Today we are in for a real treat. Many have rightfully described Joseph L Mankiewicz’s ALL ABOUT EVE as one of cinema’s most remarkable films, and specifically as the most literate and intelligent scripts in all of Hollywood’s golden era.
Based on a short story in Cosmopolitan magazine in 1946, author/actress Mary Orr (1910 – 2006) scribed, “The Wisdom of Eve,” in 1946 of an aging theater actress who becomes entangled with an ambitious, younger fan eager to replace her. Orr wrote the short story in just four days, and was inspired by actress Elisabeth Bergner, who encountered an aspiring actress/fan in 1943/44 while performing “The Two Mrs. Carrolls” on Broadway. In 1949, Joseph L Mankiewicz (1909 – 1993) made the film, A LETTER TO THREE WIVES, as both screenwriter and director, with great success. After receiving accolades for his work on A LETTER TO THREE WIVES (nominated for Best Picture Academy Award, and JM won Oscars for both Best Director and Best Writing, Screenplay), 20th Century-Fox studio head Darryl F Zanuck encouraged his hotshot director Joe Mank to explore this new project regarding a savvy lady named Eve, because he knew it was in good hands.
J Mankiewicz had been working steadily as a screenwriter since 1929, then added Hollywood director to his resume starting in 1946 with films like THE GHOST and MRS. MUIR (1947). Joe was following in the footsteps of his brother Herman. They were raised in a family dynamic with strict expectations regarding academics and literacy. Their father, German-Jewish Franz Mankiewicz was born in Berlin in 1872, later emigrated from his home country to America and became a teacher. Pop Mank, his two sons, and later the fourth generationer Ben Mankiewicz (host on TCM network) all attended Columbia University. Brothers Herman and Joseph, eleven years apart in age, were each only fifteen years old when they entered university- and became members of the prestigious Boar’s Head Society. Both brothers were extremely sharp-witted and talented. Herman was also known for his copious imbibing and frequent gambling.
Between the brothers they had worked on over two hundred films, beginning in the silent era. Herman J Mankiewicz (1897 – 1953) is best known as co-writing CITIZEN KANE (1941), along with Orson Welles. But he also wrote over ninety screenplays including classics such as DINNER AT EIGHT (1933) and PRIDE OF THE YANKEES (1942). Unfortunately, his alcoholism shortened his lifespan to fifty-five years. Younger brother Joe achieved greater longevity in life and is his career.
Joseph Mankiewicz was fascinated by the female actresses and multidimensional female characters. He was also intensely interested in the theatre world. He developed the Eve story into a screenplay treatment he titled, “Best Performance.” Zanuck was enthusiastic about the project and took on with hands-on personal interest. The new title came from one of the notes scribbled, “more about Eve…in fact, all about Eve,” which Zanuck circled as the perfect summary for this film.
While Mankiewicz and Zanuck agreed on the script, the casting was on less friendly terms. Zanuck wanted Jeanne Crain for the role of Eve, while Joe thought Oscar winner Anne Baxter (1923 – 1985) would be the ideal duality personality of “Eve.” She won a Best Supporting Actress Academy Award for her performance in THE RAZOR’S EDGE (1946). Mankiewicz wanted another Oscar winner, Celeste Holm (1917 – 2012) to play “Karen Richard,” but Holm had been recently fired by Zanuck due to contract disagreements. Holm won the Best Supporting Actress Oscar for GENTLEMAN’S AGREEMENT (1948) and was nominated for another the year prior- COME TO THE STABLE (1949). To Holm’s delight, Mankiewicz insisted she was the perfect and only actress for this role, so Zanuck had to hire her back. What appears to be one of Bette Davis’s most tailormade roles, was not originally intended for her. While many actresses were considered for the lead role of “Margo Channing,” it was decided that Claudette Colbert (1903 – 1996) would portray Margo. Unfortunately, just a couple of weeks prior to filming, Colbert severely injured her back while making THREE CAME HOME (1950) and dropped out.
Scrambling to find an actress who could carry such a star quality role, they turned to Bette Davis. By this point, Davis had quit Warner Brothers after an eighteen run as queen of the WB lot but left on disgruntled terms. Her last Warner film, BEYOND THE FOREST (1949), was the result of Jack Warner refusing to let Bette have script approval, and it bombed. Now at only forty-one years of age (which is one-foot-in-the-grave in Hollywood years), deflated Bette assumed her stardom days were done.
