AN ANALYSIS AND EVALUATION OF THE ACTING CAREER OF TALLULAH BANKHEAD APPROVED: Major Professor m Minor Professor Directororf? DepartmenDepa t of Speech and Drama Dean of the Graduate School AN ANALYSIS AND EVALUATION OF THE ACTING CAREER OF TALLULAH BANKHEAD THESIS Presented to the Graduate Council of the North Texas State University in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements For the Degree of MASTER OF SCIENCE By Jan Buttram Denton, Texas January, 1970 TABLE OF CONTENTS Chapter Page I. THE BEGINNING OF SUCCESS 1 II. ACTING, ACTORS AND THE THEATRE 15 III. THE ROLES SHE USUALLY SHOULD NOT HAVE ACCEPTED • 37 IV. SIX WITH MERIT 76 V. IN SUMMARY OF TALLULAH 103 APPENDIX 114 BIBLIOGRAPHY. 129 CHAPTER I THE BEGINNING OF SUCCESS Tallulah Bankhead's family tree was filled with ancestors who had served their country; but none, with the exception of Tallulah, had served in the theatre. Both her grandfather and her mother's grandfather were wealthy Alabamians. The common belief was that Tallulah received much of her acting talent from her father, but accounts of her mother1s younger days show proof that both of her parents were vivacious and talented. A stranger once told Tallulah, "Your mother was the most beautiful thing that ever lived. Many people have said you get your acting talent from your father, but I disagree. I was at school with Ada Eugenia and I knew Will well. Did you know that she could faint on 1 cue?11 Tallulahfs mother possessed grace and beauty and was quite flamboyant. She loved beautiful clothes and enjoyed creating a ruckus in her own Southern world.* Indeed, Tallulah inherited her mother's joy in turning social taboos upside down. Tallulah*s father, uncle, and maternal grandfather were all United States Senators. This fact explains Miss Bankhead's continual interest in politics on ail levels. It has been noted that of all the speakers of the day on the Senate floor, the Bankheads were most acknowledged for their eloquence and theatricality. They spoke freely and usually held their congiessional audiences spellbound by sheer personality^ ^Tallulah Bankhead, Tallulah (New York, 1952), p. 28. this same type of personality would later make Tallulah renowned. The Bankhead dynasty held one other trait in common. They were adamant on any subject in which they believed, despite any unfriendly circumstances. Tallulah retained this drive and the force of the Bankheads on stage and off. Tallulah's father, William B. Bankhead, had a great effect on his daughter's early years, and he undoubtedly influenced her toward an ex- citing career. As a young man just out of law school, he had attempted to begin his professional practice in New York. He was defeated in this endeavor but soon discovered a newer, and, for a while, more exciting vocation—the theatre. He accidentally found employment with a Boston stock company and had just begun his theatrical career when his mother vetoed the whole idea. He later told his daughter that if he had had more money and thicker clothes, he would have rebelled against all authority and stayed with the company; but as it was, he complied with his mother's wishes and willed his theatrical dreams of success to his daughter. Once, after he saw his daughter perform in The Little Foxes, Tallulah quoted him as saying, "Oh, Tallulah, if I had only had one 2 whack at it!" His marriage to Tallulah's mother made William Bankhead's life stable and secure. The Bankheads had one daughter before Tallulah's birth. Only one year after giving birth to her first child, Adelaide Eugenia Bankhead gave birth to Tallulah and died three days later. Christened beside her mother's casket on January 31, 1903, the child was named Tallulah Brockman Bankhead. When her father named her after her paternal grandmother he had no idea that this child would one day be 2Thid.. p. 46. a famous actress known across two continents by her first name. "Speak- ing of Tallulah," says Miss Bankhead, "it has been argued that had I been christened Jane or Julia it is unlikely I would ever have gotten out of Huntsvilie, Alabama, place of my birth. Of one thing ITm certain. 