FASTEN YOUR SEATBELTS - IT'S THE QUEEN OF HOLLYWOOD

One of my favourite bloggers, Lubin aka Dollsoup aka TrashAddict had posted about what your favourite diva means to you - ie, if you feel an affinity with Judy Garland then you probably have emotional problems and addiction tendencies. If you can relate to Joan Crawford then you are a sly bitch who's a bit too handy with coat hangers. The diva that I most relate or love most is without doubt Bette Davis which means that I'm a bitch


Rather than bore both you and myself with an essay on this legend - I thought I'd get straight to the bullet points and quotable quotes with this bitch that I adore sooo fucking much!

- Bette was married 4 times. but apparently "None of my husbands were man enough to be Mr Bette Davis!"

- Her 2nd hubby, Arthur Farnsworth died on Hollywood Boulevard. It's still unknown what happened but there's a possibilty that he died due to Bette pushing him and causing a haemorrage.

- She slapped Errol Flynn so hard on the set of "The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex" that he cried from the pain. When he confronted regal Bette to tone it down she replied "A slap has to be a slap"

- Was good friends sort of with Olivia De Havilland (Melanie Wilkes in Gone With the Wind) but at a tribute to Bette's career she nixed Olivia's invitation.

- When she found out her sister was dying she refused to visit her with the message "Let her come and visit me!"

- When working with Lillian Gish she laughed about her "That bitch has been around forever you know!"

- On arriving in Hollywood, bosses suggested changing her name to Bettina Dawes, she refused going through life known as Between The Drawers.

- As a child she was envious of sisters naturally curly hair - so she took a pair of scissors and cut her sister's head up into scallops!

- Was nominated for the Oscar ten times. Won twice for Dangerous and for Jezebel. Other nominations were for Dark Victory, Mr Skeffington, The Letter, The Little Foxes, Now Voyager, All About Eve, The Star and Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?

- Feuded with various people in Hollywood. "There's a legend that I'm murder to work with. The only people I've ever been murder to are idiots."

- Set fire to her apartment after falling asleep with a lit cigarette in her hand. When she woke up and the fire doused, she found the cigarette and said "Oh that's where it went"

- Her daughter, BD Hyman wrote a tell all book on her called "My Mother's Keeper" Bette cut all ties with her after that but did write a one page note about her in her own autobiography. She addressed the note "Dear Hyman" because she couldn't write "Dear Cunt"

- Is buried in the cemetery overlooking the Warner Bros studio she ruled for years. Her tombstone has the inscription "She Did It The Hard Way"


**** BETTE ON BETTE ****

"I love to rip the guts out of fish"

"Old age ain't no place for sissies"

"I spent a lifetime apologizing for being too bright"

"They're my wrinkles - I earned them"

"Well if they hire me and I know I cam be difficult, it's too bad"

"I went back to work because someone had to pay for the groceries"

"If you've never been hated by your child, you've never been a parent"

"I will NEVER appear in a picture with my name below the title"


**** BETTE ON OTHERS ****

"Miriam Hopkins was a wonderful actress, but a bitch. The most thorough going bitch I've ever worked with"

"Who the hell hasn't Shelley Winters slept with?!"

"Miriam Hopkins - she was a swine!"

"I watched Barbara Stanwyck in The Thorn Birds Eugh!! It was painful!!"

"She ought to know about close-ups! Jesus! She was around when they invented them!" - Lillian Gish

"She was the original good time that was had by all" - Marilyn Monroe

"Before I ever worked with Faye Dunaway I admired her cheekbones. Now I can only admire her cheek!"

" There are no heroes today - Name one? Michael Jackson?!!"

"I have always admired Katharine Hepburn's cheekbones. More than her films. She always wanted to be liked, too much so - But I'd have killed for those cheekbones"

"Compared to Miss Dunaway, Joan Crawford was a real pro"


**** OTHERS ON BETTE ****

"End the war!! Send Bette Davis to the front!!" - slogan on a wall at Warner Bros

"The studio was afraid of Bette, afraid of her demons" - John Huston

"When I get hold of her, I'll tear out every hair of her moustache" - Tallulah Bankhead

"That cunt!!" - Jack Warner

"I heard a wasp stung her. Knowing Bette Davis, i'm surprised she didn't sting back" - Dorothy Manners

"Nobody but a mother could have loved Bette Davis at the height of her fame" - Brian Aherne

"I asked Bette Davis if she'd ever wanted to meet the Queen. She snapped at me - 'What for?! I am a Queen!' I wasn't going to argue with her! - Natalie Wood


**** BETTE AND JOAN ****

Bette's greatest adversary was undoubtedly Joan Crawford. Here's a taste of what they thought of each other....

BETTE - The cocksucker! Joan Crawford!

JOAN - The bitch!

BETTE - I admire her, yet I feel uncomfortable with her. To me she is the personification of the movie star. i have always felt her greatest performance is Crawford being Crawford.

JOAN - Working with Bette Davis was one of the greatest challenges I've ever had.

BETTE - Joan Crawford - Hollywood's first case of syphillis.

JOAN - I don't hate Bette Davis even though the press wants me to. I resent her.

BETTE - Joan Crawford! I wouldn't sit on her toilet!

JOAN - She's really not worth the trouble.

BETTE - She's slept with every male star at MGM except Lassie!

JOAN - Poor Bette, it appears she's never had a happy day - or night - in her life!

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

JOAN - I am so at peace with the world that I'm even thinking good thoughts about Bette Davis.

BETTE - There may be a heaven but if Joan Crawford's there, I'm not going!