BUtterfield 8
Encyclopedia
BUtterfield 8 is a 1960 Metrocolor
drama film
directed by Daniel Mann
, starring Elizabeth Taylor
and Laurence Harvey
. Taylor, then 28 years old, won an Academy Award for her performance. The film was based on a 1935 novel written by John O'Hara
in the wake of the success of his critically acclaimed Appointment in Samarra
.
The screenplay
was adapted by John Michael Hayes
and Charles Schnee
from the 1935 novel, but the plot of the film bears only a superficial resemblance to the novel. O'Hara based parts on the mysterious death of Starr Faithfull in Long Beach
, Nassau County, New York
in 1931. Faithfull's body was found on a beach after an apparent drowning. In the novel the heroine is killed by falling under the paddle wheel of a steamboat.
in the United States
and Canada
. Until the early 1970s telephone exchanges were commonly referred to by name instead of by number. BUtterfield 8 was an exchange that provided service to ritzy precincts of Manhattan
's Upper East Side
. Dialing the letters "BU" equates to 28 on the lettered telephone dial, so "BUtterfield 8" would equate to 288 as the first three digits of a seven-digit phone number.
) wakes up in wealthy executive Weston Liggett's (Laurence Harvey
) apartment and finds Liggett has left her $250. Insulted, Gloria, whose dress is torn, takes Liggett's wife Emily's mink coat to cover herself and scrawls "No Sale" in lipstick on the mirror. But she orders her telephone exchange, BUtterfield 8, to put Liggett through if he should call.
Gloria visits a childhood friend, pianist Steve Carpenter (Eddie Fisher
), in his Greenwich Village apartment. He chastises Gloria for wasting her life on one-night stands, but agrees to ask his girlfriend Norma (Susan Oliver
) to lend her a dress. Gloria leaves, whereupon Norma jealously gives Steve an ultimatum: He must choose between her and Gloria.
Liggett takes a train to the countryside where his wife Emily (Dina Merrill
) is caring for her mother. A friend, Bingham Smith (Jeffrey Lynn
), advises him to end his adulterous relationships and return to Bing's law firm instead of working for the chemical business of Emily's father.
Gloria lies to her doting mother Annie (Mildred Dunnock
), claiming to have spent the night at Norma's. A neighbor, Fanny Thurber (Betty Field
), insinuates that Gloria spends many nights in "less than virtuous" circumstances.
Liggett returns home. Finding the lipstick and money, he phones Gloria to explain the money was meant for her dress, which he had torn.
While drinking later that night, Liggett advises her to ask a high price for her lovemaking talents, prompting Gloria to jam her stiletto heel into his shoe. She insists that she does not take payment from her dates and claims that she has been hired as a model to advertise the dress she is wearing at three different bistros that very night. Liggett follows her and watches Gloria flirt with dozens of men at several clubs. He drives her to a run-down motel owned by middle-aged female ex-vaudevillian called Happy (Kay Medford
). After sleeping together, Liggett and Gloria decide to explore their relationship further.
Norma finds the mink coat in Steve's closet. He tries to explain that after Gloria's father died, Steve looked after her like a brother. Norma again asserts that she does not want to continue their relationship with Gloria in their lives.
Liggett disappears with Gloria for five days. His mother-in-law suggests to Emily that she divorce him. Emily feels he is frustrated by the life her family has handed him and insists she will be patient with him.
Liggett finally admits to Gloria that he is married. Far from being surprised, she thanks Liggett for the respect he showed her, finally calling her by name instead of "honey" or "dollface." Gloria describes herself to her mother about having been a "slut" and Annie slaps her. Now that her mother has finally heard the truth, Gloria says she has finally fallen in love with only one man.
Gloria visits her psychiatrist, Dr. Tredman, to insist that her relationship with Liggett has cured her of promiscuity. She rushes to Liggett's apartment building with the mink coat to return it, but sees his elegant wife Emily in the entryway and leaves in shame.
Liggett takes up Bing's offer of a job at the law firm. When he returns home, Emily has noticed that her mink is gone. Liggett nervously makes excuses and rushes out to search for Gloria at her regular clubs, but finds instead that he is just one in a "fraternity" of Gloria's ex-lovers. "We meet at Yankee Stadium," one says.
