Tallulah!

by Joel Lobenthal

  211 “I honestly feel it is good,” Marcella Burke, op. cit.

  211 “the fate of Faithless,” Variety, August 30, 1932.

  211 “neither is capable of disguising it,” Thornton Delehanty, November 21, 1932.

  211 “Put me on a lighted stage,” Silver Screen, op. cit.

  Back on Broadway

  213 “I’m still an optimist,” “Miss Bankhead Comes to Town,” New York Sun, December 5, 1932.

  215 “a department of utter confusion” author’s interview with Jean Dalrymple, December 1992.

  215 “I should have played to the audience,” New York Herald Tribune, May 7, 1933.

  217 “Maybe I’ll join the circus!” Edward Barry Roberts, and Fred Morgan Cavett, Forsaking All Others, typescript, LPA.

  217 “until three and four in the morning,” The Stage [New York], May 1933.

  217 “has to hold herself back,” idem.

  218 “the two boys join her,” author’s interview with Fayard Nicholas, March 1993.

  219 “not been at all well,” letter from Will to Tallulah, March 24, 1933.

  Disaster

  220 “she will not play simple women,” The Stage [New York], April 1933.

  221 “Bette Davis’s waitress role,” unpublished transcript, read at the Player’s Club Library.

  221 “She’s such a sport,” Evening Post, August 26, 1933.

  223 “something ferocious about the loyalty,” Telegraph, September 20, 1933.

  223 “All I want in the world,” New York Sun, September 20, 1933.

  223 “all this time the doctors promised,” letter from Edie Smith to Will, December 1, 1933.

  225 “Normal women go into melancholia,” author’s interview with George Hyland, August 1992.

  226 “I have been having an affair with Tallulah Bankhead,” Laurence Whistler, The Laughter and the Urn. London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson: 1985.

  227 “even so talented an actress,” The Stage [London], June 21, 1934.

  228 “a great burden on me,” letter from Will to Tallulah, June 23, 1934.

  228 “THIS REALLY IS WORTH YOUR WHILE,” telegram from Jock Whitney to Tallulah included in E. J. Kahn, Jock: The Life and Times of John Hay Whitney. Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, 1981.

  Recovery

  230 “filming Dark Victory with Garbo,” Ronald Haver, David O. Selznick’s Hollywood.New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1980.

  230 “We get along splendidly,” Lucius Beebe, “Robert Milton: The Director’s Art and Mystery,” New York Herald Tribune, November 4, 1934.

  232 “could not experience an orgasm,” Sandy Campbell, B: Twenty-nine Letters from Coconut Grove. Verona, Italy: Verona, 1974.

  232 “reading through the night,” Burke, op. cit.

  236 “nearly all of my friends,” New York Tribune, February 17, 1935.

  236 “I’m in quite a spot,” “Miss Bankhead Fears Ghost of Jeanne Eagels,” unidentified clipping, LPA.

  236 “seeming to borrow anything,” New York Tribune, February 17, 1935.

  236 “the bravest or the most conceited,” Philadelphia Ledger, February 2, 1935.

  236 “as good an opening night performance.” In the April 1956 Woman’s Day, Tallulah wrote: “The fate of a play and its actors rests on the first New York performance. Wearied by rehearsals, demoralized by the boorish first-night audience, many players mess up the play and their performance A week later they’ll be relaxed and at the top of their form. But a week later doesn’t count.”

  237 “willing to accept negative criticism,” author’s interview with Elliot Norton, October 1995.

  238 “with all her strength,” New York Sun, March 13, 1935.

  238 “completely be guided by him,” author’s interview with John Kenley, May 1993.

  239 “back to the plate,” Life, July 1935.

  239 “I’ll make you a proposition,” Michael Mok, New York Post, May 4, 1935, op cit.

  Something Gay continued to be performed in summer stock over the next decade, however.

  Jock

  241 “I regret having to quote the scriptures,” Margaret Brenman-Gibson, Clifford Odets, American Playwright: The Years from 1906 to 1940. New York: Atheneum, 1981.

  241 “some men as well,” Charles Higham, Cary Grant: The Lonely Heart. New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1989.

  241 “I can’t quite make out,” ibid.

  241 “She answered the door stark naked,” Burgess Meredith, So Far, So Good: A Memoir. Boston: Little, Brown, 1994.

  243 “He knew exactly what would work,” author’s interview with Anne Meacham, June 1993.

