Bong-Man Posted March 17, 2011 Share Posted March 17, 2011 I was watching an old episode of "Batman" the other night (3:30am...don't ask), and a lady named Tallulah Bankhead was playing "The Black Widow". The episode was laughable. Terrible acting....and I could have sworn she was drunk or stoned out of her mind. I had never heard of the lady, so I got curious and googled her. Check this out..... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tallulah_Bankhead - At 15, Bankhead won a movie-magazine beauty contest and convinced her family to let her move to New York. She quickly won bit parts, first appearing in a non-speaking role in The Squab Farm. During these early New York years, she became a peripheral member of the Algonquin Round Table and was known as a hard-partying girl-about-town. During this time she began to use cocaine and marijuana, going as far as saying "Cocaine isn't habit forming. I should know – I've been using it for years." - She also became known for her outspokenness. Once, while in attendance at a party, a guest made a comment about rape, and Bankhead reportedly replied "I was raped in our driveway when I was eleven. You know darling, it was a terrible experience because we had all that gravel." She professed to having a ravenous appetite for sex, but not for a particular type. "I've tried several varieties of sex. The conventional position makes me claustrophobic. And the others give me either stiff neck or lockjaw", she said.[citation needed]According to Dick Cavett, after Marx had been cautioned to be on his best behavior with Bankhead, the two first spoke at the punch bowl. "Miss Bankhead." "Mr. Marx." And, as everyone breathed a sigh of relief, Chico told her, "You know, I really want to fuck you.". She replied, "And so you shall, you old-fashioned boy." Rumors about her sex life have lingered for years, and she was linked romantically with many notable female personalities of the day, including Greta Garbo, Joan Crawford, Marlene Dietrich, Eva Le Gallienne, Laurette Taylor, Katharine Cornell and Alla Nazimova, as well as writer Mercedes de Acosta, the wealthy Betty Carstairs, and singer Billie Holiday. "The only reason I went to Hollywood was to fuck that divine Gary Cooper." One of Bankhead's most notorious events was an interview that she gave to Motion Picture magazine in 1932, in which she ranted wildly about the state of her life and her views on love, marriage, and children: "I'm serious about love. I'm damned serious about it now.... I haven't had an affair for six months. Six months! Too long.... If there's anything the matter with me now, it's not Hollywood or Hollywood's state of mind.... The matter with me is, I WANT A MAN! ... Six months is a long, long while. I WANT A MAN!" In 1933, Bankhead nearly died following a five-hour emergency hysterectomy due to venereal disease. Only 70 pounds (32 kg) when she left the hospital, she stoically said to her doctor, "Don't think this has taught me a lesson!" "It's the good girls who keep diaries....the bad ones never have the time" Her last appearances onscreen came in March 1967 as the villainous Black Widow in the Batman TV series, and on the December 17, 1967, episode of The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour comedy-variety TV series, in the "Mahta Harry" skit. Her last coherent words reportedly were "Codeine... bourbon." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spidersandsnakes Posted March 17, 2011 Share Posted March 17, 2011 She looks like Carolyn Jones up in the photo:) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bong-Man Posted March 17, 2011 Author Share Posted March 17, 2011 She looks like Carolyn Jones up in the photo:) I was thinking Bette Davis or Greta Garbo. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spidersandsnakes Posted March 17, 2011 Share Posted March 17, 2011 I was thinking Bette Davis or Greta Garbo. Yep!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
porkchop Posted March 17, 2011 Share Posted March 17, 2011 She sounds like a sweet Southern Belle. Fleeing the repressive South at 15, to spread her wings in New York City. Seems to be the place to go to be all you can be. Any of you other NY'ers here concur ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Babs Posted March 17, 2011 Share Posted March 17, 2011 She's a local legend in my neck of the woods. I grew up in Colwood just outside Victoria on Vancouver Island. She spent quite a bit of time there. http://unknownvictoria.blogspot.com/2009/08/oh-tallulah.html She was also in the Hitchcock film 'The Lifeboat' Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Silver Rider Posted March 18, 2011 Share Posted March 18, 2011 At 3:10... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w15_dO6Q9XY And speaking of Groucho Marx, there is a photo somewhere of Groucho when he met Jimmy Page and Robert Plant. There was also a lady in the photo, but I forget who it was. In 1974…Led Zeppelin officially launched their own Swan Song label with a party at England’s Chislehurst Caves. Other attendees included Bill Wyman, Groucho Marx and The Pretty Things, who were signed to Swan Song. vh1classicrocknights.com rockscenester.blogspot.com/2010/03/vol-ii-number-4-october-1974 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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