The Society Page: Tailwaggers Party 1938

Dateline - Beverly Hills 1938: Bette Davis hosted a lavish soiree for her fellow pet loving celebs in order to raise money for a new animal shelter in the Los Angeles area. Ms. Davis, the president of the Southern California Tailwaggers, and invited guests enjoyed a fine evening of dining, dancing, and merriment. I bet those pooches are going to love their new home!

James Stewart and Norma Shearer

Richard Barthelmess and his lovely daughter Ann.

Freddie Bartholomew dances with his Aunt Cissy.

Lupe Velez shares a joke with some friends.

Bette with her sister Bobbie

Great Musical Numbers from Non Musicals - I

Sometimes the best musical numbers do not necessarily appear in musical films. Sometimes there is a wonderful music filled moment in an otherwise dramatic or comedic film that becomes an iconic moment.

This is going to be an ongoing list but at this moment I only have time for three but as the pistons in my overstuffed brain begin firing I will add more.. . .

Movie: Gilda

Song: Put the Blame on Mame

Actress: Rita Hayworth as Gilda



This scene sums up Rita's character Gilda in one deliciously seductive and playful song. There are actually three musical numbers in this film, but this is the best. Rita Hayworth gets to showcase her svelte figure, sex appeal and shows us why she was one of the GIs top pin-ups during the war. The film is a strange noir revenge tale/love story that gets better and better with each viewing. Hayworth is a genius in this film. Her subtle facial expressions and mannerisms are as breathtaking as this number. What was the color of that dress? In my mind it's RED.

Movie: Cleo from 5 to 7

Song: Sans Toi

Actress: Corinne Marchand as Cleo




This song is a beautiful downer. Written by the great French composer Michel Legrand the song expresses all of Cleo's inner emptiness and existential torment. The piano player in the scene is the songs composer, the GREAT Michel Legrand.

Movie: Whatever Happened to Baby Jane

Song: I've Written a Letter to Daddy

Actress: Bette Davis as Baby Jane Hudson




Well there isn't a another musical number in the history of musical numbers that exposes a characters insanity quite like this one. Jane is a complete whack job and Davis nails the hail on the head with this number. From the costume to that one of a kind voice that caould be classified as the horrible and wonderful at the same time - is it any wonder that this scene has been ripe for parody since the film's release. This is a moment of absolute campy bliss. Savor it!!!

Seperated at Birth

Recently, I was watching that great Bette Davis and Miriam Hopkins film, Old Acquaintance (1943) and I was shocked to see an Ann Sheridan doppelganger in the role of Deirdre Drake. Well, of course, it wasn't Sheridan. It was a Dolores Moran.

Moran had a short and mostly undistinguished career as a Warner's contract player. She had credited appearences in nine film between 1943 and 1954. In fact, she had the second female lead in the first classic film I ever saw (at age 11 on the old AMC channel in 1994) - Count the Hours (1953) starring Teresa Wright and Macdonald Carey.

Dolores Moran Ann Sheridan

Moran, in Old Acquaintance, is pretty good. It's a role that does not require too much depth of emotion or technique. She handles her scenes with Davis especially well. She holds her own which is a compliment because Davis gives a very realistic and undated performance. But, like so many other pretty and moderatley talented young women she dissapeared from the screen. After all, if Warner's wanted a blonde Ann Sheridan, they would just dye Sheridan's hair.

But, lest you were worried, she did not meet a tragic end a la Gail Russell (a cautionary tale of Hollywood if there ever was one). She made a good marriage and settled into wife and motherhood dying in 1982 from cancer.

PS - Old Acquaintance was directed by Vincent Sherman who appears on the commentary for the film. I own several films directed by Sherman and on each that include his commentary he admits to making love with his leading lady. His descriptions of how his relationships with Davis and Joan Crawford come about are hilarious. True stories? Who knows. . .