  243 “as soon as you begin drawing that armchair up to the fire,” George Kelly, Reflected Glory. New York, Los Angeles, London: Samuel French, 1937.

  245 “Most of the letters,” author’s interview with Marcella Rabwin, January 1994.

  246 “panting like a little old lady,” Michael Mok, “Dash It, Tallulah’s Turned Pure!”

  New York Post, October 5, 1936.

  247 “I had everything I wanted in London,” unidentified clipping, LPA.

  247 “fascinating and restful,” letter from Tallulah to Will, February 27, 1937.

  247 “I will send her something,” letter from Tallulah to Will, November 1936.

  247 “it seemed like a lifetime companion,” author’s interview with Dorothy Manners, January 1994.

  248 “The tests are very promising,” December 24, 1936, included in Rudy Behlmer, Memo From David O. Selznick. New York: Viking Press, 1972.

  248 “every word is distinct,” January 14, 1937.

  249 “In a way I’m disappointed,” letter from Tallulah to Will, February 27, 1937.

  Getting Married

  253 “the more your independence is threatened,” interview by Gertrude Bailey, unidentified clipping, LPA.

  254 “I nearly dropped dead,” Winwood, unpublished interview, op cit.

  255 “bemoaned the fact that he had never married her,” Cecil Beaton, The Wandering Years: Diaries 1922–1939. Boston: Little, Brown, 1961.

  256 “I am just an Alabama hillbilly,” The Literary Digest, May 29, 1937.

  256 “MY VERY WISE AND LOVELY SUMMER,” telegram from Tallulah to George Cukor, July 6, 1937, Courtesy Ken Tillie.

  258 “He could be pretty rough,” Brian, op. cit.

  258 “Tallulah had once struck him,” Time, November 22, 1948.

  258 “the First Gold Digger,” Hicks, op. cit.

  258 “love-menace,” Lily Mae Caldwell, Birmingham News-Age Herald, September 2, 1937.

  261 “both gorgeous to look at,” author’s interview with Charles Crow, January 1995.

  261 “She turned a lot of people off,” aunthor’s interview with Barbara Bankhead Oliver, January 1995.

  261 “He was pretty strait-laced,” author’s interview with Charlotte Taggert, January 1995.

  262 “You know he’s a bit mad,” Caldwell, op. cit.

  263 “I shall do all in my power,” letter from John Emery to Marie dated “Thursday,”[September, 1937].

  Cleopatra Pissed

  264 “Variety was reporting,” Variety, September 1, 1937.

  264 “I’m tired of hearing about it,” New York Post, September 2, 1937.

  265 “I believe you must be natural,” Sobel, op. cit.

  266 “must have had a lively sense of humor,” Rochester Democrat and Chronicle, October 13, 1937.

  266–67 “blood-curdling ineptitude,” Margaret Webster, Don’t Put Your Daughter on the Stage. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1972.

  Serving Time in Drawing Rooms

  275 “worst enemy,” David Herbert, Second Son: An Autobiography. London: Owen, 1972.

  277 “Sheldon proposed,” E. W. Barnes, The Man Who Lived Twice: The Biography of Edward Sheldon. New York: Scribner, 1956.

  277 “she looked all of sixteen,” Hedda Hopper, syndicated column, February, 27, 1944.

  277 “I know just what to leave out,” Edward Knoblock, Round the Room. London: C
hapman and Hall, 1939.

  277 “other people have all the laughs,” Orsmbee, April 17, 1938, op. cit.

  278 “magnificent,” idem.

  278 “just lie back on the author,” author’s interview with Robert Henderson, August 1982.

  280 “I can’t be happy in a part,” San Francisco Chronicle, September 18, 1938, op. cit.

  280 “a crowd of surpassing size,” Los Angeles Times, August 23, 1938.

  280 “calling for water,” Los Angeles Herald-Express, August 23, 1938.

  280 “What passes for acting,” Tallulah Bankhead, “My Friend, Miss Barrymore,”Colliers, April 23, 1949.

  281 “I can’t rest on my laurels,” Los Angeles Examiner, August 6, 1938.

  The Little Foxes

  285 “I never got personal with Herman,” author’s interview with George Slavin, October 1994.

  286 “He has done more than interpret these plays,” Lillian Hellman, Introduction to Six Plays. New York: Random House, 1942.

  286 “both very nervous about her,” Gary Blake, Herman Shumlin: The Development of a Director. New York: City University of New York, 1973.

