Fracas: A Fragrance Named Desire + ‘Vivian Leigh’ Fracas Perfume Draw

 

Playwright Tennessee Williams memorable masterpiece won the Pulitzer Prize and the role of Blanche has been performed by legendary theater actresses including Jessica Tandy,Vivian Leigh Talullah Bankhead and Jessica Lange.  A few years after the play was written, Marlon Brando, (who starred in the original Broadway production), reprised the role of Stanley Kowalski in the movie version directed by Elia Kazan, and costarring Vivian Leigh. Who can forget Brando‘s gut wrenching cry “STELLA !!!!”, perhaps the most recognized one word in all of theater.

 

 

Williams' work is often reflective of the "Southern Gothic" aesthetic, which presents a garish, dissolute, and macabre vision of the American South. The setting of the play, New Orleans, is an essential element of this play in particular. The play opens in New Orleans during the restless years following World War II, A Streetcar Named Desire is the story of Blanche DuBois, a woman on a desperate prowl for someplace in the world to call her own.

 

Paul Magritte, Empire of Light

After being exiled from her hometown of Laurel, Mississippi, for seducing a seventeen-year-old boy at the school where she taught English, Blanche explains her unexpected appearance on Stanley and Stella's (Blanche's sister) doorstep as nervous exhaustion. This, she claims, is the result of a series of financial calamities which have recently claimed the family plantation, Belle Reve. Suspicious, Stanley points out that "under Louisiana's Napoleonic code what belongs to the wife belongs to the husband." Stanley, a strong and brutish man is as territorial as a lion. He tells Blanche he doesn't like to be swindled and demands to see the bill of sale. This encounter defines Stanley and Blanche's relationship. But Stanley and Stella are deeply in love. Blanche's effort to impose herself between the love between Stanley and Stella enrages the animal inside Stanley.

Queen of the Nile, John Williams Waterhouse

 

You come in here and you sprinkle the place with powder and you spray perfume and you stick a paper lantern over the light bulb – and, lo and behold, the place has turned to Egypt and you are the Queen of the Nile, sitting on your throne”- Stanley Kowalski

 

 

Karl Malden and Vivian Leigh

 

When Mitch — a card-playing buddy of Stanley's — arrives on the scene, Blanche begins to see a way out of her predicament. Mitch, himself alone in the world, reveres Blanche as a beautiful and refined woman. Yet, as rumors of Blanche's past in Auriol begin to catch up to her, her circumstances become unbearable. Did I mention she drinks A LOT?

 

 

 

Streetcar like Fracas is sexy, larger than life, and eternally fascinating. Fracas  was created in 1947, the same year Williams wrote the play.  Fracas is as iconic as Blanche Du Bois; both are deceptive. There is a duality in Fracas; Fracas opens with sweet and delicate notes of bergamot, mandarin, and lilac. The heart brings a charming fusion of white flowers. But by the time the Tuberose, strident and seductive shows itself, (no matter the veiled and flirty jasmine, white narcissus, gardenia, and lily of the valley and white iris); it is the tuberose that is locked in an almost painfully passionate embrace with the base notes of sandalwood, vetiver and sensual musk.

Fracas IS Blanche,.

 

Michelyn Camen, Editor in Chief

 

Like Actress Vivian Leigh, (Oscar for Gone With the Wind in 1940) Fracas is an award winner; it was inducted in the Fragrance Hall of Fame in 2006 

Enter our Draw for a ¼ oz of pure perfume courtesy of www.fragrancex.com. Leave a comment about Fracas as the Fragrance of Blanche du Bois, Tennessee Williams, Vivian Leigh or Street Car named Desire.DRAW CLOSES MARCH 8, 2011

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39 comments

  • Love Vivian Leigh.  She was so beautiful.  Pity they didn't know how to treat bipolar disorder, in her day.  I would love to try Fracas parfum.  I've never met a tuberose that I didn't like.

  • Great article… I enjoyed reliving," A Street Car Named Desire". It was a classic.
    if the perfume is anything like Blanche, I want some. It has to be sensuous and provocative.

  • In a world of androgenous scents, and I don't mind androgenous, Fracas remains unmistakeably feminine, and sexy. I like to believe I can pull off Bandit, which I adore, but I would never even attempt Fracas. It would be akin to wearing drag.
    A lovely homage to both Fracas and Leigh. Yes, I imagine she would have been a Fracas…

  • Sometimes there's a tendency to think that generations that came before us lived quieter, more constrained and conventional lives than we do.  Fracas proves that wasn't so. It's still so sexy and edgy that  all these years after its creation it's  remains a daring thing to wear for females, let alone males. Reviewing it in the context of Streetcar expresses its power and passion perfectly.  Great job, Michelyn!

  • Charlotte says:

    I don't know how many can identify but I love to apply Fracas before bedtime!  It starts off somewhat sharp, but dries down to the most comforting, beautiful base and produces wonderful dreams and a sense of calm and sereneness……

  • I love the duality of Fracas as it was so well described by Michelyn! Tuberose, Sandalwood, Vetiver and musk OH YEAH! We all have a bit of Blanche in us right? Looking for a place to call our own, with Fracas you may find it faster;-) Just saying. Loved and still do love this movie. Tenessee Williams caught the atmosphere of the South at the time in form.

  • Oh how I want to try Fracas!   One of my fav moves of all time is Cat on a Hot Tin Roof – love Mr. Williams!  Oh and I have read most of his work, too! 🙂

  • No doubt Fracas fit Blanche to a "T" … that feisty and debauched and sexy and conflicted character. Want a chance at this one!

