What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?

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I first met Henry Farrell in 1981 when he contacted me about representing stage rights for his novel
What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?

He had previously been in touch with my associate, the legendary agent Monica McCall, for book representation. The relationship did not work out, but Henry remembered me as I had told him about how, when growing up in a coal-mining family in the mountains of Kentucky, my sister, who worked for a local 5- and 10-cent store, had brought home a discarded copy of the novel as my high-school graduation gift. I told him what a fan I had become and how his depiction of the glamour of early show business and the rewards and consequences of fame had encouraged me to leave the mountains to seek wider horizons.

Thus began a relationship that continued until Henry’s death twenty-five years later.

It was then I learned that Henry had left me and his longtime lawyer, Norma Fink, equal shares of all his literary rights, including
Baby Jane
.

When I embarked on the writing of the foreword to this new edition of the book, I was surprised to learn that for all his prominence in the film and literary communities, Henry had remained a very private person. He shunned photographs of himself, and he lived a quiet but interesting and fulfilling personal life.

He was born in 1920 as Charles Farrell Myers and would later
write under the names “Charles Myers” and “Bud Myers” before adopting the name “Henry Farrell”—“Farrell” from his middle name; he and his wife, Molly, came up with the name “Henry.” Later he would change his name legally “at the insistence of my accountant to avoid continued confusion at the IRS.”

He grew up in Chowchilla, California, where his father owned a filling station. But the place was too small for Henry and his sister, Wanda, who ended up moving to a town near Seattle. Henry’s way out was the U.S. Army during World War II. It was there that, in order to compensate for his lack of a college education, he became involved in theatre and took a creative writing class, where his instructor told him to “stick with it.” This resulted in his first published work.

His friend Jane Winslow remembers that he first wrote for the “penny dreadful”—a type of pulp magazine that became popular starting in the midnineteenth century. From that came a character called “Toffee,” a graphic, almost comic-book female detective that produced a series of stories later collected in book form. Henry would write over one hundred short stories over the course of his life.

Another defining moment was his meeting with the actress Molly Dodd, who had toured USO camps and whom he met when he struck out to Los Angeles after his army discharge to try his hand at acting. Finding no success as a thespian, Henry returned to Chowchilla. But Molly tracked him down and brought him back to Los Angeles where they were married, a union that lasted until Molly’s death at the age of fifty-nine in 1981.

Molly was Henry’s passport to the world of show business. She had made her stage debut in 1939 and was well known in the business. What’s more, her father, Neal, was a Hollywood fixture, a charismatic Anglican minister who was known as “the Padre of Hollywood.” In a film career that started in the 1920s, he would consult or appear as a minister, usually uncredited, in over 300 films. On-screen, he married Claudette Colbert and Clark Gable
in
It Happened One Night
. Off-screen, he officiated at the weddings of the stars themselves. Molly and Henry became a respected Hollywood couple, living first in an apartment in Beverly Hills and later in their first and only home, a grand residence in Pacific Palisades on Chautauqua Boulevard overlooking Rivas Canyon in the Santa Monica Mountains. They would live there all their lives.

Henry continued his writing, and Molly was the force of nature who looked after his every need. She maintained their beautiful home life, oversaw their social activities, and organized wonderful soirées for their friends—a set that included Peggy Chantler Dick, writer of the
Dennis the Menace
and
Hazel
television series, and her psychologist husband, Douglas Dick (a former actor and writer with over seventy-one film credits); Ava Astaire (Fred’s daughter) and her husband, Richard MacKenzie; Dick Sargent, a star of
Bewitched
; and Broadway and film star Nancy Walker and her husband, David Craig, who taught musical theatre.

In 1959 Henry’s first novel,
The Hostage
, was published. It tells the story of a six-year-old boy trapped in a moving van with two killers after witnessing a murder. It would later be filmed by Crown International. A second novel,
Death on the Sixth Day
, would follow in 1961. He began writing for television, penning episodes for
Alfred Hitchcock Presents
, the
Bus Stop
series, and, later,
Perry Mason
.

Molly’s acting career thrived with appearances on television, which, over time, would include
The Andy Griffith Show, The Twilight Zone, Gomer Pyle, Hazel, Petticoat Junction, The Brady Bunch, Bewitched,
and
The Rockford Files
.

