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Dead Ringer: A Tale of Two Bettes · Hooray for Hollywood

• 0:19
  SPEAKER_00: Welcome to a very small episode of Ray from Hollywood, a podcast all about the legendary stars, studios, and scandals that shaped Hollywood during its golden age.
• 0:30
  SPEAKER_00: I'm your host, Matthew Marlowe, Big Band singer, Hollywood historian, and collector.
• 0:36
  SPEAKER_00: And in each episode, we're going to be discussing a particular film, star, and even pieces of contemporary media surrounding the Golden Age of Hollywood.
• 0:45
  SPEAKER_00: I want you to know that every episode is heavily researched.
• 0:50
  SPEAKER_00: I'm going to be providing you with factual information that's more scary than Gene Kelly's hairpiece.
• 0:57
  SPEAKER_00: Now, in this Halloween episode, we're going to be discussing a rather chilling yet almost campy film titled Dead Ringer.
• 1:11
  SPEAKER_00: A film about twin sisters, which stars two of the greatest actresses in Hollywood history: Betty Davis and Betty Davis.
• 1:22
  SPEAKER_00: And we're lucky enough to be joined in the studio today by one of the Betty's herself.
• 1:30
  SPEAKER_00: On display behind me here is an item from my personal collection, a costume from the film Dead Ringer.
• 1:38
  SPEAKER_00: And I'll be telling you so much more about this later in the episode.
• 1:41
  SPEAKER_00: So please stick around for that.
• 1:43
  SPEAKER_00: But without any further ado, on with the show.
• 2:19
  SPEAKER_00: And I love that title.
• 2:20
  SPEAKER_00: I just think it's so chilling.
• 2:22
  SPEAKER_00: The director of this film was Paul Henried.
• 2:25
  SPEAKER_00: Paul Henried was an Austrian and American actor and director, and among his most notable roles was Victor Laszlo in Casablanca.
• 2:34
  SPEAKER_00: And he was also Betty Davis's former co-star in Now Voyager in 1942 and Deception in 1946.
• 2:43
  SPEAKER_00: Now, Dead Ringer is a remake for the 1945 Mexican film La Outra, which means the other one.
• 2:51
  SPEAKER_00: The leading lady for La Outra was Dolores Del Rio, and the film would also be remade in 1986 as a television movie named Killer in the Mirror, starring Anne Gillian.
• 3:02
  SPEAKER_00: Now, this film, Dead Ringer, came at a very interesting point in Betty Davis' life.
• 3:08
  SPEAKER_00: A few short years before this, her career was in a slump.
• 3:12
  SPEAKER_00: She was doing a lot of television and some films that weren't very memorable.
• 3:17
  SPEAKER_00: And then came Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?
• 3:22
  SPEAKER_00: I love this film.
• 3:25
  SPEAKER_00: If you haven't watched it, what are you doing?
• 3:29
  SPEAKER_00: It's a true classic, it's camp, it's unforgettable.
• 3:34
  SPEAKER_00: And this film was in 1962, and it gave her a renewed appeal to audiences and breathed new life into her career.
• 3:42
  SPEAKER_00: This became known as her Hagsploitation period.
• 3:46
  SPEAKER_00: Now, Hag's bloitation films, if you're unfamiliar, are a subgenre of movies in which a screen goddess of old, someone once put on a pedestal for her beauty and talent, is cast in a horror or a thriller film where they are made to look horrendous and fight for their lives.
• 4:03
  SPEAKER_00: And this began with Whatever Happened to Baby Jane.
• 4:07
  SPEAKER_00: Initially, Betty Davis was to appear in the film The Empty Canvas in Italy before production on Dead Ringer began in late June of 1963.
• 4:18
  SPEAKER_00: However, that ended up changing, and Betty Davis would end up working on Dead Ringer in July prior to the production of The Empty Canvas in September of 1963.
• 4:27
  SPEAKER_00: It worked out in the end, though, because the latter film would still end up being released before Dead Ringer.
• 4:33
  SPEAKER_00: Betty was also offered a role in For for Texas, a film directed by Robert Altrich, the director of Whatever Happened to Baby Jane.
• 4:41
  SPEAKER_00: But due to the scheduling conflicts of Dead Ringer, Betty had to pull out.
• 4:46
  SPEAKER_00: Still, the two of them would work together again the following year in 1964 on Hush Hush, Sweet Charlotte, another glorious film.
• 4:56
  SPEAKER_00: Now, according to Bosey Hadley during one of his interviews with Betty Davis, when discussing Dead Ringer, Betty couldn't help adding, you know, at the same time, Crawford had a film, Straight Jacket, did you see it?
• 5:14
  SPEAKER_00: And her underlying message, as he put it, is that when comparing the productions of the two films, Straight Jacket makes Dead Ringer look like a multi-million dollar production.
• 5:27
  SPEAKER_00: But now let's dig right into the picture.
• 5:31
  SPEAKER_00: The first thing we hear during the title sequence is the film's chilling theme.
• 5:36
  SPEAKER_00: The score for this film was written by Andre Preven, who is an incredibly gifted composer with a very interesting life.
• 5:44
  SPEAKER_00: He was born in 1929, and at the age of six, he enrolled at the Berlin Conservatory.
• 5:51
  SPEAKER_00: However, in 1938, his father was told that he was no longer welcome on the grounds that he was Jewish.
• 5:58
  SPEAKER_00: His family applied for American visas and left for Paris while they awaited approval.
• 6:03
  SPEAKER_00: There, Andre learned music theory at the Conservatoire de Paris, and then he moved to the U.S., where he became a naturalized citizen in 1943.
• 6:15
  SPEAKER_00: In 1946, he graduated from Beverly Hills High School and performed at the ceremony with Richard M.
• 6:22
  SPEAKER_00: Sherman from the Sherman Brothers.
• 6:25
  SPEAKER_00: What an amazing flex that is.
• 6:27
  SPEAKER_00: By the age of 20, he was arranging and composing for MGM.
• 6:32
  SPEAKER_00: He worked on the music for more than 50 films, won four Academy Awards, including one for My Fair Lady, also in 1964.
• 6:41
  SPEAKER_00: And he was also the winner of 10 Grammy Awards and a lifetime achievement award.
• 6:48
  SPEAKER_00: Incredible.
• 6:50
  SPEAKER_00: Now during the opening credits, we see various shots of Los Angeles.
• 6:54
  SPEAKER_00: Finally, we see a bus with a logo on the side of it that reads Metropolitan Transit Authority, Los Angeles MTA.
• 7:04
  SPEAKER_00: It comes to a stop just outside of the Rosedale Cemetery.
• 7:09
  SPEAKER_00: We see a woman get off the bus and the bus drives away.
• 7:12
  SPEAKER_00: She walks toward the cemetery.
• 7:14
  SPEAKER_00: Though we have not been formally introduced, this is Edith, and she is played by Betty Davis.
• 7:21
  SPEAKER_00: We see a very impressive funeral service.
• 7:25
  SPEAKER_00: There is a large stone cross, likely ten feet tall, with a figural sculpture fixed inside the top, and the name DeLorca carved below it.
• 7:35
  SPEAKER_00: Surrounding the cross is an extravagant assortment of wreaths and bouquets of flowers.
• 7:41
  SPEAKER_00: Now let's unpack our entourage.
• 7:45
  SPEAKER_00: We have three clergymen running the show, five altar boys, and six choir boys, and there are over 30 people in attendance.
• 7:56
  SPEAKER_00: Plus, there are also two nuns, inexplicably.
• 7:58
  SPEAKER_00: But I like to imagine that these two nuns probably have a podcast.
• 8:01
  SPEAKER_00: They probably go out, hit the town, check out all the good services, you know, report back, talk about what pretty this one is.
• 8:07
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, this one was a snooze fest.
• 8:08
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, this one.
• 8:10
  SPEAKER_00: That guy was lucky, at least he was dead.
• 8:12
  SPEAKER_00: Uh and then they probably go for a nice lunch at Mousseau and Frank's.
• 8:17
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I can't say for certain, but I do get the feeling that these two nuns are Maggie Smith and Whoopi Gober.
• 8:24
  SPEAKER_00: But still, Edith, no, we're back to the movie, we've gotta be serious now.
• 8:27
  SPEAKER_00: Edith carries a solemn expression and does appear to be visibly grieving the loss of this person, whomever they were.
• 8:35
  SPEAKER_00: However, her quiet grief is overshadowed by the greatly overdone, melodramatic display of desperate sorrow put on by a figure shrouded in black.
• 8:48
  SPEAKER_00: From her black veil and her womanly cries, we can instantly deduce that this is the widow of the person who has passed.
• 8:56
  SPEAKER_00: There is an elderly woman standing near her who practically rolls her eyes at this heavy-handed performance.
• 9:03
  SPEAKER_00: Now, we don't know this old woman yet, but we'll meet her a little later.
• 9:07
  SPEAKER_00: In response to this, we see Edith look at the grieving woman, first with confusion, then with an almost angered realization, which simmers into a defeated resolve.
• 9:20
  SPEAKER_00: Clearly, much has transpired between them over the years.
• 9:24
  SPEAKER_00: The service comes to a close, and the bishop puts on his party hat, and the casket is lowered into the ground, and the widow approaches it.
• 9:32
  SPEAKER_00: She drops the traditional first shovel of dirt onto the casket, and Edith gives her a scolding, resentful look that almost says, That should have been me.
• 9:43
  SPEAKER_00: It's very similar to the look that you give to the woman who cuts in front of you at the box office and ends up getting the last two tickets to the show.
• 9:51
  SPEAKER_00: And you're like, Yeah, I'll be shoveling dirt at your funeral, just you wait.
• 9:55
  SPEAKER_00: She then approaches the casket and drops in a small sprig of Heather.
• 10:00
  SPEAKER_00: It's not in the least bit grand, and it almost looks like a weed, but the gesture is meaningful.
• 10:06
  SPEAKER_00: The widow spots her for the first time, and Edith locks eyes with her before walking in the opposite direction, and the widow follows her.
• 10:15
  SPEAKER_00: She calls out her name.
• 10:17
  SPEAKER_00: Edith, it's been so long.
• 10:20
  SPEAKER_00: A lifetime, Edith replies, with no airs nor graces.
• 10:26
  SPEAKER_00: The widow asks Edith to drive home with her so that they can catch up, and Edith complies.
• 10:31
  SPEAKER_00: We have yet to see the widow's face beneath her veil, but her voice is also Betty Davis's.
• 10:39
  SPEAKER_00: The widow is Edith's twin sister, Margaret.
• 10:43
  SPEAKER_00: Her name is not explicitly mentioned at this point in the film, but I want to tell you now so as to uh avoid confusion for clarity's sake, because it isn't said for a good portion of the film.
• 10:57
  SPEAKER_00: We next see the widow's car driving through opulent iron gates.
• 11:02
  SPEAKER_00: The gate man calls the butler and informs him that Mrs.
• 11:05
  SPEAKER_00: DeLorca is just driving up.
• 11:08
  SPEAKER_00: We catch a glimpse of her colossal house peeking out from behind a massive wall of towering trees.
• 11:15
  SPEAKER_00: Inside the car, the two sisters are sitting side by side.
• 11:19
  SPEAKER_00: Edith is looking out the car window in amazement, while the widow is peering over at her beneath her black veil with a slight grin.
• 11:28
  SPEAKER_00: Now, at this moment, I want to talk to you about Betty Davis' double, Connie Saison.
• 11:33
  SPEAKER_00: Connie Saison was born on March 28th, 1925, in Oakland, California.
• 11:38
  SPEAKER_00: She had a knack for physical comedy, which helped her land the role of a blonde gold digger in several Three Stooges films, as well as a few notable roles in Corney Casanova's, Up in Daisy's Penthouse, and Tricky Dicks.
• 11:50
  SPEAKER_00: She also appeared in 17 episodes of Perry Mason as Gertrude or Gertie, Perry Mason's receptionist.
• 11:58
  SPEAKER_00: While working on Dead Ringer, she and Betty Davis developed a close bond.
• 12:02
  SPEAKER_00: For the scenes in the film in which both sisters were in shot, Connie would stand in for whichever sister Betty was not playing at the time.
• 12:09
  SPEAKER_00: And in the beginning of the film, she almost exclusively plays the widow DeLorca as her face is covered by a thick black veil, allowing Betty's to be the only face visible in the shot.
• 12:21
  SPEAKER_00: Later, we only see over-the-shoulder shots of Connie when her face isn't seen on camera, but Betty's is.
• 12:28
  SPEAKER_00: However, this shot, when both sisters are sitting in the car together, is especially interesting because we can see both Betty and Connie's faces in the shot, and it's one of the few that remain.
• 12:41
  SPEAKER_00: This is because Connie Saison was such a good look-alike for Betty Davis that in certain moments, only when the black veil was covering her face, the resemblance was close enough that the two of them could pass for actual twin sisters.
• 12:55
  SPEAKER_00: However, this would be the last film that Connie Saison would do.
• 13:00
  SPEAKER_00: After this, she retired from performing and took up sculpting as a hobby.
• 13:05
  SPEAKER_00: Crazy.
• 13:06
  SPEAKER_00: Her hobby turned into a business when her work, known as Connie's Creations, were displayed in many well-known establishments of the time.
• 13:13
  SPEAKER_00: She also owned and operated a catboarding facility called Connie's Kitty Castle in Los Angeles.
• 13:20
  SPEAKER_00: She lived until 2004, when at the age of 78, she unfortunately passed away due to complications of breast cancer surgery.
• 13:29
  SPEAKER_00: The car pulls into the driveway and the butler opens the door for Edith and Margaret.
• 13:34
  SPEAKER_00: The two women enter the house, and the butler, whose name is Henry, asks Margaret if he can get her anything, and she says that some tea would be nice.
• 13:42
  SPEAKER_00: As she does this, Edith surveys the grand entryway of the house.
• 13:47
  SPEAKER_00: This is a world that is entirely foreign to her, the privilege of which she has never known.
• 13:53
  SPEAKER_00: Margaret calls to her to follow, and the butler takes her coat.
• 13:56
  SPEAKER_00: Now, this house is one of the most famous filming locations in film history.
• 14:02
  SPEAKER_00: The interior and exterior of the DeLorca house was filmed at the Greystone Mansion in Beverly Hills.
