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Grandma Watching Columbo
He had a dog named Dog, drove a 1959 two-door Peugeot 403 convertible, and was rarely seen without a cigar and his rumpled raincoat. We’re talking, of course, about LAPD detective Lt. Columbo. And if we’re talking about Columbo, we’re talking about Peter Falk (one of the best casting decisions in the history of television: rejecting Bing Crosby as Columbo and hiring Peter Falk.) Just how good was Falk? He ad-libbed most of Columbo’s idiosyncracies and foibles — the fumbling in his pockets, the mundane requests (“Do you have a pencil?”), the conversational tangents. He did it to keep the other actors off-balance, which made their reactions authentic. That is how good Falk was.
This photograph is exactly what you’d want in a portrait of Columbo: the critical information is right there in front of you, but your attention is directed toward something else. The title of the photograph is perfect — this isn’t a photo of Columbo, and it’s not really a photo of the photographer’s grandmother; it’s a photo of the reflection of a very real grandmother watching a fictional Columbo. Truth and fiction, reality and fantasy, all there within the frame.
Oh, excuse me, I forgot, sorry…one last thing. That shabby raincoat? It was actually his. Peter Falk’s, I mean. He provided most of his own wardrobe. Oh, and another thing. In Budapest, there’s a statue of Columbo and his dog, Dog. It’s on Falk Street. That’s truth, not fiction.
Blog photograph copyrighted to the photographer and used with permission by utata.org. All photographs used on utata.org are stored on flickr.com and are obtained via the flickr API. Text is copyrighted to the author, greg fallis and is used with permission by utata.org. Please see Show and Share Your Work
