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All About Eve were a British rock/pop band. The creative core consisted of the Coventry born Julianne Regan (vocals), and the Huddersfield born Andy Cousin (bass guitar), with other members changing over the years. Their biggest commercial success was "Martha's Harbour" (1988), although the band's tenure ran between 1984 and 2004, and included four UK Top 50 albums.

History[link]

Foundation[link]

Julianne Regan, a former journalist, played bass in an early line-up of the gothic rock group Gene Loves Jezebel. before leaving to join All About Eve, previously known as the Swarm. The initial core of All About Eve was Regan, guitarist Tim Bricheno, and bassist Andy Cousin. As a three-piece (plus a drum machine), they released a series of independent singles in the mid 1980s including "D for Desire", "In the Clouds" and "Flowers In Our Hair". After Regan sang backing vocals for The Mission's God's Own Medicine album, the band received greater attention and were signed to Phonogram. Drummer Mark Price was added around this time.

Debut and chart success[link]

Their self-titled debut album was produced by Paul Samwell-Smith and released in 1988. It included the UK hit single, "Martha's Harbour".

The album itself reached #7 on the UK Albums Chart, with much of its lyrical material drawing from hippie ideals, white magic and dreamlike fairy tales, the album's gentle folk rock inspired pop sound won the band many fans (nicknamed 'angels'). Their music was sometimes considered gothic rock by the media,^[1] some fans^[who?] claimed the band did not play gothic rock after 1986, though are connected mostly due to the engagements of ex-bandmembers in the musical scene of the time.

In a well-known incident, the band later performed a dubbed version of "Martha's Harbour" on the BBC1 television show Top of the Pops, but, owing to a studio technical error, the taped vocals were broadcast without the band being able to hear them, resulting in the TV audience hearing the recorded version of the song, while the band members sat motionless on screen waiting for their cue to begin.^[1] By way of compensation, the band were invited back on to the show to perform the song the following week, this time with the vocals performed live. This performance passed off smoothly.

The following year, their second album, Scarlet and Other Stories, was released and the band toured around the UK. It was another Top 10 hit.

Activity through the 1990s[link]

In 1990, Bricheno left the group (later to join The Sisters of Mercy for their Vision Thing era, and subsequent bands XC-NN and Tin Star) to be replaced by The Church's Marty Willson-Piper. They went on to record Touched by Jesus in 1991 (which featured David Gilmour of Pink Floyd on guitar on two tracks), which made the UK Top 20, before changing record labels and releasing Ultraviolet, the year after. Released by MCA it reached UK #46. The band continued working on new material, but Regan soon left. Although remaining members continued for a couple more months without Regan's input, they disbanded in early 1993, with the album they had been working on being subsequently released under the group name Seeing Stars.

Regan went on to form Mice, and to work with Bernard Butler, and she teamed up with Jean-Marc Lederman in the Jules et Jim project.

In 1993, bassist Cousin went on to join a reformed Mission, touring extensively and contributing to their albums Neverland (1995) and Blue (1996) before the band again split.

In 1999, Hussey reformed the Mission yet again and although there was no room in the line-up for Cousin (bass duties being taken by the band's original bassist, Craig Adams) Cousin was asked to approach Regan to invite her to reform All About Eve to open for them. The offer was accepted and the band reformed, with a line-up of Regan, Cousin, Willson-Piper, plus Ric Carter (who had been in the Mission with Cousin) on guitars/keyboards and Del Hood on drums. This line-up toured during 2000 and 2001, releasing a live album Live and Electric at the Union Chapel. In addition, Regan, Willson-Piper and Cousin toured as a pared down, mainly acoustic trio for two years, releasing live albums Fairy Light Nights in 2000, and Fairy Light Nights Volume 2 in 2001.

In 2002, Willson-Piper left the band to pursue other projects, to be replaced by new guitarist Toni Haimi, previously of the band Malluka and currently a member of the Sohodolls. Later that year, All About Eve released the live album and DVD Cinemasonic with a line-up of Regan, Cousin, Haimi, Carter and Hood. A collection of early recordings was also released, entitled Return to Eden, Vol. 1: The Early Recordings (no second volume has yet appeared).

Also in 2002, Regan and Cousin released their first studio recordings in a decade, with the EP Iceland – a collection of 'winter songs', including reworkings of "December" and cover versions of Wham!'s "Last Christmas", Queen's "A Winter's Tale", and "Walking in the Air".

