Ok, we admit it.  Classic Movie Chat has not given Bette Davis her just due. While we have, for example, published many blogs about Davis contemporary Deanna Durbin, our cupboard is pretty much bare when it comes to this great star.

Davis was, of course, not only a great and popular actress — her $328,477 annual salary earned in 1946 made her the highest paid woman in America — but she also launched a one-woman rebellion against the studio contract system than led to fundamental changes in the way Golden-age Hollywood did business. She asserted her independence long before the feminist movement was even heard of.

Hello, everybody. Joe Morella and Frank Segers, your classic movie guys, here to try and make amends with our first Bette Davis quiz.

The questions here are based on the actress’ autobiography, The Lonely Life, first published in 1962, and updated to just before her death at 81 in Paris on Oct. 6, 1989. Ok, here we go:

Question: Davis’ first movie appearance came in 1931 when she was in her early 20′s in Universal’s melodrama, Bad Sister, starring Conrad Nagle. Prior to this appearance, her confidence was shaken by a rude remark blurted out by a studio executive.  Can you name this exec, and identify what he said?  1) Studio co-founder Mark Dintenfass, who mocked Davis’ “bad breath”; 2) studio boss Carl Laemmle, who cracked that Davis had “as much sex appeal as Slim Summerville“; or 3) studio co-founder Charles Bauman who complained of Bette’s “New England accent?”

Question: In her autobiography, Davis is discreet about most aspects of her private life, and is remarkably restrained in criticizing other performers.  But she lets loose on one particular actress.  Which one? 1) Joan Crawford, 2) Faye Dunaway; 3) Olivia DeHavilland or  4) Jane Fonda?

Question: One of Davis’ biggest professional regrets is that she never got to play Scarlett O’Hara in Gone With The Wind.  True or false? And in what picture DID she portray a spoiled Southern Belle?

Question: Who was Davis’ favorite director (and sometime lover)? 1) Orson Welles, 2)  Joseph L. Mankiewicz; 3) Michael Curtiz; or 4) William Wyler?

Question: Can you name the title of the movie, directed by Bette’s Now, Voyager costar Paul Henreid, in which she starred in the TWO leading roles: that of the mousy sister and also that of the rich, glamorous twin she murders?

Question: Despite their successful pairing in director Robert Aldrich’s 1962 drama Whatever Happened To Baby Jane?, Bette Davis could not overcome her longstanding loathing of Joan Crawford.  True or false.

Question: Where did Davis’ celebrated legal battle with Warner Bros. play out, and what was it about? 1) In Hollywood over the studio’s demand that she marry Errol Flynn; 2) in England over her studio suspension after refusing several projects proffered by management; or 3) in the Bahamas over expensive beachfront property contractually obligated to be purchased for the actress.

Question:  Davis was not the first choice for perhaps the most celebrated role of her career, that of Margo Channing in 1950′s All About Eve. Who was? 1) Joan Crawford; 2) Claudette Colbert, 3) Tallulah Bankhead; or 4) Loretta Young?

Question: Davis was known to be unusually blunt and outspoken by Hollywood standards, and more than occasionally abused people who worked for her, especially publicists.  True or false?

Question: Who was the driving parental force in Bette’s life?  Her father, Harlow Morrell Davis, or her mother, Ruth?

Question: Twentieth Century Fox tried to coerce Davis into starring in a sequel to All About Eve, which prompted a legal response from the actress, who was adamantly opposed.  True or false?

Ok, mark down your choices and stay tuned.  Answers coming shortly.

Hello, everybody. Joe Morella and Frank Segers, your classic movie guys, here today to reinforce the notion that we LOVE reader response in any electronic form you choose. The more we get, the happier we are.

Frank took some time off recently, and received a semi-alarmed note from Joe that the flow of comments from readers has slowed somewhat. Perhaps it’s the time of year, the weather or the state of the world.  In any case, we don’t like it.

We prefer hearing from more rather than less of our readers. We know you are out there.  We get daily tracking numbers from our server, and if we have to say so, they ain’t bad.  Reading us is wonderful — but reading us and commenting about what we write is sublime.

So make us happy. The procedure is simple.  On each day’s blog there is formatted a “Leave A Reply” box on the upper right hand corner. Click on it and a “leave a reply” box will pop up.  Type away, and when finished hit “post comment.”

Also, we at Classic Movie Chat are happy to say we have hundreds of followers on Twitter. Sometimes, one of our readers responds to one of our blogs via twitter, as did Kit Power, who was obviously moved by our April 25 blog on The Lost Weekend (‘Lost Weekend’ – ‘Great Movie’ But ‘Nasty Novel?’).

