{"id":1972,"date":"2020-03-30T18:57:15","date_gmt":"2020-03-30T17:57:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/performancemonkey\/?p=1972"},"modified":"2020-04-01T16:23:21","modified_gmt":"2020-04-01T15:23:21","slug":"all-about-eve-lockdown-theatre-club-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/performancemonkey\/2020\/03\/all-about-eve-lockdown-theatre-club-3.html","title":{"rendered":"All About Eve | Lockdown Theatre Club 3"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"680\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/performancemonkey\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/All-About-Eve-poster-680x1024.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-1961\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/performancemonkey\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/All-About-Eve-poster-680x1024.jpg 680w, https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/performancemonkey\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/All-About-Eve-poster-199x300.jpg 199w, https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/performancemonkey\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/All-About-Eve-poster-768x1157.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/performancemonkey\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/All-About-Eve-poster-1019x1536.jpg 1019w, https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/performancemonkey\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/All-About-Eve-poster-1359x2048.jpg 1359w, https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/performancemonkey\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/All-About-Eve-poster.jpg 1588w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 680px) 100vw, 680px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Lockdown Theatre Club watched <em>All About Eve <\/em>on 31 March. Here&#8217;s some thoughts thrown up by our joint watch, some useful links and Veronica Horwell&#8217;s terrific frockwatch note about Bette Davis&#8217; party dress.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>What is <em>All About Eve<\/em>?<\/strong><br>Bette Davis stars as a Broadway diva and Anne Baxter as her apparently demure number one fan. A backstabbing, backstage drama from 1950, it won six Oscars (including best picture).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Who else is involved?<\/strong><br>Directed by Joseph L Mankiewicz, it\u2019s based on a short story called <em>The Wisdom of&nbsp;Eve<\/em>&nbsp;by Mary Orr (1946). George Sanders plays Addison DeWitt, the acidulous theatre critic. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Look out for?<\/strong><br>The scintillating supporting women: Celeste Holm\u2019s wry best pal, Thelma Ritter\u2019s salty dresser and Marilyn Monroe\u2019s early screen appearance as a Broadway hopeful. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Trailer<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed-youtube wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"All About Eve (1950) - trailer\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/LSntQerk8cQ?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Frockwatch<\/strong><br><strong>Veronica Horwell <\/strong>on Bette Davis\u2019 party dress in <em>All About Eve<\/em> <\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/performancemonkey\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/Lockdown-Eve-pockets-1024x1024.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-1973\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/performancemonkey\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/Lockdown-Eve-pockets-1024x1024.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/performancemonkey\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/Lockdown-Eve-pockets-300x300.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/performancemonkey\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/Lockdown-Eve-pockets-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/performancemonkey\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/Lockdown-Eve-pockets-768x768.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/performancemonkey\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/Lockdown-Eve-pockets-100x100.jpg 100w, https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/performancemonkey\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/Lockdown-Eve-pockets-200x200.jpg 200w, https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/performancemonkey\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/Lockdown-Eve-pockets.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Davis asked\nfor Edith Head to do her clothes. She was always a problem to design&nbsp;for\nand especially to fit \u2013 she wouldn&#8217;t wear a bra, so post-1947&nbsp;skin-tight\nbodices&nbsp;were difficult to place on her.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Head had\nsupplied the costume-makers with a sketch for the dress, built around a tight\nbodice with a close-fitted square neckline, to be made up in a heavy silk\ntrimmed in sable. The movie was shot on strict deadline, and the dress was only\nsewn late on the day before&nbsp;filming. When Head arrived early on shooting\nday to check the dress over for its screen appearance, she found Davis already\ntrying it on. It seriously didn&#8217;t fit because the neckline had been cut way too\nloose, and the bodice too big; there had been no proper fitting. Somebody had\nboobed over measurements or calculations. It couldn&#8217;t be fixed fast. Even if\nthe side seams could be quickly tacked tighter, the look was controlled by the\nneckline and that was an all-day job if it could be saved at all. The damn\nthing was threatening to slip off Davis&#8217; un-Joan-Crawford-like shoulders.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Head\nprepared to go to Joe Mankiewicz, apologise, and take wrath for holding up\nshooting. She was almost out of the room when Davis called her back; Davis had\ngone with the flow and herself pulled the dress almost off her shoulders, as if\nthe effect were deliberate: &#8216;Don&#8217;t you like it better like this, anyway?