About book What Ever Happened To Baby Jane? (1993)
The Ultimate Tale of Sibling RivalryI have never seen the famous movie, but I have seen photos and short clips of Bette Davis and Joan Crawford in it. This is a spooky, creepy story but it is told in a very amusing, campy way. This book was way ahead of it's time. Being a child star is such a rough path in life. I don't know why, in this day and age, anyone would subject their own child to it. Before Lindsay Lohan, McCauley Culkin and Justin Beiber there was this little girl…Remember Buffy from the 1960's TV show Family Affair? The young actress was Anissa Jones and she died of a heroin overdose at the age of 18. Heartbreaking. Whatever Happened To Baby Jane is a psychological, horror story about two aging show-biz sisters, Jane and Blanche Hudson, who are locked in the ultimate sibling rivalry war. When they were very young Jane was a cute, famous vaudeville child star known as "Baby Jane". Think of Shirley Temple but in a traveling variety vaudeville show with tap dancing and singing. Baby Jane was the breadwinner for the family. She was spoiled rotten, indulged and doted on by her father and grew up with a massive sense of entitlement. Jane's sister, Blanche, grew up in Jane's shadow, ignored and dismissed by her parents and pretty much everyone else too.In a crazy a twist of fate, as adults, Blanche becomes a wildly successful movie actress. Blanche becomes wealthier, more famous and more beautiful than Baby Jane ever was. As Blanche's star power grew brighter, Jane's star power dimmed and faded away into obscurity.Flash forward: decades later and these two competitive sisters are still living together in a decaying old Hollywood mansion owned by Blanche. Blanche is now handicapped and confined to a wheelchair, the result of a terrible car wreck. Blanche's disability keeps her trapped on the upstairs floor of the house. It is implied that Jane's deep-seated jealousy had something sinister to do with Blanche's mysterious car accident.Now both women are middle-aged. Jane continues to resent Blanche. Blanche has managed to keep her good looks but Jane is an alcoholic who has not aged well physically or mentally. What's worse is Jane is really starting to lose her grip on reality.As Jane spirals into mental illness, she becomes more and more controlling, taunting and abusive towards Blanche, who is helpless in her wheelchair. Blanche's only contact with the outside world is through Jane. Blanche is completely dependent on Jane for general care, food, doctor visits, everything. In one of her earliest psychotic moments, Jane delivers Blanche breakfast on a tray as usual, but instead of a meal Jane decides to serve Blanche her dead, pet bird and then later a dead rat she caught in the basement. Old Jane thinks this is just a hoot. Who's hungry? Such a jokester, that Jane. Soon Jane is really becoming unhinged. Fueled by alcohol Jane starts stealing Blanche's money by forging her checks. Jane has a fantasy of using Blanche's money to kickstart a comeback and revive her old Baby Jane vaudeville act. Jane puts on a babydoll dresses, drunkenly smears makeup on her face and in a baby voice starts rehearsing her old song and dance routines. This is only the beginning. Jane's behavior continues to spiral out of control, growing more bizarre and over-the-top. I’ll let you read the book to find out how crazy she truly becomes.
This volume contains What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? and What Ever Happened to Cousin Charlotte? - plus a couple of short stories by Charles F Myers. I liked Henry Farrell's work very much, Baby Jane probably more so. The former is a novella and the latter really a short story. I think Henry Farrell does a good job in Baby Jane of creating a dark, Gothic atmosphere. It's difficult, of course, not to be influenced by the film - or to picture Bette Davis and Joan Crawford as Jane and Blanche, but I have to say the book is a real page-turner. I could hardly put it down! It's perhaps because Farrell taps into one of our most basic fears - that of powerlessness and madness. Blanche is at the mercy of Jane, crippled, trapped in her room, unable to obtain food or even water. Worse still, her caregiver, Jane, hates her with a jealousy that burns bright - and is gradually becoming more and more psychotic as the excruiating days go by. Farrell paints a deeply rich picture of the two sisters, of Edwin Flagg, of Edna Stitt and Mrs Bates. Like the film, I was on the edge of my seat, silently screaming at Edna Stitt to turn around! Farrell works the reader, or me at least, into a frenzy of tense nervous exhaustion. How unlucky can Blanche be?! Look behind you, Mrs Stitt! Read the letter, Mrs Bates! And how can the fecking girl on the beach not speak English! Arghhh! Like the film, the book ends on the same ambiguous note - which I love. One thing missing from the book that is in the film is Jane's line: 'You mean, all this time, we could have been friends?' Such pathos. I find it hard to believe that Hollywood is planning a remake of the film. Really? I know I shouldn't pre-judge, but...What Ever Happened to Cousin Charlotte? forms the basis for the film Hush, Hush, Sweet Charlotte. Again, I couldn't help but picture Bette Davis and Olivia De Havilland in the lead roles. Again, I liked it. Being a short story, there's not masses of detail, but there's enough. Farrell crams a lot into a small space as he gradually teases out the story of Charlotte Hollis and her dead lover - and her troubled relationship with her cousin Miriam. It's a story of the aristocracy of the Deep South gone to seed, of a Southern Belle losing her looks, her home - and her mind. There's a ring of A Streetcar Named Desire here. Worth a read.I must confess to being a tad perplexed at the inclusion in the volume of the two short stories by Charles F Myers - The Debut of Larry Richards and First, The Egg. I quite enjoyed them both - I simply don't understand the connection?