• 14:09
  SPEAKER_00: It's a Tudor Revival mansion which has been featured in many shows and films, including Death Becomes Her in 1992, Murder She Wrote, and was used as the set of Chilton in Gilmore Girls.
• 14:21
  SPEAKER_00: In response to Edith's astonishment, Margaret comments, depressing, isn't it?
• 14:29
  SPEAKER_00: Frank's father built it.
• 14:31
  SPEAKER_00: And the stairs are such a bore.
• 14:37
  SPEAKER_00: I just love how she says that.
• 14:40
  SPEAKER_00: The stairs are such a bore.
• 14:42
  SPEAKER_00: God, rich people are so funny.
• 14:44
  SPEAKER_00: What a bore these stairs are.
• 14:46
  SPEAKER_00: God, I wish I could hover.
• 14:48
  SPEAKER_00: Henry, turn off the gravity, please, so I can fly to the bedroom.
• 14:54
  SPEAKER_00: As they turn the corner, a great dane is lying in the hallway, and he growls at the side of them, and then he gets up and walks away.
• 15:02
  SPEAKER_00: And Margaret says, Duke can't bear me.
• 15:07
  SPEAKER_00: And vice versa.
• 15:10
  SPEAKER_00: I've now I've I've got beef with this dog.
• 15:15
  SPEAKER_00: She crosses to her bedroom with Edith following behind, still taking in the incredible sights of the house.
• 15:22
  SPEAKER_00: Once in the bedroom, Margaret tells Edith, whom she informally refers to as Edie, to sit down and make herself comfortable.
• 15:30
  SPEAKER_00: She removes her veil and remarks, Ah, thank God that's over.
• 15:35
  SPEAKER_00: I hate black.
• 15:36
  SPEAKER_00: I don't look well in black.
• 15:38
  SPEAKER_00: And now it's time for a fact or fantasy.
• 15:43
  SPEAKER_00: Fact or fantasy.
• 15:45
  SPEAKER_00: Dead Ringer is the first film featuring an actor playing identical twins.
• 15:52
  SPEAKER_00: This is a fantasy.
• 15:56
  SPEAKER_00: By 1964, this was actually Old Hat.
• 16:00
  SPEAKER_00: Films dating back to the 20s featured one actor playing dual roles.
• 16:05
  SPEAKER_00: But a few examples of films featuring an actor playing twins which predate Dead Ringer are Betty Hutton in Here Come the Waves in 1944, Danny Kaye in Wonderman in 1946, and Olivia de Havilland in The Dark Mirror, also in 1946.
• 16:22
  SPEAKER_00: This is also the second film in which Betty Davis appears as a twin.
• 16:26
  SPEAKER_00: The first was A Stolen Life in 1946, which was also the first film that Betty Davis produced.
• 16:33
  SPEAKER_00: A Stolen Life does have similarities to Dead Ringer, namely in the fact that Betty Davis plays a character who assumes the identity of a twin sister.
• 16:42
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm sure that Betty Davis added a stolen life to her resume with the footnote works well with others.
• 16:52
  SPEAKER_00: A bit more on A Stolen Life from 1946, which was the first film in which Betty Davis appeared as a twin, this film also had the same cinematographer as Dead Ringer.
• 17:03
  SPEAKER_00: Ernest Haller, who developed the trick process shots, which produced two Betty Davis's on-screen in A Stolen Life, would improve upon this effect and return to work with Miss Davis again on Dead Ringer.
• 17:16
  SPEAKER_00: In both A Stolen Life and Dead Ringer, the cardinal rules involved with the split screen effect had to be broken in order to add to the realism.
• 17:25
  SPEAKER_00: For instance, traditionally, if you set out to produce a composite shot where you have two Betty Davises on screen, one has to stay to one side of the set and another to the opposite.
• 17:36
  SPEAKER_00: They also cannot touch or interact with each other in any way, and they cannot cross over the access between the two shots.
• 17:44
  SPEAKER_00: However, in both films, we see her break every single one of these rules.
• 17:48
  SPEAKER_00: In A Stolen Life, one Betty Davis lights the cigarette of another Betty Davis.
• 17:54
  SPEAKER_00: And this was done through the use of doubles and a very carefully placed mat.
• 17:59
  SPEAKER_00: In both films, Betty Davis would film the scene as one twin with a double standing in for the other, and then switch places and film the same scene as the other twin.
• 18:10
  SPEAKER_00: In order to create perfect synchronization between the two shots, Betty's dialogue from the previous take would then be played back on set for her to act to.
• 18:20
  SPEAKER_00: In post-production, a black mat would be created for each of the shots to cut out the footage of the doubles, and the two takes would be interspliced through optical printing.
• 18:30
  SPEAKER_00: But Ernest Haller's trick for master realism was to mix multiple methods of visual effects.
• 18:39
  SPEAKER_00: Some shots would be done using mats and optical printing, some would be achieved through rear projection, and some would be done with a double whose face is not fully visible in the shot.
• 18:49
  SPEAKER_00: By changing up methods for how the effect is achieved, Hallor ensures that the audience isn't watching the entire scene knowing how it was created.
• 18:58
  SPEAKER_00: And I have to include this quote from the Stolen Life British Press book, which reads, quote, When Betty was Kate, she played to her twin sister Pat, portrayed by Sally Sage, who for 10 years was her stand-in.
• 19:12
  SPEAKER_00: When Betty portrayed Pat, she had to emote to her other twin Kate, portrayed by Elizabeth Wright.
• 19:18
  SPEAKER_00: Both Sally Sage and Elizabeth Wright had their own stand-ins, so at this point the count was up to five Betty's.
• 19:25
  SPEAKER_00: And Betty's own stand-in brought the total up to six.
• 19:29
  SPEAKER_00: This reads as a horror story to Joan Crawford.
• 19:34
  SPEAKER_00: But now back to Dead Ringer.
• 19:36
  SPEAKER_00: We just entered Margaret's bedroom, and this scene is the first time that we see Betty Davis and Betty Davis together in the same shot.
• 19:45
  SPEAKER_00: Up until this point, Margaret has been wearing a thick black veil, and yes, this is important to the storytelling as she's in mourning, but it also has a practicality for the sake of the production.
• 19:57
  SPEAKER_00: The trick shots could only be achieved on the Warner Brothers' backlot.
• 20:01
  SPEAKER_00: We only ever see two Betty Davis' on-screen during interior scenes, and there's a reason for this.
• 20:08
  SPEAKER_00: The trick shots required the camera to be completely stationary and for the furniture on the set to be nailed down so as to prevent anything from moving except for the actors.
• 20:18
  SPEAKER_00: Filming for the interior scenes took place on stage 18 of the Warner Brothers lot.
• 20:23
  SPEAKER_00: A maid knocks before entering the bedroom and is shocked at the sight of Edith.
• 20:29
  SPEAKER_00: She looks back and forth between the two of them before the widow says, You're not seeing a ghost, Janet.
• 20:35
  SPEAKER_00: This is my twin sister, Edith.
• 20:38
  SPEAKER_00: Margaret's maid, Janet, is played by Monica Henried, the daughter of Paul Henreed, the film's director.
• 20:45
  SPEAKER_00: She was just starting out as an actress at the time, and she had done one film prior to this in 1958, called Girls on the Loose, in which she played Lily, the cigarette girl.
• 20:56
  SPEAKER_00: Aside from this, she had only had three other roles in episodes of television shows, including the DuPont Show with June Allison, Thriller, and Alfred Hitchcock Presents.
• 21:06
  SPEAKER_00: After Dead Ringer, she would go on to do only a handful of other small roles in film and television before stepping away from acting.
• 21:14
  SPEAKER_00: She now views herself as the custodian of her father's legacy, highlighting his acting and directing career through appearances and even by directing a documentary about his life titled Paul Henried, Beyond Victor Laszlo.
• 21:29
  SPEAKER_00: Janet delivers a package that just arrived and exits the room.
• 21:33
  SPEAKER_00: Margaret immediately opens the package and it is an immaculate diamond necklace.
• 21:38
  SPEAKER_00: She tells Edith that she sent it out to be cleaned before her husband Frank died, and Edith rightfully points out that, quote, for someone whose husband was buried today, you don't seem to be very upset.
• 21:50
  SPEAKER_00: Her sister responds by saying, Don't be like this.
• 21:54
  SPEAKER_00: It was all so long ago.
• 21:57
  SPEAKER_00: Now, it's being made abundantly clear to us.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_00: At this point, that the marriage was at least one major issue that spawned a contemptuous relationship between the two sisters.
• 22:08
  SPEAKER_00: Margaret comes clean about why she asked Edith to her house today, and she says that it was on account of what she was wearing.
• 22:15
  SPEAKER_00: Now, I do want to take this moment to address the fact that this costume behind me is the one to which she was referring.
• 22:23
  SPEAKER_00: Now, this isn't the exact costume that Betty Davis wore while filming the scene, but it was one of her duplicates for the production.
• 22:32
  SPEAKER_00: However, funnily enough, Betty Davis may not have worn this for the scene, but I did screen match it as being the one worn by Connie Sézanne, her double.
• 22:41
  SPEAKER_00: And this is not surprising as Betty would have had multiples of this costume, and one would have just been pulled for Connie.
• 22:49
  SPEAKER_00: But I do think that it's special that it was the one worn by Connie, seeing as this was her last film.
• 22:54
  SPEAKER_00: It's also worth noting that the costume which is seen being worn by Betty in the film has not publicly surfaced since its use on set, and it's likely that only one of the costumes would have been saved post-production.
• 23:09
  SPEAKER_00: Margaret then proceeds to take dresses out of her closet and throw them down for Edith, telling her that they'll all be out of style before she's out of mourning.
• 23:17
  SPEAKER_00: I can't help but feel so desperately sad for Edie throughout the course of this entire film.
• 23:23
  SPEAKER_00: And it really begins here.
• 23:26
  SPEAKER_00: She seems to be the only one who's actually grieving Frank DeLorca and the life that she could have had with him.
• 23:35
  SPEAKER_00: Edith lights a cigarette, and Margaret hands her a porcelain urn for the ashes, and she tells Edie, You shouldn't smoke.
• 23:43
  SPEAKER_10: It's bad for your skin.
• 23:44
  SPEAKER_10: I gave it up years ago.
• 23:45
  SPEAKER_00: That's why my skin is immaculate in comparison to yours.
• 23:49
  SPEAKER_00: I'm glowing.
• 23:50
  SPEAKER_00: Look at me.
• 23:51
  SPEAKER_00: The Virgin Madonna to your Tutin Carmoon.
• 23:57
  SPEAKER_00: This scene is full of exposition, but we learn that Edith lives in Los Angeles and has a cocktail lounge on Figaroa Street called Edie's.
• 24:07
  SPEAKER_00: A cocktail lounge.
• 24:10
  SPEAKER_00: We also learn that Edith and Frank DeLorca had a relationship 18 years ago, and Margaret stole Frank from Edith, even convincing him to marry her by telling him that she was pregnant.
• 24:23
  SPEAKER_00: When Edith asks where their child is, Margaret tells her that he died when he was less than a year old.
• 24:29
  SPEAKER_00: Throughout the scene, though, it's made very apparent that Margaret is really trying to use this moment as a way of completely diminishing Edie's relationship with Frank while also flaunting this life of abundance and glamour that she gets to live without the both of them.
• 24:48
  SPEAKER_00: She didn't invite Edith out of charity.
• 24:52
  SPEAKER_00: She did so out of vengeance.
• 24:53
  SPEAKER_00: When Margaret is confronted with harsh realities, she absolves herself of the guilt by saying that this all happened 20 years ago.
• 25:02
  SPEAKER_00: But Edith corrects her, saying that it was 18.
• 25:06
  SPEAKER_00: Now, this detail is very telling.
• 25:09
  SPEAKER_00: At the time of the filming, Betty Davis was 55.
• 25:13
  SPEAKER_00: In comparison, when Dolores Del Rio played the same role in the Mexican film La Outra, she was 42.
• 25:20
  SPEAKER_00: And in this scene, they refer to the relationship between Edith and Frank as having taken place less than 20 years prior.
• 25:28
  SPEAKER_00: And this would likely place the twins in their 40s instead of in their mid-50s, which Betty Davis was at the time.
• 25:36
  SPEAKER_00: And makeup artist Jean Hibbs was chosen to work on the film because he had a talent for making older actresses appear younger through a painting technique.
• 25:48
  SPEAKER_00: With this in mind, it also shows why she entrusted Paul Henry, her former co-star, with directing the film, and Ernest Haller, whom she worked with on A Stolen Life, as cinematographer.
• 25:59
  SPEAKER_00: She knew that she could trust these men with making her look younger and very glamorous.
• 26:05
  SPEAKER_00: Margaret says, You really hate me, don't you?
• 26:09
  SPEAKER_00: You you've never forgiven me in all these years.
• 26:13
  SPEAKER_00: Edith asks why she should, and she responds that they're sisters.
• 26:18
  SPEAKER_00: To this Edith replies, So we are.
• 26:22
  SPEAKER_00: And to hell with you.
• 26:27
  SPEAKER_00: She storns out of the bedroom in a fury.
• 26:30
  SPEAKER_00: On her way down the staircase, she spots Frank's portrait, and she admires it with great sadness in her eyes.
• 26:36
  SPEAKER_00: Almost as if she's preparing to speak to him.
• 26:39
  SPEAKER_00: It's then that Henry the Butler approaches and offers Edith some sage words of comfort.
• 26:46
  SPEAKER_07: He was a handsome man, madam.
• 26:48
  SPEAKER_07: Mr.
• 26:48
  SPEAKER_07: DeLorco was also a fine man.
• 26:51
  SPEAKER_07: He will never be replaced in this house, in our hearts.
• 26:55
  SPEAKER_00: Henry the Butler is played by Cyril Delavante, a British actor whose career spanned five decades, yet he frequently went uncredited for his roles.
• 27:05
  SPEAKER_00: Prior to this film, he had previously worked with Betty Davis and Paul Henry in Deception in 1946.
• 27:12
  SPEAKER_00: And his film career included over 80 films, and he also guest starred in many notable television shows, including the Dick Van Dyke Show, Alfred Hitchcock Presents, and four episodes of The Twilight Zone.
• 27:24
  SPEAKER_00: The year that this film was released, Cyril would be nominated for a Golden Globe as Best Supporting Actor for his role in The Night of the Iguana.
• 27:34
  SPEAKER_00: After Dead Ringer, Cyril would appear in several films, including Bedknobs and Broomsticks and Mary Poppins.
