Cultivating the Look.

I think I might start wearing an actory scarf. What’s an actory scarf? It’s a scarf that successful and aspiring theatrical actors (as opposed to the commercial film variety) wear in place of outdated cravats in wholly inappropriate circumstances – like on hot summer days and while being interviewed under hot studio lights. (This is a Brit thing, you understand, although I suspect we might have picked up the habit from fin-de-siècle French and Italian artists. It's meant to indicate creative integrity.)

So why do they do it, apart from indicating creative integrity? Well, to paraphrase a commercially successful American actor: ‘Pseud is good.’

And why do I want to do it? Why not? When you have little left to offer and only women your own age smile at you, clutching at straws is permitted.