3 *Tallulah1 has been no handicap to me." Her Aunt Marie once informed 4 her that Tallulah was an Indian word for the "tone of a bell." During her early teens, Tallulah often worried about her outlandish name and once requested that she might change it. Her father quickly refused. Years later, Ethel Barrymore suggested that she find a name that would be easier for theatre patrons to remember. But the name stayed and the legend grew around Tallulah. At one flourishing point in her career, she wanted to sue the massive Procter and Gamble company for one million dollars when they attempted to use her "originial" name in a shampoo commercial. It was little wonder that the name, Tallulah, was continually in the news. Tallulah and her sister spent their childhood with their grand- parents in Jasper, Alabama. Her grandmother spoiled Tallulah unmercifully, and more than once she cooled the tyrant1s temper by splashing her with a bucket of water. Tallulah was well known for her childish rages. Once, because Tallulah was sick and had to be cured with mustard plasters, she was extremely jealous of her older sister. She would scream to her grandmother, "Burn sister too!""* During healthy rages, Tallulah was ^Ibid., p. 23. ^Ibid., p. 24. 5The New York Times, February 27, 1944, Sec VI, p. 19. fond of lying on the floor, kicking fiercely and yelling incessan'tly to avenge the wrongs she felt she had encountered. A great many directors would feel the fiery temper during her acting career, for she was con- sidered to be one of the last prima donnas who would scream in rage until given their ultimate victory. Tallulah named as her first theatrical performance, one that occurred at a party given by her Aunt Marie, The affair was given in honor of two famous men, Orville and Wilbur Wright. Since the Wrights were also the judges for the best entertainment given at the party, they awarded Tallulah the first prize for an imitation of her kindergarten teacher. Later, she became fascinated by a contortionist she saw at a circus in Birmingham. Impressed by the agility of the performer, she recalled: frwithin a week I mastered cartwheel and backbend, added a third stunt 6 to my repertory, standing on my head.11 After this brief attempt for contortion fame, Miss Bankhead was entranced by a young girl who jumped from a balloon at a county fair and floated to the ground in a parachute. But when she attempted this same feat with one substitution, that of her grandmother1s parasol for the parachute, she fell from her father*s hayloft to receive a splintered coccyx. While still a young girl, Tallulah heard someone report that she had a "gracious smile.11 Needing no further encouragement, she practiced for hours in front of mirrors to perfect her beauty and her impersona- tions. She had no idea at that time that she was beginning her acting career. Her father, who enjoyed these antics thoroughly, was continually lifting her up on the dining room table to perform for him and his 6 Bankhead, op. cit., p. 15. fellow guests. During a lull in the program of a school sponsored talent show, she dragged her sister to the stage, and together they re- cited one of her father's favorite poems, "Old Ironsides.11 Later, she recalled: Oliver Wendell Holmes must have spun in his grave. My recitation caused a storm of applause and laughter. The cheering did things to my spine, to my mind. I felt consecrated. I felt I was fated for the purple, that neither fire nor flood nor pestilence could stay me.'7 The emotions that lay dormant in Miss Bankhead were awakened by her father's recitations of Shakespeare, Biblical stories, "Hiawatha,1' "Little Orphan Annie," and "The Spell of the Yukon." She remembered all the works her father had readily quoted. She later became known in New York as that young, beautiful girl who could, upon invitation, recite poetry for almost two hours straight. One Christmas, her father took her to see a production'of The Whip, a blood and thunder melodrama at the Manhattan Opera House. The impressions she received from this show were stamped deeply in young Tallulah's memory. The curtain hadn't been up five minutes before Sister and I were on the verge of hysterics. By the end of the first act both of us had wet our pants. Daddy's suggestion that we retire to the ladies1 room for treatment was scorned. When the careening car smashed into the bridge at the start of the second act, we be- came so overwrought Daddy had to hang onto our collars to keep us from tumbling out of the box. At the final curtain I didn't sleep for two nights running. When I did nod, the treacherous marquis intruded on my dreams. Nothing I had ever seen or heard or read had made such an impact on me. ^Ibid., p. 17. 8 Ibid., pp. 39-40. * ' f * . Soon after seeing The Whip, she saw "The Good Little Devil,1 a haunting fairy tale which was staged and produced by David Belasco. Although Mr. Belasco1s production did not induce the traumas encountered by the production of The Whip, it left another mark, and soon Hiss Bankhead became dedicated to her chosen career. As a student in a rather sedate Catholic school.