A night with ‘Eve’
This time, it was all about Celeste. Harrison Ford and Kirk Douglas paid homage to the actress. So did Stockard Channing, Calista Flockhart and Blythe Danner -- co-stars of a one-time reading of “All About Eve,” the Academy Award-winning flick about female ambition that originally featured Bette Davis, Anne Baxter and Celeste Holm. Some vigorously shook Holm’s hands, others gently held them.And when she made a grand entrance into the VIP party before the show at the Ahmanson Theatre, guests applauded as if it were an opening night on Broadway for fictional stage star Margo Channing. Never was there such an un-bumpy night.
Working with the temperamental Davis was “just exactly what you’d think it was -- not much fun,” Holm, 83, recalled. But her experience with Baxter was another story: “We got along beautifully, became great friends.” She chalked up the 1950 film’s enduring popularity to the writing. “Good writing is always the basic stimulus,” she said. Danner, who read the part first played by Holm, called her an inspiration. “She held herself so regally and beautifully in the film. And I thought, ‘Well, I won’t be able to copy that, but I’ll try.’ ”
Party guests sipped cocktails and sampled white chocolate-dipped strawberries before the reading last Sunday, which also featured Douglas, John Ritter, Tim Curry, Victor Garber, Jennifer Tilly and Angela Lansbury, and raised $300,000 for the Actors’ Fund of America. The reading was “a grand experiment,” said screenwriter-director Tom Mankiewicz, event co-chair and son of Joseph L. Mankiewicz, who wrote the film’s script. Of the subject matter, he said, “I don’t think show biz is more grasping and backstabbing and strange than the stories I read in the paper about what goes on in corporate boardrooms.”
Alec Baldwin said he has seen his share of Eve Harrington types -- the character played by Baxter in the film and Flockhart at the reading -- women who ruthlessly pursue careers at the expense of others. “But I think people in Hollywood today are more polished about their ambition,” he said.
During intermission, playwright Neil Simon dubbed the production “wonderful -- perfect.” Actress Jodie Foster praised its dialogue. “So witty,” she said. Observed “Everybody Loves Raymond” star Doris Roberts: “Each actor and actress is able to make it their own and get the same laughs, which means the script is a fabulous script.”
On hand to support Flockhart, Ford praised his girlfriend at the post-performance bash held in the Impresario Room at the Music Center. “She was stunning,” he gushed.
The buzz: Could a full-on Broadway production be in the offing? “A lot of people are thinking about it,” Mankiewicz said. “And it would be fairly easy to cast -- actors would be lined up on the street to get those parts.”