Then Molly was diagnosed with cancer. The couple became strapped for money, and Henry, who had always been plagued by writer’s block, decided he had to come up with a really commercial idea. Inspiration came in the form of Jane Winslow, the very young daughter of his and Molly’s friend Yvonne. “I was told by my mother and others that every time Henry came visiting, I would run screaming from the room,” remembers Jane, today an
award-winning digital filmmaker, media producer and director, and a professor at SUNY Oswego.

Jane’s display of histrionics would remind Henry of other Baby Jane types—Baby Peggy of silent films and vaudeville’s Baby Rose Marie, the singing child wonder who was now grown up and a regular on
The Dick Van Dyke Show
. It set an idea in motion.

“I decided on a story so outrageous that it couldn’t help but be commercial,” he recalled. The story involved a former child star known in vaudeville as Baby Jane and her sister, Blanche, who had become a glamorous movie star in golden age Hollywood. He decided that “Blanche must be beautiful beyond description, a photographer’s dream who, without trying, could project glamour such that few other stars ever could. Still, she didn’t have any large performing talent, which was all right for the time and place… but a matter of acute pain and jealousy to Jane, who had talent to burn. Indeed, Blanche did have a career and future worth killing over. And I had to make the audience feel that in the past and present, Blanche had something to lose—and, through Jane, was about to lose it.”

He was also aware of the tightrope he was walking between suspense/drama and high camp. “The subject of early movies, kiddy stars, and movie queens already embodied the camp element just by nature. It had been exploited over and over for years.” But Henry concluded, “I felt I should just let it exist to the degree that it was already inherent in the story and characters, and let it go at that.”

He had no idea that he was introducing a whole new subgenre of gothic horror to the world. Immediately following the book’s publication, an option to produce the story on the Broadway stage was taken by Gabriel Katzka. However, a film producer, Robert Aldrich, saw the screen potential in the material and optioned the film rights, acquiring Katzka’s stage rights as well. Aldrich opted to go the film route, and he didn’t have to look far for the ideal cast. Joan Crawford, a superstar from the 1930s through the 1950s
but who found her recent career in decline, called Henry Farrell and Robert Aldrich to personally make a case for playing the role of Blanche Hudson. Surprisingly, she also had a suggestion for the role of Jane: “Why not Bette Davis?” she asked.

Davis and Crawford had been bitter rivals in the past, vying for several of the same roles and fighting each other for box office position. When Crawford had asked for the title role in
Mildred Pierce
, she learned that Bette Davis was first choice. When Davis turned down the part, Crawford was cast, but only after doing a screen test for director Michael Curtiz. Her performance won Crawford an Academy Award, a fact Davis never forgot and bitterly resented. In an article published in London’s
Daily Mail
, critic Michael Thornton claims the feud had sexual overtones as well: Crawford, who, according to Thornton, was bisexual, made a pass at Davis, which Davis resisted.

Furthermore, Davis had fallen madly in love with Franchot Tone, but Tone had married Joan Crawford. Crawford’s quote, according to Thornton, was “Franchot isn’t interested in Bette, but I wouldn’t mind giving her a poke if I was in the right mood. Wouldn’t that be funny?”

But Crawford realized that a pairing with Davis could spell box office magic for both of them, and she had been secretly looking for a project that would pair them and hopefully revive their faltering careers.

Along with her recommendation of Davis to Farrell, Crawford added, “I’ll wipe up the screen with her!” Davis jumped at the chance to play Jane, ironically echoing to Farrell Crawford’s sentiments to the word: “I’ll wipe up the screen with her.”

While maintaining pleasantries in public, the two stars engaged in a series of epic battles during filming that included a reported “accidental” kick to Miss Crawford’s head by Miss Davis. This incident was countered by Crawford’s adding weights to her body during a scene in which Davis had to carry her from a bed, causing Davis to throw out her back. In the end, the film was a
triumph for them both. Not only was it a huge comeback for the pair, but Davis and Crawford had taken a percentage of the profits in exchange for accepting low salaries. They made a fortune.