Latter days[link]

Carter and Hood departed, with Ben Savigear taking over on drums. In mid -2004, shortly after the release of their first single in a decade, "Let Me Go Home", the band split once again. Their last gig, with a line-up of Regan, Cousin, Haimi and Savigear, was at the Mean Fiddler in London on 30 April 2004, at the end of a British tour; this was filmed and copies of the performance were made available through a fan website.

Regan latterly worked with The Eden House, In April 2009, Regan stated on her Facebook page: "All About Eve are dormant and may never happen again. I don't ever like to say never though, but it seems we've all moved on and are exploring other avenues."^[2]

A double CD collection entitled Keepsakes, consisting of the singles, key album tracks and previously unreleased rarities, as well as some newly recorded songs, was released in early March 2006, and was initially available with a DVD of the promo videos and TV appearances.

Discography[link]

Studio albums[link]

EPs[link]

• 1990 Thirteen
• 1992 Phased
• 2002 Iceland

Singles[link]

• 1985 "D for Desire"
• 1986 "In the Clouds"
• 1987 "Our Summer"
• 1987 "Flowers In Our Hair"
• 1987 "In the Clouds" UK #47
• 1988 "Wild Hearted Woman" UK #33
• 1988 "Every Angel" UK #30
• 1988 "Martha's Harbour" UK #10
• 1988 "What Kind of Fool" UK #29
• 1989 "Road to Your Soul" UK #37
• 1989 "December" UK #34
• 1990 "Scarlet" UK #34
• 1991 "Farewell Mr. Sorrow" UK #36
• 1991 "Strange Way" UK #51
• 1991 "The Dreamer" UK #41
• 1992 "Phased" UK #38
• 1992 "Some Finer Day" UK #57
• 2004 "Let Me Go Home" UK #52
• 2006 "Keepsakes" ^†[3]

Live albums[link]

• 1991 BBC in Concert Transcription Disc #526
• 1993 BBC Radio One Live in Concert
• 2000 Fairy Light Nights 1
• 2001 Fairy Light Nights 2
• 2001 Live and Electric at the Union Chapel
• 2003 Cinemasonic
• 2003 Acoustic Nights, a re-packaging of the two Fairy Light Nights albums as one double album.

Fairy Lights Nights 1 has also been re-released under the titles Unplugged, Martha's Harbour and What Kind of Fool. ^†

Bootleg live albums[link]

In common with several British bands of the era, there also exist numerous live bootleg recordings and "fanclub only" vinyl records and cassettes of varying quality, the most well known of which is:

• 1991 Blessed by Angels - unofficially released, although the album was legally available (at that time) in parts of mainland Europe. It comprises eleven tracks from 1988 and 1991, several of which were later included on the later official-release compilation album Keepsakes.

Videography[link]

• 1989 Evergreen (VHS)
• 2003 Cinemasonic (DVD)
• 2008 Live in Bonn 1991 (DVD)

Compilation albums[link]

• 1992 Winter Words - Hits and Rarities
• 1999 The Best of All About Eve
• 2002 Return to Eden Vol. 1 - The Early Recordings
• 2006 Keepsakes - A Collection (CD and DVD)
• 2007 Sixty Minutes With

Winter Words, Keepsakes and Return to Eden Vol. 1 also contained previously unreleased studio, live and/or re-mixed tracks.

† As download only.

References[link]

External links[link]

• Julianne Regan's personal site
• The band's official MySpace site, including audio clips
• Regan's MySpace site, with audio clips of her solo work and collaborations
• Official Marty Willson-Piper site
• Unofficial (but approved) All About Eve fansite
• Early history of the band site (Archived 2009-10-25)
• Another unofficial All About Eve site
• Ectophiles' site
• Soundclick site, with audio clips
• Every Angel (Archived 2009-10-25) - Unofficial Japanese All About Eve site

All About Eve is a 1950 American drama film written and directed by Joseph L. Mankiewicz, based on the 1946 short story "The Wisdom of Eve", by Mary Orr.

The film stars Bette Davis as Margo Channing, a highly regarded but aging Broadway star. Anne Baxter plays Eve Harrington, a willingly helpful young fan who insinuates herself into Channing's life, ultimately threatening Channing's career and her personal relationships. George Sanders, Celeste Holm, Hugh Marlowe, Barbara Bates, Gary Merrill and Thelma Ritter also appear, and the film provided one of Marilyn Monroe's earliest important roles.

