Friday, March 10, 2017

LADIES WHO LUNCH


Are you watching Feud – the mini-series about the rivalry between Joan Crawford and Bette Davis?  I thought the first episode was pretty creaky and I just didn’t buy Jessica Lange as Joan Crawford.  But Susan Sarandon seemed to really capture something of Bette Davis – at least as we imagine her to be.


I’m not sure if modern actresses are allowed to drink – all those calories.  But we know that both Joan and Bette liked a tipple.  I found this wonderful, if ludicrous and scary, thing from Joan.  It’s hard not to have affection for a woman who adds a splash of vodka to everything.


It seems that Bette preferred whisky to vodka.  Robert Vaughan’s autobiography contains a wild account of being summoned to Davis’s house for lunch, so she could check him out and see if he was suitable for a project she was doing.  He staggered out at 4 o’ clock drunk, unfed, and barely able to stand or see.  He didn’t get the part, which I think is a great shame.  I’d have liked to see them together.   I think they’d have had more chemistry than Bette and Robert Wagner.


No comments:

Post a Comment