Gloria goes to visit Happy, who relates that her own wild and promiscuous life in her youth brought her nothing but pain and led to a depressing dead end. When she finds Liggett at a bistro the following evening, he launches into a series of drunken insults and taunts Gloria, saying "honey, baby, dollface, kid" and creates a scene. Gloria then drives a drunken Liggett to his apartment building where Emily, spotting them from a window above, watches as her husband throws the coat at Gloria, saying that he would never give the tainted object back to his wife.
Gloria goes to Steve, saying cynically that she feels she has earned the mink coat she is wearing, every thread and fur pelt. She recounts that when she was 13 years old, Major Hartley, a friend of her widowed mother, had repeatedly raped her while her mother was away.
The next day, a defeated Liggett asks Emily for a divorce. He explains that he loves Gloria so much that the thought of her deserting him drove him into a rage.
Norma, meanwhile finds Gloria asleep on Steve's couch, but he calmly asks Norma to marry him.
Back home, Gloria tells her mother she is going to Boston to begin a new life. She gives the mink to Fanny and leaves in her sports car. Finding out where she went, Liggett drives until he spots her car at a roadside café. (The café today is a single-story office building, 54 South Liberty Drive, Stony Point, New York
.) He tries to apologize to Gloria by asking her to marry him, but Gloria insists that she is "branded" by his insults. He convinces her to go to Happy's to talk in private, but when Happy greets her sarcastically, Gloria speeds away.
Liggett drives after her, trying to catch up to her increasingly fast pace. While turning to see him follow her, Gloria misses a sign for road construction and hurtles over an embankment to her death.
When he returns to the city, Liggett tells his wife about Gloria's death and announces that he is leaving to "find my pride."
. Studio shots were at Chelsea Studios
.
Elizabeth Taylor and her then-husband Eddie Fisher
hated the film, referring to it as 'Butterball Four'. Her now-famous response to the success of the film, made under protest in order to fulfill a contractual obligation to MGM
before being allowed to depart to 20th Century Fox
to make Cleopatra
: "I still say it stinks." Elizabeth reportedly hated the film because, at the time of its making, she was not only being tied down to the project by the studio, but also because due to her "stealing" Eddie Fisher
away from his then-wife Debbie Reynolds
she was referred to as a "slut" and a "homewrecker" by US fans, which is exactly what her character, Gloria, was based on.
for her portrayal of Gloria Wandrous; the film was also nominated for Best Cinematography, Color
that year. Taylor was also nominated for the 1960 Best Actress - Drama Golden Globe Award
for the same role.
Metrocolor
Metrocolor is the trade name used by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer for films processed at their laboratory. Virtually all of these films were actually shot on Kodak's Eastmancolor film.-External links:* at Internet Movie Database...
drama film
Drama film
A drama film is a film genre that depends mostly on in-depth development of realistic characters dealing with emotional themes. Dramatic themes such as alcoholism, drug addiction, infidelity, moral dilemmas, racial prejudice, religious intolerance, poverty, class divisions, violence against women...
directed by Daniel Mann
Daniel Mann
Daniel Mann, also known as Daniel Chugerman , was an American film and television director.Daniel Mann was born in Brooklyn, New York. He was a stage actor since childhood, and attended Erasmus Hall High School, New York's Professional Children's School and the Neighborhood Playhouse...
, starring Elizabeth Taylor
Elizabeth Taylor
Dame Elizabeth Rosemond "Liz" Taylor, DBE was a British-American actress. From her early years as a child star with MGM, she became one of the great screen actresses of Hollywood's Golden Age...
and Laurence Harvey
Laurence Harvey
Laurence Harvey was a Lithuanian-born actor who achieved fame in British and American films.- Early life :Harvey maintained throughout his life that his birth name was Laruschka Mischa Skikne. However, his legal name was Zvi Mosheh Skikne. He was the youngest of three boys born to Ber "Boris" and...
. Taylor, then 28 years old, won an Academy Award for her performance. The film was based on a 1935 novel written by John O'Hara
John O'Hara
John Henry O'Hara was an American writer. He initially became known for his short stories and later became a best-selling novelist whose works include Appointment in Samarra and BUtterfield 8. He was particularly known for an uncannily accurate ear for dialogue...
in the wake of the success of his critically acclaimed Appointment in Samarra
Appointment in Samarra
Appointment in Samarra, published in 1934, is the first novel by John O'Hara. It concerns the self-destruction of Julian English, once a member of the social elite of Gibbsville ....
