Sunday in New York {The Apartment}

March 06, 2009

I can't actually pinpoint what it is about this movie that has me so enchanted, but every time I see it, I laugh harder and enjoy myself more. There are three main actors in the movie: Jane Fonda, Rod Taylor and Cliff Robertson. Jane Fonda plays a young innocent who has broken up with her boyfriend and come into NYC from Albany for a long weekend at her brother's apartment. Her brother is Cliff Robertson, an airline pilot whose love life makes for a very interesting and entertaining second storyline. The hilarity ensues when Jane meets Rod Taylor. Up until this movie, I had only seen him in The Birds, which was a very serious dramatic part. In this movie, he has the goofy screwball comedy talents of Cary Grant. I'm surprised that he wasn't cast in more parts like this, because he absolutely excels at comedy. The premise of the story seems a lot like what could have been a Rock Hudson/Doris Day feature, but as much as I love that pair, I am so glad that this cast was chosen. It actually started me wondering what some of Doris Day's movies would have been like with this cast. Picture it: That Touch of Mink with Jane Fonda and Rod Taylor. Can't you see it?

Anyway... the main reason I am posting... THE BACHELOR PAD! I am a real girly girl, but somehow I have a real fondness for cool sixties bachelor apartments, and this one in particular. This is my dream home. Seriously, even if I end up with a farm in Vermont, I'll remodel it to look like this apartment. I might change some of the colors and add more artwork (I collect way too much art for the sparse walls in this pad) but the basic structure will be exactly the same. So may I present, Cliff Robertson's apartment in Sunday in New York:








These shots really show off the staircase.
Who doesn't love spiral staircases? (Besides Dorothy McGuire)



My dream-- a gigantic library!! I'd prefer one more on the scale
of the one in Disney's Beauty and the Beast, but this will do...





The bar. You have to step down to get to the bar, a feature I
just adore. Split levels really strike my fancy.







The fireplace & great art arrangement. I love when pictures are
hung off-center and grouped like this.
I love the really tall windows and that couch is to die for!



The bedroom. Cliff has a penthouse, so he has the luxury of
a huge skylight over his bed. Since I like to sleep in until the
afternoon, that shade will most likely always be closed.
But the feature is nice, nonetheless.





The bench for talking on the phone.
I don't care if I am a phone-avoider who absolutely hates picking up the
receiver, even to call in Chinese Food, I am getting that
red phone and phone bench.



Shutters to close off the bedroom from the downstairs at night.
I love this feature so much. I have a canopy bed from
ikea (not frilly, very squared and dark wood)
and I actually did a design for shutters on the bed to
keep my cats off during the day. I never followed
through because I decided against drilling holes into
my bed frame, but I still love the idea.

Other bachelor apartments that I'll post pictures of (but slightly smaller reviews since I'm not nearly as obsessed with these films as I am with Sunday in New York) include Boys Night Out, Come Blow Your Horn, The Tender Trap and a bachelorette apartment in Indiscreet.

EDIT: I've since turned this into a series, and you can view all of the Bachelor Apartment posts right here.

20 comments:

Paul D Brazill said...

I once formed a band called The Bachelor Pad. I think I hoped it would turn my life into that of the film. We didn't even play a gig!

MT said...

Definitely not a bad place to be living :) nice post!

DKoren said...

If it comes with Rod Taylor, I'll take one!

I quite like the spiral staircase. Always wanted one of those!

DKoren said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Sarah Mann said...

I always loved the apartment in this movie. I think my favorite part is the library above the kitchen (?)... I'm installing spiral staircases in my future home. :D

Paul D Brazill said...

Hi. I gave your page a plug in my little old blog.Some nice comments. have a good weekend. paul

vivienne strauss said...

For everyone who dreams of a spiral staircase, good luck moving furniture upstairs! Be sure to have an open balcony so you can lift everything large with ropes :) I haven't seen this but it looks great, for some odd reason Netflix doesn't have it.

Anonymous said...

Paul- If there was a magic formula to make my life turn into this movie, I'd be doing it in a heartbeat...

Mattson- Indeed! Thanks :)

DKoren- lol!

Sarah- My favorite too. I'm not actually sure where the kitchen is. Behind the bar?

Paul- Thanks again!!!!!

Vivienne- don't tell me you have a spiral staircase. GREEN WITH ENVY! I don't care if I have to lug a grand piano up those stairs, I want them anway! Don't worry about Netflix-- you're going to be seeing this very soon ;)

vivienne strauss said...

we don't have a spiral staircase but my sister did! The first house we moved to in Portland had such a narrows staircase we couldn't move our bed upstairs and the upstairs windows were too small to lift anything up that way too, so glad we found our 50s modern condo instead!

Anonymous said...

I just have a pre-fab 1990's suburbia house so anything out of the ordinary or architecturally interesting is pure eye candy to me, regardless of whether it is form over function :)

Unknown said...

I can't believe I found someone as obsessed about this apartment as I am! Love the pictures you posted. You're the only one on the web I could find who has posted them. Funny when you think you're the only one with an obsession, all you have to do is go on the web ;) And yes, where was the kitchen? Does anyone know?

Piia Õ. said...

I just saw the movie yesterday and I immediately fell in love with the flat. And your picutres are the only ones I found in the internet, so thank you for that :)
-P.
Bowtie Diary

Elizabeth said...

I fell in love with the bachelor pad in this movie the first time I saw it. It's like Doctor Who's Tardis -- basically, it's a a character in its own right. I saw the movie on TCM, and soon after saw another movie on TCM, Honeymoon Hotel with Robert Goulet and Robert Morse, I believe. One of them has an apartment that is almost identical to this one. I wonder if they "redressed" this set or if it was a common style of bachelor pad in the '60s.

Virginia ("Ginn") said...

I love, love, love this cozy apartment! Thanks for posting the screen shots. I saw this film years and years ago and the image of that flat stayed with me. I just saw the film again yesterday and found the film to be a delight and even more delightful, the apartment! Thanks! - Ginn, In Rainy SC

Liz Joyce said...

Hi, don't know if this has been mentioned, but ever since I saw this movie on TCM, I also loved the apartment. And I noticed that I think the same set was used for Robert Morse's bachelor pad in Honeymoon Hotel. A few minor changes, but pretty much the exact apartment.

Unknown said...

This same apartment was used in another movie as well. I think it was called The Honeymoon Hotel.....

Unknown said...

I have loved this apartment set forever, even love the fake address, 120 East 61St., which matches up nicely with the bus stop on 5th Ave., where Jane Fonda boards the bus to go to the rink at Rockefeller Center. But every character taking the elevator up presses for a mid level floor, the apartment door reads #48, and the window faces a much taller hi rise. So there is NO way that skylight would really be there.
Like “Barefoot in the Park,” another dated Broadway comedy of the same vintage, a tiny NY apartment reeks of charm.

Unknown said...

Same apartment in the movie Hotel Honeymoon.

HeyMikey! said...

If there were any kind of kitchen why was Jane heating water in an electric pot? Besides, 1964 bachelors weren't expected to cook or need a kitchen. Jane's brother wasn't "queer" you know. LOL!

HeyMikey! said...

Sorry, but on the apartment door it isn't 48, it's 4-B.