Praised by critics at the time of its release, All About Eve was nominated for 14 Academy Awards (a feat unmatched until the 1997 film Titanic) and won six, including Best Picture. As of 2012, All About Eve is still the only film in Oscar history to receive four female acting nominations (Davis and Baxter as Best Actress, Holm and Ritter as Best Supporting Actress). All About Eve was selected in 1990 for preservation in the United States National Film Registry and was among the first 50 films to be registered. All About Eve appeared at #16 on AFI's 1998 list of the 100 best American films.^[2]

Plot[link]

Bette Davis as Margo Channing

At an awards dinner, Eve Harrington (Anne Baxter) — the newest and brightest star on Broadway — is being presented the Sarah Siddons Award for her breakout performance as Cora in Footsteps on the Ceiling. Theatre critic Addison DeWitt (George Sanders) observes the proceedings and, in a sardonic voiceover, recalls how Eve's star rose as quickly as it did.

The film flashes back a year. Margo Channing (Bette Davis) is one of the biggest stars on Broadway, but despite her success she is bemoaning her age, having just turned forty and knowing what that will mean for her career. After a performance one night, Margo's close friend Karen Richards (Celeste Holm), wife of the play's author Lloyd Richards (Hugh Marlowe), meets besotted fan Eve Harrington in the cold alley outside the stage door. Recognizing her from having passed her many times in the alley (as Eve claims to have seen every performance of Margo's current play, Aged in Wood), Karen takes her backstage to meet Margo. Eve tells the group gathered in Margo's dressing room — Karen and Lloyd, Margo's boyfriend Bill Sampson (Gary Merrill), a director who is eight years her junior, and Margo's maid Birdie (Thelma Ritter) — that she followed Margo's last theatrical tour to New York after seeing her in a play in San Francisco. She tells a moving and involving story of a difficult life, including losing her young husband in the recent war. She is becomingly humble and flattering in her idolization of Margo. In response, Margo quickly befriends Eve, moves her into her home, and takes her on as her assistant, leaving Birdie, who instinctively dislikes Eve, feeling put out.

Anne Baxter in wig and costume as Margo Channing's understudy

While maintaining a seamless outward appearance of humility and of a desire only to serve, Eve is gradually shown to be working to supplant Margo, scheming to become her understudy behind her back (driving wedges between Margo and Lloyd and between Margo and Bill) and conspiring with an unsuspecting Karen to cause Margo to miss a performance. Eve, knowing in advance that she will be the one appearing that night, invites the city's theatre critics to attend that evening's performance, which is a triumph for her. Eve tries to seduce Bill, but he rejects her. Following a scathing newspaper column by Addison, Margo and Bill reconcile, dine with the Richardses, and decide to marry. That same night at the restaurant, Eve blackmails Karen into telling Lloyd to give her the part of Cora, by threatening to tell Margo of Karen's role in Margo's missed performance. Before Karen can talk with Lloyd, Margo announces to everyone's surprise that she does not wish to play Cora and would prefer to continue in Aged in Wood. Eve secures the role and attempts to climb higher by using Addison, who is beginning to doubt her. Just before the premiere of her play at the Shubert in New Haven, Eve presents Addison with her next plan: to marry Lloyd, who, she claims, has come to her professing his love and his eagerness to leave his wife for her. Now, Eve exults, Lloyd will write brilliant plays showcasing her. Addison is infuriated that Eve has attempted to use him and reveals that he knows that her back story is all lies. Her real name is Gertrude Slojinski, and she is no war widow, no orphan, no follower of Margo's tour. Before meeting Margo, she had been paid to leave town over her affair with her boss, a brewer in Wisconsin. Addison blackmails Eve, informing her that she will not be marrying Lloyd or anyone else; in exchange for Addison's silence, she now "belongs" to him.

The film returns to the opening scene in which Eve, now a shining Broadway star headed for Hollywood, is presented with her award. In her speech, she thanks Margo and Bill and Lloyd and Karen with characteristic effusion, while all four stare back at her coldly. After the awards ceremony, Eve hands her award to Addison, skips a party in her honor, and returns home alone, where she encounters a young fan—a high-school girl—who has slipped into her apartment and fallen asleep. The young girl professes her adoration and begins at once to insinuate herself into Eve's life, offering to pack Eve's trunk for Hollywood and being accepted. "Phoebe" (Barbara Bates), as she calls herself, answers the door to find Addison returning with Eve's award. In a revealing moment, the young girl flirts daringly with the older man. Addison hands over the award to Phoebe and leaves without entering. Phoebe then lies to Eve, telling her it was only a cab driver who dropped off the award. While Eve rests in the other room, Phoebe dons Eve's elegant costume robe and poses in front of a multi-paned mirror, holding the award as if it were a crown. The mirrors transform Phoebe into multiple images of herself, and she bows regally, as if accepting the award to thunderous applause, while triumphant music plays.

