TELL JANIE CLARKSON I CAN'T POSSIBLY MAKE LUNCH

Janie Clarkson is one of the most well known movie characters never to have appeared on screen. She's friends with society grand dame Fanny Skeffington aka Bette Davis in the movie Mr Skeffington.

Fanny Skeffington is the belle of New York at the beginning of the century. Men swoon for her and she has many suitors. She's actually Fanny Trellis who lives with her rather shady brother Trippy. Well Trippy turns out to be a tea leaf who has stolen thousands from his most recent employer, Job Skeffington. Mr Skeffington alerts Fanny to Trippy's deceit. Fanny realises the only thing to do save the family and Trippy is to marry Job despite not particularly loving him. She cancels on poor Janie Clarkson and after finding out angry Trippy is dead in the war, she turns on Job and they start to lead separate lives. Eventually, they reunite after the war with Fanny looking hellish and Job blind as a bat.

Fanny and Bette are terribly affected throughout the movie with a rather shrill voice which makes her sound as though she's in a permanent state of arousal. When Fanny loses her looks to a nasty bout of diptheria, Bette donned a face mask which made her look similar to Michael Jackson or Coco the Clown. She reunites with Job years later as he's been blinded and realises that Job still think of her as the most attractive woman in New York even though she's visibly rough as sandpaper.

Mr Skeffington was one of Bette's last big movies for Warners and the last she was Oscar nominated for before All About Eve in 1950. You'd never know as it has moments of light comedy, deep melodrama of the highest order and of course Bette looking possibly more beautiful than she ever did on screen. The person I feel most sorry for is poor Janie Clarkson, Fanny's oldest and dearest friend who almost gets an entrance but is always thwarted by Fanny cancelling on her. As with a lot of Bette's Warner pictures, there's a staircase to climb that always brings a tear to the eye, only this movie it's tears of joy as it's so wonderful. Claude Rains is superb as the Jewish financier who eventually does win the heart of flighty Fanny with Bette Davis playing completely against the grain. It's Bette's show and really nobody does it better.

JOB : A woman is beautiful when she's loved, and only then.
FANNY : Nonsense. A woman is beautiful when she has eight hours sleep and goes to the beauty parlour every day. And bone structure has a lot to do with it too.

FANNY: Manby, would you call Janie Clarkson and tell her I can't possibly see her for lunch today.

JOB TO FANNY : You musn't think too harsh of my secretaries. They were kind and understanding when I came to the office after a hard day at home.

FANNY : But really Job!!! Five secretaries?!