Tuesday, January 23, 1934

Daddy took Pauline and I and Ruth Ray to school. Nadine didn’t go. In the evening Pauline and I walked home.

Ruth Elizabeth "Bette" Davis (April 5, 1908 - October 6, 1989)

Born in Lowell, Massachusetts, Davis was an actress in film, television and

theater. Davis was noted for her willingness to play unsympathetic characters.

She was highly regarded for her performances in a range of film genres, from

contemporary crime melodramas to historical and period films and occasional

comedies. Her greatest successes, however, were her roles in romantic dramas.

Davis gained a reputation as a perfectionist who could be highly combative, and

confrontations with studio executives, film directors and costars were often reported.

Her forthright manner, clipped vocal style and ubiquitous cigarette contributed to a public

persona which has often been imitated and satirized.

She was the co-founder of the Hollywood Canteen, and was the first female president

of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. She won the Academy Award

for Best Actress twice, was the first person to accrue 10 Academy Award nominations

for acting, and was the first woman to receive a Lifetime Achievement Award from the 

American Film Institute.

Bette Davis died from breast cancer in France and is interred in Forest Lawn-Hollywood

Hills Cemetery in Los Angeles. On her tombstone is written: "She did it the hard way", an

epitaph that she mentioned in her memoir Mother Goddam as having been suggested to her

by Joseph L. Mankiewicz shortly after they had filmed All About Eve.

Thursday, January 18, 1934

Walked to school with Pauline. Walked home with Ruth Ray. Took Latin and English test. Ollie was over. R and N and I saw “Seth Parker.”

Way Back Home is based on characters created for the NBC radio show Seth Parker
Directed by William Seiter; written by Jane Murfin
Starring Phillips Lord, Frank Albertson and Bette Davis
Run time: 81 minutes

Plot Summary:

A decade earlier, Jonesport, Maine preacher Seth Parker and his wife offered shelter to
runaway Robbie Turner, who as an infant was abandoned by his sadistic, alcoholic father
 Rufe. Mary Lucy Duffy, who has been banished from her home by her father for fraternizing
with farm hand David Clark, is living with the Parkers as well, and her romance with David
attracts the attention of the local gosspis. Years earlier, David's mother Rose had run off with a
stranger, and when she and her illegitimate infant son returned to Jonesport, they were
shunned by the townspeople.

Mary Lucy and David plan to elope to Bangor, but Seth encourages them to stay by offering
 to pay for a proper wedding. Rufe breaks into the Parker home to kidnap Robbie and attacks Mary
Lucy when she tries to protect the boy. Seth pursues Rufe and Robbie and manages to intercept
 them before they board a train. Because Seth is not Robbie's legal guardian, the boy is placed
in an orphanage, where he awaits a decision about his future. Meanwhile, Seth lectures the
townspeople on the subject of tolerance and implores them to accept Rose and her newlywed
son and his bride. Robbie returns to Jonesport, having been legally entrusted to the care of the Parkers.