All About Bette

Those heading to Hollywood this Saturday may want to fasten their seatbelts, because it's going to be a thorny lunch hour.

By FilmStew Staff, FilmStew.com

Saturday, April 5th, marks the centennial of Bette Davis' birth. As the day has approached, countless tributes and remembrances have been published celebrating the woman who, along with Katharine Hepburn, taught Hollywood a thing or too about the politics of feminism.

Tomorrow, between 12 and 2 pm. PST, there will be an atypical group of folks among those comparing the size of their hands and feet to those left by the stars in the famous Grauman's Chinese Theater cement. In honor of the grand dame's anniversary, fans of the actress will be standing on the slab where she placed her digits for all of eternity in 1950, handing out 400 multi-colored individual roses in her memory.

It was in 1950 that Davis hit the screens as the immortal character of Margo Channing in All About Eve, a winner of six Academy Awards including Best Picture. Though both Davis and co-star Anne Baxter were nominated in the Best Actress category, alongside Sunset Boulevard's Gloria Swanson, the trophy went to Judy Holliday for Born Yesterday. Talk about a tough year!

Things are a little different of course with regards to this kind of event now as opposed to when Davis was in her prime. Instead of perhaps Errol Flynn hand delivering flowers on a whim from his nearby estate, in this case the event has been organized by the estate of the actress and is being officially sponsored by Teleflora.com, who donated the flowers.

Up next perhaps for the Davis contingent - beyond the release of a Bette Davis stamp by the USPS on May 2nd - could be a trip to New York to catch the Broadway musical version of 1942's Now, Voyager. Though far from a sure thing, such a production is currently under development by producer Gail Wager Stayden, who is separately working with Disney to bring to the Great White Way the Harlem Globetrotters musical Hoopz.