Read Online Bette and Joan The Divine Feud by Shaun Considine - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Shaun Considine
Tags: Fiction
Ads: Link
with appendicitis. The studio doctor decreed she could finish the picture, so her scenes were rushed ahead, with the doctor, a nurse, and a publicist standing by. When the final sequence was shot, an ambulance was waiting to take her to the hospital, "where the operation was performed successfully."
Parachute Jumper,
released in January of 1933, was prominently reviewed by the respected critic Cecilia Ager, although the tone of the notice devoted to the leading lady was somewhat discordant. "Bette Davis seems convinced she's become quite a charmer," said Ager. "Slowly she raises her eyebrows to sear the hero with her devastating glances, then satisfied, she smiles a crooked little Mona Lisa smile. Unfortunately this procedure takes place while Miss Davis is wearing a curious pill-box hat that perches on her head at an angle slightly comic. The hat, and her own self-satisfaction, interfere with the effect."
At Warner's, in the interim, some good news had come for Bette. At the suggestion of soon-to-depart-executive Darryl Zanuck, the actress was told that at last she would be given the station she craved. She would star alone, above the title, in her next picture,
Ex-Lady.
"Daring ... provocative ... a modern love story so frank, so outspoken—it tells of a new generation that laughs at wedding bells and yawns at bassinets," said the film's ad logos.
Ex-Lady,
co-authored by Robert Riskin, who would later write the scripts of
It Happened One Night
and
Meet John Doe,
explored a seemingly provocative topic for its day. It told of a woman, a beautiful, emancipated artist, who flouted convention by practicing an "open marriage." "She wanted to wear a wedding ring ... on certain nights." Certain to cause a sensation, this film could do for Bette Davis what
Our Dancing Daughters
and
Red Headed Woman
did for Joan Crawford and Jean Harlow. She would be dressed by Orry-Kelly and photographed by Tony Gaudio, and her leading man would be Gene Raymond, who had recently appeared in
Red Dust
at Metro.
Completed in twenty-seven days, a generous schedule for a Warner picture,
Ex-Lady
was edited while Davis was being photographed and interviewed for advance publicity. Adjusting to the theme of the film, the recently married Bette told interviewers that she didn't wear a marriage ring and that freedom for both spouses was most important. "Married couples ought not see each other in the morning until after breakfast," she said. 'And it is absolutely essential that both husband and wife have close friends of the opposite sex."
In late April of 1933 the posters and ad logos for
Ex-Lady
were shipped to theaters. " A NEW TYPE! A NEW STAR! A NEW HIT! " the posters proclaimed. 'As bewitching as Garbo—and as hard to explain," said one logo, while another gasped in bold print,
"Lots of girls could love like she does—but how many would DARE! "
In New York, the day before
Ex-Lady
was to open at the Strand theater, the management respectfully advised that "those of our patrons who are over 60
NOT
attend this picture of Today's Youth." For extra hoopla, some elderly citizens were bussed in from the suburbs to picket the theater. Bette Davis, safe in her Manhattan hotel suite, braced herself for the storm of controversy, and stardom, that would inevitably follow. But on the scheduled day, on the morn of the reviews and the hoped-for lurid coverage, when she gathered up all of the newspapers from her door, she found that each headline and photograph and entertainment section was devoted not to her but to
Joan Crawford
and the breakup of her marriage to her Prince, Douglas Fairbanks, Jr.
JOAN DIVORCES
DOUG
—
Story Page
3,4,
7,20.
SPECIAL PHOTO INSERT
On page 27 of the New York
Times
a very brief review of Bette Davis in
Ex-Lady
appeared. "Downright foolish," said the reviewer. 'A minor battle of the sexes," said the Scripps News Service, which pulled a syndicated Sunday news story on Bette, replacing it with
Parachute Jumper,
released in January of 1933, was prominently reviewed by the respected critic Cecilia Ager, although the tone of the notice devoted to the leading lady was somewhat discordant. "Bette Davis seems convinced she's become quite a charmer," said Ager. "Slowly she raises her eyebrows to sear the hero with her devastating glances, then satisfied, she smiles a crooked little Mona Lisa smile. Unfortunately this procedure takes place while Miss Davis is wearing a curious pill-box hat that perches on her head at an angle slightly comic. The hat, and her own self-satisfaction, interfere with the effect."
At Warner's, in the interim, some good news had come for Bette. At the suggestion of soon-to-depart-executive Darryl Zanuck, the actress was told that at last she would be given the station she craved. She would star alone, above the title, in her next picture,
Ex-Lady.
"Daring ... provocative ... a modern love story so frank, so outspoken—it tells of a new generation that laughs at wedding bells and yawns at bassinets," said the film's ad logos.
Ex-Lady,
co-authored by Robert Riskin, who would later write the scripts of
It Happened One Night
and
Meet John Doe,
explored a seemingly provocative topic for its day. It told of a woman, a beautiful, emancipated artist, who flouted convention by practicing an "open marriage." "She wanted to wear a wedding ring ... on certain nights." Certain to cause a sensation, this film could do for Bette Davis what
Our Dancing Daughters
and
Red Headed Woman
did for Joan Crawford and Jean Harlow. She would be dressed by Orry-Kelly and photographed by Tony Gaudio, and her leading man would be Gene Raymond, who had recently appeared in
Red Dust
at Metro.
Completed in twenty-seven days, a generous schedule for a Warner picture,
Ex-Lady
was edited while Davis was being photographed and interviewed for advance publicity. Adjusting to the theme of the film, the recently married Bette told interviewers that she didn't wear a marriage ring and that freedom for both spouses was most important. "Married couples ought not see each other in the morning until after breakfast," she said. 'And it is absolutely essential that both husband and wife have close friends of the opposite sex."
In late April of 1933 the posters and ad logos for
Ex-Lady
were shipped to theaters. " A NEW TYPE! A NEW STAR! A NEW HIT! " the posters proclaimed. 'As bewitching as Garbo—and as hard to explain," said one logo, while another gasped in bold print,
"Lots of girls could love like she does—but how many would DARE! "
In New York, the day before
Ex-Lady
was to open at the Strand theater, the management respectfully advised that "those of our patrons who are over 60
NOT
attend this picture of Today's Youth." For extra hoopla, some elderly citizens were bussed in from the suburbs to picket the theater. Bette Davis, safe in her Manhattan hotel suite, braced herself for the storm of controversy, and stardom, that would inevitably follow. But on the scheduled day, on the morn of the reviews and the hoped-for lurid coverage, when she gathered up all of the newspapers from her door, she found that each headline and photograph and entertainment section was devoted not to her but to
Joan Crawford
and the breakup of her marriage to her Prince, Douglas Fairbanks, Jr.
JOAN DIVORCES
DOUG
—
Story Page
3,4,
7,20.
SPECIAL PHOTO INSERT
On page 27 of the New York
Times
a very brief review of Bette Davis in
Ex-Lady
appeared. "Downright foolish," said the reviewer. 'A minor battle of the sexes," said the Scripps News Service, which pulled a syndicated Sunday news story on Bette, replacing it with
Similar Books