The film was a worldwide hit, grossing over $9 million dollars.
TV Guide
called it “Star wars, trenchantly served,” and added, “If it sometimes looks like a poisonous senior citizen show with over-the-top spoiled ham, just try to look away.… As in the best Hitchcock movies, suspense, rather than actual mayhem, drives the film.”

The film was nominated for five Academy Awards including one for Bette Davis, as leading actress. Bette Davis lost to Anne Bancroft for
The Miracle Worker
, but Joan Crawford, who did not receive a nomination, managed to accept the award on Bancroft’s behalf, reportedly saying to Davis on the way, “Excuse me, I have an Oscar to accept.”

The Crawford-Davis feud and Henry Farrell’s involvement with the pair would not end there.

The success of the novel and the film would launch Farrell’s next film project,
Hush… Hush, Sweet Charlotte
, based on his unpublished story “What Ever Happened to Cousin Charlotte?” Farrell himself would write the original story and then the screenplay with Lukas Heller, who wrote the screenplay for
Baby Jane
. Crawford and Davis were once again set to star. Filming began at the Houmas House, forty-five minutes outside of New Orleans. The battle started even before Crawford’s arrival, when Davis had the Pepsi-Cola machines on the lot (Crawford had been married to the president of Pepsi-Cola) replaced by Coca-Cola machines. She and the crew even posed for photographs of them drinking Coke.

Crawford was furious and ordered the Coke machines removed and the Pepsi machines brought back. According to published reports, Crawford left the picture in short order due to illness. Davis accused her of feigning pneumonia, but Henry Farrell remembered the events differently in a conversation I had with him in London in 2001.
“When Crawford brought back the Pepsi machines,” he recalled, “Bette had the crew gather all the Coke bottles on the lot and line them up in the path outside of Crawford’s door.” The next morning, Crawford stepped out on them, taking a nasty fall and subsequently taking a powder from the entire production. Crawford was quickly replaced by Davis’s friend Olivia de Havilland.

The film would be another hit, receiving seven Academy Award nominations for Best Supporting Actress (Agnes Moorehead), Best Art Direction, Best Black-and-White Cinematography, Best Black-and-White Costume Design, Best Film Editing, Best Original Song, and Best Original Score. Henry Farrell and his co-screenwriter, Lukas Heller, won a 1965 Edgar Award from the Mystery Writers of America for Best Motion Picture. Patti Page had a
Billboard
hit with her recording of the title song. Judith Crist said of the film, “The guignol is about as grand as it gets.”

When Joan Crawford died in 1977, Davis did not attend the memorial, nor did she issue a public statement. However, at a lunch in 2001Burt Reynolds recounted to me Bette Davis’s initial reaction to Joan Crawford’s death. “We were having lunch with a reporter, and just as I was about to introduce them, we were interrupted by a fan,” Burt told me.

“Oh, Miss Davis,” said the woman, “I am so sorry to tell you this, but Joan Crawford just died.”

“She was a cunt!” replied Bette.

Burt interrupted: “Bette, this gentleman we are about to have lunch with is from
The National Enquirer
.”

“But,” replied Bette, “she was always on time.”

What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?
would become a part of American culture. Bette Davis had a hit recording of the title song, which she would perform throughout her career, including on an appearance on the Dick Cavett show with her young accompanist, Barry Manilow. Blanche and Jane would be spoofed and referenced in episodes of
The Steve Allen Show, Batman, Seinfeld, French and Saunders, The Simpsons, Designing Women,
Jeopardy!, Doctor Who,
and in the music videos for Shakespears Sister’s “Goodbye Cruel World” and Christina Aguilera’s “Ain’t No Other Man.”

The film was remade for television in 1991 starring Lynn and Vanessa Redgrave. A major motion picture remake by Walter Hill was announced in 2012.

Henry Farrell had given birth to what has been called the psycho-biddy movie, a brand of horror film dealing with psychotic older women, providing vehicles for dozens of aging stars: Tallulah Bankhead in
Die, Die My Darling
; Ruth Gordon and Geraldine Page in
What Ever Happened to Aunt Alice?
; and Olivia de Havilland in
Lady in a Cage
, among others. It also carved out a lasting career for its author.