Bette Davis and Joan Crawford are two of my favorite actors out of the past.  They first appeared on the big screen early in the 20^th century  and fought to stay there for five decades each.  STRONG.  They did things their way.  They fought against the grain. I just watched them co-star in the 1962 film Whatever Happened to Baby Jane.  In real life, Bette and Joan were bitter rivals – fierce competitors — and  in every scene of this movie, and especially in every close-up,  you can see how much they hated each other with every fiber of their bodies.  But, that didn’t stop them from doing their  jobs.  They were PROS.  A little venom wasn’t going to stop them from creating their art.  This movie is GREAT.  So AWESOME, I immediately searched out and read the book Bette and Joan: The Divine Feud.  

I love Bette and Joan because they defied all odds.  For most women of their age, acting was not a solid long-term career choice because back then, emphasis was on age and beauty.  Both Bette and Joan were known as the hardest workers of their profession, but then as now,  once female actors reach their mid-thirties, they hear the clock ticking.  This is when they  gradually lose popularity, and younger women start to take her places.  All their lives, actresses fight to reach their dreams, but in the end they are left with nothing but the past – no future.   This realization may have impacted Marilyn Monroe.  From a few of my class Read-Alouds,  my students will know what happened to Marilyn Monroe as she approached 40.  In her last movie The Misfits, she often arrived to the set bloated and hysterical.   Twice during the filming, she had to enter a hospital for symptoms of a nervous breakdown.  Marilyn died shortly thereafter at age 37.

At age 41, however, Bette received her 10^th academy award Oscar nomination for her role as aging Broadway actress in the film All About Eve.  In this classic, Bette – the competitor – finds herself being replaced by an up-and-coming actress with youth and beauty on her side.  At the same age as Bette was in All About Eve, Joan Crawford won her first and only Oscar for her portrayal of single mother in the film Mildred Pierce. Several of Joan’s contemporaries had turned down the part, for none of them wanted to play the mother of a sixteen-year-old.  In Bette and Joan, I read how hungry Joan was to act with Bette Davis.  Whatever she felt about Bette on a personal level had nothing to do with creating  a great movie!  Despite the warnings from all the doubters and haters, Joan approached Bette and sold her on the idea.  Betty agreed with Joan.  Why? They both possessed the courage to risk letting themselves be truly seen.

Jay’s Note:In writing this post, I wasn't sure whether to use the term 'actress' or 'actor' to describe Bette and/or Joan, so I looked it up (like I do for all other linguistic and grammar dilemmas).  I learned that in 1970s and 1980s, the Women’s Movement inspired an awareness of gender bias in language.  As actresses, Bette and Joan just may have felt as if they were treated inferior to their male counterparts.  No one ever called men, male actors.  50 years ago women unified; they spoke out in one voice. Over the years, the stigma has faded. All women are now actors as men are.  Equal, on the stage. After Whatever Happened to Baby Jane,  Bette and Joan must be considered forever at the top of their profession.

I know.  I know.  If I were to bring up Bette and Joan at a teacher’s meeting I would be laughed out of the room. I mean, where do I get these ideas?  But, do other instructors speak to violence against women in our own body of congress?   AOC is often hated for stepping up to the podium.  Earlier this year, she was attacked by a Republican congressman on the capital steps.  He called her a “Bitch.”  She called him  out on the house floor.  Did he expect her to cower and hide?  People hate Bette and Joan for the  same reasons:  They think for themselves;  They say what they believe;  Nothing could stop them from getting right in your face.  In each of my classes, I encourage my students to write of strong women.  After watching our most recent congressional hearing, we should all be talking about how are gender stereotypes reinforced and/or undermined.  What is expected, allowed, and  valued in men and women?  It doesn't help when our national  leaders behave in such ignorant and cowardly ways. Students need to speak up.  I'm paraphrasing OAC here:  It’s all about seeing what Is wrong. 

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Below:  This is a scene from Whatever Happened to Baby Jane.  Bette Davis is Baby Jane.  She is dressed in white.  Joan Crawford plays her crippled sister.  She is dressed in dark colors. Betty and Joan were once the most glamorous women in the world.  Now look at them.  They maybe the most ghoulish. That’s real acting!