Classics with Champagne & Caviar

Welcome to Portraits in Cinema: The Stars We Choose to Remember, a new series from Classics with Champagne & Caviar. In our first portrait, we remember Lillian Roth — an actress and singer whose remarkable voice carried her from childhood performances to the stage and screen.

I also share a personal connection to her story: my signed first edition of I’ll Cry Tomorrow. Join me as we celebrate her performances, reflect on her memoir, and follow the curiosity that makes us want to know more about the stars we love.

Discover her performances. Listen to her sing. See where her story takes you. Today, we remember Lillian Roth and the special gift she brought to the world.

Until we meet again, in your dreams or on the screen—goodbye, my loves.

Something new has arrived from the world of Classics with Champagne & Caviar. We invite you to discover Table Six Awaits, our new editorial destination celebrating style, culture, classic film, beauty, art, travel, and living beautifully. We created Table Six Awaits especially for those of you who have joined us for martinis, movies, laughter, and champagne over the years. Now, we’re opening the door and inviting you even further into our world. Consider this special presentation your personal invitation. Come in. Take your seat. And discover what awaits at Table Six. Visit table6awaits.com to enter the world of Table Six Awaits. And, as always, you can continue to visit us at classicswithchampagneandcaviar.com.

There are movies we love, and then there are movies that somehow become part of our lives. Manhattan Murder Mystery has always been one of ours.

Starring Woody Allen, the beloved Diane Keaton, Alan Alda, Anjelica Huston, and a wonderful ensemble cast, this 1993 comedy-mystery is, for us, one of the quintessential New York movies. The apartments, restaurants, sidewalks, late-night conversations, friendships, humor, and unmistakable rhythm of the city make New York feel like another character in the film.

We originally recorded this episode six years ago but never released it. With the anniversary of September 11 approaching, we found ourselves feeling especially nostalgic—and a little melancholy—for New York and for the city as we remember it. It felt like the right time to finally bring this conversation out of the archives.

So pour yourself a glass of champagne and join us as we revisit a movie filled with mystery, wit, romance, friendship, and one of our favorite cities in the world.

Here’s to Manhattan Murder Mystery. And here’s to New York—then, now, and always.

Kisses,
Francesca & CoCo

In this episode of Classics with Champagne & Caviar, we step into the aching beauty of Elia Kazan’s Splendor in the Grass (1961) — a story of first love, longing, repression, and the quiet heartbreak of growing up. Starring Natalie Wood and Warren Beatty, the film captures the fragile tension between desire, expectation, and the emotional cost of trying to become who the world asks us to be. Together, we revisit one of classic cinema’s most tender and devastating love stories — where passion, memory, and loss linger long after the final scene.

In this episode of Classics with Champagne and Caviar, Francesca and CoCo turn to one of the most haunting portrayals of love and addiction ever committed to film: Days of Wine and Roses. Directed by Blake Edwards and starring Jack Lemmon and Lee Remick, the film traces a romance that begins in charm and sophistication, only to unravel into something far more devastating.

We explore how the film departs from the glamour often associated with classic Hollywood, offering instead a stark, intimate look at alcoholism and emotional dependency. Lemmon’s performance—raw, restless, and quietly unraveling—stands in striking contrast to Remick’s luminous vulnerability, creating a dynamic that feels both tender and deeply unsettling.

The episode reflects on the film’s visual restraint, its use of silence and space, and the way it captures the slow erosion of identity under the weight of addiction. We also consider its cultural impact in the early 1960s, a time when such themes were rarely addressed with this level of honesty and gravity.

Elegant on the surface yet profoundly tragic beneath, The Days of Wine and Roses reminds us that not all love stories are meant to endure—and that sometimes, the most beautiful beginnings carry the seeds of their own undoing.

Francesca and CoCo are back for Season 2! We are back with a new, fabulous and exciting season of Classic Films beginning in May! So pop open a bottle of your best Champagne and buckle your seatbelts, it's going to be a bumpy night!  www.classicswithchampagneandcaviar.com 

Francesca & CoCo discuss one of their favorite romance films, 1973's The Way We Were written by Arthur Laurents, Francis Ford Coppola (uncredited) Paddy Chayefsky (uncredited) and directed by Sydney Pollack. We will discuss the stellar performances given by such an amazing cast including, Barbra Streisand, Robert Robert, Bradford Dillman, Lois Chiles, and many others. So grab your best bottle of Champagne, Caviar and your absolutely favorite chocolate and relax and enjoy this episode.
P.S. "Are you a Katie Morosky or a Hubbell Gardiner ~ join us and listen to our fun podcast!" 

Francesca & CoCo discuss one of their favorite films, 1972's The Godfather written by Mario Puzo and directed by Francis Ford Coppola. We will discuss the stellar performances given by such an amazing cast including, Marlon Brando, Al Pacino, James Caan, Talia Shire, Robert Duvall, John Cazale, Diane Keaton, Abe Vigoda and many others. So grab your best bottle of Champagne, Caviar and your absolutely favorite chocolate and relax and enjoy this episode.
P.S. "We're making you an offer you can't refuse ~ join us and listen to our fun podcast!" 
"Tieni i tuoi amici vicini e i tuoi nemici più vicini."

Francesca & CoCo discuss one of their favorite Stanley Kramer films, 1967's Guess Who's Coming to Dinner written by William Rose and directed and produced by the amazing Stanley Kramer. We absolutely adore the incomparable Spencer Tracey, Katherine Hepburn and the man himself Sidney Poitier. Included in this amazing cast, there is none other than the sassy Weezy herself, Isabel Sanford! Katherine Houghton and Beah Richards give excellent performances as well. So grab your best bottle of Champagne, Caviar and your absolutely favorite chocolate and relax and enjoy this episode. 
P.S. You've got to give a little, take a little, and let your poor heart break a little. That's the story, of that's the glory of love.

Francesca & CoCo discuss one of their favorite Bette Davis films of all time, 1950's All About Eve written and directed by the amazing Joseph L. Mankiewicz. We absolutely adore the incomparable Bette Davis. Who can get enough of Bette Davis? We can't and i'm sure you can't. When we think of Ms. Davis we think of that voice, those eyes, the seductive cigarette smoking, the Champagne and Martinis baby! So grab your best bottle of Champagne, Caviar and your absolutely favorite chocolate and relax and enjoy this episode. 
P.S. If you feel like it when you drink your favorite champagne, have fun quoting some of Bette Davis's aka Margo Channing's famous sayings such as "fasten your seat belts, its gonna be a bumpy night!