Kit tweeted: “I watched “The Lost Weekend” again days ago . It’s a great film that doesn’t skirt around the misery of the disease/victims.”  Thanks for your comment, Kit. We encourage all our followers on Twitter to let us know which stars and blogs they love (or dislike?) most.

Two-way exchanges with readers is a great pleasure afforded by our blog.  We have had many interesting and highly informative back-and-forths, sometime a tad argumentative but always with the realization that fans of classic movies often have strong opinions that must be heard and respected. Thus, debate becomes healthy exchange.

Besides, as our blog name suggests, we enjoy simply chatting. So whatever strikes your fancy (or doesn’t), let’s hear from you.

One of our regular readers and correspondents is Patricia Nolan-Hall known also as “Caftan Woman.” Her latest missive was in response to our May 8 blog (George Sanders – Bored To Death?) about the factors that led up to the actor’s suicide in 1972.

Writes Patricia:

I was a teenager when Sanders died.  At that time I only knew him from “The Jungle Book” (the 1967 animation feature pictured above in which Sanders voiced the role of Shere Khan, the Tiger). The years have changed that and it saddens me that someone who brought nothing but pleasure to so many people, many of them not even born in his time, should face such sadness.

Thanks much for that thoughtful response, Patricia.

OK, readers.  We said our piece.  Now let’s hear from YOU.

It happened again last night.  I told myself — “I’ll just watch the credits.”  After all it was a movie I’d seen a half dozen times.  But of course I watched it all the way through.

The film is over 70 years old but it hits all the right notes of what a movie should be. The subject is timely. Workers’ rights. What protections does an employee have if after 10 or 20 years service they can be let go just because they can be replaced by cheaper labor?

The love stories are current. One couple facing possible separation because the man can’t find job in the same town as the girl and won’t live off her salary. The second (older couple) finding each other late in life, realizing that money isn’t as important as emotional connections.

The acting is superb. There’s comedy. Poignancy.

Back to the credits. The film stars Jean Arthur, name above the title, in fact title card all to herself.  It says Frank Ross and Norman Krasna present Jean Arthur.

Then the name of the picture. The Devil (with the face of Charles Coburn)–then the next title card–And Miss Jones (with the face of Jean Arthur). The next card says: With Robert Cummings, Charles Coburn, (and in smaller type) Spring Byington, Edmund Gwenn, S.Z. Sakall, and William Demarest.

The Devil and Miss Jones, released by RKO in 1941, holds up today.  See it. (Don’t confuse it with the porno film The Devil IN Miss Jones.)

Although Arthur is top billed, Coburn is the real star of this movie.  He received an Oscar nomination as did writer Krasna. Both well deserved. If you don’t know Bob Cummings work you’ll be surprised at his performance.

In films he was always billed as Robert Cummings although his greatest success was as Bob Cummings on tv starting in 1952 in a short-lived comedy series, My Hero. His roles in such series as Love That Bob, The Bob Cummings Show and My Living Doll made the actor one of the biggest tube stars of the Fifties and Sixties.

And watch for a bit from that great character actress Florence Bates.

The love triangle between senior citizens Coburn, Byington and Gwenn was reprised 10 years later in a delightful film, Louisa.

Miss Jones was a huge success at the time. Made for $600,000 and grossing a million and a half. More importantly, it stands the test of time, the definition of a true movie classic.

They were, for a time, the screen’s most exciting and alluring couple. And they weren’t dog people.

Hello, everybody. MR. Joe Morella and MR. Frank Segers, back with one more look at stars and their pets. MRS. Norman Maine is out walking the great Dane.

Olivier and Leigh.  Let’s face it — their personalities fit much closer to the feline than to any other animal.

He, Sir Laurence Olivier, was the most respected actor of his era. She, Vivien Leigh, the most beautiful star of her time. Wuthering Heights and Rebecca made him America’s heartthrob. Scarlett O’Hara gave her the role of a lifetime.

And they made films together as well. Fire Over England before and That Hamilton Woman after their great successes.

She won two Academy Awards for Best Actress. For her roles in Gone With The Wind and A Streetcar Named Desire. He won only one Oscar (Hamlet, 1948) although he was nominated 10 times. And nominated as a director once.

There was Liz and Dick in the 1960s and 70s, of course, but Olivier and Leigh did it with a certain class.

Last week we ran a few photos of some very famous Hollywoodites. It was easy to identify them after you studied the photos for a few seconds. But can you honestly say you knew them at first glance?

Hello Everybody.  Joe Morella and Frank Segers here again trying to keep you on your toes.

Yes, that was a much younger Dame Maggie Smith, when she was just starting out.  And, of course, that was a young Leslie Caron.  Did you instantly know that with her was another French beauty, Brigitte Bardot?