&#8217;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Head had specified workable pockets inserted in the\nskirt&#8217;s side-seams \u2013 she and Davis (and Lauren Bacall, and Chanel, for that\nmatter) liked the insouciance and control they felt shoving in their hands.\nCeleste Holm was a pocketed gal too, but hers were supplied by the film&#8217;s other\ndesigner, Charles LeMaire. The shove is a decisive gesture, stronger than\ncigarette dangle and glass wave, and it jangles a bracelet. Watch Davis in the\nparty scene, and you&#8217;ll see she uses it to help her shoulders counter the risk\nthat the top of the dress will film unflatteringly, or fall off, or down; where\nthe neckline lies changes from shot to shot. Her management of that damn dress\nis part of her live performance as a woman pushing everything about as far as\nit can go&#8230;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Veronica Horwell writes for publications including the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/profile\/veronicahorwell\">Guardian<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>What we learned in Lockdown<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>All About Eve<\/em> is a belter. The script even zingier than I remembered, the structure drum-tight. It&#8217;s no surprise that all four leading women were nominated for Oscars: the film gives each of them &#8211; plus the young Marilyn Monroe, too often patronised in her later career &#8211; lines of gleaming insight. It&#8217;s often discussed as an archetype of specifically female rivalry, but I liked film critic Robert Hanks&#8217; tweet: &#8216;It&#8217;s about the fear of being replaced, isn&#8217;t it? Such a primal thing.&#8217; That sense that, however experienced or proficient, we&#8217;re all expendable &#8211; that certainly feels on the nose at this uniquely uncertain moment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Some favourite fellow critics were watching, and we all kept a beady eye on Addison DeWitt (is he actually a good critic? For my money, he&#8217;s all sneer and gush, with little nuance in between. And what we hear quoted is cringingly overwritten). George Sanders&#8217; performance is undoubtedly magnetic, and Robert Hanks added some colourful personal detail about his messed-up elder brother, his many marriages (to Zsa Zsa Gabor <em>and<\/em> her sister) and the chilling ennui of his suicide note: &#8216;<em>Dear World, I am leaving because I am bored. I feel I have lived long enough. I am leaving you with your worries in this sweet cesspool. Good luck.<\/em>&#8216;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Links to the good stuff<\/strong><br><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2000\/10\/01\/movies\/film-the-lasting-allure-of-all-about-eve.html\">Mel Gussow<\/a><\/strong> gives a whole load of good background<br>Obituary for <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.independent.co.uk\/news\/obituaries\/mary-orr-418880.html\">Mary Orr<\/a><\/strong>, writer of the original short story<br>Notes on the film by <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.criterion.com\/current\/posts\/6702-all-about-eve-upstage-downstage\">Terrence Rafferty<\/a><\/strong> and <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.albany.edu\/writers-inst\/webpages4\/filmnotes\/fns00n1.html\">Kevin Hagopian<\/a><\/strong><br><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/film\/2019\/feb\/19\/all-about-eve-perfect-feminist-film-play-the-favourite\">Jenny Stevens<\/a><\/strong> defends the film against Ivo van Hove&#8217;s stage adaptation <br><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/sanjoyroy.net\/2008\/02\/my-pick-of-films-featuring-critics\/\">Sanjoy Roy<\/a><\/strong> on critics in the movies<br><em>With thanks to Marianka Swain for additional links<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Lockdown Theatre Club<\/strong><br>Read about Lockdown Theatre Club <a href=\"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/performancemonkey\/2020\/03\/lockdown-theatre-club.html\">here<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thetimes.co.uk\/past-six-days\/2020-03-29\/culture\/how-to-feel-like-youre-at-the-theatre-during-the-coronavirus-lockdown-nd6q362nh\">here<\/a>. Questions or recommendations? Please comment under this post, or find me on Twitter&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/mrdavidjays\">@mrdavidjays<\/a>. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Lockdown Theatre Club watched All About Eve on 31 March. Here&#8217;s some thoughts thrown up by our joint watch, some useful links and Veronica Horwell&#8217;s terrific frockwatch note about Bette Davis&#8217; party dress. What is All About Eve?Bette Davis stars as a Broadway diva and Anne Baxter as her apparently demure number one fan. A [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":1961,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-1972","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-uncategorized","8":"entry"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/performancemonkey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1972","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/performancemonkey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/performancemonkey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/performancemonkey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/performancemonkey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1972"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/performancemonkey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1972\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1987,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/performancemonkey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1972\/revisions\/1987"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/performancemonkey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1961"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/performancemonkey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1972"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/performancemonkey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1972"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/performancemonkey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1972"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}