History Trivia / WhatEverHappenedToBabyJane

** Jane's make-up was Bette Davis' idea. She theorized that Jane would never wash her face, and would just put a new layer of make-up on every day. Reportedly when her daughter saw her in full Jane makeup for the first time, she went "Mother, this time you've gone too far."

** Jane's make-up was the idea of Bette Davis. She theorised that Jane would never wash her face, and would just put a new layer of make-up on every day. Reportedly when her daughter saw her in full Jane makeup for the first time, she went "Mother, this time you've gone too far."
** Joan Crawford was a big fan of Margaret Keane's 'sad eyes' paintings, and had them displayed on the walls of Mrs. Bates's house.

* HostilityOnTheSet: The on-set feud between Bette Davis and Joan Crawford has passed into legend. Davis once joked that the most fun she ever had with Crawford was when she pushed her down the stairs in the film. And she kicked her in the head. Crawford retaliated by placing weights on herself, so that she'd be harder to lift. Years later however, Bette Davis praised her co-star's work ethic.

* AwesomeDearBoy: Both of the lead actresses loved the project and agreed to it, despite the tight schedule and their mutual antipathy. In her autobiography, Bette Davis wrote that she loved going to work every day while making the film.

* DoingItForTheArt: The two lead actresses worked at a lower salary out of love for the project, although they did negotiate a share of the profits.

** Joan Crawford did get a brief career resurrection out of this as well, but getting dropped from ''Film/HushHushSweetCharlotte'' because of her erratic behavior caused a lot of good will to dry up for her, and she was subsequently reduced to starring in B-movies and television shows.

* HostilityOnTheSet: The on-set feud between Bette Davis and Joan Crawford has passed into legend. Davis once joked that the most fun she ever had with Crawford was when she pushed her down the stairs in the film. And she kicked her in the head. Crawford retaliated by placing weights on herself, so that she'd be harder to lift.

** Numerous other leading ladies from the '30s and '40s were considered for the leads. Creator/IngridBergman, Creator/SusanHayward, Creator/RitaHayworth, Creator/KatharineHepburn, Creator/JenniferJones and Creator/GingerRogers were contenders for Jane, while Creator/TallulahBankhead, Creator/ClaudetteColbert, Creator/OliviaDeHavilland and Creator/MarleneDietrich were considered for Blanche.

** Jane's make-up was the idea of Creator/BetteDavis. She theorised that Jane would never wash her face, and would just put a new layer of make-up on every day. Reportedly when her daughter saw her in full Jane makeup for the first time, she went "Mother, this time you've gone too far."
** Creator/JoanCrawford was a big fan of Margaret Keane's 'sad eyes' paintings, and had them displayed on the walls of Mrs. Bates's house.
* AwesomeDearBoy: Both of the lead actresses loved the project and agreed to it, despite the tight schedule and their mutual antipathy. In her autobiography, Creator/BetteDavis says that she loved going to work every day while making the film.

** Creator/BetteDavis had been experiencing a career downturn in the late 1950s, not helped by also dealing with the breakdown of her marriage to Garry Merrill and her mother's death. Beforehand, she was appearing in a supporting role in ''The Night of the Iguana'' on Broadway - receiving mixed reviews. But the sudden success of ''Baby Jane'' led to an Oscar nomination, and ensured she was working steadily until her death two decades later.
** Creator/JoanCrawford did get a brief career resurrection out of this as well, but getting dropped from ''Film/HushHushSweetCharlotte'' because of her erratic behavior caused a lot of good will to dry up for her, and she was subsequently reduced to starring in B-movies and television shows.

* GenrePopularizer: For the 'psycho-biddy' subgenre in horror films. Both Creator/BetteDavis and Creator/JoanCrawford would star in a few more such films after this.

* HostilityOnTheSet: The on-set feud between Creator/BetteDavis and Creator/JoanCrawford has passed into legend. Davis once joked that the most fun she ever had with Crawford was when she pushed her down the stairs in the film. And she kicked her in the head. Crawford retaliated by placing weights on herself, so that she'd be harder to lift.
* LifeImitatesArt: Jane's line "You mean, all this time we could have been friends?" – in Creator/BetteDavis's autobiography, she did praise Creator/JoanCrawford for her performance in the movie. She called her a pro who always knew her lines and showed up on time.

* NoBudget: It was made on a budget of $1 million, shot in a month and edited a month later. The budget was so limited that the production wasn't able to use [[DrivingADesk the usual process screen shots]] for Jane's driving scenes. Creator/BetteDavis did her own driving around Hollywood with cameraman Ernest Haller perched either in the backseat of the car or over the front fender in order to get the shots he needed. She recalled in 1987:

* PlayingAgainstType: Creator/BetteDavis as a 'psycho biddy'. With this film's success, it became her new type.
* PlayingWithCharacterType: Creator/JoanCrawford's character suffers greatly in this film, as with many of her '40s and '50s pieces. However, placing this in a horror setting has quite a different effect than a drama.
* PropRecycling: Hilariously the wig that Creator/BetteDavis wears as Jane had been worn by Creator/JoanCrawford in an earlier MGM film. She didn't recognise it, as it had been re-groomed.
* ProductPlacement: In true Creator/JoanCrawford tradition, Pepsi makes it into the film. At the beach, a man goes to the refreshment stand and tries to collect a deposit on empty Pepsi bottles. Creator/BetteDavis had a Coca-Cola machine installed on set to provoke her.
* RealLifeRelative: Creator/BetteDavis' real-life daughter, B.D. Merrill, plays the teenaged daughter of the neighbor Mrs. Bates.

** According to Creator/BetteDavis's autobiography, the film was going to be shot in colour. Davis herself pushed for it to be in black and white, feeling it would help with the gothic image. Colour would have "made a sad story look pretty."

** Numerous other leading ladies from the '30s and '40s were considered for the leads. Creator/IngridBergman, Creator/SusanHayward, Creator/RitaHayworth, Creator/KatharineHepburn, Jennifer Jones and Creator/GingerRogers were contenders for Jane, while Creator/TallulahBankhead, Creator/ClaudetteColbert, Creator/OliviaDeHavilland and Creator/MarleneDietrich were considered for Blanche.

* PlayingAgainstType: Bette Davis as a 'psycho biddy'. With this film's success, it became her new type.
* PlayingWithCharacterType: Joan Crawford's character suffers greatly in this film, as she did in many of her 40s and 50s pieces. However placing this in a horror setting has quite a different effect than a drama.

* ProductPlacement: In true Creator/JoanCrawford tradition, Pepsi makes it into the film. At the beach, a man goes to the refreshment stand and tries to collect a deposit on empty Pepsi bottles. Creator/BetteDavis had a Coca Cola machine installed onset to provoke her.

* ThrowItIn: Jane was meant to scream when she saw her reflection in the mirror while singing "I've Written A Letter To Daddy". Bette Davis had laryngitis at the time and all that came out was a hoarse cry. Immediately she and Robert Aldrich knew it was better.

* DuelingStarsMovie: Davis and Crawford had not worked together in eighteen years and never did again. Their hatred of each other was no secret.