Cannes: Another Jewelry Heist? $2.6M Necklace Missing After … 
‘Hangover III’ With Weak $11M Wed/Thurs Kicks … 
Specialty B.O. Preview: ‘Before Midnight’, … 
2012-2013 Season Network Rankings: CBS Sweeps In Final … 
Full 2012-2013 TV Season Series Rankings 
TOLDJA! Paramount Pocketing $190M From Disney For Marvel … 
‘Good Morning America’ Hits 19-Year Viewership … 
MGM Buys ‘Modern Family’ Producer Ben … 
‘Fashion Police’ Writers Chant On Picket Lines: … 
Universal Makes Seven-Figure Deal For ‘The School For … 
Steven Soderbergh Will Interrupt Retirement To Direct And … 
Cannes: EOne Announces Itself As Player In U.S. … 
Will LIN TV Stations Go Dark On Time Warner Cable? 
RATINGS RAT RACE: ‘Modern Family’, ‘Law … 
Hammond On Cannes: Paramount’s ‘Nebraska’ … 
Hot Trailer: Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s ‘Don … 
Hammond On Cannes: A New Day Comes To The Fest As HBO and … 
Cannes: Fleming Reflects And Finds Talented Trio A Breath … 
Hot Trailer: ‘Man Of Steel’ 
CBS Wins Season & Ties Sweep In Demo; ABC Tops Adults … 
Cannes: Weinstein Co Acquires Keanu-Reese Sci-Fi Pic … 
This email is making the rounds from the Academy Of Motion Picture Arts And Sciences to Hollywood’s name talent criticizing the U.S. Post Office for this stamp issued September 18th. I’ve X’ed out the names:
From: ”XXX” <XXX@oscars.org>
To: <XXX@aol.com>
Date: Tue, 30 Sep 2008 11:23:26 -0700
Subject: Re: Postal censorshipHave you seen the new Bette Davis postage stamp? It’s a photo from ALL ABOUT EVE, and after staring at it for a while I realized there was something wrong. She has a gloved hand raised beneath her chin in a very awkward pose. They removed a cigarette from her fingers! Censorship from our Uncle Sam. Didn’t they think anyone would notice? Film historians should revolt!
Editor-in-Chief Nikki Finke - tip her here.
Loading ...
My favorite case of removing a cigarette is at Disneyland (or is it Disney World? I can never remember) in a life sized photo hung at a re-creation of Walt’s office. In the photo, Walt is sitting on the edge of his desk looking happy. It’s not til you look closer and see that in the reflection of the hand that’s leaning on the desk, he’s holding a ciggie. So, they took it out of his hand, but not out of the reflection.
When I first saw it many years ago, it just filled me with great glee.. not sure why, but it did.
Why wouldn’t they just have used a different picture? That absurd to edit a classic picture, just use one of her when she’s no smoking instead of editing out the cig.
prognosis negative? someone else watched that seinfeld that was on fox last night!
Agreed with eb. Be thankful they didn’t take a still from her last movie “Evil Stepmother”…
I hope that is a cruelty free fake fur she is wearing! Are those “blood diamond” ear rings? Redo the whole stamp! They should redub the film so she says, “Fasten your safety belts. Its going to be a bumpy night…in my zero emissions electric car!”
Look at the coat — they even made the mink look faux!
Silly. History is history.
I like the stamp but i think a picture of her on the staircase when she gives the “Seatbelt” line would have been better…or BETTE-er.
Did anyone complain when Steven Spielberg re-released ET, but replaced the guns in men’s hands with flashlights? How PC of him.
yes, it sucks that they censored the photo, but it’s not something to scream and cry about. It’s just a stamp, get over it.
I love Bette Davis. she’s one of my all-time fave actresses.
<3
Did anyone complain when Steven Spielberg re-released ET, but replaced the guns in men’s hands with flashlights? How PC of him.
Yes, people did complain. Did you have a point?
Comment by Maryland — October 1, 2008 @ 7:41 am
It’s hard to teach children smoking is bad when they see all the stars doing it. When is Hollywood going to get a clue?
________
What else shall we remove from movies for the children? Drinking? Drug use? Speeding? Killing? Fighting?
If we got rid of everything in movies that children might see and do, we’d be left with movies of just people silent, standing in a white room for 2 hours.
got this in response from the USPS….
Dear MATT,
Thank you for contacting us about the Bette Davis stamp being altered.
I apologize for your frustrations. However, in the original photo used as the basis for this portrait Bette Davis did not have a cigarette in her hand. What you are seeing is the effect of light and shadow.
If I can be of assistance to you in the future, please don’t hesitate to contact me.
Thank you for choosing the United States Postal Service®.
Regards,
Angela G
Considering the range of photographs from a vampish Davis and the latter grand dame of film, I’d say this photograph is a great choice. She began working in Hollywood in 1931 and her last film was 1989 with more appearances after 1950, so this is earlier rather than later in her career, and the role in “All About Eve” which she won an Academy Award™ for.
As for the posters who wonder what to tell the grandkids about smoking, how about: “we, or someone we knew, grew, advertised, sold, purchased and smoked cigarettes and a lot of us died from it.”
Who actually still believes the best way to prevent pregnancy, STDs, STIs, and most health dangers is to ignore it, never mention it, don’t educate and simply ban all mention of them?
Oh, I forgot, a great deal of people believe this… sheesh.
As for the photograph, I have seen this studio still for years, and never with a cigarette! It’s from the scene where she is stranded with a broken down car in the snow, while Eve is stealing her role on the New York stage. Pivotal and prescient.
Perhaps you were thinking of this photo in the same fur, with cotton, rather than satin gloves?
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v491/stinkylulu/CH-celesteholm-allabouteve-car.png
To James in London: well of course that’s what I tell my grandson! It gets harder to explain why people smoke in current TV/movies. I tell him there are a lot of stupid people out there.
It turns out (from the USPS response above) that no cigarette was harmed before its time. But I would not want the Federal Government plastering cigarettes over millions of stamps if it WAS there. Freedom of speech is one thing, but when the FDA warns smoking is hazardous to your health, putting it on a stamp would be rather contradictory, n’est-ce pas?
Somehow I don’t think looking at a picture of cigarette is very hazardous, actually…
Nor is the removal of a cigarette “censorship”.
touché
Nor is the removal of a cigarette “censorship”.
No, it’s just white-washing the past so it doesn’t contain the things we don’t like.
Why have actual facts about our past when we can just change it so it feels better–and truthier, right?