Mooj Memory
Amanda, the barista at my neighborhood coffee shop, keeps the flat screens on vintage movies in the mornings, because she hates tv. This morning there was an interview with Katherine Hepburn in 1973, and, waiting for my latte, I stood there entirely charmed, as she disarmed her male interviewer over and over with her fierce intelligence, wit, and intractability. She played with him like a cat with a bird, and he, too, came under her spell. Every assumption he asserted about her or acting or Hollywood she toppled, or at least challenged until she had answered it in her own words. Her unapologetic confidence was the essence of MOOJ. I can’t think of any actress today with that combination of enchanting and badass.
At one point, the interviewer asked her about how Hollywood had changed since her era and whether she would be comfortable in it “today.” “Say, for example,” he said, “you’re at a party and someone comes up to you and offers you a drink and a line of cocaine.”
“Oh,” she said, “I wouldn’t do it. I don’t need it, and, anyway, I’m not a bore. Cold sober, I find myself absolutely fascinating!” She busts out in a guffaw.
In the afterlife, I fully plan to hang out with Kate.