  287 “wonderful vitality. . . .” Michael Mott, “The Man Who Made a Hit for Tallulah Just Made Her Forget She Was a Star,” New York Post, February 28, 1939.

  287 “as though he knew he had a classic,” author’s interview with Florence Williams, February 1992.

  289 “seething under the surface,” New York Herald Tribune, February 12, 1939.

  290 “Didn’t I have a letter from,” Lillian Hellman, The Little Foxes. New York: Random House, 1939.

  291 “try to find the comedy,” John Gielgud, The New York Times, October 28, 1993.

  291 “I was very close to that character,” author’s interview with Joseph Campanella, July 1994.

  Triumph

  299 “taking more interest than he usually does,” New York Sun, February 22, 1939.

  300 “how I wish you were here,” quoted in Emanuel Levy, George Cukor: Master of Elegance: Hollywood’s Legendary Director and His Stars. New York: Morrow, 1994.

  302 “you have your life to live,” included in Rawls, op. cit.

  304 “I’m going to start art classes,” unpublished memoir by William Skipper.

  306 “it is hard for me to keep in character,” included in Gill, op. cit.

  Tilting Her Lance

  309 “why safety devices weren’t installed,” biography of Shumlin issued by his office, LPA.

  311 “mingled serious appeals for restoration,” The New York Times, June 21, 1939.

  312 “I’ve adopted Spanish Loyalist orphans,” The New York Times, January 20, 1940.

  312 “defrayed the expenses of their resettlement,” Tallulah Bankhead, as told to Henry La Cossitt, “My Daughter, Barbara,” Collier’s, April 1954.

  312 “thrilled beyond words,” letter from Tallulah to Will, January 11, 1940.

  313 “delighted with the very fine newspaper notices,” letter from Will to Tallulah, March 11, 1940.

  313 “so called National Sharecroppers Week,” ibid.

  314 “many of them would also withdraw,” letter from Tallulah to National Sharecroppers’ Week, March 20, 1940.

  314 “I hope it meets with your approval,” letter from Tallulah to Will, January 1940.

  317 “an avowed Communist,” New York Times, July 9, 1940.

  317 “it sounded as if she were bribing God,” Rawls, op. cit.

  318 “I know that you are extremely busy,” letter from Will to Tallulah, June 10, 1940.

  Losses

  319 “Will had asked,” idem.

  321 “I just hate her!,” author’s interview with Tamara Geva, March 1993.

  321 “a ‘great drive,’ ” The Washington Post, September 16, 1940.

  321 “seething with indignation,” letter from Marie to Will, July 19, 1940.

  321 “Except for,” letter from Will to Marie, July 23, 1940.

  323 “abdominal hemorrhage,” Washington Post, ibid.

  323 “He was a strong partisan,” idem.

  323 “a victim of his profound sense of loyalty,” idem.

  323 “when I saw her eyes,” Rawls, op. cit.

  323 “I am just coming round to normal,” Tallulah to Mark Barron, October 14, 1940, LPA.

  324 “for two uninterrupted years,” Tallulah Bankhead, “My Life with Father,” Coronet, November 1951.

  324 “that always worried her,” author’s interview with William Roerick, March 1982.

  324 “We haven’t enough confidence,” Fletcher, op. cit.

  324 “how sorry I was,” letter from Lillian Hellman to Tallulah, September 1940.

  325 “Her ugliness towards me,” letter from Herman Shumlin to Florence Williams, December 25, 1976.

  325 “later on in the run of the play,” Jackson R. Bryar, ed. Conversations with Lillian Hellman. Jackson, Miss.: University Press of Mississippi, 1986.

  325 “she threw everything detachable,” Lawrence Quirk, Fasten Your Seatbelts: The Passionate Life of Bette Davis. New York: William Morrow, 1990.

  327 “completely matched the excellence,” Washington Post, March 18, 1941.

  328 “a man of sterling quality,” letter from Marie to Tallulah, June 30, 1948.

  328 “I go up to see him,” Brooklyn Daily Eagle, November 29, 1942.

  329 “everything and anything was discussed,” Ellerbe, op. cit.

  330 “She used to hang around,” author’s interview with Ben Edwards, April 1992.

  Drama by the Kitchen Sink

  331 “sympathetic to its aims,” The New Yorker, January 22, 1938.

  332 “a role so brash and grubby,” “Billy Rose Stages Explosive Sex Tragedy,” Life, November 24, 1941.

