PARK Magazine

ICON
I FIRST MET BETTE DAVIS WHEN I WAS A TODDLER.
My mother introduced me not to the legendary star but
as Mrs. Merrill, the mother of one of my schoolmates. We
were all backstage at the Wynflete School in Portland,
Maine after our school play. I had a starring role while
Bette’s son Michael, who she adopted with the actor Gary
Merrill, played a secondary one. Mummy was proud but,
later in life, I was told Bette wasn’t amused. Bette married
Gary in 1950 and she dutifully moved to Cape Elizabeth,
Maine to be with him and bring up their two children for
nearly ten years. Merrill appeared in many films including
the iconic All About Eve, which starred Bette Davis.
Others in the film included Marylin Monroe, Anne Baxter,
George Sanders, and Celeste Holm. The two fell madly
in love and Bette married Gary, the last of her four husbands.
My father and Gary were golf and drinking buddies
and members of the Portland Country Club. I remember
my mother donning a blonde wig and a Charles James
dress to go to a “come as a movie star” party at the club
with the Merrills. Mummy went as Marylin
Monroe in How to Marry a Millionaire
and Bette went as, well, Bette
Davis. Not surprisingly they won the
top prize. The next parental adventure
didn’t go as well and ended up with
Gary being booted from our snooty
private club. On that infamous day,
after several rounds of golf and too many
rounds at the bar with my father, Merrill
found all the showers in the men’s
locker room were taken so he wrapped
himself in a towel and staggered to the
women’s locker room causing pandemonium
and the expulsion - it was,
after all, the ’50s!
Years later, after the Merrills divorced and
I lost track of Michael, I ran across Bette at
Cinandre; we both had the same hairdresser,
the much-beloved and talented Eugene.
Much to my surprise, Bette remembered
everything, and we laughed about those
times while getting shampooed. I was working
for Andy Warhol’s Interview magazine
and knew a juicy scoop when I bumped
into one; we agreed to the first of several
interviews, excerpts of which appear below.
I also interviewed Gary Merrill for Interview
and, although I was tempted to run it as a
companion piece, you’ll have to settle for a
few bitchy quotes.
Mummy always said Bette was one of the
wittiest and wisest people she’d ever known,
and I think you’ll reach the same conclusion
after you read this piece. I also suggest
you read her blindingly honest autobiography
The Lonely Life and it goes without
saying you should binge her movies starting
with the immortal All About Eve, the
best film ever made about life on Broadway.
God really doesn’t make them like the divine
Miss Davis anymore.
‘‘MUMMY WENT
AS MARYLIN
MONROE IN HOW
TO MARRY A
MILLIONAIRE
AND BETTE WENT
AS, WELL, BETTE
DAVIS. NOT
SURPRISINGLY’
THEY WON THE
TOP PRIZE.’’