The First Lady of Film

Hey my beautiful readers!

If you've ever met me in real life, I'd tell you how much equality means to me and why equality matters in this world. And for some women, it is still a constant struggle to find their voice because of the limitations set for them by their government. I wanted to share the story on how I've gotten into Bette Davis and what I have been up to for the past few months because Bette's story is one of those stories that we can all learn from.

When I first found out who Bette Davis was, I was more interested in what she did behind the scenes rather than the movies that she was in. We all knew the Bette Davis that we see in pictures and I know, for a fact, that women are inspired with what she does on camera. I don't think that I've ever admired Bette Davis for what she did on camera but rather than what she did behind the scenes. Bette Davis was someone who always knew what she wanted. She was also someone who wanted to change the script in order to tell the story that she wanted to tell. This was something that film directors was having issues with her for. They wanted for Bette not to change anything in the script. They even labelled her as one of the most difficult actors that they've ever worked with. When I first heard of the name Bette Davis was, through a Kim Carnes song called Bette Davis Eyes.

Who is Bette Davis? Bette Davis was born in Lowell, Massachusetts as Ruth Elizabeth Davis on April 5, 1908. At the age of 10, her parents got divorced. She and her sister was raised by a single mother after that. Bette has an early interest in dance. To her, dancers led glamorous lives. But when she discovered the stage, Bette gave up on her dreams of becoming a dancer for acting because she thought that it presented more of a challenge. For her Oscar nominated role in All About Eve (1950), the role was previously given to Claudette Colbert who fell ill during the film's pre-production process. When Bette Davis sadly died of metastasized breast cancer on October 6, 1989 in Neuilly-sur-Seine, France, many of her fans refused to believe that she was gone.

Sorting Bette Davis into a Hogwarts House. Because I only wanted to know what Bette Davis was like behind the scenes, I've noticed that the many people that wrote biographies on her wrote that she was someone who was ambitious with her craft. She wanted to for things to go her way during the makings of a film because she didn't like how the story was going. To me, Bette Davis was a modern woman born in the wrong decade. She was someone who knew exactly what the audience wanted to see, especially women. She also didn't like young blonde women having smalls roles on "her" set as depicted on FX's Feud: Bette and Joan. Because of these facts about her, I concluded that Bette Davis was an Outspoken Slytherin for her time because she knew what she wanted and she didn't hesitate to get what she wants. To me, that's what makes Bette Davis ambitious and makes her a unique figure during the Golden Age of Hollywood.

Aside from being an Outspoken Slytherin, Bette Davis was someone who has a heart but she rarely showed it to the people around her. According to FX's Feud: Bette and Joan, Bette placed her daughter's acting career head of other people's. She cared about B.D. Hyman even though her relationship with her wasn't steady. She did care.

In a Vanity Fair article that was published on March 19, 2017, Julie Miller writes: "In spite of their many differences, Bette Davis and Joan Crawford were ultimately bound by one heartbreaking similarity—difficult relationships with their eldest daughters, both of whom dabbled unsuccessfully in acting before taking their angst public with nasty tell-alls. Although Christina Crawford’s exploitation memoir Mommie Dearest is well-known (thanks in part to the campy adaptation starring Faye Dunaway), the copy-cat work of Davis’s daughter B.D. Hyman remains an uglier, lesser-known betrayal in Hollywood history. And on Sunday’s episode of Feud, aptly titled 'Mommie Dearest,' Ryan Murphy explores Davis and Crawford’s relationships with their daughters years before they turned tell-all toxic.

"During the making of What Ever Happened to Baby Jane, both Crawford and Davis brought their daughters to set. Crawford was trailed by her adopted, often identically-dressed twins Cindy and Cathy (while her eldest daughter Christina was off on her own, trying to build an acting career). Meanwhile, Davis was accompanied to set by Barbara Davis—her biological child with her third husband William Grant Sherry, whom Davis affectionally called 'B.D.'"

Besides the fact that this was all true, Bette Davis needed something that will heal her pain and she found it somehow in B.D. For what reason? Is nothing less than a mystery to me? And I prefer it to remain that way. Her relationship with her daughter and her feud with Joan Crawford makes her a Pukwudgie through and through. This led me to her Patronus of the Blackbird. Blackbirds, depending on their species, are the kind of birds that are always doing something that they think is right and that's what Bette Davis was doing throughout her life time. She was doing something what she thought was right to better her career and to better her relationship with her daughter, B.D. Hyman.

Till then,