This Summerguide 2017 issue of Portland Monthly is a labor not just of love, but True Love. We do this sort of thing on purpose. In a year as strange as this, it’s essential to bring you the real Maine, not the fake Maine.
One of my favorite sudden mentions of Maine in the movies is in High Society, starring Grace Kelley (as Tracy) and Bing Crosby (as Dexter). SCENE: Dexter and Tracy have split up. Tracy is about to marry more responsible (but surely less romantic) George. Dexter shows up at the wedding, uninvited. Dexter steals a moment to give Tracy a present. We all catch our breaths as she tenderly unwraps an exquisite pond-boat model (just as you’re unwrapping this Summerguide). What is it? George, who’s all about business, wants to know.
Tracy pauses just a little too long…
TRACY: Oh, a wedding present. From Dext. It’s a model of the “True Love.” We sailed her up the coast of Maine and back the summer we were married.
My, she was yare.
GEORGE: Yare? What’s that?
TRACY: It means, oh, easy to handle, quick to the helm. Fast, bright. Everything a boat should be.
[She casts a withering glance at Dexter.] Until it develops dry rot.
In another fun vein, High Society was a remake of The Philadelphia Story, starring Katharine Hepburn and Cary Grant, and was remade as a Broadway show that offered the breakout role to Maine’s own high flyer, Anna Kendrick.
Mystical yare is what we’re always chasing with our stories at Portland Monthly. Usually we get there. Other times, we have to start bailing! Yes, some might joke that this over 300-page love letter to Maine is a bit beamy, but beamy can be yare. We’re hoping you see this Summerguide as the thrilling, trusty transport to dreams we’ve intended. This is the True Love we’re giving to our readers. Welcome to our “Authentic Maine.” Fair winds and following seas.
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