The challenge was that volatile Zanuck and notoriously temperamental Davis had not been on speaking terms for years. When Davis vacated her post as President of the Motion Picture Academy in 1941, Zanuck was furious. Telephoning late in the night when Davis was in bed, Zanuck swallowed his pride to offer her the part. At first Bette assumed it was a prank and not the real Darryl Zanuck. It took a few minutes for her to realize, it was indeed the real deal. After reading the script, she knew this was the part of a lifetime. And it couldn’t have come at a better time in her life. This would be a second chance at stardom.
While her reputation was to challenge scripts and directors at every turn, Bette knew the quality of the script and respected Mankiewicz as such. To everyone’s surprise, gone were the daily combative confrontations and he found her very pleasant and professional in every regard. However, not everyone got the warm welcome. Fellow cast member Holm experienced an icy and snarky remarks from Davis, although they kept it civil in front of their director, out of respect. They chose not to speak outside of delivering their lines. Holm later told the story where Holm was expected to laugh on cue for scene, which she did quite well and apparently Davis admitted this was not an easy skill for her, which she found irritating. Especially when J Mank asked her for a retake and Holm complied without difficulty. This apparently was just one of several points of friction between the two actresses. While Bette did get along with Baxter, one conflict occurred at Oscar nomination time. Baxter campaigned to be nominated for Best Lead Actress, not satisfied with Best Supporting Actress. This pushback placed her in direct competition with Bette. As a result, both Davis and Baxter, along with Gloria Swanson for SUNSET BOULEVARD and Eleanor Parker in CAGED, all lost to Judy Holliday in BORN YESTERDAY.
Bette was so parallel to the life and persona of Margo Channing that her performance was instinctive. Although Mankiewicz stated that he wrote Margo Channing with Tallulah Bankhead in mind, and Eve Harrington with Lizabeth Scott in mind. Apparently for the 1942 Broadway production of “The Skin of Our Teeth,” the backstabbing off-stage and tension between Tallulah and her understudy Scott was infamous. Another fellow castmate that Davis that did warm to was Gary Merrill (1915 – 1990) who portrayed her husband, “Bill Sampson, “in the film. In fact, their sexual chemistry was so realistic that a passionate affair resulted.
However, they were both married during filming. Following the tragic death of Bette Davis’s second husband Arthur Farnsworth (he collapsed on the street in 1943 from a blood clot), she was married to her 3rd husband, violent-tempered William Grant Sherry since 1945. Gary Merrill had been married to actress Barbara Leeds, since 1941. On June 9, 1950 Leeds filed divorce from Merrill. On July 3, 1950, Davis’s divorce from Sherry was final. On July 28, Bette and Gary were married- the same day Merrill’s divorce from Leeds was finalized. Later, Sherry consented for Merrill to adopt his and Davis’s daughter B.D. They adopted children Margot in 1951 and Michael in 1952, with Margot being named after her iconic character, although with a slightly differing spelling. In their 10-year rocky marriage, Merrill was known for his alcoholism and physical abuse. Bette admitted years later in hindsight, that Merrill married Margo Channing and she married Bill Simpson.
As we screen ALL ABOUT EVE, it’s inescapable to not be impressed by the depth of this casting. I’m a big fan of both Thelma Ritter (1905 – 1969) as “Birdie” and George Sanders (1906 – 1972) as “Addison DeWitt.” DeWitt was the character that Mankiewicz wrote closest to his true self. Both Ritter and Sanders could cut you to the bone with darkly humorous truth bombs, although DeWitt’s verbal barbs are much more tinged with acid. You may recognize Hugh Marlowe (aka “Lloyd Richards”) as a steady actor in film and television, a fixture in a variety of genres- my favorite roles being in science fiction classics like THE DAY the EARTH STOOD STILL (1951) and EARTH vs. the FLYING SAUCERS (1956). This was a pivotal year for Marilyn Monroe (1926 – 1962), who was finally getting noticed thanks to her small role in this film as “Miss Casswell” along with her brief role in ASPHALT JUNGLE (1950). Interestingly, Zanuck wasn’t a fan because he felt she wasn’t photogenic. (So obviously he wasn’t right about a few things.)