  • Claudia Kroyer says:

    The Robert Piguets are such classy  fragrances. Fracas is a beautiful fragrances for a temptress with a big personality. On me this is definitely not a quiet fragrance. Great article love the artwok.

  • RusticDove says:

    If you wear Fracas, strangers will be kind to you. They'll tell you how scrumptious & sexy you smell.

  • Sometimes there are plays that are…well, overplayed…every community and amateur theater does it, and you get so tired of seeing something like Annie over and over again…however, Streetcar I NEVER get tired of….even a poorly done version; it was so well written that it is difficult (or requires conscious effort!) to ruin it!

  • Carlos Powell says:

    Hey, some masculine shaved head guys can pull off Fracas too, ME! I wore it today. Great article Mich!

  • Love the idea of Fracas in parfum, please enter me! The EDT is pretty powerful, I can't imagine how fabulous the parfum must be! I can certainly see it as perfect for Blanche, on the surface" the flower of Southern womanhood,"  but with a fiery furnace burning inside her.
    I love that movie, it's so vivid and Brando was at his most electrifying in that role, just unforgettable.

  • I can't believe I've never tried Fracas, tuberose lover that I am! It sounds like it would be the perfect foil for Blanche's character. Come to think of it, doesn't Blanche de Bois sound sort of like a perfume name?

  • Madelyn E says:

    As a lifelong "student" of the fascinating life of the iconic Vivien Leigh, it is a pleasure to enter into this drawer.
    Indeed , Vivien Leigh was a beauty, a superb actress of  both stage and screen.  Curiously, her parallel life in pursueing her passionate love affair with Lawrence Olivier was perhaps her greatest role. Fracas , is a bold, sexy siren song   of tuberose and jasmine. Yet it was Joy parfum which was Vivien's signature scent. Both Fracas and Joy share similar notes with the emphasis of tuberose in Fracas and Jasmine in Joy.
      Just as perfume masterpieces like Fracas and Joy leave its powerful  mark on their wearer , VL left her indelible mark as one of the greatest and most beautiful actresses of our time.

  • "I have always depended on the kindness of strangers."  Poor Blanche.  While Fracas is perfect for Vivien Leigh, I think Blanche is too downtrodden for it, at least by the time we meet her.  Fracas is triumphant; for Blanche we need that whiff of wilted flowers.  

  • I just saw, on the Turner Classic Movie channel, "Storm in a Teacup" starring Vivien Leigh and Rex Harrison. The movie came out in 1937, just two years before "Gone With the Wind". She certainly was beautiful, and a fine actress. It's a charming, funny film if you can follow the outdated language and cultural references. Rex was quite good in this one, too, before he learned to overact. Please enter me in the draw. Fracas is such an iconic fragrance!

  • What a movie! What an actress. The screen sizzles with chemistry between her and Brando.
    Fracas is perfect for her character!

  • This sounds luscious and right up my nose 😀
     
    Vivian was an icon of her generation.  It is a pity that they didn't have the know how to treat her disorder, however, on the other hand, did that enhance her acting?

  • Z. Boudreaux says:

    Fracas… sister of Bandit am I correct? Both lovelies in my book like Vivian yet not nearly as tragic luckily. I would love to indulge in this lovely again, it's been awhile. 

  • Fracas is a beautiful scent and since I don't currently own any I will happily enter this draw.
    I think Tennesse Willliams is a great writer and I have enjoyed every performance of his works that I have seen. I've watched that film version of Streetcar any number of times (the whole cast is amazing), as well as Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. I've also enjoyed the more rarely seen television adaptation of Glass Menagerie with Katherine Hepburn and Sam Waterston. So much toughness and  vulnerability on display in these works.

  • I think this is a brilliant comparison. Not sure I agree with it though, because Blanche was considerably more pathetic than the hearty Fracas. I don't sense any neuroses in the latter. If we are talking about what Blanche wanted to be, though, it's perfect.

  • amyofbrooklyn says:

    It is intoxicating and seductive…the tuberose and the sandalwood embrace in a climactic gush of emotion.

  • Michelle Hunt says:

    Certainly, the comparison of Streetcar, Vivien Leigh, and Fracas re-ignites my desire to try this fragrance in the pure perfume form….I have only sampled the eau de toilette, I believe.  Please enter me in the draw, thanks! 

  • I saw this movie when I was a child, and the relationships between the people were confusing to me. Yet the performances of all the main characters were so vivid that I can still picture them all perfectly today.

  • I can't imagine Vivian Leigh wearing Fracas because I have always seen it as a "femme fatale" scent. But definitely I can see Blanche loving this perfume.

    I admire Fracas, but it's too heady for me. However, I would love to try pure perfume.

  • Interesting point of view about Vivian Leigh as Blanche and Fracas! To me it's more suited to the general allure of the movie rather than Blanche or Vivian Leigh herself. Anyway it's a beautiful stunning classic!

  • Wow, Tennessee williams was an amazing writer who created characters and stories  that will be with us for generations to come. Leigh (along with Kazan, Brando and Williams) were masters at their crafts. Just like Fracas, they were at the top of their game.

  • Scentabulous says:

    Always the best articles, Michelyn!  I adore Fracas … and all things classic, but this, well … a lot of memories.  

  • Just knowing that Marlon Brando smelled this on set kills me. I mean i might be misunderstanding but if that’s the case then i HAVE to have this perfume. It’s an ABSOLUTE MUST!!!!! <3

  • Jessica Lange wore this while playing Blanche. In fact she wears it with all her “southern ladies”.
    I do not agree that Blanche is pathetic, she is wracked with guilt over her young husband’s death.