• 27:41
  SPEAKER_00: The chauffeur drives Edith home to Figaroa, and on the way, he drops a bombshell on her.
• 27:47
  SPEAKER_00: When Edith laments on how Frank's only son died, the chauffeur corrects her by informing her that there's been no child in the DeLorca household.
• 28:00
  SPEAKER_10: They never had a child, a boy, when they were first married.
• 28:05
  SPEAKER_03: They certainly did not, ma'am.
• 28:09
  SPEAKER_10: Well, perhaps they were away when it happened.
• 28:11
  SPEAKER_03: No, ma'am.
• 28:12
  SPEAKER_03: That first year, the first two or three years after they were married, as I remember well, they never left here.
• 28:19
  SPEAKER_03: Mr.
• 28:20
  SPEAKER_03: DeLorca said he shifted around enough the surfs to last him for quite a while.
• 28:27
  SPEAKER_00: The chauffeur was played by a man named George Chandler, and funnily enough, the chauffeur's name is also George.
• 28:34
  SPEAKER_00: And this film was not only a reunion for Betty Davis and Paul Henry, but also for Betty Davis and George Chandler.
• 28:41
  SPEAKER_00: They had not worked together since the film Front Page Woman in 1935.
• 28:47
  SPEAKER_00: I do also want to mention the car.
• 28:50
  SPEAKER_00: Margaret's car is a 1955 Bentley S1 with body by coach builders Freestone and Webb.
• 28:57
  SPEAKER_00: The car was actually owned by none other than Jack Warner, and the car was painstakingly handmade for him.
• 29:05
  SPEAKER_00: It was one of only seven of this design that was produced by Freestone and Webb, and is the only one with left-hand drive.
• 29:12
  SPEAKER_00: It was loaned by Warner for the production of this film, and seeing as the film was shot in LA, it was never actually far from his garage.
• 29:19
  SPEAKER_00: But it's now part of the Black Hawk collection in California, along with other historic and significant automobiles.
• 29:25
  SPEAKER_00: Edith returns to her bar, and there is an exterior shot of Edith exiting the car and entering her cocktail bar.
• 29:32
  SPEAKER_00: This shot was filmed at the corner of Temple and Figaroa in downtown Los Angeles.
• 29:37
  SPEAKER_00: And this was a real bar.
• 29:39
  SPEAKER_00: Director Paul Henry was adamant about using real locales for the production of this film in order to include, quote, as much reality into the scenes as I can.
• 29:49
  SPEAKER_00: This is why they also filmed at the Rosedale Cemetery, at Greystone Mansion, and later in the film, we see the City Hall headquarters of the Los Angeles Police Department and the Civic Center.
• 30:00
  SPEAKER_00: In this shot, in the background, we can see a building under construction, and that building is the headquarters for the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power.
• 30:10
  SPEAKER_00: Its address is 111 North Hill Street on Bunker Hill, and the construction was completed in May of 1965.
• 30:19
  SPEAKER_00: In 2000, the site was renamed the John Ferrero Building after the city's longest-serving city council member.
• 30:26
  SPEAKER_00: But I think this is so interesting to notice as a moment of fun local history.
• 30:32
  SPEAKER_00: An intriguing consequence of using real locales for filming locations is capturing that landmark as it appeared at that current moment in history.
• 30:43
  SPEAKER_00: Edith has a drink before returning to her flat upstairs.
• 30:47
  SPEAKER_00: She looks around with disgust at her dismal residence after experiencing the grandeur of her sister's estate.
• 30:55
  SPEAKER_00: She's two seconds away from saying, what a dump.
• 30:59
  SPEAKER_00: A cop enters the bar out of uniform, but we know that he's a cop as the bartender addresses him as Sarge.
• 31:06
  SPEAKER_00: He asks the bartender if she's upstairs before heading up to see Edie.
• 31:11
  SPEAKER_00: At the time that he knocks on her door, Edie is experimenting with her hair and trying out a style more similar to her sister's.
• 31:19
  SPEAKER_00: She quickly combs it back when he arrives and tells him to come on in.
• 31:24
  SPEAKER_00: We learn that the cop's name is Jim.
• 31:27
  SPEAKER_00: He offers her a small wrapped box and tells her, Happy birthday.
• 31:32
  SPEAKER_00: And Edith laughs at the revelation, remarking that she completely forgot.
• 31:38
  SPEAKER_00: And this is an extremely touching moment because Edie doesn't have the luxurious home nor the lifestyle of her twin sister, but she does have the one thing that she's never had, which is true love.
• 31:54
  SPEAKER_00: Edith opens the present and it's a gold watch.
• 31:58
  SPEAKER_00: She begins to cry and calls him a big fool, very moved by the gift.
• 32:03
  SPEAKER_00: During his visit, Edith becomes distracted and distant.
• 32:08
  SPEAKER_00: And Jim asks if something's wrong, but she insists that nothing is.
• 32:12
  SPEAKER_00: He asks her what happened this afternoon, and she tells him that she went to a funeral.
• 32:17
  SPEAKER_00: She becomes moody, clearly in deep distress, and she tells him that she needs to go downstairs to see someone named Danny.
• 32:24
  SPEAKER_00: On the way, he says that he's glad to not be in a homicide anymore and fantasizes about how nice it will be to own an egg ranch.
• 32:32
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, people like Jim just fantasize about an egg ranch.
• 32:36
  SPEAKER_00: Edith tells Jim again that her watch is lovely, much too good for her.
• 32:40
  SPEAKER_00: Jim tells her not to say that.
• 32:42
  SPEAKER_00: Nothing is too good for her.
• 32:44
  SPEAKER_00: They re-enter the bar, and just before he leaves, Edith grabs him by the arm in a frantic state.
• 32:49
  SPEAKER_00: She says to him, Jim, Jim, take me out tonight.
• 32:52
  SPEAKER_00: To a movie, anywhere, anywhere, just so I can get out.
• 32:55
  SPEAKER_00: He tells her that he planned to do just that, but because one of the other cops is sick, he's on duty.
• 33:00
  SPEAKER_00: We watch Edie's face fall into resignation, and she replies, Doesn't matter.
• 33:08
  SPEAKER_00: See ya.
• 33:09
  SPEAKER_00: At this point, we're getting a good idea of what Edie has planned, and that makes this moment all the more heartbreaking.
• 33:16
  SPEAKER_00: Just then, a jazz duo enters the bar and begin to set up.
• 33:20
  SPEAKER_00: Though they're uncredited in the film, the duo includes Perry Lee Blackwell, an electronic organist, and drummer Kenny Dennis.
• 33:28
  SPEAKER_00: Interestingly enough, Perry Lee Blackwell also appears as a lounge singer in the 1959 film Pillow Talk.
• 33:36
  SPEAKER_00: Also, as a note on costume, the metallic and black striped top that Perry Lee Blackwell wears in this scene is a classic example of a reused film costume.
• 33:48
  SPEAKER_00: We also see this exact same top being worn by Elizabeth Arden in Mildred Pierce.
• 33:53
  SPEAKER_00: A weather-worn balding man seated at one of the tables calls Edith over.
• 33:58
  SPEAKER_00: God, why do all the landlords look like this?
• 34:01
  SPEAKER_00: I feel like they really nailed casting with this guy.
• 34:06
  SPEAKER_00: He looks pissed.
• 34:08
  SPEAKER_00: We can deduce that this is the Danny that she needed to see.
• 34:12
  SPEAKER_00: He's disdainful and direct when he tells her that she's behind again.
• 34:16
  SPEAKER_00: He tells her, quote, you can't afford to pay musicians, handouts to every bum on the street.
• 34:21
  SPEAKER_00: It's your business.
• 34:22
  SPEAKER_00: All right.
• 34:22
  SPEAKER_00: But rent is mine.
• 34:24
  SPEAKER_00: And this time, you're three months behind.
• 34:27
  SPEAKER_00: I feel like if he j if he even just looked better, I'd have a little bit more sympathy for him.
• 34:35
  SPEAKER_00: If he if this were Talula Bankhead in this role, telling her, You're three months behind on rent, darling.
• 34:46
  SPEAKER_00: I'd probably have a lot more sentiment.
• 34:49
  SPEAKER_00: I'd be like, you know what?
• 34:50
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I shouldn't be behind on my rent payments.
• 34:52
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you, Mr.
• 34:53
  SPEAKER_00: Landlord.
• 34:53
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, I will have a drink.
• 34:56
  SPEAKER_00: From Danny's description, we're getting a picture of the kind of person that Edith is, even in her business, because she pays live musicians and doesn't fire them when times get tough.
• 35:10
  SPEAKER_00: She gives handouts to people because she's willing to help, even when it means sacrificing herself.
• 35:16
  SPEAKER_00: And this paints a very different picture to the one that we previously received of her twin sister.
• 35:21
  SPEAKER_00: But Danny tells her that there's another renter who's willing to give him one year's rent in advance and that he wants her out of here by the end of the month.
• 35:29
  SPEAKER_00: Edith gets up and immediately heads to a phone booth in the corner of the room.
• 35:33
  SPEAKER_00: She calls up her sister, and this is the first time that anyone addresses Edith's sister by her first name, Margaret.
• 35:43
  SPEAKER_00: Edith tells her sister that she wants her to come down here right away.
• 35:48
  SPEAKER_00: Margaret, who is currently in the middle of massage and is having Janet hold the landline for her, insists that she's simply God right now.
• 35:57
  SPEAKER_00: Edith informs her that she knows everything and she wants her to come down in an hour.
• 36:02
  SPEAKER_00: Margaret promptly gets up from her massage and tells Janet to draw her bath.
• 36:06
  SPEAKER_00: And Janet reminds her of the rosary at 8 p.m.
• 36:10
  SPEAKER_00: But Margaret insists that she'll be back in plenty of time.
• 36:13
  SPEAKER_00: This is met with a sharp cut to a shot of Edith packing a gun from the bar into her purse.
• 36:21
  SPEAKER_00: She tells the bartender to show her sister up to her room when she arrives.
• 36:25
  SPEAKER_00: Immediately upon entering the room, Edith closes all the blinds and curtains before loading her gun.
• 36:32
  SPEAKER_00: She gets to work on setting the murder scene.
• 36:35
  SPEAKER_00: She then steps out of her dress, this one, and changes into a coat before cutting and restyling her hair.
• 36:42
  SPEAKER_00: Time passes, and now she's writing a note at her table.
• 36:45
  SPEAKER_00: Finally, her sister's car pulls up.
• 36:48
  SPEAKER_00: Edith sets out to getting the curlers out of her hair.
• 36:51
  SPEAKER_00: Right from the moment her sister arrives at the door, Edith immediately takes command of the interaction.
• 36:57
  SPEAKER_00: When Margaret says, Why did you ask me to come here?
• 37:00
  SPEAKER_00: Edith corrects her.
• 37:02
  SPEAKER_00: Told you to come here.
• 37:04
  SPEAKER_00: Take off your coat and hat.
• 37:05
  SPEAKER_00: Phony mourning makes me sick.
• 37:07
  SPEAKER_00: You don't mourn him because you never loved him.
• 37:10
  SPEAKER_00: By the time Margaret takes off her hat and coat and sits down, Edith is grilling her with questions about that alleged baby she had.
• 37:19
  SPEAKER_10: How old was he when he died?
• 37:22
  SPEAKER_10: Less than a year.
• 37:23
  SPEAKER_10: How many months?
• 37:24
  SPEAKER_10: Edith, I won't be cross-examined like this.
• 37:27
  SPEAKER_10: How many months?
• 37:28
  SPEAKER_00: Edith takes a long drag from her cigarette.
• 37:32
  SPEAKER_00: No one could take a drag from her cigarette like Betty could.
• 37:36
  SPEAKER_00: She was so expressive and intentional with the action, and she only used it to further her performance.
• 37:43
  SPEAKER_00: Margaret finally comes out with it and admits that there never was a baby.
• 37:48
  SPEAKER_00: She makes the excuse that she wanted to marry Frank so desperately.
• 37:52
  SPEAKER_00: And Edith, not accepting this, tells her that she never loved him and never made him happy.
• 37:59
  SPEAKER_00: That she ruined both of their lives.
• 38:01
  SPEAKER_00: Margaret tells her that she'll make it up to her.
• 38:04
  SPEAKER_00: She tries to buy her sister off and tells her that she can get rid of this place and take a trip.
• 38:10
  SPEAKER_00: And Edith responds, to outer space.
• 38:14
  SPEAKER_00: Which coincidentally is the sequel to this film Betty in space.
• 38:22
  SPEAKER_00: One small step for man.
• 38:26
  SPEAKER_00: I like to imagine that this inspired Star Wars.
• 38:30
  SPEAKER_10: Money's no object.
• 38:31
  SPEAKER_10: How much would you like?
• 38:33
  SPEAKER_10: You haven't got that much.
• 38:36
  SPEAKER_10: Now sit down!
• 38:37
  SPEAKER_00: Edith pushes her back into the chair and collects her handwritten note from the table.
• 38:42
  SPEAKER_00: We now see Margaret beginning to look very worried.
• 38:46
  SPEAKER_00: Edith drops the note in her lap and tells her, This is why I told you to come here.
• 38:51
  SPEAKER_00: As Margaret reads the note, Edith grabs the gun from the dresser drawer and crosses behind the chair.
• 38:58
  SPEAKER_00: She puts the gun to Margaret's head, and there's an abrupt cut to the bar below where the musicians are playing.
• 39:05
  SPEAKER_00: The drums, we can gather, are drowning out the noise of the gunshot.
• 39:09
  SPEAKER_00: That paired with the fact that the bar scene is very lively at this point, and many patrons are chatting and making a good deal of noise.
• 39:17
  SPEAKER_00: But back in Edie's apartment, she is standing over the body of her sister Margaret in quiet disbelief.
• 39:24
  SPEAKER_00: She then sets to work at undressing the body.
• 39:28
  SPEAKER_00: At this moment, Jim returns to the bar.
• 39:31
  SPEAKER_00: The bartender tells him that Edie's sister is there, but Jim goes up anyway.
• 39:35
  SPEAKER_00: He knocks on the door, much to Edith's surprise.
• 39:38
  SPEAKER_00: She answers it, opening the door just enough to tell him that she can't let him in because she's not dressed.