Production[link]

Origin[link]

The story of All About Eve originated in an anecdote related to Mary Orr by actress Elisabeth Bergner. While performing in The Two Mrs. Carrolls during 1943 and 1944, Bergner allowed a young fan to become part of her household and employed her as an assistant, but later regretted her generosity when the woman attempted to undermine her. Referring to her only as "the terrible girl," Bergner related the events to Orr, who used it as the basis for her short story "The Wisdom of Eve" (1946). In the story, Orr gives the girl a more ruthless character and allows her to succeed in stealing the career of the older actress. Bergner later confirmed the basis of the story in her autobiography Bewundert viel, und viel gescholten (Greatly Admired and Greatly Scolded).

In 1949, Mankiewicz was considering a story about an aging actress and, upon reading "The Wisdom of Eve," felt the conniving girl would be a useful added element. He sent a memo to Darryl F. Zanuck saying it "fits in with an original idea [of mine] and can be combined. Superb starring role for Susan Hayward." Mankiewicz presented a film treatment of the combined stories under the title Best Performance. He changed the main character's name from Margola Cranston to Margo Channing and retained several of Orr's characters, Eve Harrington, Lloyd and Karen Richards, and Miss Casswell, while removing Margo Channing's husband completely and replacing him with a new character, Bill Sampson. The intention was to depict Channing in a new relationship and allow Eve Harrington to threaten both Channing's professional and personal lives. Mankiewicz also added the characters Addison DeWitt, Birdie Coonan, Max Fabian, and Phoebe.

Zanuck was enthusiastic and provided numerous suggestions for improving the screenplay. In some sections he felt Mankiewicz's writing lacked subtlety or provided excessive detail. He suggested diluting Birdie Coonan's jealousy of Eve so the audience would not recognize Eve as a villain until much later in the story. Zanuck reduced the screenplay by about 50 pages and chose the title All About Eve from the opening scenes in which Addison DeWitt says he will soon tell "more of Eve ... All about Eve, in fact."^[3]

Casting and characters[link]

Bette Davis was cast as Margo Channing after Claudette Colbert severely injured her back and was forced to withdraw shortly before filming began.^[4]

Davis, who had recently ended an 18-year association with Warner Brothers after several poorly received films, later commented she had read the script in one sitting and immediately accepted the role after realizing it was one of the best she had ever read. Channing had originally been conceived as genteel and knowingly humorous, but with the casting of Davis, Mankiewicz revised the character to be more abrasive. Among other actresses considered before Colbert were Mankiewicz's original inspiration, Susan Hayward, rejected by Zanuck as "too young," Marlene Dietrich, dismissed as "too German," and Gertrude Lawrence, who was ruled out of contention when her agent suggested, "Wouldn't it be nice if Gertie sat by the piano and sang?" Zanuck favored Barbara Stanwyck, but she was not available. Tallulah Bankhead and Ingrid Bergman were also considered. Joan Crawford was also considered for the part^[5] but Crawford was already working on the film The Damned Don't Cry. Mankiewicz praised Davis for both her professionalism and the calibre of her performance, but in later years continued to discuss how Colbert would have played the role.

Anne Baxter had spent a decade in supporting roles and had won the 1946 Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for The Razor's Edge. She got the role of Eve Harrington after the first choice, Jeanne Crain, became pregnant. Crain was at the height of her popularity and had established a career playing likable heroines; Zanuck believed she lacked the "bitch virtuosity" required by the part, and audiences would not accept her as a deceitful character.

