“The Girls in Their Summer Dresses”

Irwin Shaw

Presentation by Jeff WhitePhoto’s From METmuseum.org

Plot summary of “The Girls in Their Summer Dresses”

Narrative mostly by dialogue

Whole story takes place in one day

Married couple on a walk on 5th Ave

Wife notices husband continual admiring other women

Wife mentions husbands “roaming eye”

Husband brushes it off as just him merely, “looking at…everything”

Day goes on, and the wife digs deeper and a quarrel ensues

Husband claims it’s only natural for a man

Wife disagrees with husband, grows insecure

Husband eventually admits his lust for other women

Wife cry’s, and ask to not talk about it in the future Photo Microsoft Media

Characters - “The Girls in Their Summer Dresses”

• Michael Loomis (husband) – From Ohio, middle aged man, shallow conversation, enjoys humor, girl watching, sports and drinking ; essentially superficial

• Frances Loomis (wife) Assumed from the Midwest, middle aged women, attractive, insecure (due to husband), enjoys movies, drinking and spending time with husband; also superficial

• Various Women mentioned – actresses,sales girls, dancers, young and attractive,dressed nicely, many different ethnic backgrounds

Clipart, Photo folkloreproject.org

Symbols - “The Girls in Their Summer Dresses”

Social Drinking“Worldliness”

Dresses“The evolving

style during this period”

Busy 5th Ave, Lower Manhattan in 1930’s & 1940’s

“City Life”

Photo’s from Flicker.com, artfact.com

Intimacy and Distance between the two - “The Girls in Their

Summer Dresses” • Intimacy

– Michael holds Frances's arm as they walk

– Frances pats Michaels hand after the encounter with the first girl

• Distance– Frances withdraws hand

from husbands after a second girl encounter

– Michael offers his hand to reassure Frances, she withdrawals hers and cries

Clipart

Irwin Shaw

• Born in 1913, South Bronx, New York City, to Russian-Jewish immigrants

• Irwin Gilbert Shamforoff - birth name, changed surname to Shaw in college

•Occupations – Producer, Screenwriter, Book Author, Instructor at New York University •Enlisted, U.S. Army -warrant officer during World War II.

Press.uchicago.edu

Awards earned by Irwin Shaw

• American Academy of Arts and Letters; artistic merit award

• Twice he received the O. Henry Award; short stories of exceptional merit

• Three Playboy Awards

Picture from Playboy.com, Flickr.com

Irwin Shaw Work Found In

• Magazines– Collier’s Weekly– Playboy– The New Yorker– The Saturday Evening Post, and other’s

• Books – Five Decades- 63 short stories– Young Lions- inspired by Shaw’s experiences during the war– Rich Man, Poor Man

• PBS TV series in 1981 – The Girls in Their Summer Dresses – The Monument– The Man Who Married a French Wife

PBS.org, Flickr.com, Clip Art

Historical Background

• 5th Ave in lower Manhattan was, and continues to be a tremendously popular area

• Why so popular?– Prestigious shops – Fine Dining – Museums – Crosses Central Park – The “It” place to be seen in Manhattan

istockphoto.com

Sociological Implications

• Social influences on dress and clothing• Big City living versus Little City living, and

how this effects ones views • Men are visually oriented, how this effects

women's dress and style

Clip Art

Psychological Implications

• Gender Relations• Importance of communication and

sacrifice in a relationship • Dangers

– Ignoring a problem– Yearning for youth– Lust• Is having a wandering eye a prelude to

infidelity?

Science Photo Lib, Clip Art

What the critic’s say on Irwin Shaw

• “Though many of his elephantine novels, in particular "Rich Man, Poor Man," were great popular hits, his best work was done in his short stories” --Washington Post

• “Shaw writes with passion and tremendous punch, and drives the action forward with unfailing inventiveness." --Charles J. Rolo, Atlantic Monthly

•"Middlebrow fiction." Indicating that his work was meant to entertain -- Angela Yeboah, University of Illinois •“In life, Shaw received probably less credit from critics than he deserved…(after death) his work has been more favourably [sic] regarded” -- Peter Ravn Rasmussen, Author

Photo Sodahead.com

Works Cited

"AMC." AMC Movie Guide. Web. 01 May 2011.

<http://movies.amctv.com/person/111041/Irwin-Shaw/details>.

"Biography of Irwin Shaw." Biography, Famous Biography, Famous Biographies,

Biography of Famous People, Famous People, Famous People Biography. Web.

01 May 2011.

<http://www.topfamousbiography.com/biography/31109/irwin_shaw_biography.h

tml>.

"Irwin Shaw : a Biography (Book, 1989) [WorldCat.org]." WorldCat.org: The World's

Largest Library Catalog. Web. 26 April 2011.

<http://www.worldcat.org/title/irwin-shaw-a-biography/oclc/019355151>.

"The Girls in Their Summer Dresses." Upload & Share PowerPoint Presentations and

Documents. Web. 04 May 2011. <http://www.slideshare.net/whitegts/the-girls-in-

their-summer-dresses>.

"Shaw." Www.kirjasto.sci.fi. Web. 25 April 2011. <http://www.kirjasto.sci.fi/ishaw.htm>.

"Wiki." Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Web. 23 April 2011.

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irwin_Shaw>.