Monday, October 13, 2008

Bette without a butt

Roger Ebert is flourishing as a blogger. The freedom agrees with him. Currently he has a great post on the new Bette Davis stamp, for which her ever-present cigarette was erased: (look at that pose! The erasure is laughably obvious):

Look, I hate smoking. It took my parents from me, my father with lung cancer, my mother with emphysema. [...] On the other hand, I have never objected to smoking in the movies, especially when it is necessary to establish a period or a personality. [...] If virtually all actresses smoked, Bette Davis smoked more than virtually all actresses. When she appeared on the Tonight Show the night after she co-hosted the Oscars, she walked onstage, shook Johnny's hand, sat down, pulled out her Vantages, and lit up. Tumultuous applause. I would guess it is impossible for an impressionist to do Bette Davis without using a cigarette.

Related post: The censors take on filters: Casting a pall (mall) on the alluring, noirish cool of the movies.

4 comments:

Mike z said...

I got a letter from Papa with this stamp on it. I though she was holding a really tiny cigarette. It looks like there's a ghost of the original image between her fingers.

Anonymous said...

and a letter is on its way to JJ with the stamp---mailed it today!

elgringo said...

For some reason, this doesn't bother me as much as I thought it would. I'm anti-smoking but it does seem ridiculous to take away Davis' cigarette. That being said, I'm okay with the image used on the stamp -- she still looks gorgeous and has that always in charge look. I just got a Davis film I've never seen before and plan on watching it tonight.

ah said...

you got a blog banner!