• 39:44
  SPEAKER_00: He tells her that he's fixed it so that he'll have the night off and the two of them can go celebrate, but Edie says that she won't be able to now, as her sister is there.
• 39:53
  SPEAKER_00: He can tell that something is wrong and asks, What's the matter?
• 39:57
  SPEAKER_00: But she gives him the brush off and tells him nothing at all before closing the door.
• 40:02
  SPEAKER_00: This breaks my heart because this film incorporates so many cruel ironies.
• 40:07
  SPEAKER_00: She desperately begged Jim to take her out earlier so that she wouldn't have to go through with all of this, and he was unable to do so then.
• 40:14
  SPEAKER_00: And now that he's arranged it so that he's got the night off, it's too little too late.
• 40:19
  SPEAKER_00: Jim goes back down to the bar and begins talking to the bartender, who informs him that Edie owes three months' rent and says that Edie's a soft touch.
• 40:29
  SPEAKER_00: Back up in the apartment, Edie, who's now dressed in Margaret's clothes, is switching out their jewelry.
• 40:35
  SPEAKER_00: She puts on Margaret's rings and slips her own on the dead sister's fingers.
• 40:39
  SPEAKER_00: Then she removes the watch that Jim had given her.
• 40:44
  SPEAKER_00: In a heartbreaking moment, she holds it in her hands.
• 40:48
  SPEAKER_00: In order to commit to this, she's going to have to give up everything in her life, including Jim.
• 40:54
  SPEAKER_00: Finally, she puts the watch on Margaret's wrist and takes her own.
• 41:00
  SPEAKER_00: Several minutes later, things are nearly done now.
• 41:03
  SPEAKER_00: She is dressed as Margaret and is finishing up setting the scene.
• 41:06
  SPEAKER_00: She wipes the fingerprints off the gun and puts it in Margaret's hand.
• 41:10
  SPEAKER_00: She lifts it to Margaret's head and lets the gun fall to the floor.
• 41:14
  SPEAKER_00: And then she nervously sits and lights a cigarette.
• 41:17
  SPEAKER_00: Now, this is interesting.
• 41:18
  SPEAKER_00: We see her place the gun in her sister's hand and drop it so that it would have a natural fall.
• 41:24
  SPEAKER_00: However, the paraffin test, which was done at the time as it was popularized in 1933, would have shown that the victim did not fire the revolver.
• 41:33
  SPEAKER_00: The paraffin test detects burned powder residue on the shooter's hand.
• 41:38
  SPEAKER_00: That being said, as there was no sign of a struggle and no cause to doubt the victim's identity, there's every chance that no tests had been done.
• 41:48
  SPEAKER_00: Downstairs, the bartender asks Jim why Edie pays musicians, or crazy noisemakers, as he calls them, when she could just as easily get a jukebox.
• 41:58
  SPEAKER_00: Jim argues that they're good kids and she's giving them a chance.
• 42:02
  SPEAKER_00: I do think it's important to note that the musicians in question are a young African-American duo, and in this context, the bartender's lines become a lot more pointed.
• 42:14
  SPEAKER_00: But this also tells us a lot more about Edie and how even when she herself is struggling to pay rent, she keeps these musicians in her employ.
• 42:23
  SPEAKER_00: She ensures that they can make a living, even if they might otherwise struggle to find employment in the very racially driven world of the early 1960s.
• 42:33
  SPEAKER_00: After learning all this, Jim says he's going up.
• 42:36
  SPEAKER_00: He might be able to help, but Edie hears him coming up the stairs and quickly pretends to be talking and singing to Margaret.
• 42:43
  SPEAKER_00: In another hit from Betty Davis.
• 42:48
  SPEAKER_00: We're treated to a rendition of Shuffle Off to Buffalo, which goes like this.
• 42:55
  SPEAKER_00: You go home and get your panties, I'll go home and get my scanties, and away we'll go.
• 43:03
  SPEAKER_01: Oh we're gonna shuffle, shuffle off to buffalo.
• 43:09
  SPEAKER_01: Oh we're gonna shuffle, shuffle off to buffalo.
• 43:17
  SPEAKER_01: What's she doing without her panties?
• 43:24
  SPEAKER_01: Why does this require a separate trip?
• 43:28
  SPEAKER_01: Hang on.
• 43:31
  SPEAKER_00: We're gonna we're gonna we're gonna shuffle off to Buffalo.
• 43:33
  SPEAKER_00: We're gonna take that trip on down to Buffalo, but first we're gonna stop on home so I can get my panties.
• 43:41
  SPEAKER_00: Because I promised my mother I would not be seen down in Buffalo without my panties.
• 43:46
  SPEAKER_00: Jim stops on the stairs momentarily, then begins again.
• 43:52
  SPEAKER_00: However, his partner runs out to tell him that they've received a code three, and Jim reluctantly leaves with him, and Edie breathes a sigh of.
• 44:00
  SPEAKER_00: Relief.
• 44:00
  SPEAKER_00: Jim decides I don't want to break up whatever the hell that is.
• 44:04
  SPEAKER_00: She watches from the window as he drives off and puts on Margaret's coat and hat.
• 44:09
  SPEAKER_00: As she prepares to leave the apartment, she looks back at the murder scene one last time.
• 44:15
  SPEAKER_00: There Margaret's body sits, hunched over and lifeless in the chair.
• 44:21
  SPEAKER_00: Only now she's dressed in Edith's clothes, with a gun on the floor and a suicide note on the table beside her.
• 44:28
  SPEAKER_00: It's very rare that one is able to view themselves dead.
• 44:33
  SPEAKER_00: She swiftly glides through the bar and to the waiting car outside.
• 44:37
  SPEAKER_00: The chauffeur drives her back to the Delorca residence.
• 44:40
  SPEAKER_00: Henry opens the door, and as Edith enters, she is stunned to see the foyer filled with people.
• 44:47
  SPEAKER_00: An older gentleman in a suit approaches her and says, Margaret, we are all getting anxious.
• 44:54
  SPEAKER_00: Janet takes her purse and Edith begins to think on her feet.
• 44:58
  SPEAKER_00: She apologizes for being delayed.
• 45:02
  SPEAKER_00: She removes her gloves and sweeps back her veil, waiting a moment as if to see if anyone might spot the change of characters.
• 45:13
  SPEAKER_00: Janet hands her a rosary and handkerchief, and the gentleman escorts her down the stairs.
• 45:19
  SPEAKER_00: The old woman who was by Margaret's side at the funeral service says with a sharp tone, Margaret, my dear, we've been waiting a very long time.
• 45:31
  SPEAKER_00: The unnamed old woman is the matriarch of the Delorca family, and she's played by actress Estelle Wynwood.
• 45:39
  SPEAKER_00: Estelle Wynwood was a British actress who is primarily known for being old.
• 45:46
  SPEAKER_00: Much like the Maggie Smith of her day.
• 45:48
  SPEAKER_00: She wouldn't work in motion pictures until 1931 in a film called Night Angel.
• 45:54
  SPEAKER_00: However, her scenes would ultimately be cut from the final film.
• 45:58
  SPEAKER_00: Welcome to the movie business, Winwood! Her official film debut came two years later in The House of Trent in 1933.
• 46:06
  SPEAKER_00: She went on to appear in many films, including The Misfits in 1961, Camelot in 1967, and The Producers also in 1967, in which she played Hold Me, Touch Me.
• 46:19
  SPEAKER_00: However, she would go on to speak quite unfavorably about the film, saying, quote, Oh, that dreadful picture.
• 46:27
  SPEAKER_00: I can't bear to watch it, even on a small television.
• 46:30
  SPEAKER_00: I must have needed the money.
• 46:32
  SPEAKER_00: Living in Hollywood weakens one's motives.
• 46:35
  SPEAKER_00: It reminds me of the saying that nobody ever went broke, underestimating the American public's taste.
• 46:43
  SPEAKER_00: She also made notable appearances in television shows such as The Twilight Zone, Alfred Hitchcock Presents, Bewitched, Barnaby Jones, and the final episode of Perry Mason, just to name a few.
• 46:54
  SPEAKER_00: In 1979, at the age of 96, she officially became the oldest actor working in the U.S.
• 47:02
  SPEAKER_00: She continued making appearances until the age of 100 and died peacefully in her sleep on June 20th, 1984, at the age of 101.
• 47:12
  SPEAKER_00: On working in Dead Ringer, Estelle Wynwood said, quote, Miss Davis felt rather sorry for me because I had a small role.
• 47:20
  SPEAKER_00: I'm more memorable in a small role than many stars in bigger roles.
• 47:26
  SPEAKER_00: What a legend.
• 47:27
  SPEAKER_00: In an almost unbearable display of cruel irony, they then all proceed to get on their knees and pray, with the old woman and Edith in front.
• 47:39
  SPEAKER_00: Edith looks up and locks eyes on Frank Delorca's painting and she winces, overcome with guilt.
• 47:47
  SPEAKER_00: After the events of that night, Edith returns to Margaret's bedroom and she is stressed.
• 47:53
  SPEAKER_00: She asks Janet to leave her alone.
• 47:55
  SPEAKER_00: The first time she asks this, Janet says, Yes, madam, and then goes to her closet to organize her clothes.
• 48:01
  SPEAKER_00: And Edith says, I asked you to leave me alone, Janet.
• 48:05
  SPEAKER_00: This woman is damn near close to having a panic attack.
• 48:09
  SPEAKER_00: And every time she turns around, her maid is underfoot.
• 48:11
  SPEAKER_00: She's like, Would you get the hell out of here, Janet?
• 48:16
  SPEAKER_00: Once alone, she begins to frantically look for a cigarette.
• 48:20
  SPEAKER_00: And in her search, she even picks up the urn that Margaret previously gave to her to use as an ashtray and shakes it out as if she intends to snort up the ashes of the previous cigarette.
• 48:33
  SPEAKER_00: She decides to look for one in Frank's bedroom, and when she opens the door, Duke, the dog, initially barks at the sight of her.
• 48:40
  SPEAKER_00: However, upon recognizing the change of character, he approaches her softly and she pets him, and a bond is instantly formed between the two.
• 48:51
  SPEAKER_00: This again is a way of showing us Edie's kind nature and how it contrasts with her sister Margaret.
• 48:58
  SPEAKER_00: Even animals can sense the difference between the two.
• 49:01
  SPEAKER_00: She locates Frank's cigarettes and lights one before returning to Margaret's room.
• 49:06
  SPEAKER_00: Duke follows her back and whines for attention, but Edith tells him he can't be in there.
• 49:11
  SPEAKER_00: She pets him and then she says, in the most comical mob boss fashion, gotta go.
• 49:18
  SPEAKER_00: When Edith opens the door and escorts Duke into the hallway, Janet is shocked that Duke had found his way into her room to begin with.
• 49:26
  SPEAKER_00: And Janet says, I'm terribly sorry, madam.
• 49:29
  SPEAKER_00: And Edith responds with one single puff of a cigarette, and it's somehow the funniest line delivery in this entire film.
• 49:37
  SPEAKER_00: Which leads me to an article that I want to share with you from the Los Angeles Herald Examiner that was published on Sunday, January 26, 1964.
• 49:48
  SPEAKER_00: This article was titled Betty Davis versus Betty Davis, Where There's Smoke.
• 49:54
  SPEAKER_00: And it was written by Andrew Robertson.
• 49:57
  SPEAKER_00: Quote, does Betty Davis need a cigarette to act?
• 50:01
  SPEAKER_00: Perhaps, unfortunately for Miss Davis, imitation has not been the sincerest form of flattery.
• 50:07
  SPEAKER_00: Think, for example, of any impersonation you've ever seen of Miss Davis.
• 50:12
  SPEAKER_00: Arms outflung, cigarette.
• 50:15
  SPEAKER_00: Eyes cold and staring, cigarette.
• 50:18
  SPEAKER_00: Lips taut and thin, cigarette.
• 50:22
  SPEAKER_00: And then, through the smoke, her horse call, Peter Darling.
• 50:27
  SPEAKER_00: One Hollywood impersonator actually did Miss Davis with three cigarettes going.
• 50:34
  SPEAKER_00: Certainly, she does smoke, but only at a moderate rate, not even enough to stir up a government report.
• 50:41
  SPEAKER_00: For instance, you never saw her lips touch tobacco in Jezebel, The Old Maid, The Sisters, Elizabeth and Essex, All This and Heaven 2, The Little Foxes, Watch on the Rhine, Old Acquaintances, The Corn is Green, The Virgin Queen, The Catered Affair, Storm Center, John Paul Jones, Pocket Full of Miracles, and Whatever Happened to Baby Jane.
• 51:05
  SPEAKER_00: Whatever Happened to Nicotine could very well have been the subtitle for her latest picture, Dead Ringer, which opens Wednesday for a citywide run.
• 51:14
  SPEAKER_00: In the picture, Miss Davis performs a cigarette smoker's tour de cough.
• 51:20
  SPEAKER_00: She plays identical twin sisters.
• 51:23
  SPEAKER_00: One smokes, the other is a no-thank you.
• 51:26
  SPEAKER_00: Unfortunately for Miss Davis, the smoking sister helps the non-smoking sister to an early death, not cancer.
• 51:34
  SPEAKER_00: And then, guess what?
• 51:35
  SPEAKER_00: Miss Davis does an impersonation of Miss Davis, the non-smoking sister.
• 51:41
  SPEAKER_00: All in all, in the 115 minutes of the film, the Mrs.
• 51:45
  SPEAKER_00: Davises smoke 15 cigarettes.
• 51:47
  SPEAKER_00: When the smoking sister plays the non-smoking sister, the non-smoker becomes a smoker.
• 51:53
  SPEAKER_00: And this trick, no impersonator could ever hope to do.
• 51:57
  SPEAKER_00: Only the theatrical artistry called Betty Davis could, with and without those now legendary cigarettes.
• 52:05
  SPEAKER_00: I do think it's interesting for Andrew Robertson to note the amount of films in which Betty Davis doesn't smoke at all, and yet how integral smoking is to her performances in certain films, so much so that I never imagined seeing Betty Davis without a cigarette.
• 52:21
  SPEAKER_00: It was a prop for her just as much as anything else, and she used it to accentuate her performances.
• 52:27
  SPEAKER_00: Back in her room, Edith reclines on a Shay's lounge.
• 52:31
  SPEAKER_00: She notices flowers on the table beside her and opens a card that reads, Darling, happy birthday.
