Dark Victory_The Life of Bette Davis

by Ed Sikov

  22. Lonely Life, p. 200.

  23. USC, All This and Heaven, Too files.

  24. Dody, p. 156; Lonely Life, p. 200.

  25. Stine and Davis, Mother Goddam, p. 130.

  26. Quirk, Colbert, p. 100.

  27. Swindell, Boyer, pp. 160–61.

  28. Ibid., p. 158.

  29. Ibid., p. 163.

  30. USC, All This and Heaven, Too files; Swindell, Boyer, p. 158.

  31. Los Angeles Times, June 14, 1940.

  32. Lonely Life, p. 201.

  CHAPTER 11. MORE BATTLES AND TWO RETREATS

  1. USC, The Letter files: Walter MacEwen to Breen and Breen to MacEwan, both April 16, 1938.

  2. Ibid.: Bob Lord to Wallis, December 20, 1939.

  3. Morley, Cooper, p. 116.

  4. USC, The Letter files: Warner to Wallis, June 8, 1940, and June 20, 1940.

  5. Ibid.: Wyler to Wallis, June 12, 1940.

  6. Lonely Life, p. 204.

  7. Callahan, http://www.toxicuniverse.com/review.php?rid 10005377.

  8. See O’Toole, “Whatever Happened to Bette Davis?”

  8. USC, The Letter files: Wallis to Lord, October 11, 1940.

  10. Stine and Davis, Mother Goddam, p. 140.

  11. Flanner, p. 20.

  12. Wiley and Bona, p. 105.

  13. Stine, Kiss, p. 126.

  14. BU, scrapbook 21.

  15. Shingler, “Masquerade,” quoting Gladys Hall in Modern Screen, undated.

  16. BU, box 25: “Home Life of a Movie Hellcat,”Screen Guide, 1938.

  17. http://www.dogbreedinfo.com/scottishterrier.htm.

  18. BU, scrapbook 17: Gladys Hall, “Divorce Is Making Her Miserable,” undated.

  19. Spada, Bette Davis, p. 148.

  20. BU, box 25: Screen Guide, January 1939.

  21. Lonely Life, p. 197.

  22. Quirk, Fasten, p. 179.

  23. BU, scrapbook 32.

  24. BU, scrapbook 43: Boston Globe, August 20, 1939.

  25. Stine and Davis, Mother Goddam, p. 127.

  26. Lonely Life, p. 199; Stine and Davis, Mother Goddam, p. 127.

  27. BU, scrapbook 33: Louella Parsons, Los Angeles Herald Examiner, March 6, 1940.

  28. Lonely Life, p. 199.

  29. BU, box 2, folder 6: Zaida, “Bette Davis,” (Honolulu) Ka Moae.

  30. BU, scrapbook 27: various clippings, including Peggy Bairos, “Bette Davis Receives Rousing Island Welcome”; James T. Hamada, “On the Screen,” Honolulu, May 1, 1940; Jimmy Fidler, Los Angeles Times, May 8, 1940; Dorothy Kilgallen, New York Journal American, May 6, 1940; Sidney Skolsky, Citizen News, June 21, 1940.

  31. Stine and Davis, Mother Goddam, p. 138.

  32. BU, scrapbook 17: “It’s Idle Gossip,” Modern Screen, January 1941.

  33. Schultz, p. 19.

  34. Stine and Davis, Mother Goddam, p. 140, quoting contemporary interview with Jack Holland.

  35. USC, The Great Lie files: Wallis to Warner, November 18, 1940.

  36. Ibid.: Wallis to Blanke, January 29, 1940.

  37. Ibid.: Warner to Blanke, February 20, 1940.

  38. USC, legal files, September 5 to December 30, 1940: Davis to Wallis, undated; Wallis to Blanke, September 21, 1940.

  39. Kennedy, p. 200.

  40. Astor, My Story, pp. 201–2.

  41. Ibid., p. 202.

  42. Astor, A Life on Film, p. 152.

  43. Ibid., p. 153.

  44. Astor, My Story, p. 203.

  45. Ibid., p. 204.

  46. Wiley and Bona, p. 120.

  47. USC, legal files, September 5 to December 30, 1940: Davis to Warner, undated.

  48. Stine and Davis, Mother Goddam, p. 117.

  49. Flanner, p. 22.

  50. Ibid.

  51. BU, scrapbook 52.

  52. BU, box 25: Boston Sunday Post, August 4, 1940.

  53. Stine and Davis, Mother Goddam, p. 146.

  54. Ibid., p. 143.

  55. Ibid.

  56. New York Times, April 6, 1941.

  57. BU, box 2, folder 6: Manchester Union, April 5, 1941.

  58. “Life Goes to a Birthday Party,” Life, April 28, 1941, pp. 126–29.

