#The Rose Tattoo

[infinitemarilynmonroe]

Marilyn Monroe and Marlon Brando at the premiere of The Rose Tattoo, 1955.

[stephaniesblogxx]

𝐌𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐥𝐲𝐧 𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐦𝐢𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝑹𝒐𝒔𝒆 𝑻𝒂𝒕𝒕𝒐𝒐

[gatabella]

Marilyn Monroe, The Rose Tattoo premiere at the Astor Theatre in Times Square, New York, 12th December 1955

[beekeeperspicnic]

Since everyone responded so enthusiastically to the idea, here is the first part of my Let's Play of The Rose Tattoo. Contrary to the slightly clickbaity title (look, I ran out of characters...), I think it's specifically the best Sherlock Holmes point and click game. But it's certainly a very strong contender for best Sherlock Holmes game of all time!

(Should you like Sherlock Holmes games, consider checking out my game The Beekeeper's Picnic, which has a playable demo available!)

[thecinamonroe]

Marilyn Monroe and Marlon Brando promoting the premiere of “The Rose Tattoo”, in New York, November 1955.

[summers-in-hollywood]

Marilyn Monroe and Marlon Brando at the premiere of The Rose Tattoo, 1955.

[pygartheangel]

[citizenscreen]

Daniel Mann’s THE ROSE TATTOO, starring Anna Magnani and Burt Lancaster, premiered at the Astor Theatre in New York #OnThisDay in 1955.

[make-me-your-animal]

Sav

[infinitemarilynmonroe]

Marilyn Monroe at the premiere of The Rose Tattoo, 1955.

[shieldofiron]

The Rose Tattoo

Mar 23 Harringrove week Prompt: “Did you keep the receipt?“

“Did you keep the receipt?” Steve quirks one brow at his boyfriend laid out on the bed. It was supposed to be another lazy Saturday afternoon, until Billy had torn his shirt off to show off Billy’s birthday gift to himself.

“For you?” Billy throws a pillow at Steve’s head, “No. You didn’t come with one.”

“I’ll write you one now,” Steve kneels on the bed, runs a finger along the waves that lap up Billy’s arm. This is his favorite of Billy’s tattoos. The anchor hangs in the water with a certain weight to it. Billy says it’s to remind him of the consequences of his choices. But it makes Steve think of how they hold each other, how Billy calls Steve’s place home.

Billy snorts, “One ungrateful boyfriend. Good hair. Bit of an asshole.”

Steve yanks the pillow out from under Billy’s head, “I’m not ungrateful. I just… like are you sure you want one for me?”

“Too late now,” Billy grabs for the pillow before Steve can smack him again, “You coulda said something before I did it.”

Steve can see the hurt behind the words now, the way Billy’s voice goes a little softer on the last two words.

“I don’t hate it,” Steve frowns, “I just didn’t know you were serious.”

Billy shrugs, “I didn’t get it to win you over. It’s just… for you.”

Steve reaches out hesitantly and touches the edge of it. A red rose in full bloom, in what he now knows is a traditional style. Underneath, in embellished lettering it says ‘Steve.’

Billy’s warm skin jumps under his hand. Steve skates his fingers gently along the edges. It’s over Billy’s chest on the left side. Over his heart.

“I mean… this means a lot,” Steve blinks.

Billy lays a hand over Steve’s, covering his pale, undecorated hand with Billy’s, where a strand of three Christmas lights loop down his wrist. That one is for Joyce and Jon and Will. On his right arm is an eggo waffle with arms and legs riding a skateboard. His Camaro bursts out of his forearm, accented by a spray of heather flowers. Billy’s whole body is a patchwork of the people who mean the most. So it wasn’t completely shocking that he suggested one for Steve. Still… Steve didn’t know he really meant it.

“Yeah. It does.” Billy frowns. “Does that scare you?”

Steve almost chokes on his breath.

Billy has a lot of tattoos. Some from when he was stupid and eighteen and thought they looked cool. Some he’s spent a lot of time thinking through. Some because he let El, Lucas, Erica and Max come up with them, which is how he ended up with a skateboarding waffle on his arm and a karate-kid my little pony cartoon on his calf.

“Doesn’t scare me,” Steve whispers. “I just… are you sure?”

Billy leans up on his elbows, catching all the afternoon sun up in his golden skin. “Steve. I won’t regret it.”