The role of Bill Sampson was originally intended for John Garfield or Ronald Reagan. Reagan's future wife Nancy Davis was considered for Karen Richards and Jose Ferrer for Addison DeWitt. Zsa Zsa Gabor actively sought the role of Phoebe without realizing the producers were considering her, along with Angela Lansbury, for Miss Casswell.^{[citation needed]}

Mankiewicz greatly admired Thelma Ritter and wrote the character of Birdie Coonan for her after working with her on A Letter to Three Wives in 1949. As Coonan was the only one immediately suspicious of Eve Harrington, he was confident Ritter would contribute a shrewd characterisation casting doubt on Harrington and providing a counterpoint to the more "theatrical" personalities of the other characters. Marilyn Monroe, relatively unknown at the time, was cast as Miss Casswell, referred to by DeWitt as a "graduate of the Copacabana School of Dramatic Art." Monroe got the part after a lobbying campaign by her agent,^[6] despite Zanuck's initial antipathy and belief she was better suited to comedy.^{[citation needed]} Angela Lansbury had been originally considered for the role.^[6] The inexperienced Monroe was cowed by Bette Davis, and took 11 takes to complete the scene in the theatre lobby with the star; when Davis barked at her, Monroe left the set to vomit.^[6] Smaller roles were filled by Gregory Ratoff as the producer Max Fabian, Barbara Bates as Phoebe, a young fan of Eve Harrington, and Walter Hampden as the master of ceremonies at an award presentation.^[3]

Cast[link]

• Bette Davis as Margo Channing
• Anne Baxter as Eve Harrington
• George Sanders as Addison DeWitt
• Celeste Holm as Karen Richards
• Gary Merrill as Bill Sampson
• Hugh Marlowe as Lloyd Richards
• Thelma Ritter as Birdie
• Gregory Ratoff as Max Fabian
• Marilyn Monroe as Miss Casswell
• Barbara Bates as Phoebe

Response[link]

Critical reaction[link]

All About Eve received overwhelmingly positive reviews from critics upon its release on October 13, 1950 at a New York City premiere. The film's competitor, Sunset Boulevard, released the same year, drew similar praise, and the two were often favorably compared. Film critic Bosley Crowther loved the film, stating it was "a fine Darryl Zanuck production, excellent music and on air ultra-class complete the superior satire".

Film critic Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun Times has praised the film, saying Bette Davis' character "veteran actress Margo Channing in All About Eve was her greatest role".^[7] A collection of reviews from the film's release are stored on the website Rottentomatoes.com, and All About Eve has garnered 100% positive reviews there, making it "Certified fresh." Boxoffice.com stated that it "is a classic of the American cinema – to this day the quintessential depiction of ruthless ambition in the entertainment industry, with legendary performances from Bette Davis, Anne Baxter and George Sanders anchoring one of the very best films from one of Hollywood's very best Golden Era filmmakers: Joseph L. Mankiewicz. It is a film that belongs on every collector's shelf – whether on video or DVD. It is a classic that deserves better than what Fox has given it."^[8]

Thematic content[link]

Critics and academics have delineated various themes in the film. Rebecca Flint Marx, in her Allmovie review, notes the antagonism that existed between Broadway and Hollywood at the time, stating that the "script summoned into existence a whole array of painfully recognizable theatre types, from the aging, egomaniacal grand dame to the outwardly docile, inwardly scheming ingenue to the powerful critic who reeks of malignant charm."^[9] Roger Ebert, in his online review, says Eve Harrington is "a universal type", and focuses on the aging actress plot line, comparing the film to Sunset Boulevard.^[10] Similarly, Marc Lee's 2006 review of the film for The Daily Telegraph describes a subtext "into the darker corners of show business, exposing its inherent ageism, especially when it comes to female stars."^[11] Kathleen Woodward's 1999 book, Figuring Age: Women, Bodies, Generations (Theories of Contemporary Culture), also discusses themes that appeared in many of the "aging actress" films of the 1950s and 1960s, including All About Eve. She reasons that Margo has three options: "To continue to work, she can perform the role of a young woman, one she no longer seems that interested in. She can take up the position of the angry bitch, the drama queen who holds court (the deliberate camp that Sontag finds in this film). Or she can accept her culture's gendered discourse of aging which figures her as in her moment of fading. Margo ultimately chooses the latter option, accepting her position as one of loss."^[12]