  CHAPTER 12. BREAKDOWN AND RECOVERY

  1. Lonely Life, p. 208.

  2. Louella Parsons, Los Angeles Herald-Examiner, July 22, 1940.

  3. Berg, Goldwyn, p. 357.

  4. USC, legal files, January 1 to August 31, 1940, and September 5 to December 30, 1940.

  5. Lonely Life, p. 206.

  6. Marx, “In Hollywood,” pp. 206–7.

  7. McCourt, Queer Street, p. 498.

  8. Thomas Brady, “Peace Comes to The Little Foxes,” New York Times, June 22, 1941.

  9. Berg, Goldwyn, pp. 355–56.

  10. Marx, Goldwyn, p. 280.

  11. http://www.atmos.ucla.edu/~fovell/ASother/mm5/SantaAna/winds.html.

  12. Marx, Goldwyn, p. 281.

  13. USC, Bette Davis legal files, January 8 to December 31, 1941: Obringer to Wallis and Warner, May 22, 1941.

  14. Stine and Davis, Mother Goddam, pp. 150–51.

  15. BU, scrapbook 30: various clippings.

  16. Douglas Churchill, “A House Divided,” New York Times, June 1, 1941.

  17. Brady, “Peace Comes to The Little Foxes.”

  18. USC, Bette Davis legal files, January 8 to December 31, 1941.

  19. Lonely Life, p. 207.

  20. Rollyson, p. 180.

  21. Wright, p. 179.

  22. USC, legal files, September 5 to December 30, 1940: memo dated November 12, 1940.

  23. Peters, p. 448.

  24. Wallis and Higham, p. 97.

  25. USC, The Man Who Came to Dinner files, legal file.

  26. Hanson, AFI Catalog, 1941–1950, pp. 1484–85.

  27. Ibid.

  28. Stine and Davis, Mother Goddam, p. 154.

  29. Kobal, p. 423.

  30. BU, scrapbook 37: various clippings.

  31. USC, Bette Davis legal files, January 8 to December 31, 1941: Davis to Wallis, October 2, 1941.

  32. http://www.musicals101.com/gay5.htm.

  33. Quirk, Fasten, p. 236.

  34. McCourt, Queer Street, p. 494.

  35. Baldwin, p. 60.

  36. The Dick Cavett Show, ABC, March 11, 1971.

  37. Huston, p. 81.

  38. Warner with Jennings, p. 255.

  39. BU, scrapbook 37: Minneapolis Star-Journal, October 22, 1941.

  40. USC, Bette Davis legal files, January 8 to December 31, 1941.

  41. USC, In This Our Life files: Warner to Huston, December 17, 1941.

  42. Ibid.: Wright to Warner and Wallis, December 18, 1941.

  43. BU, scrapbook 37: Peake clipping, November 8, 1941.

  44. USC, In This Our Life files: Wallis to Perc Westmore, February 11, 1942.

  45. BU, scrapbook 37: clipping, mid-November 1942.

  46. Ibid.: undated clipping.

  47. Bette Davis, “Uncertain Glory,” p. 17.

  48. Williamson, p. 75.

  49. Lonely Life, p. 205.

  50. Ibid.

  51. BU, box 25: Boston Post, December 15, 1941.

  52. AMPAS, Hedda Hopper Collection, file 506 (Bette Davis).

  53. Hanson, AFI Catalog, 1941–1950, p. 537.

  54. Ibid., p. 616.

  55. Hollywood Reporter, October 19 and November 30, 1942.

  56. USC, Bette Davis legal files, January 8 to December 31, 1941; Behlmer, Warner, p. 150: Blanke to Wallis, June 7, 1941.

