NOT A lot doing this morning, just some news on cultural trends, Hugh Hefner, women's magazines, American taste in movies, popular music and fashion.
Tell us the fashion news first, I don't want to be left behind.
Eyebrows have been raised at Vogue's April issue.
That sounds serious.
It is. For if they are raised at Vogue they will naturally be raised wherever appearances are taken seriously.
The Lord save us.
Actually, eyebrows have been raised because April Vogue is devoted to high street fashion, rather than to haute couture as it normally is.
All right, very funny. But how are things in the women's magazine market these days?
In a state of flux, it seems. There are reports of "sustained controversy" about what female readers in their 20s and early 30s really want.
And what do they want?
I repeat, that is controversial. However, Sally Brompton, launch editor of Elle, points out that her magazine was built on a "philosophical bedrock" of style with content.
Which still doesn't answer the question.
According to Ms Brompton, we wanted to be careless and carefree, to live in lofts and hang out in bars, to drink vodkatinis till dawn." And she asks "who doesn't?"
Well I don't but then I am not a female reader in my 20s or early 30s.
Quite.
What sort of women are these readers anyway?
According to the new Elle editor, Ms Marie O'Riordan, they are women who are "comfortable with their sexuality."
I might have guessed that. Look, is there anything going in the entertainment fine for older folk?
There is the new Doris Day musical in London.
Doris Day! Is she still going?
Strong. Now in her 70s, retired to a ranch in Carmel, California, still button bright and rapiersharp.
The producer believes she retains appeal.
Yes. Gerald Goehring believes Doris reminds people of their own golden age: "She represents a time of great innocence and promise."
I didn't think the 50s were that great myself but of course I was there without the rose tinted glasses. Everyone seems to be mellowing these days.
Even Hugh Hefner.
The Playboy king has settled dawn?
Celebrating his 70th birthday tomorrow, Hugh has forsaken the wild parties for "weekends spent with friends and family, having a buffet, good conversation and watching a classic film."
The Lord save us. Are we maybe back to fashion and innocence?
We are. I think in this context you might like to know the secret of the appeal of Levi jeans, in particular the 501 variety.
I would.
According to media culture expert Virginia Valentine, 501s "refer back to a time when America was last at ease with itself. They evoke a pre Vietnam innocence and the beginnings of the teenager."
I'm glad you told me that.
Not at all.
Innocence is very big these days.
Perhaps it always was. After all, Barry Appleby's strip cartoon, The Gambols, ran in the Daily Express for an astonishing 46 years, from 1950 to his death last month.
The Gambois were great crack, they never changed.
That is my point. It was as if time was frozen since their creation. There was no violence in their lives and no social stress, and sex was something which took place out of sight.
Never mind the innocence for a minute - the cartoon made a few bob for Barry?
Syndicated all over the world, it provided him and his colleague/ wife Doris with a standard of living which enabled them to buy a new Rolls Royce every other year.
Innocence might be all right this side of the world, they probably want something stronger in the way of amusement in the US.
Not any longer it seems. Many so called raunchy films like Showgirls have done very badly in recent times, while Sense and Sensibility and the harmless Four Weddings and a Funeral have been enormously successful with American audiences.
Maybe they're sick of all the nudity and sex.
Precisely. But it is often forgotten that America has always been a puritanical country. Nudity for example rarely occurs on American TV, there are severe laws against pornography and religious revivalism has never been so popular.
I'm grateful for the cultural history lesson.
Any time.