Steve traces the edge of the red rose again, “What if-”

Billy shakes his head, “No. I’m not keeping any receipts for you. If you want to return me, then…”

“I don’t want to return you either,” Steve frowns a little, “I love you. I just want to make sure I’m… you know. Worth it.”

Billy rolls over and pulls out the drawer to the bedside table, yanks out the stack of polaroids and flips through them before smacking one on Steve’s thigh.

It’s Billy, in his hospital gown, still dazed and confused a few months after Starcourt. He’s frowning at the camera, and there next to him is a bouquet Steve got for him, full and pretty, preserved in Kodak reds and greens. They hadn’t been dating then, but… they’d been something. Once they finally had a chance to talk.

“Dunno if I was worth it then,” Billy says softly, “But you still… did that for me. Always do shit like that for me. Even though you’re an asshole.”

Steve blinks down at it.

“I’ll wear you with pride to my grave, Steve,” Billy said seriously.

“J-Jesus,” Steve leans in, kissing him once, softly. And then he’s burying his fingers into Billy’s curls and tugging him closer until Billy’s crawling into Steve’s lap, “I love you. I love it. I love it, okay?”

“Yeah, you gonna get one for me someday?” Billy drawls, his lips dragging against Steve’s.

“N-not…” Steve laughs nervously.

“Just kidding, prettiest,” Billy smiles, and kisses him again. And then again. “You don’t put a bumper sticker on a beemer.”

Steve considers it then, a row of simple letters, in an easy to hide spot. Like his ass. B-I-L-L-Y. That would really surprise his boyfriend. Give Billy something to think about. He bets Eddie would ink it up pretty quick, in time for Billy’s actual birthday next week, and then Steve could tease Billy about his bumper sticker.

If he did, Steve wouldn’t keep the receipt.

[gatabella]

Marilyn Monroe at The Rose Tattoo premiere, 1955

[beekeeperspicnic]

The Case of the Rose Tattoo

If you fancy a oozing-with-love-for-the-stories Sherlock Holmes point and click adventure and you don't want to wait a year or more for me to complete the Beekeeper's Picnic, might I suggest 30 year old obscure classic The Rose Tattoo?

I spent this evening playing around in this game and I'm in love, I think it's instantly become my favourite Sherlock Holmes game.

I've always thought that if I was writing a proper Sherlock Holmes mystery game, I would find some way for Holmes to be indisposed so that the player could play Watson acting in his stead, at least for part of the game. I feel like playing as Watson is so much more satisfying - he's able to be fallible, and we can join him in wanting to impress Holmes.

This game comes up with the BEST reason for Holmes to be out of action because it also sets the stakes very high - the Diogenes Club has gone up in flames and Mycroft is on death's door. Holmes immediately locks himself up in his bedroom in terrible grief, and it's up to Watson (and the player!) to pull him out of it by beginning to piece together what has actually happened.

The game uses actual actors in front of green screens for all the characters, which looks a little odd sometimes but it does mean they are expressive and grounded.

The voice acting generally seems good, although sometimes I think the quality of the dialogue surpases it. There is lovely a moment where Holmes laments that freak accidents seem awfully unreal until one happens to someone you know. His distress is palpable in his words, but not quite carried through to his voice.

The dialogue and expository text is aboslutely steller, though, so having voice acting to match is a tall order. It often has a very very dry sense of humour, and nails the 1890s parlance.

Also honestly I think I just love the Mycroft whump and Holmes being all 3 Garridebs about it. It's so personal!

The caveat is that this is a game from the era when you were expected to sit down with a notebook, with no objectives or tutorials or prompts. It also seems to rely on you spotting very tiny details and doing a bit of pixel-hunting. I have a feeling that completing it would take a long time, and a lot of brain-power!

You can download it from Archive.org, and I recommend playing it with the ScummVM emulator.

[burtlancster]

Burt Lancaster and Anna Magnani in a publicity portrait for The Rose Tattoo, 1955, courtesy of Paramount Pictures.

[voguefashion]

Marlon Brando and Marilyn Monroe photographed by Milton H. Greene promoting the Actors Studio Benefit which screened the film The Rose Tattoo, November 1955.

[gone2soon-rip]

MARISA PAVAN (1932-Died December 6th 2023,at 91).Italian actress who first became known as the twin sister of film star Pier Angeli (Anna Maria Pierangeli) before achieving success in her screen career. She received an Academy Award nomination and won a Golden Globe Award for her performance in the 1955 film The Rose Tattoo. Marisa Pavan - Wikipedia