  333 “never have been in that play,” author’s interview with Katherine Locke, December 1993.

  334 “You must be conscious of yourself,” Hughes, Kathleen, “Leading—and Vibrant—Leading Ladies,” New York Times Magazine, January 4, 1942.

  335 “They’ve got money, cars, and chauffeurs,” Clifford Odets, Clash by Night typescript, LPA.

  337 “that she pulled through,” New York World Telegram, November 29, 1941.

  338 “was too much of a lady,” Polly Rose Gottlieb, The Nine Lives of Billy Rose. New York: Crown, 1968.

  341 “the kind of lady she was,” author’s interview with Phil Weltman, July 1995.

  Multiple Personalities

  343 “I hate this play and every word in it,” Thornton Wilder, The Skin of Our Teeth.New York, London: Harper & Bros., 1942.

  343 “They have sent me this script,” Helen Hayes, My Life in Three Acts. New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1990.

  343 “SO PROUD TO BE IN YOUR WONDERFUL PLAY,” telegram from Tallulah to Thornton Wilder, August 17, 1942.

  344 “a rather maternal approach to me,” author’s interview with Isabel Wilder, November 1992.

  344 “the one serious beau,” author’s interview with Richard Goldstone, March 1993.

  345 “lost mileage,” author’s interview with Robert Whitehead, March 1993.

  345 “always trying to get somewhere,” Brenman-Gibson, op. cit.

  346 “he was terribly at sea,” author’s interview with Joan Shepard, June 1992.

  346 “Kazan did not have what was necessary,” Gilbert Harrison, The Enthusiast: A Life of Thornton Wilder. New York: Liveright, 1983.

  347 “It was a collaborative effort,” author’s interview with Frances Heflin, August, 1983.

  348 “a terrifying part in the beginning,” Paul Berman, op. cit.

  348 “I got a bleak feeling,” Tallulah to Earl Wilson, New York Post, fall 1942.

  348 “don’t seem to the audience to be the author’s contrivances,” Thornton Wilder to Tallulah, fall 1942, quoted in a letter from Tallulah to Michael Myerberg, October 28, 1942, Beinecke Library.

  348 “It’s really the old Chinese technique,” unidentified radio interview in Princeton, New Jersey, June 1949.

&n
bsp; 348 “a novel thing to an American audience,” idem.

  348 “a minute in the theater is longer,” idem.

  349 “most people had left,” author’s interview with Dick Van Patten, November 1992.

  349 “I have been awakened from my troubled sleep,” included in Kazan, op. cit.

  350 “LOVING EACH OTHER AND THE PLAY,” Tallulah to Thornton Wilder, October 18, 1942.

  352 “Isabel and I are Ruth and Naomi,” Tallulah to Thornton Wilder, November 10, 1942.

  353 “I am almost ready to give up the ghost,” Tallulah to Thornton Wilder, idem.

  354 “I’m so glad to be playing comedy,” Helen Orsmbee, “New Drama, and Comedy Role, A Delight to Tallulah Bankhead,” New York Herald Tribune, November 15, 1942.

  Chatelaine

  356 “I was very touched by your gift,” letter from Elia Kazan to Tallulah, included in TB.

  358 “Oh, she loved flowers,” author’s interview with Sylvester Oglesby, November 1992.

  358 “I’d like to do something in private,” undated column, “Only Human, by Emily Cheney,” LPA.

  359 “what I can do with this part,” taped recollection by Estelle Winwood, December 1968.

  360 “has been everywhere,” unidentified clipping, LPA.

  360 “always calm and good-natured,” ibid.

  362 “I haven’t got a shirt,” Detroit News, September 2, 1943.

  362 “take such punishment,” Liberty, February 26, 1944.

  362 “supremely assured and appealing,” Archer Winston, New York Post, January 13, 1944.

  363 “a sneaking suspicion,” New York Times, January 13, 1944.

  363 “Von Stroheim types,” Otis L. Guernsey Jr., “Miss Bankhead for the Defense,”

  New York Herald Tribune, February 4, 1944.

  365 “I thought you were a liberal,” Irving Drutman, Good Company: A Memoir, Mostly Theatrical. Boston: Little, Brown, 1976.

  Work and Play

  369 “he’ll steal every scene from me,” Elizabeth Wilson, “Tallulah’s Royal Scandal,”

  Silver Screen, February 1945.

  369 “a completely different person,” Preminger: An Autobiography. Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, 1977.