The Decorator-Bette Davis (Un-aired 1965 Aaron Spelling TV Pilot) PART 3

[Simon5005]

I was ten years old in 1965, and I had no idea this ever existed! Too bad it never happened, Davis was wonderful and the show looked very good.

[earthalien77]

Love this show-

[tyjeffries]

The bus station line would have worked far better if they had used Paul LInde as originally planned...perhaps too near the knuckle for prime time USA back in the day....this could have been even more of a camp classic than it already is. xx

[tyjeffries]

"I've missed a lot of buses in my life"...gorgeous line xx

[kjr291]

Isn't that James Stacy playing the part of Jim?

[MrBadguitar]

Originally, the assistant character was a gay man to be played by Paul Lynde, but the network quickly vetoed that idea and demanded a woman, mary wikes.

[tyjeffries]

@MrBadguitar that rings so true...how sad..and what a hoot it would have been ..those two together.ahh the lost Shangri Las of Hollywoods golden age x

[markcosborne]

Love Bette Davis in all her campiness, and also love Mary Wickes, but this was a dreadful piece of stereotypical claptrap. Oh, what would the "fly-over" states do without the aid of a chain-smoking, West Coast sophisticate? Please.

[markinpa1970]

Such a sin this never made it to TV, it was AWESOME!!

[xtinaandravenfan]

Awww thanks again for this. Bette looked very beautiful here, she reminded me a lot of Margo Channing when she was wearing the long black dress and her also hair. Thank you :) <3

[mnorth1964]

How fantastic. Just wish there were more made. Thank you for posting these videos. They were brilliant.

[cuttock]

One more thing though. I love Bette. And this would have been a fun series. But not too good. I mean, for someone who hated "Beyond The Forest", which was easily better than this, to stoop to this.....oh well.

[cuttock]

Damn Bette is looking pretty hot here!

[jmuslvr]

Written by Mart Crowley, the author of "Boys in the Band", and Cy Howard, veteran Hollywood writer and producer. Not to be confused with Cy Coleman, Broadway composer and lyricist.

[universoeterno1]

A sweet surprise. Thank you for posting it. Wow!

[youngnclyon]

Thankyou, Thankyou for posting this. Being a Bette Davis fan I have read several biogrpahies on her and this Decorator show is mentioned quite frequently and I've always wanted to see it. Again thankyou. Katharine Hepburn and Davis are my two favorite actresses. I wish hepburn would have done some earlier television work like this.

[504Diva]

How incredibly wonderful. Bette Davis was could do anything. Anything at all. Wonderful. Thank u for posting.

[Lectronimo]

That little girl looks and sounds like she could be the sister of the boy that played Beaver's friend Gilbert on "Leave It To Beaver." Hell, maybe it's him in drag. After all, we all know what kind of little boys flock to Bette Davis productions.

[GOOSEYGOOSE9]

who composed the four star fanfare what year was the fanfare from.

[Etheline]

Funny! Thank you! Bette was very hot, really pretty!

[dallyx66]

Bette was charming in this. Good writing, too. By Cy Coleman (who wrote the books, music, or lyrics to many Broadway shows and and Mart Crowley (The Boys In The Band).

[tomkes100]

the great Bette Davis anything with her in, tv s lucky. catch her in some great WAGON TRAIN episodes with Ward Bond. TOMKES tv film historian.

[msjosephine2]

What a treat, and better than anything I've seen on tv for a long time:)

[BetteDangerous]

This was fun.

What Ever Happened to Margo Channing?

Fifteen years later she became a Decorator who retained her old hair and clothes sense.

Perhaps if this had been titled "The Ham and the Corn", it would've sold by the bucket load and would still be re-run today.

[JubalCalif]

The late great Ms Davis certainly looks attractive physically in this. She must have slimmed down to appear in this unsold pilot. Maybe one of the reasons she was such a heavy smoker. The laugh track is so incredibly IRRITATING! I dont' think Bette was well-suited to the small screen...though it would have been fascinating to see her in a weekly series. From what I've read she could definitely have used the money at that time of her life. Thanks for posting this rarely seen gem.

[silkstone001]

i wonder if they patterned designing women after this she is a lot like dixie carters character, makes me wonder, they are both opinionated and head strong and funny . I like this how come they didn't make more of this one. Networks even back then they didn't see a hit coming and im only 38

[nateboytwo]

yea i might think was a springboard for designibg women and definately julia sugarbaker's character !!! good observation !!!!

[silkstone001]

I really liked it so far ive watched it 5 times lol when i find something i like i tend to re watch it and this week on this tv they had bunny O hare on she robbed banks on a motorcycle. lets see if you can find that one on youtube i promise you won't be disappointed, its hilarious.

[BetteDavisMimic]

LOVED IT!!!!!

with all the CRAP they put on TV back then you'd think this would be a shoo in to be picked up....it was way better than ANY "Farmer's Daughter" i ever saw!!!

ooops.....just dated myself.....LOL

[dodginraindrops]

LOL that little girl was so cute!

