Happy 109th Birthday, Bette Davis!

The singular Bette Davis was born Ruth Elizabeth Davis 109 years ago today in Lowell, Massachusetts. Here are 10 BD Did-You-Knows:

  • Davis’ father was a patent attorney. He and his wife divorced when Davis was 10 and Davis was raised by her mother. Davis’ initial interest as a young performer was dance, but she eventually turned her sights on the stage.
  • After graduating from the Cushing Academy in Ashburnham, Massachusetts, Davis made her way to NYC. She wasn’t accepted to Eva Le Gallienne‘s Manhattan Civic Repertory, but she proved to be the star pupil at the John Murray Anderson School for the Dramatic Arts, where Lucille Ball was her classmate.
  • Davis debuted off-Broadway in 1923 in a play called The Earth Between. Her Broadway debut, in Broken Dishes, came six years later. In 1930, she was hired by Universal Pictures, where she made her screen debut in a pictured called Bad Sister (1931).
  • Legend has it that a studio staffer sent to pick up Davis at the train station when she first arrived in Hollywood returned without her, saying he hadn’t seen anyone who looked like a movie star. We’ve no idea if that’s true, but if it is, we’re confident Davis made that poor fellow regret his mistake.
  • When she first arrived in Hollywood, it was suggested Davis change her name to Bettina Dawes. She refused, saying the name sounded too much like “Between the Drawers.”
  • In 1932, Davis signed a seven-year deal with Warner Brothers, where she would soon become the queen of the lot.
  • In 1936, Bette Davis refused a role Warner Brothers assigned her, saying it was not worthy of her talents. She scurried off to England, hoping to make pictures there, but Warners enforced its exclusive contract with her. She sued to get out of the contract, and though she lost the suit, thereafter Warner Brothers treated her with more respect and offered her better roles.
  • Davis was nominated 11 times for the Best Actress Oscar over a 28-year span, winning twice (Dangerous [1935], Jezebel [1938]). Five of those nominations (1939-43) were consecutive, an Oscar record Davis shares with Greer Garson.
  • In 1941, Davis was elected the first female president of the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. She resigned the position after just two months for the putative reason that she didn’t have sufficient time to devote to the position, but there were reports that, in fact, she resented not being given that power she thought the position would carry. She had no interest in being a famous figurehead.
  • Davis played twin sisters in two different pictures: A Stolen Life (1946) and Dead Ringer (1964).

Happy birthday, Bette Davis, wherever you may be!

Bette Davis

You’ve Got to Have a Gimmick

Sometimes, no matter how silly an idea is, you just have to go for it. Sell it like you mean it, brother, and there’s no telling how far your idea might go.

We were recently musing on how committing to a concept can pay off as we listened to a song we’re fond of, though we can’t deny it’s sheer fluff.

“‘Way Back Home” was written in 1935—the corny but infectious lyrics are by Al Lewis (not the actor who played Grandpa on The Munsters, but he did write the lyrics for “Blueberry Hill”) and music by Tom Waring, Fred‘s brother—and though it uses the same lyrical idea over and over and over, it is one catchy ditty.

You may not think so at first listen, but believe us, the gimmick grows on you.

To prove it, we’re offering five versions of the song. Listen to them all, and believe us, you’ll be hooked but good.

We start you off with a recording by Irving Aaronson and His Commanders, featuring Skippy Carlstrom on vocals. This one’s nice and bouncy and relatively straightforward.

Next up are the Boswell Sisters, and they were never straightforward, but they did include the intro verses in their version of the song.

Ambrose and His Orchestra, with Jack Cooper on vocals, recorded the third among the renditions we’re sharing with you, followed by the Decca All-Star Revue, which is a two-sided recording featuring the Victor Young Orchestra, with Bob Crosby, Ella Logan, Johnny ‘Scat’ Davis, Cleo Brown, and the Tune Twisters taking turns on vocals.

The final recording is the Victor Young Orchestra again, this time with Milton Watson on vocals.

Which one’s your favorite?

Irving Aaronson and His Commanders—‘Way Back Home

The Boswell Sisters—‘Way Back Home

Ambrose and His Orchestra—‘Way Back Home

The Decca All-Star Revue—‘Way Back Home

Victor Young and His Orchestra—‘Way Back Home

* * * * *

‘Way Back Home

Intro:
I wrote a little song, a homesick little song,
About a place I never should have roamed from;
Skies are just a little brighter there,
Hearts are just a little lighter there.

A wanderer am I, beneath a foreign sky,
A lonely soul among a world of strangers;
From the pages of my memory,
I can hear a voice reminding me.

The roads are the dustiest; the winds are the gustiest;
The gates are the rustiest; the pies are the crustiest;
The songs, the lustiest; the friends, the trustiest,
‘Way back home!

The trees are the sappiest; the days are the nappiest;
The dogs are the yappiest; the kids are the scrappiest;
The jokes, the snappiest; the folks, the happiest,
‘Way back home!

Don’t know why I left the homestead, I really must confess.
I’m just a weary exile, singing my song of loneliness.

The grass is the springiest; the bees are the stingiest;
The birds are the wingiest; the bells are the ringiest;
The hearts, the singiest; the arms, the clingiest,
‘Way back home!

The sun is the blaziest; the fields are the daisiest;
The cows are the graziest; the help is the laziest;
The boys, the wittiest; the girls, the prettiest;
‘Way back home!

The pigs are the snootiest; the owls are the hootiest;
The plants are the fruitest; the stars are the shooiest;
The grins, the funniest; the smiles, the sunniest,
‘Way back home!

Don’t know why I left the homestead, I really must confess.
I’m just a weary exile, singing my song of loneliness.

The food is the spreadiest; the wine is the headiest;
The pals are the readiest; the gals are the steadiest;
The love, the liveliest; the life, the loveliest,
‘Way back home!