• 52:38
  SPEAKER_00: In response to this card, Edith breaks into a fit of laughter.
• 52:43
  SPEAKER_00: She had already forgotten about her own birthday.
• 52:45
  SPEAKER_00: It had never occurred to her that it was her twin sister's birthday as well.
• 52:50
  SPEAKER_00: However, this card brings with it another, more jarring revelation.
• 52:55
  SPEAKER_00: This is the first indication that there were other factors in Margaret's life not accounted for by Edith.
• 53:03
  SPEAKER_00: It's now the following morning.
• 53:05
  SPEAKER_00: Janet enters the bedroom where Edith is lying in bed in Margaret's ostrich feather nightgown, which is pretty ridiculous, and has a breakfast tray on her lap.
• 53:16
  SPEAKER_00: Janet starts off to say, Henry wanted me to tell you.
• 53:21
  SPEAKER_00: Edith does not even let her finish the sentence.
• 53:23
  SPEAKER_00: Janet, would you get me a cigarette?
• 53:25
  SPEAKER_00: You'll find some in Mr.
• 53:26
  SPEAKER_00: Jaloca's bedroom.
• 53:27
  SPEAKER_00: Janet complies and leaves for the next room.
• 53:30
  SPEAKER_00: And Edith, she's already fidgeting with her fingers.
• 53:34
  SPEAKER_00: She tries to distract herself with coffee because she's orally fixated right now, but she's been off this stuff for eight whole hours.
• 53:43
  SPEAKER_00: This coffee's doing nothing for her.
• 53:45
  SPEAKER_00: And so she said, Janet, come on, hurry up.
• 53:48
  SPEAKER_00: No one needs a cigarette more than Betty Davis.
• 53:50
  SPEAKER_00: What the hell am I supposed to do?
• 53:51
  SPEAKER_00: Sit here and eat my breakfast with the clean air?
• 53:53
  SPEAKER_00: How long does it take to score a fucking cigarette?
• 53:55
  SPEAKER_00: Come on, Janet, needs a chest.
• 53:57
  SPEAKER_00: Let's hurry up.
• 53:58
  SPEAKER_00: I love how Edith, as we've seen, is so compassionate, but not with her sister, and sure as hell, not with that bitch Janet.
• 54:09
  SPEAKER_00: Even she has her limits, and her energy is better spent elsewhere.
• 54:14
  SPEAKER_00: If it were so important that she had a cigarette right away, she could just as easily have gotten up and crossed to the other room to get one.
• 54:23
  SPEAKER_00: But this was a hazing routine for Janet.
• 54:26
  SPEAKER_00: She's new here and she's got to show the maid, you know, that she's still in charge.
• 54:30
  SPEAKER_00: Don't think I'm gonna cut you any slack just because I'm nicer than my sister.
• 54:33
  SPEAKER_00: I'll have you scrubbing the floors with a toothbrush and cleaning my panties by hand.
• 54:36
  SPEAKER_00: Don't try it.
• 54:38
  SPEAKER_00: Now that she has a cigarette in hand, she's ready to accept the news.
• 54:43
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 54:44
  SPEAKER_00: She asks Janet what Henry wanted to tell her.
• 54:47
  SPEAKER_00: Janet says that the police are downstairs.
• 54:50
  SPEAKER_00: There's a look that crosses Edith's face that says, damn, as quick as that.
• 54:55
  SPEAKER_00: Edith is dressed and slowly starts descending the stairs to meet with the police.
• 55:00
  SPEAKER_00: Duke approaches her and she pets him before descending the stairs with Duke at her side.
• 55:05
  SPEAKER_00: Henry orders Duke to come to him, and Edith appears shocked and removes her hand from him.
• 55:11
  SPEAKER_00: Her expression seems to say, please don't notice the difference.
• 55:15
  SPEAKER_00: And Henry does seem to give her a somewhat knowing look.
• 55:19
  SPEAKER_00: Edith asks where the police are, and Henry tells her that they're waiting in the living room.
• 55:24
  SPEAKER_00: Another challenge for Edith.
• 55:26
  SPEAKER_00: She has to determine where the living room is without making it clear that she's unsure.
• 55:32
  SPEAKER_00: She decides to ask Henry, why don't you bring them in here?
• 55:36
  SPEAKER_00: Henry complies, but she watches him.
• 55:39
  SPEAKER_00: When he approaches the door, Edith calls out, Ugh, I've changed my mind.
• 55:43
  SPEAKER_00: I'll see them in there.
• 55:44
  SPEAKER_00: Edith enters the room with both the guilt and the innocence of a child who knows that she's done something wrong.
• 55:53
  SPEAKER_00: She hesitantly approaches the two gentlemen waiting for her, and they introduce themselves as Sergeant Garcia and Sergeant Hayward.
• 56:01
  SPEAKER_00: They inform her that her sister was found dead in her room last night.
• 56:05
  SPEAKER_00: She tells them that it's just impossible because she was with her last night.
• 56:10
  SPEAKER_00: They tell her that she took her own life and left a suicide note written to her.
• 56:15
  SPEAKER_00: Edith touches her heart and says, It's horrible.
• 56:20
  SPEAKER_00: It's so interesting to watch a great actress play a character being a bad actress.
• 56:27
  SPEAKER_00: She's playing a role, playing a role.
• 56:30
  SPEAKER_00: They say that Captain Johnson of Homicide would like to see her to clear up some things and close the case.
• 56:36
  SPEAKER_00: When she says that she didn't know anything about her sister's affairs, they respond by telling her, quote, as far as we know, you were the last person to see Miss Phillips alive.
• 56:45
  SPEAKER_00: She finally complies.
• 56:48
  SPEAKER_00: In Captain Johnson's office, Jim is angrily explaining to him that Edie never talked about her family and that he didn't even know she had a sister before last night.
• 56:56
  SPEAKER_00: And this is when Edith enters and locks eyes with Jim.
• 57:00
  SPEAKER_00: They're both stunned.
• 57:02
  SPEAKER_00: She didn't know that he would be there, and he didn't know that she had a twin.
• 57:07
  SPEAKER_00: It's all very days of our lives.
• 57:10
  SPEAKER_00: Or I suppose it would be Davis of our lives.
• 57:14
  SPEAKER_00: The captain begins asking her routine questions just to affirm that they were sisters.
• 57:18
  SPEAKER_00: He mentions that neither Jim nor the bartender recall any mention of Edith's having a sister, and she tells him that they haven't seen each other since she married Mr.
• 57:28
  SPEAKER_00: Delorca.
• 57:29
  SPEAKER_00: Jim then chimes in with, You obviously were twins.
• 57:33
  SPEAKER_00: The captain then presents her with the alleged suicide note written by Edith.
• 57:38
  SPEAKER_00: It reads, Forgive me, Maggie.
• 57:41
  SPEAKER_00: Thanks for offering to help, but somehow it's not worth the effort anymore.
• 57:45
  SPEAKER_00: Edie.
• 57:46
  SPEAKER_00: They ask her about the final line in her suicide note, and she explains that Edith had been having some financial trouble and refused her help.
• 57:55
  SPEAKER_00: Jim then asks why Edith went to her husband's funeral, and she explains that she loved him 20 years ago.
• 58:02
  SPEAKER_00: The captain asks if this is the reason why she killed herself, and Edith says that she doesn't know.
• 58:07
  SPEAKER_00: The captain laments, well, whoever really does in these cases.
• 58:12
  SPEAKER_00: He then decides to close the case.
• 58:14
  SPEAKER_00: Jim offers to take her to the coroner, and the two of them view the body.
• 58:19
  SPEAKER_00: There's a particularly chilling shot here with Edith and Jim standing behind the glass while the coroner turns on the light, allowing them to examine the body.
• 58:28
  SPEAKER_00: And it's a trick shot where Betty Davis is standing over the dead body of Betty Davis.
• 58:34
  SPEAKER_00: It's very well done and highly effective.
• 58:37
  SPEAKER_00: Jim offers to get Edith a cup of coffee and she goes along with him.
• 58:41
  SPEAKER_00: This is so interesting because in this moment she is Edith portraying Margaret, but it doesn't feel like Margaret allowing Jim to get her a cup of coffee and talk.
• 58:52
  SPEAKER_00: It feels very much like Edith.
• 58:54
  SPEAKER_00: And this entire scene plays out like an exceptionally rare situation in which a living loved one gets to speak with a victim of suicide.
• 59:04
  SPEAKER_00: Jim tells the phony Margaret that he got the feeling the previous night that she really hated that bar.
• 59:10
  SPEAKER_00: He reminisces on how he was there when she took in her first book and how they framed it and hung it behind the bar.
• 59:17
  SPEAKER_00: She asks him if he loved her, and he responds saying that he wanted to marry her.
• 59:22
  SPEAKER_00: She asks him if he told her.
• 59:25
  SPEAKER_00: And he looked somewhat stunned by this, as if he hadn't considered the fact that he didn't.
• 59:32
  SPEAKER_00: He says, Well, I believe she knew that it was sort of understood.
• 59:39
  SPEAKER_00: The veil seems to draw thin here, and Jim can sort of subconsciously feel it because he sits down and leans in when he asks her directly, Why did she do it?
• 59:53
  SPEAKER_00: It doesn't feel like Jim asking Margaret, but rather Jim asking Edie.
• 1:00:00
  SPEAKER_00: He becomes very angry at this point and asks her how she could do a thing like this for three months' rent for added salt in the wound, it seems.
• 1:00:09
  SPEAKER_00: At this moment, Edith's personal items are given to Margaret, including the gold watch that Jim had bought for her.
• 1:00:17
  SPEAKER_00: She offers it to him and he refuses.
• 1:00:20
  SPEAKER_00: To this she says, Maybe you're right.
• 1:00:23
  SPEAKER_00: It's better to forget her.
• 1:00:26
  SPEAKER_00: She's dead.
• 1:00:28
  SPEAKER_00: This is a really painful closing of a chapter for the both of them.
• 1:00:34
  SPEAKER_00: It's acted out beautifully, and you can really feel how much this is hurting each of them.
• 1:00:39
  SPEAKER_00: We transition back to the house where Edith returns.
• 1:00:42
  SPEAKER_00: Henry tells her that Mrs.
• 1:00:44
  SPEAKER_00: Marshall called twice while she was gone and asks if she has had lunch.
• 1:00:48
  SPEAKER_00: Edith says no and that she'll just have a drink in her room.
• 1:00:50
  SPEAKER_00: Henry then asks her, the usual?
• 1:00:54
  SPEAKER_00: And there's a moment of hesitation on Edith's part before she responds affirmatively, the usual.
• 1:01:01
  SPEAKER_00: Henry seems to know more than he's saying at this point.
• 1:01:05
  SPEAKER_00: He complies, he does his job, but he does seem to be throwing soft tests at her.
• 1:01:11
  SPEAKER_00: And after so many years of working for the same woman, any sudden changes in behavior would not go unnoticed by him.
• 1:01:18
  SPEAKER_00: Edith returns to the bedroom where Janet is laying out clothes on the bed, new clothes that had been ordered before Mr.
• 1:01:24
  SPEAKER_00: Delorca died.
• 1:01:25
  SPEAKER_00: That mishabinwhat killed him.
• 1:01:27
  SPEAKER_00: He must have seen the bill.
• 1:01:29
  SPEAKER_00: Edith takes the watch and ring that she received out of her purse and gives them to Janet to put away.
• 1:01:34
  SPEAKER_00: Janet crosses to the jewelry safe behind the closet and waits there, confused.
• 1:01:41
  SPEAKER_00: She comes back and tells Edith that she needs her to open the jewelry box.
• 1:01:50
  SPEAKER_00: Another test for Edith.
• 1:01:52
  SPEAKER_00: She needs to know the safe code or play off the reason why she doesn't.
• 1:01:57
  SPEAKER_00: She takes the ring and watch from Janet and explains that they belong to her sister, who committed suicide last night.
• 1:02:04
  SPEAKER_00: She then offers them to Janet, who abruptly refuses them.
• 1:02:08
  SPEAKER_00: You want this shit?
• 1:02:10
  SPEAKER_00: Just then, as a saving grace, Henry knocks and enters with the requested mystery drink.
• 1:02:16
  SPEAKER_00: Edith thanks him and takes the drink before looking at it like, no, what the hell was this garbage she was drinking every day?
• 1:02:22
  SPEAKER_00: I'll have to choke it down.
• 1:02:24
  SPEAKER_00: That woman had such god-awful taste.
• 1:02:26
  SPEAKER_00: She's lucky she's dead.
• 1:02:30
  SPEAKER_00: And Henry looks back at her and practically rolls his eyes at her.
• 1:02:34
  SPEAKER_00: It's so funny.
• 1:02:36
  SPEAKER_00: Edith asks Janet to leave her alone for a while, and Janet exits the room.
• 1:02:41
  SPEAKER_00: She immediately gets to work, searching through Margaret's books in her desk drawers for the code to the safe.
• 1:02:47
  SPEAKER_00: After locating it, she successfully opens the safe and is gobsmacked by Margaret's incredible jewelry collection.
• 1:02:55
  SPEAKER_00: Just then, her bedroom phone rings.
• 1:02:57
  SPEAKER_00: It's Henry telling her that someone has arrived to see her.
• 1:03:01
  SPEAKER_00: It's the little old woman who led the prayer session.
• 1:03:04
  SPEAKER_00: We learn that her name is Donna Anna.
• 1:03:06
  SPEAKER_00: Edith goes down to see her, and Donna Anna shares with her that she's just learned about her sister.
• 1:03:12
  SPEAKER_00: She goes on to speak about her husband Frank and asks if he was prepared for death, but concludes that with a heart condition he must have been.
• 1:03:20
  SPEAKER_00: Their talk is interrupted when a boisterous woman arrives, wearing a loud fur coat and tacky hat.
• 1:03:27
  SPEAKER_00: This is Dee Dee Marshall.
• 1:03:29
  SPEAKER_00: Dee Dee Marshall is played by Jean Hagen.
• 1:03:32
  SPEAKER_00: Fans of Singin in the Rain will recognize her from her role as the pitch-perfect Lena Lamont.
• 1:03:39
  SPEAKER_00: Though sadly, Dead Ringer would be Gene Hagen's final film, as she suffered from health issues and died prematurely in 1977 at age 54 due to cancer.
• 1:03:51
  SPEAKER_00: Dee Dee rambles on.