It’s an enormous understatement to say that ALL ABOUT EVE was a big hit. It earned $8.4 million at the box office and was nominated for a record-breaking 14 Academy Awards. Only TITANIC (1997) and LA LA LAND (2016) would match that record, even to this day. While TITANIC went on to win 11 Oscars, LA LA LAND and ALL ABOUT EVE each brought home six Oscars a piece. AAE nominations: Best Actress in a Leading Role- Anne Baxter and Bette Davis, Best Actor in a Supporting Role- George Sanders (winner), Best Actress in a Supporting Role- Celeste Holm and Thelma Ritter, Best Director- Joseph L Mankiewicz (winner), Best Writing, Screenplay- Joseph L Mankiewicz (winner), Best Cinematography, Black-and-white- Milton R. Krasner, Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Black-and-white- Lyle R Wheeler, George W Davis, Thomas Little, Walter M Scott, Best Costume Design, Black-and-White- Edith Head, Charles Le Maire (winners), Best Film Editing- Barbara McLean, Best Music, Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy- Alfred Newman, Best Sound, Recording- Thomas T Moulton (winner), Best Picture- Darryl F Zanuck (winner). Additionally, it was nominated and won many other awards, including Golden Globes, Cannes, and BAFTA, to name a few.
Filming began in San Francisco on April 8, 1950 and completed in early June. The film was released on October 27, 1950. Filming locations included the Curran Theatre in San Francisco, CA (exterior, interior), Shubert Theater and Taft Hotel in New Haven, Connecticut (exterior), street scenes in Manhattan, NY, and stage 11 at the 20th Century Fox studio in Century City, CA.
Additional note: During this time, Joseph Mankiewicz faced the most intense night of his career that practically ended it. Less than a week prior to the U.S. theatrical release of this film, on October 22, 1950, an emergency meeting of the Screen Directors Guild was convened at the Beverly Hills Hotel. More than a hundred members assembled in the Crystal Room. Two sides of ideology were facing off to address a proposed loyalty oath to deny Communism or communist sympathies in Hollywood. Joseph L Mankiewicz was then President of the guild, a moderate Republican, but he questioned the need for anyone to sign a loyalty oath. Even though being a member of the Communist party was legal in the United States, the oath would require a member to declare that they had never joined the Communist party.
On Mankiewicz’s side, William Wyler, George Stephens, and Walter Huston met the night before to strategize how to articulate their arguments. They would face opposition spear headed by Cecil B DeMille. The Hollywood Ten were jailed a couple of years earlier, and a quiet paranoia had been brewing ever since, with rumors of a Hollywood blacklisting to soon follow.
In 1950, a heated U.S. Senate race in California was underway between Richard Nixon and Helen Gahagan Douglas, whom Nixon accused her as a “pink lady” aka communist sympathizer, due to her left-leaning politics. Douglas was a fascinating figure in American history- she was a Congresswoman, an actress on Broadway and briefly in Hollywood, an opera singer, spouse to popular actor Melvyn Douglas (m. 1931 – 1980), grandmother to actress Ileana Douglas. During this campaign, she faced a lot of sexism and right-wing extremism. Another sign of the political climate intensifying in Hollywood included the powerful and influential gossip columnist Hedda Hopper who publicly demanded an industry-wide mandated oath pledge with the inflammatory quote: “… those who aren’t loyal should be put in concentration camps before it’s too late.”
DeMille was targeting this union with the goal that the other unions would follow. In August of 1950, DeMille feared the newly elected guild President would oppose the oath so he attempted to create a bylaw voted in by the board while Mankiewicz was away in Europe, that would require a mandatory oath signing for all members. When he returned to the U.S. DeMille went even further by researching Mankiewicz’s films and looking for supposed communist propaganda. This was followed by a tense board meeting on October 9th, where he refused to sign the oath, which also now required the guild name any director not in compliance. In other words, the President of the guild was in violation. Debate ensued over whether this was essentially a blacklist.
DeMille called for a secret meeting of 16 of DeMille supporters, which included Leo McCarey and Frank Capra, in hopes to oust Mankiewicz. But they needed 60% of the membership to initiate a recall- 167 members. A frenzied, yet secretive 36 hours of propaganda followed to gain support for DeMille’s cause and a smear campaign against Mankiewicz. Joe discovered that ballots to unseat him were being quietly delivered to DeMille loyalist members, so he acted quickly to gain his own support and followers.