And Yul Bynner with hair certainly does look different, doesn’t he?

So who is our mystery guest pictured at the top of our blog this week?  And who’s the woman pictured below?  Both became really BIG stars.

Writing about stars in Hollywood’s Golden Age who were brothers (eg. Dana Andrews and Steve Forrest, Lawrence Tierney and Scott Brady, James Arness and Peter Graves) started us thinking about stars who were sisters.

Olivia deHavilland and Joan Fontaine (both Oscar winners — twice for Olivia) are the obvious choices as the most famous Sisters on the Silver Screen back in its heyday. For more on this tempestuous duo, check out our June 1, 2012 blog, Olivia and Joan — Hollywood’s Most Enduring Sibling Rivalry.

But what about other sister acts?

Hello, everybody. Joe Morella and Frank Segers, your classic movie guys searching for the answers to a movie trivia fans’ (which we are, we admit) pressing questions.

Of course the silent screen had The Talmadge Sisters, Norma and Constance. And The Gish Sisters, Lillian and Dorothy. The last two made it in talkies as well.

The Young sisters too started in silents and went on to careers in sound pictures. Loretta became the most successful, but Polly Ann Young and Betty Jane (known as Sally Blane) worked sporadically through the 30s.

Then there were The Bennetts, Constance and Joan, and The Lane sisters, Priscilla, Rosemary and Lola, who worked in films together and separately.

That’s Rosemary, Gale Page (the non sister in all those Four Daughters movies) Lola and Priscilla playing cards between takes.

Sometimes the public was unaware that stars they knew and related to on the screen were, in fact, related. Jeannette MacDonald was a big name on the MGM lot in the 1930s and her sister, Marie Blake, was under contract there too.  You might remember her as the switchboard operator at the hospital where Dr. Kildare worked.

Did you recognize the stars posted today?  Did you have to look twice?  We confess, we did.

Hello, everybody. Joe Morella and Frank Segers, your classic movie guys, here to announce that today we’re starting a new feature.

We’re going to post three photos at a time and ask you, faithful readers, to identify them. As the French say, bonne chance.

Who are these people? We’re sure if you look intently you’ll figure out who we’re highlighting. So, please get back to us pronto with your answers.

You may not always remember their names, but you sure can’t forget their performances.

Hello, everybody. Joe Morella and Frank Segers here at the old stand.  Today Joe was wracking his brian for over 20 minutes trying to think of the name of the man who’s pictured above. (Devilish Frank instantly put the name to the face but wouldn’t say.)

Our man was in comedies, dramas, musicals, even a Hitchcock film.  Finally Joe had to look up a film in which he knew this guy had a pretty important supporting role. The film was That Hamilton Woman, starring Vivien Leigh and Laurence Olivier, or was it Laurence Olivier and Vivien Leigh?  Anyway, this guy played Lord Hamilton, Leigh’s husband.

Then, of course, as soon as he saw the name, Alan Mowbray, it all came back.

The man made over 140 films and ran the gamut.  He was in a Charlie Chan film, one of the Basil Rathbone- Nigel Bruce Sherlock Holmes films, a Jeannette MacDonald musical.

He was the butler in two of the Topper movies. He appeared in noir films too — I Wake Up Screaming and Lured -– see them both. Betty Grable and Lucille Ball in roles which will surprise you.

One of his biggest hits was as the butler in the 1938 comedy Merrily We Live. Patsy Kelly (with whom he’s pictured below) played the cook.  The leads were Constance Bennett and Brian Aherne, with Billie Burke playing Bennett’s scatterbrained mother.

Mowbray often played butlers, but was versatile enough to portray all types. He acted in westerns, costume dramas, period pieces. He made an Abbott and Costello film. A Ma and Pa Kettle movie.  The man worked constantly. And then he went into TV.

Mowbray was also a founding member of the Screen Actor’s Guild.

Not all his film are classics, of course, but he’s always worth watching. And in his early days the man even played dashing love-interest leading men.

In the past few weeks we’ve been discussing films which have been celebrating their 50th and 60th birthdays. (Jeez, how time flies.) But what about those classics which are 70 this year?

70! Imagine it.  Can you think of a film released this year which even has a chance to be remembered 70 years from now? Just asking.

Your classic movie guys, Joe Morella and Frank Segers saying Hello, Everybody, and please dazzle us with your predictions of which film in this year’s crop you think has a shot of being a classic which people will still be watching and talking about 70 years from now.

We can’t think of one.

Seventy years is a very long time. Cultures change, fashions change.  But universal human conditions and emotions are for better or worse lasting.

We’ve thought of four films which were released in 1943, are celebrating their 70th birthday this year, and can still hold an audience in thrall. One is about love. One is about faith. One is about war. The last is about man’s inhumanity to man.