• 1:03:53
  SPEAKER_00: Forgive us for not coming to the cemetery yesterday, but Tom has a phobia about cemeteries.
• 1:03:58
  SPEAKER_00: Besides, we had to go to this party in Pasadena at the Taylor's.
• 1:04:01
  SPEAKER_00: Darling, it was absolutely mad.
• 1:04:03
  SPEAKER_00: You couldn't believe some of the things that went on.
• 1:04:05
  SPEAKER_00: What happened to you this morning?
• 1:04:06
  SPEAKER_00: I thought we had a date.
• 1:04:08
  SPEAKER_00: I had to see you before I leave for Jamaica.
• 1:04:10
  SPEAKER_00: Where were you?
• 1:04:11
  SPEAKER_00: Edith tells her that she was at the morgue.
• 1:04:14
  SPEAKER_00: The morgue?
• 1:04:15
  SPEAKER_00: What do you mean, the morgue?
• 1:04:16
  SPEAKER_00: What for?
• 1:04:19
  SPEAKER_00: Edith informs her that her sister committed suicide last night.
• 1:04:23
  SPEAKER_00: Your sister?
• 1:04:24
  SPEAKER_00: What sister?
• 1:04:25
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, Maggie, what a hell of a thing to happen right on top of Frank.
• 1:04:28
  SPEAKER_00: How did it happen?
• 1:04:29
  SPEAKER_00: No, no, no, no.
• 1:04:30
  SPEAKER_00: Don't tell me.
• 1:04:31
  SPEAKER_00: I don't want to be haunted all the time I'm away.
• 1:04:33
  SPEAKER_00: Well, I guess I better shove off.
• 1:04:35
  SPEAKER_00: I still have loads of packing to do.
• 1:04:37
  SPEAKER_00: You know this morning doesn't suit you.
• 1:04:38
  SPEAKER_00: Shed it before I get back.
• 1:04:40
  SPEAKER_00: Bye-bye.
• 1:04:41
  SPEAKER_00: I'll write you as soon as I get there, darling, and I'll phone you the minute I get back.
• 1:04:45
  SPEAKER_00: Don't be too, too lonesome, sweetie.
• 1:04:48
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, never mind, Henry.
• 1:04:49
  SPEAKER_00: I think I'm still young enough to open a door by myself.
• 1:04:51
  SPEAKER_00: Well, adios, darling, or whatever they say down there.
• 1:04:56
  SPEAKER_00: I love characters like this because I love a person who can hold a conversation entirely by themselves.
• 1:05:04
  SPEAKER_00: No one got a single word in with Dee Dee.
• 1:05:07
  SPEAKER_00: Donna Anna's only remark on this woman is to call Didi a thoroughly objectionable person, which I believe is her way of saying that she's a two-a-penny tart with all the intelligence and charm of a paper shredder.
• 1:05:22
  SPEAKER_00: Then Donna Anna says, And now, my dear, and slowly reaches into her bag suspiciously, and Edith locks eyes on her and even peeks into her bag, thinking, God, is she gonna shoot me?
• 1:05:38
  SPEAKER_00: Before Donna Anna pulls out a rosary.
• 1:05:42
  SPEAKER_00: The two of them then pray for Frank and her dead sister.
• 1:05:47
  SPEAKER_00: We transition to Margaret's bedroom at 8 30 that evening.
• 1:05:51
  SPEAKER_00: Edie is asleep and is awoken by Duke barking to notify her that the phone is ringing.
• 1:05:56
  SPEAKER_00: She answers it.
• 1:05:57
  SPEAKER_00: It's a man named Paul Harrison who Says he has to bring some papers connected with the estate which need her signature.
• 1:06:04
  SPEAKER_00: She agrees to have him over the following morning at 11.
• 1:06:08
  SPEAKER_00: Immediately upon hanging up, Edie is sent into a panic.
• 1:06:12
  SPEAKER_00: She retrieves Margaret's passport from the safe and begins her attempts at replicating her signature, however, she is ultimately unsuccessful.
• 1:06:20
  SPEAKER_00: While burning the papers of her many forgeries in the fireplace, she gets an idea.
• 1:06:26
  SPEAKER_00: She places one end of the poker between the logs in the fireplace, allowing it to get good and hot from the flames.
• 1:06:35
  SPEAKER_00: A moment later, she draws it out, hesitates, and ultimately clutches the hot poker with her right hand, burning it instantly.
• 1:06:44
  SPEAKER_00: The following morning, with her burnt hand wrapped in gauze, Edie forges Margaret's signature poorly with her left hand.
• 1:06:52
  SPEAKER_00: It does interest me that the signature which Edie signs with her left hand looks nothing like the signature that she'd been practicing the night prior.
• 1:07:01
  SPEAKER_00: And I know that's the point, but even the two visual styles of the signatures are totally different.
• 1:07:07
  SPEAKER_00: She doesn't even attempt to do the same M as seen on Margaret's signature.
• 1:07:12
  SPEAKER_00: And I never understood if that was a goof of the production or if it was intentional.
• 1:07:17
  SPEAKER_00: Paul expresses his regret at having called and woken her last night, and Edie says that it wouldn't have mattered when he called.
• 1:07:24
  SPEAKER_00: It's gotten to the point that she's afraid to turn around for fear of what might happen next.
• 1:07:30
  SPEAKER_00: But Paul assures her that it's just one of those rough patches.
• 1:07:33
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, you know how it is.
• 1:07:35
  SPEAKER_00: Your husband dies, your sister commits suicide, you burn her hand with a red hot poker.
• 1:07:39
  SPEAKER_00: It happens to the best of us.
• 1:07:40
  SPEAKER_00: I got split ends.
• 1:07:42
  SPEAKER_00: Why me gone?
• 1:07:44
  SPEAKER_00: In yet another surprising revelation, she learns from Paul that in his will, Frank had left Edith$50,000.
• 1:07:55
  SPEAKER_00: Of course, with Edith having died, it now reverses to the estate.
• 1:08:00
  SPEAKER_00: She's shocked by this news.
• 1:08:02
  SPEAKER_00: If Edie hadn't killed her sister and had just waited it out, she would have been set.
• 1:08:10
  SPEAKER_00: $50,000 would have changed her life.
• 1:08:13
  SPEAKER_00: She would have gotten out of debt and could have lived nicely.
• 1:08:16
  SPEAKER_00: Adjusted for inflation,$50,000 is worth$540,290.32 today.
• 1:08:25
  SPEAKER_00: I'd have killed them both for that amount.
• 1:08:29
  SPEAKER_00: In the following scene, Edith is playing a game with one of the old men from the prayer group while Donna Anna watches.
• 1:08:34
  SPEAKER_00: Henry tells her that Sergeant Hopkins is there to see her and is waiting for her in the reception.
• 1:08:39
  SPEAKER_00: He brings her the news that Edie's bar has closed and hands her a framed dollar bill, the first buck that Edie had taken in.
• 1:08:48
  SPEAKER_00: There's a message written underneath that reads, only 999,999 more to go.
• 1:08:57
  SPEAKER_00: New Year's 1957.
• 1:09:00
  SPEAKER_00: He says that he thought she might like to have it.
• 1:09:03
  SPEAKER_00: Edie tells him that it was a very nice thought, but she'd rather he kept it.
• 1:09:08
  SPEAKER_00: There's an anachronism here, if you're a geek.
• 1:09:12
  SPEAKER_00: Which I am, and if you're listening to this podcast, you are too.
• 1:09:16
  SPEAKER_00: The inscription on the mat backing in the frame reads New Year's 1957.
• 1:09:21
  SPEAKER_00: However, this specific dollar bill is a series 1957A, which would not be issued into circulation until January 27, 1961.
• 1:09:32
  SPEAKER_00: And the signature on the bill is from C.
• 1:09:34
  SPEAKER_00: Douglas Dillon, John F.
• 1:09:36
  SPEAKER_00: Kennedy's Secretary of the Treasury, and he was not appointed until 1961.
• 1:09:40
  SPEAKER_00: Jim goes on to tell her that he went out to Edie's grave and there's no stone.
• 1:09:45
  SPEAKER_00: She says it's no concern of his, but he objects on the grounds that he loved Edie.
• 1:09:50
  SPEAKER_00: She tells him that her sister was fortunate to be so loved, and that she'll attend to it at the proper time.
• 1:09:57
  SPEAKER_00: While out shopping, Edith runs into Dee Dee Marshall, who rather forcefully invites her to a party at her place.
• 1:10:04
  SPEAKER_00: We transition to the party, which seems to be quite an event, a very rich person party.
• 1:10:09
  SPEAKER_00: There are servers, huge trays of hors d'oeuvre, and live musicians who just happen to be playing an arrangement of Edie's theme, which I think is so cute.
• 1:10:18
  SPEAKER_00: At this moment, Edith arrives wearing a long black dress, a beaded silk coat, white gloves, and stunning jewelry, complete with the necklace that Margaret had had cleaned just after Frank's death.
• 1:10:31
  SPEAKER_00: It's worth noting at this point that ever since taking on the new role, Betty Davis has looked extremely glamorous in this film.
• 1:10:41
  SPEAKER_00: And that was important personally for Betty Davis at this point in her life and career.
• 1:10:46
  SPEAKER_00: A brief piece by columnist Neil Rao, titled Betty Davis Tries a New Wardrobe, talked about Betty's fashionable appearance as Margaret.
• 1:10:56
  SPEAKER_00: Quote, after a series of hag parts culminated by her role as Frowzy Jane, he misspelled Frousey, but whatever, in Whatever Happened to Baby Jane, Betty Davis is well launched on a series of dress-up parts.
• 1:11:10
  SPEAKER_00: As one of twin sisters, she plays in Dead Ringer at Warner Brothers, Betty wears high-fashion clothes and her best-looking hairdo's.
• 1:11:19
  SPEAKER_00: Quote, this is my first dress-up picture since All About Eve, Betty told me.
• 1:11:24
  SPEAKER_00: That was in 1950, and I have done practically nothing but hag since.
• 1:11:29
  SPEAKER_00: The next two I'm making, the Empty Canvas and Faster Faster, also call for fashionable outfits.
• 1:11:36
  SPEAKER_00: By the time those pictures are released, people will be saying I've become typed as a clotheshorse and will begin asking, why doesn't she ever do old hag parts?
• 1:11:44
  SPEAKER_00: But back to the film, she cautiously enters the party and other guests flock over to see her.
• 1:11:50
  SPEAKER_00: She does a wonderful job of mingling and performing naturally as Margaret.
• 1:11:55
  SPEAKER_00: Moreover, it's touching, even, to see her being a part of the life that was denied her.
• 1:12:03
  SPEAKER_00: She actually appears happy here and fits so well in the mold.
• 1:12:09
  SPEAKER_00: This is, of course, when Dee Dee Marshall shows up to ruin it all.
• 1:12:14
  SPEAKER_00: She drags her away and brings her to a secluded room where she says she has a surprise for her, Tony.
• 1:12:20
  SPEAKER_00: She then pushes Edie in and closes the door.
• 1:12:23
  SPEAKER_00: Naturally, Edith is in shock.
• 1:12:26
  SPEAKER_00: However, she still has to play the part.
• 1:12:28
  SPEAKER_00: She approaches the sofa where Tony's lounging, and when he sees her, he kisses her instantly.
• 1:12:33
  SPEAKER_00: He says it's been a long time and that he felt awful leaving her to face it alone.
• 1:12:39
  SPEAKER_00: He drops that it's been three months.
• 1:12:42
  SPEAKER_00: Now Edie's getting the full picture.
• 1:12:44
  SPEAKER_00: He tries to leave with her, but she gives him the brush off, saying that she's only just arrived and that Harrison is coming over this evening with legal paperwork.
• 1:12:51
  SPEAKER_00: He asks her if the two of them are in good shape, and she insists that they are.
• 1:12:56
  SPEAKER_00: He tells her that, quote, from now on, it's just you and me.
• 1:13:00
  SPEAKER_00: Tony Collins is played by actor Peter Lawford.
• 1:13:03
  SPEAKER_00: At the time of this film, Peter Lawford was brother-in-law to President J.F.
• 1:13:07
  SPEAKER_00: Kennedy.
• 1:13:08
  SPEAKER_00: And though this was his first time working alongside Betty Davis, he had originally been slated to portray Edwin in Whatever Happened to Baby Jane.
• 1:13:16
  SPEAKER_00: However, he allegedly got cold feet and Victor Brono played the role instead.
• 1:13:20
  SPEAKER_00: The next day, Tony comes to see Margaret.
• 1:13:23
  SPEAKER_00: When he's told that she's not dressed yet, he waits for her on the practice golf course.
• 1:13:28
  SPEAKER_00: Edith is dressed and goes out to meet him.
• 1:13:30
  SPEAKER_00: He's very warm and kisses her, but she's very cold and distant.
• 1:13:34
  SPEAKER_00: He can sense it right away.
• 1:13:36
  SPEAKER_00: He notices her smoking and says he can't believe it.
• 1:13:40
  SPEAKER_00: But she explains that she used to smoke years ago.
• 1:13:43
  SPEAKER_00: He sees the mark on her hand and she tells him that it was nothing serious, just a burn.
• 1:13:47
  SPEAKER_00: But when he begins kissing her, Duke starts furiously barking.
• 1:13:52
  SPEAKER_00: She gets up to comfort him and sends him on his way.
• 1:13:55
  SPEAKER_00: And Tony asks when the two of them fell in love.
• 1:13:58
  SPEAKER_00: She tells him that since Frank died, he's been lonely and friendly.
• 1:14:02
  SPEAKER_00: Tony tries taking her in his arms and she worries about the servants.
• 1:14:06
  SPEAKER_00: He says all he cares about is her and a Maserati in that order.
• 1:14:11
  SPEAKER_00: Immediate delivery.
• 1:14:13
  SPEAKER_00: Tony's clearly such a cad.
• 1:14:15
  SPEAKER_00: It's obvious that Margaret began an affair with him because she never had any real feelings for Frank and liked that Tony made her feel young and sexy.
• 1:14:24
  SPEAKER_00: But it's also obvious that Tony saw a great big signed check with Margaret.
• 1:14:30
  SPEAKER_00: Edith pulls away and sits down.
• 1:14:32
  SPEAKER_00: She tells him that she's going to Europe.
• 1:14:38
  SPEAKER_00: But she tells him that she's going alone.
• 1:14:40
  SPEAKER_00: He says, She's got to be kidding.