Gary Merrill as Bill Sampson

Professor Robert J. Corber, an expert on homophobia within the cultural context of the Cold War in the United States, posits that the foundational theme in All About Eve is that the defense of the norms of heterosexuality, specifically in terms of patriarchal marriage, must be upheld in the face of challenges from female agency and homosexuality.^[13] The nurturing heterosexual relationships of Margo and Bill and of Karen and Lloyd serve to contrast with the loveless relationship predation and sterile careerism of the homosexual characters, Eve and Addison.^[14] Eve uses her physical femininity as a weapon to try to break up the marriages of both couples, and the extreme cynicism of Addison serves as a model of Eve's future. For instance, shortly after Eve had a phone call placed to Lloyd Richards in an attempt to break up his marriage, she was shown walking up to her room with her female co-conspirator, their arms about one another and each of them dressed for bed. Even film reviewer Kenneth Geist, despite being critical of the emphasis that Sam Staggs' book All About All About Eve places on the film's homosexual elements, nonetheless acknowledged that Eve's lesbianism seemed apparent, and not just in that scene.^[15] Geist asserted that Mankiewicz "was highly contemptuous of both male and female homosexuals",^[15] although Mankiewicz himself suggested otherwise in an interview in which he argued that society should "drop its vendetta against them".^[16]

George Sanders as Addison DeWitt

Homosexuality was often linked to Communism during the Cold War's Lavender Scare and critics have written about film's subtle, yet central, Cold War narrative. The fair amount of subtlety employed in All About Eve is seen as primarily being due to Production Code restrictions on the depiction of homosexuals in the media during this time.^[13][17] However, notwithstanding those restrictions, Corber cites the film as but one example of a recurrent theme within American film of the homosexual as an emotionally bereft predator.^[13] The documentary The Celluloid Closet also affirms this theme to which Corber refers, including citing numerous other film examples from the same Production Code time period in which All About Eve was made.^[13][18]

Another important thematic of the film, in terms of war politics and sexuality, involves the post-World War II pressure placed upon women to acquiesce agency. This pressure to resume "traditional" female roles is especially illustrated in this film in the contrast between Margo's mockery of Karen Richards for being a "happy little housewife" and her lengthy and inspired monologue, as a reformed woman later, about the virtuousness of marriage, including how a woman is not truly a woman without having a man beside her. This submissive and effeminate Margo is contrasted with the theatricality, combativeness, and egotism of the earlier career woman Margo, and the film's two homosexual characters. Margo quips that Eve should place her award "where her heart should be", and Eve is shown bereft at the end of the film. At dinner, the two married couples see Eve and Addison in a similarly negative light, with Margo wondering aloud what schemes Eve was constructing in her "feverish little brain". Additionally, Eve's utility as a personal assistant to Margo early in the film, which is a subtle construct of a same-sex intimate relationship, is decried by Birdie, the same working-class character who immediately saw through Eve's story about a fictional husband. Birdie sees such agency as being unnatural, and the film contrasts its predatory nature ("studying you like a blueprint") with the love and warmth of her later reliance upon Bill. The pressure to acquiesce agency and more highly value patriarchy, following the return of men from the war, after having been shown propaganda promoting agency such as Rosie the Riveter and after having occupied traditionally male roles such as bomb-building factory worker, was deemed "the problem that has no name" by well-known feminist Betty Friedan.^[19]

Despite what critics such as Corber have described as the homophobia pervasive in the movie,^[13] All About Eve has long been a favored film among gay audiences, likely due to its campy overtones (in part due to the casting of Davis) and its general sophistication. Davis, who long had a strong gay fan base, expressed support for gay men in her 1972 interview with The Advocate.^[20][21][22]

Awards and honors[link]

Academy Awards[link]

The film won six Academy Awards.^[23]

• Best Picture—20th Century-Fox (Darryl F. Zanuck, producer)
• Best Supporting Actor—George Sanders
• Best Costume Design for a Black-and-White film—Edith Head and Charles Le Maire
• Best Director—Joseph L. Mankiewicz
• Best Writing, Screenplay—Joseph L. Mankiewicz
• Best Sound Recording—Thomas T. Moulton
• Nominated: Best Leading Actress—Anne Baxter
• Nominated: Best Leading Actress—Bette Davis
• Nominated: Best Supporting Actress—Celeste Holm
• Nominated: Best Supporting Actress—Thelma Ritter
• Nominated: Best Set Direction for a Black-and-White film—George W. Davis, Thomas Little, Walter M. Scott, and Lyle R. Wheeler
• Nominated: Best Cinematography for a Black-and-White film—Milton R. Krassner
• Nominated: Best Film Editing—Barbara McLean
• Nominated: Best Music Score—Alfred Newman^[24]

Golden Globe Awards[link]