Casablanca is on almost every list of the best films ever made.  Books can (and have) be written about this movie.  It was magic in the making, and remains a favorite of millions. It showed everyone that even the toughest of tough guys could be romantic.

For much more on Casablanca check out our quiz on the film (Casablanca Quiz, April 11, 2012 for questions; April 17, 2012 for answers) and our discussion of a humorous incident that occurred on the production set (Peter Lorre: The Prankster of ‘Casablanca’, April 17, 2012).

The Song of Bernadette is a brilliantly crafted story of a innocent girl whose devotion thrusts her into the limelight. Jennifer Jones (pictured at the top of today’s blog) won the Oscar but its the band of character actors led by Gladys George, Anne Bevere, Vincent Price, Lee J. Cobb and Charles Dingle who steal the show.

Five Graves to Cairo is a taut tale of men during wartime. It is not about battles and blood but about personalities. Erich Von Strohiem is perfect as Field Marshall Rommel.

And The Ox Bow Incident, is a powerful story of mob psychology and violence, set in the American west of the 1880s. Henry Fonda and Dana Andrews star.

All four films are brilliantly written, acted and directed.

Oh, since we mentioned the hit songs from the movies of the day 50 and 60 years ago, let’s not forget the songs generated by films 70 years ago.  Remember “That Old Black Magic?”  How about “You’d Be So Nice to Come Home To?”

Can it be?  That they don’t make ‘em like they used to?

The Andrews Sisters were famous in the 1940s and 50s, but did you know about the Andrews Brothers?

Hello, everybody.  Joe Morella and Frank Segers, your classic movie guys,  back with answers to those fraternal questions we posed last Friday.

Carver Dana Andrews and William Forrest Andrews were both film stars in Hollywood’s Golden era.

Dana (named after two of his father’s favorite professors , was the third of 9 children (some sources say 13!) of a Baptist minister and his wife in the rural south.  He was born on New Year’s Day, 1909.  When he was finishing high school, in 1924, one of his 6 brothers, William, was born.

Stories vary on how Dana got from Texas to Hollywood.  One version says he hitchhiked seeking his fortune in films.  Another version says the entire family moved to Southern California in the early 30s when Rev. Andrews took a job there.  However the Reverend and his family soon returned to Texas and Dana, over 21, decided to stay.

In any event Dana Andrews was in Hollywood, trying for a singing career and taking classes at the Pasadena Playhouse.  After years of struggling he was finally signed to a film contract by Samuel Goldwyn.

The producer had no immediate work for him so sold half Andrews contract to Twentieth Century Fox.  There he made a few B films to gain experience. Then Goldwyn used him in a supporting role in The Westerner. Actually Goldwyn only used Andrews to good advantage twice. As Barbara Stanwyck’s gangster boyfriend in the comedy Ball of Fire and as one of the 3 returning servicemen profiled in The Best Years of Our Lives.

For most of his career he toiled at Fox. After a great role in The Ox Bow Incident he hit his stride with Laura, (opposite Gene Tierney — we ran a shot of them together last Friday),  A Walk in the Sun and another, less commercially successful film at the time, but nonetheless a fascinating picture, Fallen Angel.

In conjunction with the publication of a new biography of him, we’ve written about Dana in two previous blogs: Dana Andrews ‘ Battle With The Bottle, (Dec. 27, 2012);  and Was Dana Andrews Ever Better? (Dec. 26, 2012), which drew the following response from regular reader Rockfish:

Dana Andrews is due for a re-examination by classic film fans, as his work has a timelessness about it. I have the book (the recently published Carl Rollyson biography, “Hollywood Enigma: Dana Andrews”) and look forward to reading about him. So many of his films have an underlying potency, due to DA’s talents. Thanks for sharing.

Dana’s younger brother came to Hollywood in the early 40s and was a bit player under his own name, William Forrest Andrews. He appears in a small part in 1943′s Crash Dive, a war film which starred Tyrone Power, Anne Baxter and Dana.

William served in World War II, and on his return changed his name to Steve Forrest and tried his luck in Hollywood again.

He didn’t hit his stride until the 50s when he scored in So Big, opposite Jane Wyman, and Bedeviled, (pictured Friday) opposite Anne Baxter.

Dana Andrews battled alcoholism, finally conquering it, and serving as president of the The Screen Actor’s Guild for two years. He even did public service announcements about beating alcohol addiction.  He died a few weeks shy of his 84th birthday in December 1992.

Steve Forrest is 88. His last film appearance was a cameo as a truck driver in Columbia’s 2003′s S.W.A.T. a crime thriller based on the TV series. That film grossed over $207 million worldwide.  Nice to end on a high.