  57. Hanson, AFI Catalog, 1941–1950, p. 868.

  58. USC, Bette Davis legal files, January 8 to December 31, 1941.

  59. Troyan, p. 177.

  60. Hanson, AFI Catalog, 1941–1950, p. 471.

  61. Swindell, Garfield, p. 175.

  62. Hanson, AFI Catalog, 1941–1950, pp. 1285–86; Behlmer, Warner, p. 140; Wallis and Higham, p. 101.

  63. www.audio-classics.com.

  64. BU, scrapbook 28: Ann Masters, Chicago Herald American, August 3, 1940.
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  CHAPTER 13. A PERSCRIPTION FOR INDEPENDENCE

  1. http://www.uua.org/uuhs/duub/articles/olivehigginsprouty.html.

  2. Sperber and Lax, p. 178; Prouty, p. 195.

  3. Whitman, p. 379.

  4. Lonely Life, p. 210.

  5. Ginger Rogers, p. 248.

  6. Stine and Davis, Mother Goddam, p. 163.

  7. Ibid.

  8. Henreid with Fast, pp. 111–12.

  9. Hanson, AFI Catalog, 1941–1950, pp. 1729–30.

  10. Lonely Life, pp. 210–11; Williamson, p. 73.

  11. Prouty, p. 198.

  12. McGilligan, Backstory 1, pp. 303–4.

  13. Chase, p. 21.

  14. Boston American, May 20, 1942.

  15. Henreid with Fast, pp. 115–16.

  16. Freedland, Now, Voyager, p. 139.

  17. Charles Busch to ES, May 26, 2004.

  18. Cavell, pp. 226–27.

  19. BU, scrapbook 40: clipping.

  20. Henreid with Fast, p. 114.

  21. Lonely Life, p. 206.

  22. BU, scrapbook 40: various clippings.

  23. New York Times, May 30, 1942.

  24. Schatz, p. 299.

  25. New York Times, April 23, 1942.

  26. Oakland Tribune, June 5, 1942.

  27. Photoplay, January 1941, pp. 26–27, 67.

  28. Photoplay-Movie Mirror, December 1942.

  29. Hoopes, p. 110.

  30. Ibid., p. 122.

  31. Ibid., p. 129.

  32. Lonely Life, p. 211; BU scrapbooks 1 and 41: various clippings.

  33. Wisconsin Historical Society, Herman Shumlin Papers: Davis to Shumlin, September 1942.

  34. Davis with Herskowitz, This ’n That, p. 123.

  35. Hoopes, pp. 169–70; Schultz, p. 63.

  36. Hoopes, p. 179.

  37. Davis with Herskowitz, This ’n That, pp. 126–27.

  38. Vik Greenfield to ES, September 18, 2006.

  39. Hoopes, p. 170.

  40. Davis with Herskowitz, This ’n That, pp. 127–28.

  41. Hoopes, p. 172.

  42. Flanner, p. 24.

  43. The Dick Cavett Show, ABC, November 17, 1971.

  44. USC, Bette Davis legal files, January 7 to December 28, 1942: Obringer to Warner May 14, 1942, and Wallis to Obringer, May 15, 1942.

  45. Hanson, AFI Catalog, 1941–1950, p. 2724.

  46. Stine and Davis, Mother Goddam, p. 165.

  47. The Dick Cavett Show, ABC, November 17, 1971.

  48. USC, Bette Davis legal files, January 4 to November 8, 1945: Davis to Warner, February 20, 1945.

  49. Kobal, p. 559.

  50. Kennedy, p. 210.

  51. Quirk, Norma, pp. 229–30.

  52. Kennedy, pp. 209–10.

  53. Ibid., p. 210.

  54. Hanson, AFI Catalog, 1941–1950, p. 1741.

  55. Riese, p. 5.

  56. Kobal, p. 560.

  57. Sherman, pp. 122–24.

  58. Stine and Davis, Mother Goddam, p. 176.

  59. Kobal, p. 561.

  60. Bogart, p. 230.

  61. Sherman, p. 125.

  62. Kobal, pp. 561–62.

  63. Sherman, p. 126.

  64. Ibid., p. 128.

  CHAPTER 14. FOR THE BOYS

  1. Eells, pp. 63–64.

  2. Hanson, AFI Catalog, 1941–1950, pp. 1069–70.

  3. USC, All This and Heaven, Too files.

  4. Quirk, Fasten, p. 268.

  5. Hoopes, p. 176.

  6. Ibid.

  7. Hanson, AFI Catalog, 1941–1950, pp. 1069–70.

  8. The Dick Cavett Show, ABC, March 11, 1971.

  9. Hank Sartin to ES, December 30, 2005.

  10. http://forum.bcdb.com/forum/gforum.cgi?do post_view&post 57466.

