENDOR IN THE GRASS (1961) “The way Natalie Wood and Warren Beatty are carrying on, it’s a wonder they have time to eat.” - Dorothy Kilgallen

Natalie Wood

Natalie Wood blowing bubble gum at Pop’s Oasis, in “Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice,” 1969.