Newsletter: Classic Hollywood: Bette Davis’ character causes a scandal and Gregory Peck turns 100

This is Kevin Crust and I am your new tour guide as we continue to write about notable birthdays and deaths, movie and TV milestones, fun events around town and the latest in DVDs, soundtracks and books every Friday in our Classic Hollywood newsletter. You can also follow us on the Classic Hollywood Los Angeles Times Facebook page and our film staff will continue to write about historic Tinseltown.

‘A tempestuous Dixie Belle’

One of the things I will be doing in this space, as well as in print and online, is to dive into our archives and share reviews, features, news and gossip from the many decades that The Times has been covering Hollywood.

This week, I look at the 1938 pre-Civil War drama “Jezebel” starring Bette Davis, who won an Academy Award in the title role, Henry Fonda and George Brent. Fay Bainter also took home an Oscar for supporting actress. An opening notice in the newspaper described Davis’ character as “a tempestuous Dixie Belle who achieves the name of the biblical character, ‘Jezebel,’ because she defies southern tradition.”

Directed by William Wyler and adapted from Owen Davis’ 1933 play by Clements Ripley, Abem Finkel and John Huston, the film opened in L.A. on March 24 at Warner Bros. Hollywood and Downtown theaters -- in the era when studios were still allowed to own theaters. (The film was paired with “Blondes at Work,” starring Glenda Farrell, the fourth of nine “Torchy Blane” movies, a series about a hard-boiled female journalist, who was supposedly the inspiration for “Superman’s” Lois Lane. Lola Lane and Jane Wyman played the role in later films.)

On March 22, The Times reported that Hollywood’s actors were honing their Southern drawls in anticipation of a wave of pictures set below the Mason-Dixon line announced by the major studios. These followed on the heels of the blockbuster success of Margaret Mitchell’s novel set in the antebellum South, “Gone With the Wind,” which depicted that slavery world in more flattering ways than we would see today. (The film rights for “Gone With the Wind” had been quickly snapped up by David O. Selznick, but the epic would not reach the big screen for another 21 months).

Such was the anticipation for “Gone With the Wind,” that The Times’ critic Edwin Schallert worried that it would swamp this more modest production. “Scarcely any production for the screen has received more advanced ballyhoo than this impression of the South before the Civil War. So much heralding, in fact, that audiences are likely to go see it with a viewpoint distorted.”

Davis’ heroine, Julie Marston, attempts to make her fiancee (Fonda) jealous by wearing a scandalous dress to a formal ball, but her actions backfire. Fonda dumps her, other troubles brew and Davis stages a comeback against the backdrop of the New Orleans yellow fever epidemic.

The Owen Davis play starring Miriam Hopkins fizzled on Broadway and closed after just 32 performances. Nevertheless, Warner Bros. spent more than a $1 million to make the picture. But Wyler and Co. justified the investment as the film became a hit and scored five Academy Award nominations, including best picture.

In his review, Schallert called Davis’ character “A she-devil of her day” and lauded the film as the perfect setting for her talents:

“‘Jezebel’ (1938) is Bette Davis’ picture, over and above all else. She gives an admirably shaded portrayal. The picture is a character study, affording no full-fledged plot, and ending in a question mark. That finale may not entirely satisfy the observer, even though it seems adequate and sufficient for the occasion. But the film itself is bound to attract.”

“Jezebel” screens Wednesday and Thursday at the New Beverly Cinema with a Marlene Dietrich vehicle, “The Flame of New Orleans” (1941), New Beverly Cinema, 7165 Beverly Blvd., Los Angeles. (323) 938-4038, Wed.-Thu., 7:30 p.m. It’s also available on iTunes, Vudu and Google Play.

‘Standing Tall’

The American Cinematheque celebrates the centennial of Gregory Peck’s April 5 birthday beginning Thursday, March 31, at the Aero Theatre in Santa Monica. “Standing Tall: A Century of Gregory Peck” opens with a pair of thrillers, “Cape Fear” (1962) and “Spellbound” (1945). Friday, a pair of Robert Mulligan-directed pictures, “To Kill a Mockingbird” (1962) and “The Stalking Moon” (1968), screen. The series concludes April 16 with William Wyler’s “Roman Holiday” (1953), co-starring Audrey Hepburn, and Vincente Minnelli’s “Designing Women” (1957) with Lauren Bacall. We will be writing more about the films of Gregory Peck next week.