  11. Thanks to Hank Sartin, David Germain, and Ethan Minovitz for their observations about Bette Davis’s appearances in Warner Bros. animation.

  12. BU, scrapbook 52.

  13. Stine and Davis, Mother Goddam, p. 180.

  14. USC, Bette Davis legal files, January 20 to June 24, 1943: contract dated June 7, 1943.

  15. Hanson, AFI Catalog, 1941–1950, p. 1759.

  16. McCarthy, pp. 352–57.

  17. Beaver, p. 116, and www.imdb.com.

  18. Kennedy, p. 221.

  19. Lonely Life, p. 213.

  20. Rogers St. Johns.

  21. Quirk, Fasten, p. 261.

  22. Spada, pp. 205–15.

  23. Sherman, pp. 130–45.

  24. Lonely Life, p. 214.

  25. Vincent Sherman, interviewed on Mysteries and Scandals: “Bette Davis,” E! Entertainment Television, 2000.

  26. Sherman, p. 147.

  27. McDougal, p. 98; Hoopes, p. 174.

  28. Riese, p. 294.

  29. Westmore and Davidson, p. 137.

  30. Stine and Davis, Mother Goddam, p. 184.

  31. AMPAS, Jane Lockwood Ferrero’s Hollywood Canteen diary, entries dated February 27, 1943, October 23, 1943, and November 20, 1943.

