To celebrate the 60th Anniversary of What Ever Happened To Baby Jane? (1962) I took my daughter to see it on the big screen. She had never seen it before and I knew seeing it in the movie theater would make it extra special. Sixty years after it was first released, this film has become a cult classic. It stars two huge Old Hollywood actresses who the studios had hoped would fade away because of their aging faces. Instead of disappearing from the motion picture business, Joan Crawford and Bette Davis put aside past rivalries and pettiness to star in this big budget film directed by Robert Aldrich.
Crawford and Davis both felt they had so much more to give to the acting world and were doing their part to keep themselves active in roles that could use their skills and talents. The roles of Jane Hudson (Davis) and Blanche Hudson (Crawford) were rich and complicated. Jane was mentally unstable and living in her past while Blanche was an invalid struggling to maintain her dignity while living with a devastating secret. Along with Davis and Crawford's passionate and eerie performances as dueling sisters there were two other characters in this film that really added some extra layers to the Hudson sisters story.
The first is Maidie Norman who played Elvira Stitt, the housekeeper for the Hudson sisters. Elvira delivers performance after performance but most importantly her character added an air of normality and sanity to the household. The second is Victor Buono who plays a wannabe professional musician, Edwin Flagg. Buono's performance reminds the audience of how deep the madness lies within Jane. One of the most iconic scenes in the film is when Flagg begins to play the piano and Jane sings a song that was popular when she was a child while dressed as a little girl even though she is obviously a much older women. The scene is both desperately sad and horrifying all at once.
There is no doubt that both Davis and Crawford gave everything they had to this film. It is said that they both wished the success of this film would bring them more film roles. It did for a while but the movie making system remained (and still to some degree) extremely ageist. The making of What Ever Happened To Baby Jane? (1962) was fraught with gossip and drama that was either created to boost up the film or to tear down the actresses. The miniseries Feud: Bette and Joan (2017) takes a deeper look into the making of the film and the possible antics that went on behind the camera.
Irregardless of the idle gossip, this film was haunting and deeply tragic all at once. That isn't an easy combo to create on film but both Davis and Crawford tell the doomed tale of the Hudson sisters in a way that will live forever in movie history.
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