[Although Fran Assa's post is a bit of a digression, the clip is really
very funny . . . so, in the spirit of laughter.....enjoy! ~SB]
I would argue that matters of "charm" are akin to matters of
"grace". The final word on the attribute of "grace" has to be Elaine's
of Seinfeld: See http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ENgJZlmgI6U
Date: Tue, 23 Aug 2011 21:54:21 -0300
From: jansy@AETERN.US
Subject: [NABOKV-L] [NABOKOV-L][ SIGHTING] Epstein's Fred Astaire!
To: NABOKV-L@LISTSERV.UCSB.EDU
Fred Astaire by Joseph Epstein, Yale University Press,
2008.
Epstein, on the theme of "Charm" in the movies, mentions Cary
Grant (impersonating an American) and Robert Colman.For the French,
Charles Boyer and Maurice Chevalier. For the Italian, Marcello
Mastroianni. An example of Russian charm is George Balanchini's,
varying from an authoritarian touch to intimacy and even, at
times,impersonal and aloof.
"Vladimir Nabokov had almost the same type of charm." *
Fred Astaire embodies the North American style of charm (with less
sophistication and cynicism as found in William Powell's "The Thin
Man").
..................................................................
*from the Portuguese translation of Epstein's original in
English.