  32. Hoopes, p. 173.

  33. Lonely Life, p. 214.

  34. USC, legal files, January 1 to August 31, 1940.

  35. Ibid.: Wallis to Warner, March 7, 1941.

  36. Ibid.: Trilling to Wallis, March 1, 1941, and Wallis to Trilling, April 14, 1941.

  37. Sherman, p. 139.

  38. Ibid.

  39. Stine and Davis, Mother Goddam, p. 186.

  40. Ibid., p. 181.

  41. Kobal, p. 562.

  42. USC, Mr. Skeffington file: daily production and progress report.

  43. Lonely Life, pp. 214–15.

  44. Freedland, Warner, p. 163.

  45. Kobal, p. 563.

  46. Ibid., p. 562.

  47. Sherman, p. 148.

  CHAPTER 15. COMMANDERS IN CHIEF

  1. USC, The Corn Is Green files: daily production and progress report.

  2. Stine and Davis, Mother Goddam, p. 190.

  3. USC, The Corn Is Green file: progress reports.

  4. Behlmer, Warner, p. 17.

  5. David Chierichetti to ES, January 23, 2001.

  6. Stine and Davis, Mother Goddam, p. 190, quoting Dall’s interview with Dorothy Hasking in Movie Story, August 1945.

  7. Kobal, pp. 542–43.

  8. Lonely Life, p. 252.

  9. Higham and Greenberg, Celluloid Muse, pp. 199–200.

  10. Anon., “Wallace Calls Roosevelt Better Fitted than Dewey,” New York Times, September 22, 1944.

  11. Ward, p. 335.

  12. Lonely Life, pp. 215–16; Ward, p. 335.

  13. Hoopes, p. 175.

  14. New York Times, September 28, 1944.

  15. Stine and Davis, Mother Goddam, p. 186.

  16. Ibid.

  17. Billingsley, p. 97; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:ElectoralCollege1944 Large.png.

  18. Lippman, pp. 13–14.

  19. Hassett, pp. 300–302.

  20. Davis with Herskowitz, This ’n That, pp. 173–74.

  21. BU, box 25: various clippings, including Boston Post, November 26, 1945.

  22. BU, scrapbook 68.

  23. New York Times, November 29, 1945.

  24. Ibid., November 30, 1945.

  25. Staggs, All About, p. 69, quoting Modern Screen.

  26. Riese, p. 389.

  27. Lonely Life, p. 218.

  28. Davis with Herskowitz, This ’n That, p. 174.

  29. Westmore and Davidson, p. 177.

  30. Thomas, Crawford, p. 151; Madsen, p. 222.

  31. Schatz, p. 417.

  32. O’Toole, “Whatever Happened,” p. 170.

  33. Behlmer, Warner, p. 269.

  34. Hanson, AFI Catalog, 1941–1950, p. 1375.

  35. Swindell, Garfield, p. 204.

  36. Kobal, pp. 563–64.

  37. Bernhardt and Kiersch, p. 110.

  38. USC, Bette Davis legal files, January 5 to December 18, 1944.

  39. Stine and Davis, Mother Goddam, p. 195.

  40. Ibid., pp. 195–96.

  41
. Bernhardt, p. 112.

  42. Ibid., p. 110.

  43. Steven DeRosa to ES, January 17, 2006.

  44. Lonely Life, p. 219.

  45. Stine and Davis, Mother Goddam, p. 195.

  46. USC, Bette Davis legal files, January 4 to November 8, 1945.

  47. Bernhardt and Kiersch, p. 113.

  48. USC, Bette Davis legal files, February 26 to December 29, 1947: A Stolen Life accounting statement to July 5, 1947, dated August 11, 1947.

  49. Sperber and Lax, p. 310.

  50. “SAC, Los Angeles” to “Director, FBI,” FBI office memorandum dated December 12, 1951.

  51. McBride, Ford, p. 370.

  52. BU, box 25: Jack Ashland, “Invitation to the Wedding of Bette and William Grant Sherry,” Photoplay, February 1946, p. 27.

  53. USC, Bette Davis legal files, February 26 to December 29, 1947.

  54. Ibid., January 4 to July 31, 1946: contract dated February 4, 1946.

  55. Ibid., January 4 to July 31, 1946.

  56. Elizabeth Wilson, “Battling Bette,” Liberty, February 1947, pp. 32–33.

  57. Ibid.

  CHAPTER 16. DECEPTIONS

  1. Stine and Davis, Mother Goddam, p. 209.

  2. USC, Bette Davis legal files, January 4 to July 31, 1946.

  3. Higham and Greenberg, Celluloid Muse, p. 203.

  4. Mandelbaum and Myers, p. 64.

  5. Henreid with Fast, pp. 176–77.

  6. Lonely Life, p. 218.

  7. Ibid., p. 220.

  8. USC, Bette Davis legal files, August 9 to December 28, 1946.

  9. BU, box 2, folder 7: Hedda Hopper, “Welcome Stranger!” Modern Screen.

  10. Lonely Life, p. 220.

  11. BU, scrapbook 52.

  12. Time, May 5, 1947.

  13. Lonely Life, p. 219.

  14. Ibid.

  15. AMPAS, Gladys Hall Collection, folder 141 (Bette Davis): manuscript of “What Has Happened to Bette Davis?” Modern Screen, January 14, 1940.

  16. BU, box 25: Jack Ashland, “Invitation to the Wedding of Bette and William Grant Sherry,” Photoplay, February 1946, p. 27.

  17. Lonely Life, p. 219.

  18. Spada, Bette Davis, p. 252.

  19. Lonely Life, p. 222.

  20. Buford, p. 90.

  21. USC, Bette Davis legal files, February 26 to December 29, 1947, January 5 to October 15, 1948, and January 15 to December 7, 1949.

  22. Stine and Davis, Mother Goddam, p. 211.

  23. Lonely Life, pp. 194, 195, 222.

  24. Reynolds, pp. 53–54.

  25. AMPAS, Marty Weiser Collection, correspondence, 1948: Gil Golden to Weiser, September 24, 1948, and Weiser to Golden, November 5, 1948.

  26. Chierichetti, p. 87.

  27. AMPAS, Hedda Hopper Collection, file 506 (Bette Davis): Ted Hodges to Hopper, January 2, 1948.

  28. Ibid.: Ted Hodges to Hopper, February 1, 1948.

  29. Davis with Herskowitz, This ’n That, p. 175.