Bette Davis Under the Stars

If you've got Turner Classic Movies and you're staying in because of the heat check out the afternoon of Bette Davis movies. They are showing some of her earlier films like Marked Woman and Three on a Match as a part of their Summer Under the Stars festival.

The schedule of Bette Davis films got me thinkning about some little seen moments of the great Ms. Davis. Hope you enjoy. Have a wonderful weekend.

Bette on Hollywood Palace 1965



BD on What's My Line 1960



BD on I've Got A Secret 1964



I love how she lights up around minute 6. Classic.


BD on the Dick Cavett Show 1975



PS - The actor with the ugly kind of mouth was Edward G. Robinson

Breakdowns of 1942

While suffering from insomnia last night, I found this great clip that includes outtakes and bloopers from Kings Row. Fast forward to around 4:47 to see future president Ronald Reagan flub his lines and crack jokes on the set - he's pretty darn cute.

Some other highlights include a Bette Davis stand-in screen testing young men for a small part in Now, Voyager. Can you guess which one got the part? Here's a hint - He's the one that doesn't recite his lines like he's made of cardboard. 

It's pretty interesting to see icons like Barbara Stanwyck and Bette Davis break character to reveal some of their offscreen personalities. It seems like goddamn was the expletive of choice back in 1942. Or, perhaps that just chose to edit out any f-bombs. Oh, and check out that Ann Sheridan. She  sure does look like she has a good time, huh? 

These breakdowns were an in house WB production produced annually for the studio Christmas Party.  

Her Name was Tallulah, Dahling

Perhaps it's a little bit odd but everyday I have a moment where I think to myself, what the hell would Tullulah Bankhead say at a moment like this. No. . .seriously I do. . .along with the other two moments I have where I wonder what Dorothy Parker and Anita Loos would say. Gone is the age of the sexy smokey voiced actress popping off lines like:

"Cocaine isn`t habit-forming. I should know - I`ve been using it for years."

"I'll come and make love to you at five o'clock. If I'm late start without me. "

"I was raped in our driveway when I was eleven. You know darling, it was a terrible experience because we had all that gravel."



Those quotes, of course, come from the one and only Tallulah Bankhead. Born in 1901 in Huntsville, Alabama the daughter of the Speaker of the House of Representatives the granddaughter of Alabama senators. If you looked up the definition of Southern Democrat in the dictionary you just might find a picture of the Bankhead clan next to it (along with one of George Wallace and one of Strom Thurmond).

But Tallulah was her own woman and struck out on her own at the age of 15 to act, and drink, and blaze her way through 1920s and 1930s high society. Tallulah would be the first to admit she was a woman of strong appetites. She indulged in the roaring 20s and for her the term dirty 30s was far from understatement.

But for all her carousing and partying and pursuing of movie actors, movie actresses, jazz singers and Eaton boys she was a phenomenal actress. She originated the role of Judith Trahern on stage in Dark Victory as well as the role of Regina Giddens in The Little Foxes (both played on screen by Bette Davis). Honestly, I think my personal moment of zen would've been to sit in the audience of the stage production of The Little Foxes to watch Bankhead breath life into the character of Regina Giddens.

I once saw Bankhead in a 1932 pre-code picture called Faithless. She plays a woman who woos Robert Montgomery's rich boy character but once she gets him he loses all of his money then falls deathly ill. In order to get him the medicine he needs to live Bankhead's character starts street walking. Some of the best acting on screen is when Bankhead is walking through her seedy neighborhood trying to pick up Johns. The way she looks at the men that pass her on the sidewalk is downright X-rated. When Montogomery recovers and he learns what she has done to save him, in not so many words he says well if a woman would do that for me she must love the hell out of me. As the credits roll it is implied that they live happily ever after with no baggage or recriminations. That's pre-code Hollywood for you.

Tallulah Bankhead lived a life with no regrets. A classic quote attributed to her is "if I had my life to live over again I would make the same mistakes, only sooner." She died of pneumonia in 1968. Her last words were reported to be "Bourbon. . .codeine."