'Bette Davis' has the feel of an insider joke

The biographical monodrama has been around for a half-century now, at least since Hal Holbrook began to perform "Mark Twain Tonight!" in the mid-1950s.

Holbrook memorized hours of Twain's work, dressed himself up as the author in late middle-age, then played theaters all around the country, eventually bringing his portrayal to Broadway and then to television.

Holbrook was in his late 20s when he began playing Twain, and recently revived the role at the age of 80. Early program notes for "Mark Twain Tonight!" included the following disclaimer: "While Mr. Twain's selections will come from the list below, we have been unable to pin him down as to which of them he will do. He claims this would cripple his inspiration. However, he has generously conceded to a printed program for those who are in distress and wish to fan themselves."

There would be several other such plays - most famously James Whitmore's portrayal of Harry Truman in "Give 'em Hell, Harry," but also Christopher Plummer as John Barrymore in "Barrymore" and Colleen Dewhurst as Carlotta Monterey O'Neill, the widow of playwright Eugene O'Neill, in Barbara Gelb's "My Gene."

And now there is "All About Bette: An Evening with Bette Davis," by Camilla Carr, playing at the Footlight Players Theater on Queen Street, with Morgana Shaw in the title role.

It is an agreeable enough way to spend two hours; the last Charleston performance is tonight at 5, but it could easily be revived in other venues and likely will be. There are even some plans to bring it to Broadway.

Michael Jenkins, president and managing director of Dallas Summer

Musicals, told the Dallas Morning News that he was "already talking to theater owners about what might be available. There's a lot of interest in it in New York."

Who can tell what will or will not make it in New York? Carr has clearly done a great deal of research on her subject. Shaw looks and sounds quite a lot like Bette Davis, and the barbed wit and coiled energy she brings to the part is unfailingly engaging.

And yet I had the overriding sense that I was watching an insider joke about Bette Davis the icon rather than any conscientious attempt to present Bette Davis as person and artist.

She never seemed quite human; at times I felt as though I were watching a woman imitate a female impersonator imitating Bette Davis — and Bette Davis at her campiest.

And so Shaw smoked and drank and said catty things about Tallulah Bankhead and Joan Crawford. There were references to "Of Human Bondage," "Dangerous," "Jezebel," "Now, Voyager" and, of course, "Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?"

Every now and then a projector would start whirling and Bette/Shaw would stare into its flame, just like Norma Desmond in "Sunset Boulevard."

The final effect was curiously generic, despite Shaw's carefully studied portrayal. One had the sense that, with a few quick rewrites, the subject could have just as easily been Tallulah, or Joan, or Judy or any other legendary figure more venerated for her outsized personality than for her very real accomplishments.

Don't get me wrong. There is much that is amusing and engaging in "All About Bette," and the arch brittleness of the character Davis played to perfection, in life as well as on the screen, comes through vividly.

Carr did her best not to quote Davis exactly, give or take "What a dump!" and "It's going to be a bumpy night," but one perhaps apocryphal witticism deserves commemoration.

When longtime rival Crawford died in 1977, a reporter thought to phone Davis for comment. "You should never say bad things about the dead, you should only say good," Davis reportedly replied.

"Joan Crawford is dead? Good!"

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