• Best Motion Picture Screenplay—Joseph L. Mankiewicz
• Nominated: Best Drama Motion Picture—Darryl F. Zanuck, producer
• Nominated: Best Drama Motion Picture Actress—Bette Davis
• Nominated: Best Motion Picture Director—Joseph L. Mankiewicz
• Nominated: Best Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture—George Sanders
• Nominated: Best Supporting Actress in a Motion Picture—Thelma Ritter

NY Film Critics Circle Awards[link]

• Best Motion Picture—Darryl F. Zanuck
• Best Director—Joseph L. Mankiewicz
• Best Actress—Bette Davis

Directors Guild of America Awards[link]

• Outstanding Directorial Achievement in a Motion Picture—Joseph L. Mankiewicz

Cannes Film Festival[link]

• Best Actress Prize—Bette Davis
• Jury Special Prize—Joseph L. Mankiewicz
• Nominated: Grand Prize of the Festival—Joseph L. Mankiewicz^[25]

British Academy of Film and Television Arts[link]

• Best Film from any Source—Darryl F. Zanuck

Later recognition and rankings[link]

In 1990, All About Eve was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant."^[26] The film received in 1997 a placement on the Producers Guild of America Hall of Fame. The film also earns a 100% rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

American Film Institute Lists

• AFI's 100 Years... 100 Movies—#16
• AFI's 100 Years... 100 Heroes and Villains
  • Eve Harrington—#23 Villain
• AFI's 100 Years... 100 Movie Quotes:
  • "Fasten your seatbelts. It's going to be a bumpy night"—#9
• AFI's 100 Years of Film Scores—Nominated
• AFI's 100 Years... 100 Movies (10th Anniversary Edition)—#28

When AFI named Bette Davis # 2 on its list of the greatest female American screen legends, All About Eve was the film selected to highlight Davis' legendary career. (Marilyn Monroe, who makes a brief appearance in Eve, ranked # 6 on the screen legends list.)

Sarah Siddons Award[link]

The film opens with the image of a fictitious award trophy, described by DeWitt as the "highest honor our theater knows: the Sarah Siddons Award for Distinguished Achievement." In 1952, a small group of distinguished Chicago theater-goers began to give an award with that name, which was sculpted to look like the one used in the film. It has been given annually, with past honorees including Bette Davis and Celeste Holm.

Adaptations[link]

A radio version of All About Eve starring Tallulah Bankhead as Margo Channing was presented on NBC's The Big Show by the Theatre Guild of the Air on November 16, 1952.^[27] The production is notable in that Mary Orr, the writer of the original short story that formed the basis for the original film, played the role of Karen Richards. The cast also featured Alan Hewitt as Addison DeWitt (who narrated), Beatrice Pearson as Eve Harrington, Don Briggs as Lloyd Richards, Kevin McCarthy as Bill Samson, Florence Robinson as Birdie Coonan, and Stefan Schnabel as Max Fabian.^[27]

In 1970, All About Eve was the inspiration for the stage musical Applause, with book by Betty Comden and Adolph Green, lyrics by Lee Adams, and music by Charles Strouse. The original production starred Lauren Bacall as Margo Channing, and it won the Tony Award for Best Musical that season. It ran for four previews and 896 performances at the Palace Theatre on Broadway. After Bacall left the production, she was replaced by Anne Baxter in the role of Margo Channing.

In popular culture[link]