• 1:14:43
  SPEAKER_00: You can't go without me.
• 1:14:45
  SPEAKER_00: At that moment, Henry tells her that Sergeant Hopkins is there to see her and sends him down.
• 1:14:51
  SPEAKER_00: Tony tells Margaret that she's not herself and asks if there's something he should know.
• 1:14:56
  SPEAKER_00: She insists that nothing's wrong.
• 1:14:58
  SPEAKER_00: He then asks, You're not trying to unload me, are you?
• 1:15:02
  SPEAKER_00: She tells him not to be ridiculous.
• 1:15:05
  SPEAKER_00: At that moment, Jim enters.
• 1:15:08
  SPEAKER_00: He tells her that the stone is real nice.
• 1:15:10
  SPEAKER_00: When Tony asks what stone, Edith is forced to tell him the headstone on my sister's grave.
• 1:15:16
  SPEAKER_00: He asks when she died, and Jim tells him the day of Mr.
• 1:15:20
  SPEAKER_00: Delorca's funeral.
• 1:15:22
  SPEAKER_00: He then asks what she died of, and Edith tells him she committed suicide.
• 1:15:28
  SPEAKER_00: Finally, and worst of all, Jim mentions that Margaret had gone down to see her the night that she committed suicide.
• 1:15:35
  SPEAKER_00: Tony's eyes become pensive and immediately lock with Edith's.
• 1:15:40
  SPEAKER_00: Jim apologizes for taking up her time and leaves.
• 1:15:43
  SPEAKER_00: Edith tries to play it cool and asks Tony if he'd like some lemonade.
• 1:15:49
  SPEAKER_00: He asks her what her sister's name was, and if this was the twin sister who lived in San Francisco.
• 1:15:55
  SPEAKER_00: It's interesting to note that Tony, the one person who knows all of Margaret's dirty little secrets, is the only person in either of their lives who even knew that she had a twin sister.
• 1:16:08
  SPEAKER_00: Edith says that she'd like to forget all about it.
• 1:16:11
  SPEAKER_00: He tells her that he'll make her forget, and begins passionately kissing her and trying to unbutton her blouse.
• 1:16:17
  SPEAKER_00: She pushes him off of her and he sharply states, You don't want me to make love to you.
• 1:16:22
  SPEAKER_00: I don't understand.
• 1:16:24
  SPEAKER_00: After all the fun we had, Honolulu, Nassau, Miami.
• 1:16:28
  SPEAKER_00: It was fun, wasn't it?
• 1:16:29
  SPEAKER_00: And she says, Well, of course.
• 1:16:32
  SPEAKER_00: He furiously tells her, You're not Maggie, you're Edith.
• 1:16:35
  SPEAKER_00: Maggie and I never went to any of those places.
• 1:16:38
  SPEAKER_00: He slaps her and she screams.
• 1:16:40
  SPEAKER_00: He grabs her by her arms and said, You killed her! The smoking! The dog! You killed her.
• 1:16:45
  SPEAKER_00: At this moment, Jim, who is driving away, spots the conflict and gets out of his car.
• 1:16:50
  SPEAKER_00: He pulls Tony off of her and asks if she'd like to file a complaint.
• 1:16:54
  SPEAKER_00: Edith says no and asks him to please go.
• 1:16:58
  SPEAKER_00: After Jim leaves, Tony tells her that they've got a few things to talk over.
• 1:17:02
  SPEAKER_00: He's going to take her for everything she's got.
• 1:17:05
  SPEAKER_00: For openers, the Maserati convertible.
• 1:17:08
  SPEAKER_00: She tells him that the estate will be in probate for a year.
• 1:17:11
  SPEAKER_00: She's only got her living expenses.
• 1:17:13
  SPEAKER_00: He says that she's overlooked the Delorca rock pile, the diamonds, the emeralds, and the pearls that looked so beautiful when Maggie wore them.
• 1:17:21
  SPEAKER_00: On the spot, he demands her ring, her bracelet, and tells her that it's safe cracking time.
• 1:17:28
  SPEAKER_00: We transition to the Brenttown Loan and Finance Company.
• 1:17:31
  SPEAKER_00: A man named Eddie Krause is on the phone with Lieutenant Hankow, who's naming these people, from the robbery division.
• 1:17:39
  SPEAKER_00: He explains to the lieutenant that a man named Tony Collins was just there, trying to hawk two large pieces of jewelry with no bill of sale.
• 1:17:47
  SPEAKER_00: Tony had said that he wanted to get rid of them fast so that he could buy a Maserati.
• 1:17:52
  SPEAKER_00: However, they didn't accept it in case it might be hot.
• 1:17:55
  SPEAKER_00: Sergeant Jim is in the station when he overhears the lieutenant say Tony's name.
• 1:17:59
  SPEAKER_00: Jim tells him that he knows him and he had just seen him that morning.
• 1:18:02
  SPEAKER_00: He asks the lieutenant to let him follow through on this one.
• 1:18:06
  SPEAKER_00: Jim and his partner immediately head down to Tony's luxury apartment.
• 1:18:09
  SPEAKER_00: It is beautifully furnished with a great view.
• 1:18:12
  SPEAKER_00: The manager who shows them in tells him that Tony pays$500 a month for his apartment and that he's a golf pro at the Las Flores Country Club.
• 1:18:21
  SPEAKER_00: This doesn't add up for the sergeant and his partner.
• 1:18:24
  SPEAKER_00: They begin searching the apartment.
• 1:18:26
  SPEAKER_00: Jim finds a bag in his desk filled with pearls, and his partner finds a brown paper bag filled with a nondescript white powder in his clothes closet.
• 1:18:35
  SPEAKER_00: Jim says he doesn't know what it is, but it's something for the lab.
• 1:18:39
  SPEAKER_00: They take a small amount and put the bag back.
• 1:18:41
  SPEAKER_00: They get a call from the manager.
• 1:18:43
  SPEAKER_00: Tony's on his way up.
• 1:18:44
  SPEAKER_00: Jim's partner leaves, but he stays.
• 1:18:47
  SPEAKER_00: He waits for Tony to come in, and when he does, it's with Margaret's bracelet in hand.
• 1:18:52
  SPEAKER_00: Jim asks where he got it from, and Tony tells him from Mrs.
• 1:18:55
  SPEAKER_00: DeLorca.
• 1:18:56
  SPEAKER_00: The sergeant tells him to bring the bracelet and the jewelry in the golf bag with him to ask Mrs.
• 1:19:00
  SPEAKER_00: DeLorca herself if she gave them to him.
• 1:19:03
  SPEAKER_00: Back at the DeLorca house, Tony is calling all the shots.
• 1:19:07
  SPEAKER_00: He tells Edith to straighten him out, and she goes along with Tony's story.
• 1:19:12
  SPEAKER_00: This is a painful scene to watch from Edie's perspective.
• 1:19:16
  SPEAKER_00: She's being forced to do everything Tony says and is watching the man that she loves be humiliated by him.
• 1:19:23
  SPEAKER_00: Jim calls the robbery division and tells them to take Tony's jewelry off the books.
• 1:19:28
  SPEAKER_00: But Jim is informed about something on the other end.
• 1:19:31
  SPEAKER_00: He agrees to ask Tony about it.
• 1:19:34
  SPEAKER_00: After he hangs the phone up, he asks Tony what he uses arsenic for, and if he would like to explain it here or downtown.
• 1:19:42
  SPEAKER_00: Tony aggressively explains that he uses arsenic to kill the weeds on his flower pots.
• 1:19:47
  SPEAKER_00: Jim then turns to Edith.
• 1:19:49
  SPEAKER_08: What did your husband die of, Mrs.
• 1:19:50
  SPEAKER_08: DeLorca?
• 1:19:53
  SPEAKER_10: A heart attack.
• 1:19:55
  SPEAKER_09: Arsenic poisoning is often mistaken for a heart attack.
• 1:20:06
  SPEAKER_06: Good night.
• 1:20:12
  SPEAKER_00: Edith is in shock.
• 1:20:14
  SPEAKER_00: Tony comes clean to Edith.
• 1:20:16
  SPEAKER_00: He tells her that Maggie was just as guilty as he was.
• 1:20:19
  SPEAKER_00: And now she's Maggie.
• 1:20:21
  SPEAKER_00: He tries to call the shots and says that they'll be going to Europe together.
• 1:20:26
  SPEAKER_02: Sort of mean like in the same boat.
• 1:20:28
  SPEAKER_02: Except I'm in the driver's seat.
• 1:20:30
  SPEAKER_10: Oh, not my love, love shot.
• 1:20:34
  SPEAKER_10: See, Tony, I don't care anymore.
• 1:20:37
  SPEAKER_10: I don't care one damn about anything.
• 1:20:40
  SPEAKER_10: But you, you care.
• 1:20:42
  SPEAKER_10: How you care about money, about cost, about liberty.
• 1:20:46
  SPEAKER_10: You can't hurt me anymore, not the police, nor you or anyone else about.
• 1:20:50
  SPEAKER_10: Now get up!
• 1:20:52
  SPEAKER_00: This is the moment that Edie regains her power.
• 1:20:55
  SPEAKER_00: Up until now, she's been reacting to everyone else and trying to comply with their image of who Margaret was.
• 1:21:02
  SPEAKER_00: But now she is no longer reactive.
• 1:21:05
  SPEAKER_00: She is calling the shots.
• 1:21:07
  SPEAKER_00: She's above all of this, and she is no longer slave to living in her sister's footsteps.
• 1:21:13
  SPEAKER_00: This is the one thing that Edith will not be subject to.
• 1:21:17
  SPEAKER_00: At this, Duke perks up.
• 1:21:19
  SPEAKER_00: He senses the conflict, the impending danger.
• 1:21:21
  SPEAKER_00: Tony grabs her by the arms and screams, You try to make me get out.
• 1:21:26
  SPEAKER_00: At this very moment, Duke comes running to her aid.
• 1:21:29
  SPEAKER_00: He attacks Tony while Edith stands by, watching him be mauled to death.
• 1:21:35
  SPEAKER_00: Finally, she runs for help.
• 1:21:47
  SPEAKER_00: Back at the station, Jim can't let this go.
• 1:21:50
  SPEAKER_00: He points out to the captain the strange details.
• 1:21:54
  SPEAKER_00: That Tony told the groundskeeper that he needed arsenic for his lawn, yet he lives on the 17th floor, that Tony got the arsenic just before Mr.
• 1:22:03
  SPEAKER_00: DeLorca died, then took a trip to Europe the day before his funeral.
• 1:22:07
  SPEAKER_00: He says that if he were sitting where the captain is sitting, the coroner would be digging up Mr.
• 1:22:12
  SPEAKER_00: DeLorca's body right now.
• 1:22:14
  SPEAKER_00: Later at the DeLorca residence, Edith comes down to see Jim.
• 1:22:18
  SPEAKER_00: Jim asks if she gave the now deceased Tony the jewelry under duress and if he was blackmailing her.
• 1:22:25
  SPEAKER_00: She responds by saying, Blackmailing me?
• 1:22:29
  SPEAKER_00: What for?
• 1:22:30
  SPEAKER_00: He was my lover.
• 1:22:31
  SPEAKER_00: Jim hides his shock at this, but then informs her that the jewelry will be going to his next of kin.
• 1:22:37
  SPEAKER_00: He adds that homicide exhumed Mr.
• 1:22:39
  SPEAKER_00: Dolorca's body and found arsenic.
• 1:22:42
  SPEAKER_00: When he tells her this, he looks at her with a knowing expression.
• 1:22:46
  SPEAKER_00: Edith is finally at a loss for what to do.
• 1:22:53
  SPEAKER_10: Don't you know me?
• 1:23:00
  SPEAKER_10: Don't you know me, Jim?
• 1:23:03
  SPEAKER_10: I'm not Margaret.
• 1:23:04
  SPEAKER_10: I didn't kill Frank DeLorca.
• 1:23:07
  SPEAKER_10: I'm Edie, Jim.
• 1:23:10
  SPEAKER_08: Mrs.
• 1:23:10
  SPEAKER_08: DeLorca.
• 1:23:13
  SPEAKER_08: I don't know where you think this will get you.
• 1:23:18
  SPEAKER_08: But you couldn't be Edie in a thousand years.
• 1:23:22
  SPEAKER_08: Edie would never murder her sister.
• 1:23:25
  SPEAKER_08: She wouldn't even hurt a fly.
• 1:23:29
  SPEAKER_00: This is devastating to watch.
• 1:23:33
  SPEAKER_00: To be Edie and to be rejected by the one person who knows you better than anyone.
• 1:23:40
  SPEAKER_00: The one person who is still hurting at the loss of you.
• 1:23:44
  SPEAKER_00: And for them to not even recognize you because they hold you on such a high pedestal.
• 1:23:48
  SPEAKER_00: They refuse to see you as being capable of committing acts of atrocity because they hold your good acts as the standard by which all others are measured.
• 1:23:57
  SPEAKER_00: Edith returns to the role of Margaret and says that it was just a lousy joke.
• 1:24:03
  SPEAKER_00: A gentleman from the homicide division arrives and says that he has to book her and that the charge is suspicion of murder.
• 1:24:10
  SPEAKER_00: She leaves to change before they go, and Jim asks the other gentleman if they're sure.
• 1:24:15
  SPEAKER_00: He responds that they're sure, beyond a doubt.
• 1:24:18
  SPEAKER_00: As Edith heads upstairs, Henry stops her.
• 1:24:22
  SPEAKER_06: At the trial, madam, what would you have me say?
• 1:24:35
  SPEAKER_10: Known all along.
• 1:24:37
  SPEAKER_10: Yes, madam.
• 1:24:41
  SPEAKER_10: And you're saying won't tell anybody.
• 1:24:46
  SPEAKER_06: If that is your wish, madam.
• 1:24:51
  SPEAKER_10: And I thought I was all alone.
• 1:24:57
  SPEAKER_10: Thank you, Henry.
• 1:25:01
  SPEAKER_00: We cut to a montage of the trial.
• 1:25:03
  SPEAKER_00: Jim and the manager from the apartment building both divulge the truth of Margaret and Tony's illicit affair.
• 1:25:09
  SPEAKER_00: Henry argues that Mrs.
• 1:25:10
  SPEAKER_00: DeLorca never waited on Mr.
• 1:25:12
  SPEAKER_00: DeLorca personally, but Janet comes in with the kill saying, whiskey and milk, madam gave it to him the night he died.
