VISUAL ARTS + MUSEUMS

The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston presents their January Artful Thursday:  Author Sam Wasson on Fifth Avenue, 5 A.M, January 13, 2011 at 6:30 PM, at the Caroline Wiess Law Building. 

Audrey Hepburn is an icon like no other, yet the image many of us have of Audrey—dainty, immaculate— is anything but true to life. Join New York Times bestselling author Sam Wasson (pictured) for the January Artful Thursday as he talks about his new book, Fifth Avenue, 5 A.M.: Audrey Hepburn, Breakfast at Tiffany´s, and The Dawn of the Modern Woman.

With a colorful cast of characters including Truman Capote, Edith Head, Givenchy, Moon River composer Henry Mancini, and, of course, Hepburn herself, Wasson immerses us in the America of the late 1950s before Woodstock and birth control, when a not-so-virginal girl by the name of Holly Golightly raised eyebrows across the country, changing fashion, film, and sex for good. Indeed, cultural touchstones like Sex and the City owe a debt of gratitude to Breakfast at Tiffany´s.

“Sam Wasson is a fabulous social historian because he finds meaning in situations and stories that would otherwise be forgotten if he didn’t sleuth them out, lovingly.” - Hilton Als, The New Yorker

New York Times Bestselling author Sam Wasson studied Film at Wesleyan University and at the USC School of Cinematic Arts. He is the author of A SPLURCH IN THE KISSER: THE MOVIES OF BLAKE EDWARDS and FIFTH AVENUE, 5AM: AUDREY HEPBURN, BREAKFAST AT TIFFANY’S, AND THE DAWN OF THE MODERN WOMAN as well as the forthcoming PAUL ON MAZURSKY (Wesleyan, 2011). Several of his essays have been collected in GEORGE LUCAS’S BLOCKBUSTING and KAZAN REVISITED (Wesleyan, 2010). In addition, Wasson has contributed to The Hollywood Reporter, Variety, Angeleno Magazine, and The Huffington Post.

With tremendous delicacy and as judiciously as possible, he splits his time (and wardrobe) between Los Angeles and New York.

Currently, Wasson is working on a full-scale biography of Bob Fosse.

A book signing follows. Fifth Avenue, 5 A.M. is available in the MFAH Retail Shop. On Friday, January 14, 2011, at 7:00 p.m., Sam Wasson will introduce a screening of Breakfast at Tiffany´s at the MFAH.

Artful Thursdays are free and open to the public. A reception follows the program. Register to win great giveaways from KUHF 88.7 FM and the MFAH.

Artful Thursday programs receive generous funding from the Rockwell Fund. Promotional support is generously provided by KUHF 88.7 FM, Houston Public Radio. Refreshments generously provided by the Buffalo Speedway Starbucks (corner of Buffalo Speedway and Westpark), Carla Everett, manager, and the Rice Village Starbucks, Jenna Ortiz, manager