Do You like book What Ever Happened To Baby Jane? (1993)?
Yes, it was a novel first and, yes, it is as good as or slightly better than the movie. In this age of shock and gore it is a pleasure to read a horror story of such reticence and subtlety. For instance: “Then, as the room and the objects inside began gradually to gather dimension and shape, she leaned sharply forward, and her eyes widened with horror. For a space of nearly fifteen seconds she stood breathlessly still and then, with a low, animal moan of numbed disbelief, she put out a trembling hand to the doorjamb for support.tBehind her, Jane reached down and picked up the hammer.”
—Corey
This book is awesome. I’m not really sure what I can say about it, but that seems like a good start. It’s awesome and everyone should read this. (I know I say it about a lot of books, but I can’t help having such good books recommended to me). Well, maybe not everyone. This is not the kind of book everyone likes, because it’s dark and full of terrors.The book talks about two elderly sisters, Blanche and Jane. The latter used to be a stage child-star, while the second became an actress when she grew up, being quite successful then (and more than her sister ever was). Jane, of course, lost her childhood charm and couldn’t act. Nevertheless, Blanche managed to get her sister a role in the movies she was casted in.When the novel begins (there’s a flashback scene at first, but I mean the story proper), Blanche is on a wheelchair. She was in an accident provoked by her sister, as they came home from a party. Since then, she stopped acting, and Jane began taking her of her younger sister. Blanche uses her situation to manipulate her sister all day long.That is, until Jane decides she’s making a comeback. She begins hurting Blanche, physically and psychologically torturing her. She fires the maid, the only person who sees Blanche in a regular basis and helps her around when Jane isn’t there. Of course, Blanche is utterly helpless and tries to get help, without any success. Some of the most anguishing moments in the novel are when she is close to make some contact with the world and Jane arrives, ruining everything.Tension is very hard to write, yet Farrell manages to write it flawlessly. It’s wonderfully portrayed and it’s the best thing about this book. I couldn’t stop reading because I physically needed to find out what was happening afterwards. I suffered, but I enjoyed it. The psychological aspect of the sisters’ relationship is treated with realism and lots of details, which helps to picture it very clearly. Jane is one of the creepiest characters I’ve ever read. She ranks closely to Mrs. Danvers and Gollum. She’s quite gone throughout the novel, and as the pages go on, she becomes even crazier. It’s a lot to say, considering how crazy she is at first.The ending is one of the best parts, because it leaves you hanging. I’m still not sure what happened there, but the final pages were adrenaline-filled for me. I just needed to finish the book and see whether Blanche was going to survive her crazy older sister. It’s fun, because it takes a fresh view on sisters’ relations. Kind of like Frozen but angstier and creepier.If you like psychological tension and crazy characters, you don’t need to look any further. This is the book for you.P.S.: There’s a film version, starring Bette Davis and Joan Crawford (actually, it’s much more well-known than the book). They hated each other’s guts, and that helped them bring up the tension that is in the book. You should watch it, because it’s really cool, and it stays really faithful to the book in question.
—Anita
Reading Farrell's novel WHAT EVER HAPPENED TO BABY JANE? makes one appreciate the genius of Robert Aldrich. He made a fine movie out of a not very good book. The bones of the story are there, the terror, the entrapment, but Farrell overwrites terribly. It is the rare psychological thriller that is flowery in style. This edition also includes the story that inspired Aldrich's HUSH, HUSH, SWEET CHARLOTTE, and a couple of pulpier stories (one thriller, one comic, imitation James Thurber). In truth, the short stories are better that the novel. If you like your horror claustrophobic, and your faded Hollywood legends bat-shit crazy, BABY JANE does have some compensations.
—Ronald Koltnow
