"Va Va Voom" Star of the Day: Bette Davis

Bette Davis
From the official Bette Davis website:

Often referred to as "The First Lady of the American Screen," Bette Davis created a new kind of screen heroine. She was a liberated woman in an industry dominated by men. She was known as an actress that could play a variety of difficult and powerful roles, and because of this she set a new standard for women on the big screen. Independent off-screen as well, her battles with studio bigwigs were legendary. With a career spanning six decades, few in the history of film rival her longevity and appeal.

Bette Davis was born Ruth Davis on April 5, 1908 in Lowell, Massachusetts. Just before her tenth birthday, Bette's father, Harlow, left the family. Although she had little money, her mother, Ruthie, sent Bette and her sister to boarding school. Upon graduating Cushing Academy, Bette enrolled in John Murray Anderson's Dramatic School. In 1929, she made her Broadway debut in "Broken Dishes." She also landed a role in "Solid South." In 1930, she moved to Hollywood to screen test for Universal.

Whoa!

A little bit of trivia for you on this hump day...
While filming The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex (1939), the tension between Bette Davis and Errol Flynn was thick. Davis wanted Laurence Olivier to play Flynn's part, and so detested him the entire shoot.

During the film when Elizabeth (played by Davis) slaps Essex (Flynn) in front of the entire court, Davis intentionally smacked Flynn right across the face. The anger on Flynn's face is quite genuine, as is his visible imposition of self-control to avoid hitting Davis back.

Mee-Yow Thursday

Did you miss your favorite cat fights?  We just wanted to revisit the greatest of them all...that is, the Bette Davis vs. Joan Crawford feud that has spanned generations.

The Queens of Vintage website reviews the feud, finally digging to the bottom of the fight and discovering that it all started with a man.  Of course -- it all makes sense that two successful, beautiful women would fight over a man.  Sound familiar, anyone?

As the website states: "It was the most notorious cat fight in Hollywood history...A little investigation shows that these two cinematic giants were reduced to duking it out over, what else, a man. Namely, the slightly less legendary, Franchot Tone...

Mee-Yow Wednesday

About Bette Davis, Humphrey Bogart was quoted as saying:

"Even when I was carrying a gun, she scared the bejesus out of me."

Monday's This & That

So let's dive in to the latest floating around the internet...

More classics being redone... ContactMusic.com reports:
A musical version of the classic Audrey Hepburn movie "Roman Holiday" has been staged in London. The 1953 film was Hepburn's first starring role and earned her a Best Actress Oscar for her performance alongside Gregory Peck. And now the movie has become the latest legendary picture to be transformed into a West End show, with the story interspersed with the classic songs of Cole Porter. "Roman Holiday"'s London debut follows the musical version of "Gone With The Wind," which opened there earlier this month.

Music by Cole Porter? Has to be good...

Joan Crawford's arch-rival Bette Davis gets her own box collection released on DVD. The set includes "All About Eve," "Phone Call from a Stranger," "The Virgin Queen," "Hush...Hush, Sweet Charlotte," and "The Nanny." (Available on Amazon.com for $36.99 as of this posting.)

...And Disney's going green with their new film label Disneynature, which will produce nature documentaries about environmentalism. (If you've ever been to Walt Disney World and ridden on some of the rides, you'll see this was a long time coming.) The first of seven films that are to revive the classic nature documentary style will be Earth, set for release on Earth Day (April 22, 2009). "The movie focuses on a yearlong journey of three mothers -- a polar bear, elephant and humpback whale with their offspring." Awwww.....

Mee-Yow Thursday

They're at it again...

"Why am I so good at playing bitches? I think it's because I'm not a bitch. Maybe that's why Miss Crawford always plays ladies."

- Bette Davis

Mee-Yow Thursday

Another catty comment from Bette Davis about long-time rival Joan Crawford:

"The best time I ever had with Joan in a film was when I pushed her down the stairs in Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?"

Friday's This & That

This week was a complete bitch, for so many reasons and on so many levels. I'm so glad it's over, because I'd rather be my former sunshine-y Pollyanna self than this bitter old woman I've become.

The only thing that's made me happy within the last week is watching this informercial for the Sweep N Mop. Now I want one. I mean, it's only 2 for $10 (plus S&H)! You can't beat that! Does anyone have one?

Bette Davis' new biography seems to be ultra-kind to her, despite her reputation for being a stage diva.

Errol Flynn's frequent co-star Olivia DiHavilland is featured in an LA Weekly article. She will be honored at the Academy on June 15th, and a tribute will be displayed for her at both the Academy and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art from June 15 to July 1.

And Saturday, June 10th (tomorrow!) on TCM at 8 PM (EST, I assume) watch Sunset Blvd. It's also playing Sunday, June 11th at 6PM. This is the movie I raved about previously. The best film-noir movie of them all.

And yes, there will be a Romance Cheese Friday today!