When Rock Hudson and Tallulah Bankhead throw a party...

[Lucyilove]

I wonder, if Davis had never come to town, might Tallulah be remembered today as Davis is? Certainly Tallulah could have handled any role Davis tackled.

 

Well, Tallulah was a movie star before Bette was during the early 1930's but she bombed with the general public and was only in a few films; she's not very photogenic on screen in her 1930's films but looks quite striking as a "mature glamour girl" in her two in the mid 1940's when she was past 40 but by then too old to become a full-fledged screen star.

 

Tallulah completely lacked vulnerability however (which is one reason why her barbs snap so good). I certainly couldn't see her in THE OLD MAID, NOW VOYAGER, ALL THIS AND HEAVEN TOO, THE GREAT LIE, THE CORN IS GREEN, or any of Bette's other "poor little thing" movies; of course she would have been great in Bette's ruthless roles like THE LETTER, MR SKEFFINGTON, IN THIS OUR LIFE, etc. but I don't think quite as good as Bette was in them (after all Bette was the premier dramatic movie actress of her era and Lucy was certainly one of her biggest fans, talking about her admiration for Bette quite often in interviews.)

[C L A U D E]

Well, Tallulah was a movie star before Bette was during the early 1930's but she bombed with the general public and was only in a few films; she's not very photogenic on screen in her 1930's films but looks quite striking as a "mature glamour girl" in her two in the mid 1940's when she was past 40 but by then too old to become a full-fledged screen star.

 

Tallulah completely lacked vulnerability however (which is one reason why her barbs snap so good). I certainly couldn't see her in THE OLD MAID, NOW VOYAGER, ALL THIS AND HEAVEN TOO, THE GREAT LIE, THE CORN IS GREEN, or any of Bette's other "poor little thing" movies; of course she would have been great in Bette's ruthless roles like THE LETTER, MR SKEFFINGTON, IN THIS OUR LIFE, etc. but I don't think quite as good as Bette was in them (after all Bette was the premier dramatic movie actress of her era and Lucy was certainly one of her biggest fans, talking about her admiration for Bette quite often in interviews.)

Very true BUT you left out how Bette was not your usual attractive movie star when she started out and later became ugly as sin, at the end she was downright scary. My point being that Tallulah never changed over the decades. And of course i understand that Bette dealt with a stroke and cancer at the end, hence the frightening LOOK in her final years.

[Lucyilove]

Very true BUT you left out how Bette was not your usual attractive movie star when she started out and later became ugly as sin, at teh end she was downright scary. My point being that Tallulah never changed over the decades. And of course i understand that Bette dealt with a stroke and cancer at the end, hence the frightening LOOK in her final years.

Tallulah never changed??? Have you seen DIE DIE MY DARLING??? She looks as bad at 63 as Bette would in her late 70's and Tallulah had no major illnesses that I know of beyond a love affair with the bottle. (Tallulah was also something of a mess by the 1950's, fairly overweight and very harsh looking and by then totally given over to self-parody, no surprise there were no film offers this decade.)

 

True Bette was not a conventional glamor girl but the moviegoers loved her of course as they blatantly didn't Tallulah; I think it all goes back to the vulnerability issue, ordinary women saw a lot of themselves in Bette and were able to live through here, Tallulah was so her own woman and one of a kind there wasn't much empathy toward her.

 

 

This Bette talk brings back one of my favorite Lucy tv memories. In 1978 or 1979 Lucy was a guest on the Mike Douglas show as was "Three's Company" Joyce DeWitt and her boyfriend (I think he was a semi-regular on "Rhoda", I can't remember his name). Lucy of course was interviewed first and then Joyce and her guy came out. Joyce at one point announces she and her guy go to see every film released out of respect for their "peers" and Lucy reacts like this is the STUPIDEST thing she ever heard in her life (a sensible reaction IMO), saying something like "EVERY film??? I would NEVER go see EVERY film ever made unless Bette Davis was in it!"

[C L A U D E]

Tallulah never changed??? Have you seen DIE DIE MY DARLING??? She looks as bad at 63 as Bette would in her late 70's and Tallulah had no major illnesses that I know of beyond a love affair with the bottle. (Tallulah was also something of a mess by the 1950's, fairly overweight and very harsh looking and by then totally given over to self-parody, no surprise there were no film offers this decade.)

 

True Bette was not a conventional glamor girl but the moviegoers loved her of course as they blatantly didn't Tallulah; I think it all goes back to the vulnerability issue, ordinary women saw a lot of themselves in Bette and were able to live through here, Tallulah was so her own woman and one of a kind there wasn't much empathy toward her.

 

 

This Bette talk brings back one of my favorite Lucy tv memories. In 1978 or 1979 Lucy was a guest on the Mike Douglas show as was "Three's Company" Joyce DeWitt and her boyfriend (I think he was a semi-regular on "Rhoda", I can't remember his name). Lucy of course was interviewed first and then Joyce and her guy came out. Joyce at one point announces she and her guy go to see every film released out of respect for their "peers" and Lucy reacts like this is the STUPIDEST thing she ever heard in her life (a sensible reaction IMO), saying something like "EVERY film??? I would NEVER go see EVERY film ever made unless Bette Davis was in it!"

Yes, must be my old eyes as Tallulah looked the same in Die Die My Darling, she always looked the same, Broadway people never get into that glamor LOOK, they just look simple. Love your Dewitt story, so typical of Lucy, LOL! I must have seen that although i don't remember it at all. Maybe i was working and Mike aired during the day.

[Brock]

Bumped in honour of Esther Williams. (See video on Page 1)