• The plot of the film has been used numerous times, frequently as an outright homage to the film, with one notable example being a 1974 episode of The Mary Tyler Moore Show, "A New Sue Ann". In the episode, the character of Sue Ann Nivens (Betty White), hostess of a popular local cooking show, hires a young, pretty and very eager fan as her apprentice and assistant, but the neophyte quickly begins to sabotage her mentor, in an attempt to replace her as host of the show. Sue Ann, however, unlike Margo Channing, prevails in the end, countering the young woman's attempts to steal her success and sending her on her way.^[28]
• The rock band of the same name got its name when lead singer Julianne Regan and (then) drummer Manuela Zwingmann saw the film for the first time at the former's parents' house in 1985.
• A 2008 episode of The Simpsons, "All About Lisa", is influenced by this film. In the episode, Lisa becomes Krusty the Clown's assistant, eventually taking his place on television and receiving an entertainment award.^[29]
• Pedro Almodovar's 1999 Academy Award-winning Spanish language film, Todo sobre mi madre (All About My Mother), has elements similar to those found in All About Eve. The title of the film itself is an homage to the 1950 film. In the first scene, the character of Manuela and her son, Esteban, are watching a dubbed version of the movie on television when the film is introduced as "Eve Unveiled." Esteban comments that the film should be called "Todo Sobre Eve" ("All About Eve"). Later in the scene, he begins writing about his mother in his notebook and calls the piece "Todo sobre mi madre." Also in All About My Mother, Manuela replaces Nina Cruz as Stella for a night in a production of A Streetcar Named Desire, leading a furious Nina to accuse her of learning the part "just like Eve Harrington!"
• In a season 3 episode of Gossip Girl, titled "Enough About Eve", Blair has a dream where she is Margo Channing.
• In the fifth season of The L Word, a fan becomes Jenny's assistant while she is directing a movie; later the fan blackmails the movie studio into letting her direct and she proceeds to take over Jenny's life.
• In the second season of Glee, Kurt Hummel calls his fellow glee club member Santana Lopez "a Latina Eve Harrington", after learning she is blackmailing closeted jock Dave Karofsky into becoming her "beard" and running mate for Prom Queen and King.
• In the first season of Will & Grace, Grace becomes dependent on a maid to give her a confidence boost during a design competition. This prompts her drunken assistant Karen to suspect a plot and she confronts the maid, exclaiming "I've seen 'All About Eve'. Poooor Eve!"

References[link]

Notes

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: All About Eve

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: All About Eve

• All About Eve Script from Internet Movie Script Database
• All About Eve at the Internet Movie Database
• All About Eve at the TCM Movie Database
• All About Eve at AllRovi
• All About Eve at Rotten Tomatoes
• All About Eve on Filmsite.org
• Literature on All About Eve

Streaming audio

• All About Eve on Lux Radio Theater: October 1, 1951
• All About Eve on Theater Guild on the Air: November 16, 1952

Eve
Adam and Eve by Lucas Cranach the Elder shows Eve giving Adam the fruit.
Spouse	Adam
Children	Cain Abel Seth Other unknown children

Eve (Hebrew: חַוָּה‎, Ḥawwāh in Classical Hebrew, Khavah in Modern Israeli Hebrew, Arabic: حواء‎, Syriac: ܚܘܐ ) was, according to the creation myth of Abrahamic religions, the first woman created by God, in the Genesis creation narrative.

Name and origin[link]

In the Bible, Eve (Hebrew: חַוָּה, Ḥawwāh; Arabic: حواء‎, Hawwa'; Ge'ez: ሕይዋን Hiywan; "living one" or "source of life", related to ḥāyâ, "to live"; ultimately from the Semitic root ḥyw^[1]; Greek: Εὕα^[2], heúā) is Adam's wife. Her name occurs only four times; the first being Genesis 3:20: "And Adam called his wife's name Ḥawwāh; because she was the mother of all living" (a title previously held by the Babylonian creatrix Tiamat). In Vulgate she appears as "Hava" in the Old Testament, but "Eva" in the New Testament. The name may actually be derived from that of the Hurrian Goddess Kheba, who was shown in the Amarna Letters to be worshipped in Jerusalem during the Late Bronze Age. It has been suggested that the name Kheba may derive from Kubau, a woman who reigned as the first king of the Third Dynasty of Kish^[3][4] Another name of Asherah in the first millennium BCE was Chawat, Hawwah in Aramaic, (Eve in English).^[5]

Creation of Eve
Marble relief by Lorenzo Maitani on the Orvieto Cathedral, Italy

The name Eve (חַוָּה) bears resemblance to an Aramaic word for "snake" (O.Arb. חוה; J.Arm. חִוְיָא). ^[6] In Genesis, Eve is associated with the snake.

Eve is the first woman mentioned in the Bible. Here it was Adam who gave her the name Eve. Eve lived with Adam in the Garden of Eden during the time which Adam was described as having walked with God. Eventually, however, with Fall of man, the pair were removed from the garden because she was encouraged by the serpent to eat the fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil and, with the temptation, led Adam to eat of the forbidden fruit.

In the Tyndale Bible Adam's wife is called "Heua" in accordance with the Greek form Ἕυα (although in Genesis 3:20 the Septuagint says that Adam called her Ζωή).

Though Eve is not a saint's name, the traditional name day of Adam and Eve has been celebrated on December 24 since the Middle Ages in many European countries, e.g. Germany, the Netherlands, Hungary, Scandinavia, Estonia.