And don’t forget the Cinematheque’s collaboration with the Library Foundation for “To Live and Dine in L.A.” on Saturday at the Egyptian Theatre in Hollywood. The day begins at 12:30 p.m. with a classic midcentury lunch -- fried chicken with a side of mashed potatoes or mac ’n’ cheese, topped off with pie. At 2:30, USC professor Josh Kun will sign his new book, from which the event takes its title, an exploration of Los Angeles’ food and restaurant history via menus in the Los Angeles Public Library collection. The real dessert will be a screening of “Mildred Pierce” (1945) starring Joan Crawford at 3:40 p.m.

‘The Moviegoer’

If you’ve read the novel “The Moviegoer” by Walker Percy, you likely fall into that subset of society that appreciates books and movies.

If so, have I got a recommendation for you. “The Moviegoer” is a bi-weekly series of essays from the Library of America on significant films that were either inspired by or related to classic works of literature. Launched in January, and curated by Michael Sragow of Film Comment, the writing so far has been insightful, informative and entertaining.

Sragow himself punched “The Moviegoer’s” first ticket, looking back at Michael Mann’s “The Last of the Mohicans” (1992), a reimagining of James Fenimore Cooper’s 1826 novel starring Daniel Day-Lewis. Comparing it to “The Revenant,” Sragow cited its “epic story to match its stunning images,” calling it “one of the last of its tribe — an analog action saga.”

Carrie Rickey, Terrence Rafferty and Farran Smith Nehme have also contributed essays. Works covered in recent weeks include Martin Scorsese’s take on “The Age of Innocence” (1993) by Edith Wharton; John Huston’s interpretation of Dashiell Hammet’s “The Maltese Falcon” (1941); Jack Clayton’s “The Innocents” (1961), based on Henry James’ ghost story, “The Turn of the Screw”; and the 1933, 1949 and 1994 adaptations of Louisa May Alcott’s “Little Women.”

Sneak peak

In this Sunday’s Calendar, Rebecca Keegan looks at the burgeoning Irish film industry and its recent success at the Oscars and Sundance. What’s particularly interesting to Classic is a 1910 silent film she came across called “The Lad From Old Ireland” and its connection to one of this year’s best picture nominees.

Don’t touch that dial!

GetTV celebrates Joan Crawford’s March 23 birthday in an unusual way Friday beginning at 5 p.m. PDT with a triple feature of lesser-known titles from the latter portion of the actress’ up-and-down career. First up is “Straight-Jacket” (1964), a William Castle horror-mystery, in which Crawford plays an off-kilter woman who kills her cheating husband and his mistress with an ax, unknowingly witnessed by her 3-year-old daughter. Twenty years later, Crawford is released from prison, but a series of nearby ax murders make her a suspect. Diane Baker co-stars.

Next, Crawford stars in “Berserk!,” another horror film, playing the owner of a traveling circus plagued by a series of killings. Finally, in “The Story of Esther Costello” (1957), a British drama, Crawford plays a wealthy woman who befriends young Esther (Heather Sears).

Consider yourself warned.

From the Hollywood star walk

Notable births this week include Aretha Franklin (March 25); Elton John (March 25); James Caan (March 26); Leonard Nimoy (March 26); Diana Ross (March 26); David Janssen (March 27); Gloria Swanson (March 27); Quentin Tarantino (March 27); Sarah Vaughan (March 27); Freddie Bartholomew (March 28); Pearl Bailey (March 29); Eileen Heckart (March 29); Warner Baxter (March 29); and Frankie Laine (March 30).

Billy Wilder: I’m a writer, but then nobody’s perfect

When filmmaker Cameron Crowe was writing “Jerry Maguire,” he asked one of his idols, the legendary writer-director Billy Wilder, to play a small role. Wilder said no, but Crowe did get his poster from “The Apartment” (1960) autographed, and it led to a series of meetings that Crowe turned into a very fine book, “Conversations With Wilder,” published in 2001.

The interviews make a great companion for anyone wanting to work their way through Wilder’s long career stretching from his earliest days in Europe, through his classics “Double Indemnity” (1944), “Sunset Boulevard” (1950), “Some Like It Hot” (1959) and “The Apartment” (1960). Wilder died in 2002 at the age of 95.

Read the Los Angeles Times obituary from March 29, 2002.

kevin.crust@latimes.com

@storyspheare