[wattever333]

the ending is quite similar to Whatever happened to BJ.

[BabyDillGerkin]

what an odd thing to say! I don't see joan crawford about to wither and die in this!

[wattever333]

well, someone with a narrow way of seeing things WOULD respond that way.

[BabyDillGerkin]

I was being playful, but thanks for being so rude in response. But, since you were -- two beach scenes don't deserve a "similar to Baby Jane" comment -- it's just pointless. They have NOTHING to do with each other -- I believe you're the one being narrow.

[wattever333]

1- wow. 2-you're welcome.

[nateboytwo]

im sorry but other than she's at the beach, there is NOTHING similiar.....

[SOLE2SOUL]

Thanks for posting this! I notice that Mart Crowly, who wrote Boys In The Band, co-wrote the episode. If this show had taken off and he kept on staff, it would no doubt be a camp classic. As it is, Bette Davis sparkles in this role and actually brings more to the material than is on the page.

[je3rowe]

the last little bit with the little girl was really cute! The pause that Bette makes right after the girl asks her if she wants to see her castle is funny as! "........ sure!" I love Bette so much! This was a pretty damn awful pilot but who cares?! It's something else we get to see Bette in!

[PutannaXXX]

If it's sacrilege you want, they CANCELLED the Judy Garland show!!! Where else could one see and hear a trip=let of Judy, Merman and Streisand.

[k8nairne]

I love this. "There should be a new word for kitsch".

And doesn't Bette look FABULOUS?? Can you believe it was 15 years after All About Eve? Wow.

[DiabolicalAngel]

@k8nairne I was just thinking that!!! ADORE Her! Dont care what anyone says, shes beautiful.

[GenXJeff35]

Wow! It's television-comedy, circa the 1960's alright (hence, some of the "yelling dialogue").

I SO wish this series had made it beyond just the pilot! It's a well-written, witty, and sophisticated vehicle for both Davis and Wickes - Clearly, it was television well ahead of its time! Unfortunately, it may have been a bit too sophisticated and sassy for Middle and Conservative America?

[nealkristofer]

Are you people nuts?? For 1965, this was GREAT! I think the reason it wasn't picked up is because it's very offensive to "oakies" and that lot. I'm sure it would have played well on both coasts. Bette is a pleasure to watch, not to mention the wonderful Mary Wickes. Should have been picked up; it was certainly better than The Flying Nun, for God's sake!

[jax2u]

Sad, sad, sad, to see such a dynamic filmstar reduced to such an awful vignette.

[plappin]

That she resurrected her "Beyond the Forest" hairstyle was a bad omen...

[jax2u]

Were you perhaps thinking of "The Petrified Forest?"

[plappin]

Heavens, did I get my hairstyle wrong? Maybe I'm thinking of "Dead Ringers."

[jax2u]

I don't think I've ever seen "Dead Ringers," although I've sen most Bette Davis films.

Regardless, I must say, what an awful clip Bette Davis/Decorator really is.

clearly something she subjected herself to when desparate for money. But we've all been there, right?

[plappin]

I think she's really fun in it, though. (Maybe I'm crazy) I'd hire Bette to decorate any day. Seriously, she looks like she's having a good time to me. It's that Ed Begley who should be shot, I mean, SHOT.

[PutannaXXX]

BeyondThe Forest was her last for WARNERS/ 1948 OR 9/ It's the film in which she utters, "What a dump!"

THe hair AND DRESS are 'All about Eve', to me.

[SOLE2SOUL]

Interesting that this pilot has one thing in common with Beyond The Forest - A square dance scene!

[jax2u]

She is, and always will be, my all-time oldscrren stars. I will mention to you that I am justweeks away from turning 65,, NEVER will I forget seeing her in "All About Eve." Her performance turned me on to cigarettes and martinis. ANd forget that too-often qoted "Bumpy Ride" comment, although it's a great scene, but this was Davis at her best.

[BigHrdB]

Fasten your seatbelts, it's going to be a REEEEALLY SHITTY pilot episode! Heard about this today on OutQ Sirius radio from Frank DeCaros' show. TOO MUCH! Ed Begley shoulda' been SHOT, he was that bad. I wanted him DEAD after he screamed his 2nd line! The next worse thing was tryin' to put THE Bette Davis on the SMALL screen....SACRILEGE! OFF with their HEADS! But she's STILL not to be had for the price of salted peanuts! LOL....this was all around SHIT, as Graham Norton would say :-)

[lizafan1]

ah the what could of been.......just what we needed BETTE DAVIS in our living rooms every week,think of it,i could of been GAY sooner,than when "BATMAN"

aired........luv ya BETTE

[yatabazah]

why wasn't it ever aired?

[lakevubud]

Ed Begley seems to be doing a Male Version of Sweet Charlotte.

[avelvetcrush]

"well let's take out that BITCH of a bearing wall out and put a window where a window OUGHT to be!!!"

[avelvetcrush]

"HUSH PAPPA!!!"

[avelvetcrush]

"somethin' kinda EEEHHH about a boy that don't play baseball!!"