• 1:25:19
  SPEAKER_00: And Edith thinks, damn it, Janet, I knew you'd be the death of me.
• 1:25:23
  SPEAKER_00: I do want to note that in the trial, they use the arsenic found in Tony's apartment as evidence.
• 1:25:29
  SPEAKER_00: However, because the officers did not have a warrant to search his apartment in the first place, Margaret would not have been charged for the murder due to the found arsenic as the evidence was tainted.
• 1:25:40
  SPEAKER_00: We see more back and forth between those arguing in Margaret's favor as well as against her.
• 1:25:46
  SPEAKER_00: In the end, Edith appears visibly defeated as the judge passes his sentence.
• 1:25:52
  SPEAKER_05: It is the judgment and sentence of this court that the defendant Margaret DeLorca, found guilty of the crime of murder in the first degree, shall suffer the extreme penalty to wit the death penalty.
• 1:26:11
  SPEAKER_00: As Edith is preparing to enter the sheriff's vehicle, which will quite literally take her to her death, Jim shows his badge to the officer and asks for a moment.
• 1:26:21
  SPEAKER_09: He says to Edith, The last time I was at your house, you said something I can't get out of my mind.
• 1:26:27
  SPEAKER_09: You said, I'm Edie, Jim, don't you know me?
• 1:26:32
  SPEAKER_09: Something like that.
• 1:26:34
  SPEAKER_09: Was that the truth?
• 1:26:38
  SPEAKER_10: I'm Margaret de Lorca Saj.
• 1:26:42
  SPEAKER_10: As you said, Edie would never have hurt a fly.
• 1:26:57
  SPEAKER_00: She steps into the car and Jim watches as it drives away.
• 1:27:02
  SPEAKER_00: Edith, who cares so deeply, has seen how tortured Jim has been throughout all of this and refuses to hurt him further by tarnishing her own image in his eyes.
• 1:27:16
  SPEAKER_00: Let the evil twin be sentenced to death while the good twin, whom he loved so much, is untouched by wickedness.
• 1:27:24
  SPEAKER_00: The ending is also a classic example of cruel irony for a multitude of reasons.
• 1:27:32
  SPEAKER_00: Edith murders her sister, takes her place, and against all odds gets away with it, only to be convicted for the murder that her twin sister committed.
• 1:27:44
  SPEAKER_00: But another example of cruel irony is that of Jim, the good cop who is so in love with Edith that he refused to see her as being capable of sin, and then, in the name of lawful righteousness, saw to her death.
• 1:28:00
  SPEAKER_00: There is even further irony in knowing that if Edith hadn't been ruled by her emotions, sought out vengeance, and killed her sister, she would have received$50,000 after Frank's death, and all her troubles would have been solved.
• 1:28:16
  SPEAKER_00: The moral of the story is the age-old trope that when seeking revenge dig two graves.
• 1:28:22
  SPEAKER_00: End of film.
• 1:28:23
  SPEAKER_00: I'd like to talk a bit now about the reception of the film and its lasting appeal.
• 1:28:28
  SPEAKER_00: The film is dismissed by some for being too camp, and yet I would say that aspects of the film lend themselves to camp, primarily regarding her playing twin sisters and perhaps the insane amount of cigarettes that she smokes.
• 1:28:43
  SPEAKER_00: But aside from that, I think it is a film with a vital heartbeat that practically draws the viewers in, regardless of whether or not the choice is of their own volition, and forces them to stick with it until the bitter end.
• 1:28:57
  SPEAKER_00: Betty Davis was skeptical of the final film.
• 1:29:01
  SPEAKER_00: In Mother Gadam, a Betty Davis biography by Whitney Stein, Betty was quoted as saying, quote, the original script of Dead Ringer, which was appallingly bad, Paul and I worked very hard to make it plausible at all.
• 1:29:14
  SPEAKER_00: We did not completely succeed.
• 1:29:16
  SPEAKER_00: We also were forced by Warner Brothers to change the ending we first filmed.
• 1:29:20
  SPEAKER_00: The Warner ending was so ordinary.
• 1:29:23
  SPEAKER_00: Paul Henried did a beautiful job as director, plus Connie Cezanne was such an unbelievable double for me, we could actually use her in some of the scenes.
• 1:29:31
  SPEAKER_00: On working with Betty Davis, Paul Henried said, quote, I understood her temperament and her peculiar gifts.
• 1:29:38
  SPEAKER_00: I knew what she thought was effective for her.
• 1:29:40
  SPEAKER_00: He continued, quote, Betty had to go through extensive makeup.
• 1:29:45
  SPEAKER_00: There was a lot of facelifting and that sort of thing, but she was a pro.
• 1:29:49
  SPEAKER_00: She was always ready.
• 1:29:51
  SPEAKER_00: Of all the actors I've ever worked with, Betty was the most professional.
• 1:29:55
  SPEAKER_00: I'm talking about acting ability, being on time, cooperating, her attitude, the whole nine yards, totally professional.
• 1:30:03
  SPEAKER_00: At the time of the film's release, reviews were mixed.
• 1:30:06
  SPEAKER_00: The Daily Variety and the Los Angeles Times wrote about the, quote, hokum, old-fashioned plot, but sang praises about Betty Davis's performance as well as Andre Praven's Bacab Score.
• 1:30:19
  SPEAKER_00: The New York Herald Tribune released a review on February 20th, 1964, written by Judith Christ.
• 1:30:26
  SPEAKER_00: Quote, face it, fans, any Betty Davis movie is better than none.
• 1:30:31
  SPEAKER_00: So Dead Ringer is for aficionados, and two Betty Davis's better than one.
• 1:30:36
  SPEAKER_00: So the first part of the film is for connoisseurs as well.
• 1:30:39
  SPEAKER_00: But even so, they ain't done right by our baby Jane in all her ungirdled neurotic glory, Jesus Christ.
• 1:30:47
  SPEAKER_00: She even describes the film as a, quote, double-barreled dissertation on the non-paying aspects of crime.
• 1:30:54
  SPEAKER_00: She goes on to say that, quote, a pedestrian script and a heavy-handed director come to the fore, and we go on to mediocre melodrama and heavy contrived plotting.
• 1:31:05
  SPEAKER_00: Even under the good cop's teary eye, Edith seems to be getting away with one of the more inept impersonations around.
• 1:31:13
  SPEAKER_00: So she can't kick her smoking habit, but does she have to make friends with the dog?
• 1:31:18
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, she does.
• 1:31:20
  SPEAKER_00: She does have to become friends with a dog.
• 1:31:23
  SPEAKER_00: That is the entire point.
• 1:31:24
  SPEAKER_00: The film is a tragedy, one that was written from the moment Edith killed her sister.
• 1:31:30
  SPEAKER_00: Edith cares too much.
• 1:31:32
  SPEAKER_00: That is her downfall.
• 1:31:33
  SPEAKER_00: She cares too much about those in her employ, and so she helps him out even when it causes her to be months behind on rent.
• 1:31:40
  SPEAKER_00: She cares too much for her lost love, Frank, to leave everything well alone and seeks out revenge.
• 1:31:47
  SPEAKER_00: And even then, she cares too much to let Duke go unloved, even if she is trying to portray the cold and distant Margaret.
• 1:31:55
  SPEAKER_00: In the end, she even cares too much about Jim to tell him the truth and shatter the image of the woman that he loved.
• 1:32:04
  SPEAKER_00: That is her demise.
• 1:32:06
  SPEAKER_00: But to go on with the review, our star, as always, plays her part for all it's worth.
• 1:32:11
  SPEAKER_00: And in this case, more.
• 1:32:13
  SPEAKER_00: Lawford is properly jowly and desolute as a Playboy deluxe.
• 1:32:18
  SPEAKER_00: Malden looks as if his heart and feet hurt equally.
• 1:32:21
  SPEAKER_00: What a horrible thing to say.
• 1:32:23
  SPEAKER_00: And Estelle Wynwood gives an exquisite, creepy grace to a tiny role as family matriarch.
• 1:32:30
  SPEAKER_00: Dead ringer will do in the interim, but let's hope for a live one next time for Miss Davis.
• 1:32:36
  SPEAKER_00: On the same day that the New York Herald Tribune released this review, the New York Times had much more favorable remarks to make on the film.
• 1:32:46
  SPEAKER_00: Quote, Remember that celebrated Warner Brothers ad a few years ago that proudly claimed nobody's as good as Betty when she's bad?
• 1:32:54
  SPEAKER_00: Well, Betty Davis is back, all over town, in fact, at the Palace and 20 other theaters in a movie called Dead Ringer, and she is very, very bad.
• 1:33:05
  SPEAKER_00: Not that this is any discredit to Miss Davis, far from it.
• 1:33:10
  SPEAKER_00: Her mammoth creation of a pair of murderous twin sisters not only galvanizes this uncommonly silly little film, but it is great fun to watch.
• 1:33:19
  SPEAKER_00: It would be unfair to quibble with Warners about the way they have treated their indestructible star.
• 1:33:25
  SPEAKER_00: The vehicle may be creaky on the plot track, but it has all the extra accoutrements the studio used to supply in her dramatic heyday.
• 1:33:32
  SPEAKER_00: Paul Henryed, Miss Davis's most dependable cigarette lighter, is on hand this time as director to guide her through a swanky array of sets, costumes, and men friends.
• 1:33:44
  SPEAKER_00: His direction is dubious about the plot deficiencies, as Miss Davis improbably does herself in and then masquerades as herself, but at least he keeps the camera where it belongs, on her.
• 1:33:57
  SPEAKER_00: Masculine adulation is registered by Carl Malden as a suspicious cop and Peter Lawford as a poisonous playboy.
• 1:34:05
  SPEAKER_00: Her old photographer, Ernest Howler, is in there searching for the most flattering angles in the vicinity, and the suffering strings in the background, as orchestrated by Andre Praven, provide a reasonable facsimile of a Max Steiner score.
• 1:34:19
  SPEAKER_00: Miss Davis does not let them down.
• 1:34:22
  SPEAKER_00: She puffs, pants, pouts, and pops her eyes in a performance that, while hardly discreet, is certainly arresting.
• 1:34:30
  SPEAKER_00: Deadly as her films may be, Betty Davis, the star, is very much alive.
• 1:34:36
  SPEAKER_00: It's also, I feel, important to note that the film has a 100% rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
• 1:34:42
  SPEAKER_00: The film, as many will tell you, and as even Betty would tell you, is not perfect.
• 1:34:48
  SPEAKER_00: It's not the best of Betty Davis' films.
• 1:34:51
  SPEAKER_00: I think that the writing is a far cry from that of some of her earlier films, such as Now Voyager and All About Eve.
• 1:34:59
  SPEAKER_00: However, Betty Davis said that the original script was appalling and had to be reworked entirely by her and Paul Henried.
• 1:35:06
  SPEAKER_00: And I believe it is because of all the good films that she had done prior in her career that she was able to improve upon the script and to accomplish as much as she did with the material.
• 1:35:16
  SPEAKER_00: Moreover, I think that a movie like Dead Ringer is, for a film enthusiast, just as important as all of the undeniably great films, because even though the material was not the best, it is still compelling.
• 1:35:32
  SPEAKER_00: And it forces you to feel and to take the material, faulty as it may be, seriously.
• 1:35:39
  SPEAKER_00: And I feel that this inspires the viewer to ask, what makes a good picture?
• 1:35:46
  SPEAKER_00: Alfred Hitchcock used to say that the three most important elements necessary for making a successful picture are the script, the script, the script.
• 1:35:56
  SPEAKER_00: However, when you have a legendary performer such as Betty Davis, who first works hard at taking a bad script and improving on it until it is a moderately good script and finally selling it with an excellent performance, then it is no question that in the case of a film like Dead Ringer, one needs only three things to make it a success.
• 1:36:21
  SPEAKER_00: Betty Davis, Betty Davis, Betty Davis.
• 1:36:25
  SPEAKER_00: Before we wrap things up, I do want to take a moment to tell you about this costume from my collection.
• 1:36:32
  SPEAKER_00: On November 28th, 2025, Planet Hollywood sold this costume through an online auction on the Planet Hollywood Vault.
• 1:36:40
  SPEAKER_00: The only other costume piece that I've seen service from this film post-production at all was a decorative shawl, which was worn by Betty Davis in the party scene.
• 1:36:52
  SPEAKER_00: And it's a lovely piece.
• 1:36:54
  SPEAKER_00: And the owner I saw also recreated her black dress and gloves to complete the ensemble, which I think is so nice.
• 1:37:03
  SPEAKER_00: But after receiving this costume, I reached out to Boston University and spoke to the archivists who look after the Betty Davis collection.
• 1:37:12
  SPEAKER_00: I was able to look through their collection for photos of Betty Davis in an effort to see if I could find one of her wearing this particular costume.
• 1:37:21
  SPEAKER_00: I also contacted the University of Southern California, which houses the Warner Brothers archives.
• 1:37:27
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm unable to share with you the photos that I was shown due to copyright reasons, but I can tell you that I was unable to find one of Betty Davis wearing this particular costume.
• 1:37:38
  SPEAKER_00: Therefore, there is a chance it was only ever worn by Connie Saison, even though it was made for Betty.
• 1:37:44
  SPEAKER_00: But it's still a wonderful remnant of the film, which is a screen match costume and the only one that I have seen surface post-production.
• 1:37:53
  SPEAKER_00: And I am so incredibly grateful and honored to have the opportunity to share it with you all today.
• 1:37:59
  SPEAKER_00: For our audio listeners, feel free to head on over to YouTube if you'd like to see more of this dress.
• 1:38:05
  SPEAKER_01: That's our show.
• 1:38:10
  SPEAKER_00: Follow me on social media.
• 1:38:12
  SPEAKER_00: I'm on Instagram, YouTube, and TikTok at theMatthew Marlowe, and leave me a review.
• 1:38:17
  SPEAKER_00: Tell me what you loved about this film.
• 1:38:20
  SPEAKER_00: What really made it work?
• 1:38:21
  SPEAKER_00: Was it Betty Davis or was it Betty Davis?
• 1:38:25
  SPEAKER_00: Let me know what topics you'd like to see me cover in the future.
• 1:38:28
  SPEAKER_00: I'd really love to hear from you.
• 1:38:30
  SPEAKER_00: But until then, thank you so much for joining us, and I'll see you at the movies.