Finally, as the October 22 session arrived, George Stephens stood up to present evidence of DeMille’s underhanded tactics. Frank Capra resigned from the board in disgust. Followed by Leo McCarey who back peddled in saying perhaps they went too far. Then DeMille made the mistake of accusing Mankiewicz as not being a Communist but vulnerable to dangerous bias from others, to which he which he began to name off director names, mocking a Jewish accent… “Mr. Villy Vyler, Mr. Fleddie Zinnemann …” As you can imagine, Billy Wilder and others were less than thrilled by the anti-Semitic mocking. Both Wilder and Fritz Lang stood up and denounced DeMille’s bigoted move, which was met by applause. It was after midnight and Mankiewicz wasn’t sure if a majority was in his favor. Until John Ford stood up, stating, “My name is John Ford, I make westerns.” Then he looked over to DeMille. “I admire you. But I don’t like you, and I don’t like a thing you stand for.” Ford was an original founder of the guild and told the membership that it was time to hand it back over to Mankiewicz and go home. He also demanded the entire board resign. “Tomorrow, let’s go back and make movies.” This was met with thunderous applause, thereby ending the meeting at 2:20 am- and DeMille’s smear attempts, as well.
A tumultuous and victorious night. Like a Hollywood ending. You’d think that was the end of it. In a way, it was. Mankiewicz’s reputation and career was saved. And important stances were made. But the tide of Communist hunting was too big to stop. The oath that the board had adopted (even though they all resigned after that meeting) was in effect. Mankiewicz wrote a letter attempting to explain the rule was in place, and he signed it, but that no blacklisting would result for those who choose not to sign. By March 1951, the second round of Congressional hearings to root out Communism was even more brutal. Some, like Elia Kazan even turned-on friends and colleagues and named names. And yes, blacklisting followed. In case you’re wondering, gee what would have happened if this red scare wave was nipped in the bud much, much earlier? Nixon won that Senate race, and the rest of his political career is historic, too.
Themes and observations to discuss for ALL ABOUT EVE…
Who are you rooting for? Do you sympathize with any of the characters? Who and why?
What examples do we see addressed regarding the subject of ageism? How accurate is this today?
Was Eve’s approach the correct or most effective way to enter the theater world, or Hollywood? Is this scenario dated- or still relevant to this day?
What does this film say about ambition? Female Empowerment?
How does Eve copy her idol, Margo? Hint: watch the parallels in costumes between Eve and Margo.
What does it tell you that Addison DeWitt is the narrator?
What about this film that makes it so timeless a story? What about the script makes it stand out from others?
Birdie is the only one who sees through Eve from the start, and Addison is the only one not hurt by Eve in the end- why do the others not see Eve for who she is?
It was said that Joseph Mankiewicz was too theatre for Hollywood and too Hollywood for theatre- do you think that’s true and what does this mean to you?
Cast and Crew:
Directed by: Joseph L Mankiewicz
Writing by: Mary Orr (story), Joseph L Mankiewicz (screenplay)
Produced by: Darryl F Zanuck
Music by: Alfred Newman
Cinematography by: Milton Krasner
Editing by: Barbara McLean
Art Direction by: George W Davis, Lyle R Wheeler
Set Decoration by: Thomas Little, Walter M Scott
Costume Design by: Edith Head (for Bette Davis), Charles Le Maire (wardrobe director), Joan Joseff (costume jeweller)
*(It should be noted that Edith Head was brought in to design specifically for Bette Davis solely. Head was nominated for an astonishing 35 Oscars in Costume Design, with 8 wins, in her long career, which remains a record. Yet this was their first collaboration, as Davis typically worked with Orry-Kelly from her WB years).
Bette Davis – Margo Channing
Anne Baxter- Eve
George Sanders – Addison DeWitt
Celeste Holm – Karen
Gary Merrill – Bill Sampson
Hugh Marlowe – Lloyd Richards
Gregory Ratoff – Max Fabian
Barbara Bates – Phoebe
Marilyn Monroe – Miss Casswell
Thelma Ritter – Birdie
Sources:
“How the Mankiewicz Family Got Their Hollywood Ending.” By: Paul Hond. Fall 2022. Columbia Magazine.
IMDB
“Dark Victory, The Life of Bette Davis.” By: Ed Sikov. 2007. Henry Holt and Co.
Academy of Picture Arts and Sciences. Oscars.org.
Larry McQueen interview on All About Eve, Costume Design. 2019. Criterion Collection.
“The Other “Mank’: Joe Mankiewicz and the Wildest Night in Hollywood History.” By: Greg Mitchell. Dec. 9, 2020. Medium.com
“FILM: Winning a Battle but Losing the War Over the Blacklist.” Jan. 25, 1998. New York Times.
Images: Dr. Macro