.
The screenplay
Screenplay
A screenplay or script is a written work that is made especially for a film or television program. Screenplays can be original works or adaptations from existing pieces of writing. In them, the movement, actions, expression, and dialogues of the characters are also narrated...
was adapted by John Michael Hayes
John Michael Hayes
John Michael Hayes was an American screenwriter, who scripted several of Alfred Hitchcock's films in the 1950s, and subject of the book "" by Steven DeRosa.-Early life:...
and Charles Schnee
Charles Schnee
Charles Schnee gave up law to become a screenwriter in the mid-1940s, crafting scripts for the classic Westerns Red River and The Furies , the social melodrama They Live By Night , and the cynical Hollywood saga The Bad and the Beautiful , for which he won an Academy...
from the 1935 novel, but the plot of the film bears only a superficial resemblance to the novel. O'Hara based parts on the mysterious death of Starr Faithfull in Long Beach
Long Beach, New York
Long Beach is a city in Nassau County, New York. Just south of Long Island, it is located on Long Beach Barrier Island, which is the westernmost of the outer barrier islands off Long Island's South Shore. As of the United States 2010 Census, the city population was 33,275...
, Nassau County, New York
Nassau County, New York
Nassau County is a suburban county on Long Island, east of New York City in the U.S. state of New York, within the New York Metropolitan Area. As of the 2010 census, the population was 1,339,532...
in 1931. Faithfull's body was found on a beach after an apparent drowning. In the novel the heroine is killed by falling under the paddle wheel of a steamboat.
Title
The unconventional title of the novel and film (capitalized "B" and "U") derives from the pattern of old telephone exchange namesTelephone exchange names
During the early years of telephone service, communities that required more than 10,000 telephone numbers, whether dial service was available or not, utilized exchange names to distinguish identical numerics for different customers....
in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
and Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
. Until the early 1970s telephone exchanges were commonly referred to by name instead of by number. BUtterfield 8 was an exchange that provided service to ritzy precincts of Manhattan
Manhattan
Manhattan is the oldest and the most densely populated of the five boroughs of New York City. Located primarily on the island of Manhattan at the mouth of the Hudson River, the boundaries of the borough are identical to those of New York County, an original county of the state of New York...
's Upper East Side
Upper East Side
The Upper East Side is a neighborhood in the borough of Manhattan in New York City, between Central Park and the East River. The Upper East Side lies within an area bounded by 59th Street to 96th Street, and the East River to Fifth Avenue-Central Park...
. Dialing the letters "BU" equates to 28 on the lettered telephone dial, so "BUtterfield 8" would equate to 288 as the first three digits of a seven-digit phone number.
Plot
Gloria Wandrous (Elizabeth TaylorElizabeth Taylor
Dame Elizabeth Rosemond "Liz" Taylor, DBE was a British-American actress. From her early years as a child star with MGM, she became one of the great screen actresses of Hollywood's Golden Age...
) wakes up in wealthy executive Weston Liggett's (Laurence Harvey
Laurence Harvey
Laurence Harvey was a Lithuanian-born actor who achieved fame in British and American films.- Early life :Harvey maintained throughout his life that his birth name was Laruschka Mischa Skikne. However, his legal name was Zvi Mosheh Skikne. He was the youngest of three boys born to Ber "Boris" and...
) apartment and finds Liggett has left her $250. Insulted, Gloria, whose dress is torn, takes Liggett's wife Emily's mink coat to cover herself and scrawls "No Sale" in lipstick on the mirror. But she orders her telephone exchange, BUtterfield 8, to put Liggett through if he should call.
Gloria visits a childhood friend, pianist Steve Carpenter (Eddie Fisher
Eddie Fisher (singer)
Edwin Jack "Eddie" Fisher , was an American entertainer. He was one of the world's most famous and successful singers in the 1950s, selling millions of records and hosting his own TV show. His divorce from his first wife, Debbie Reynolds, to marry his best friend's widow, Elizabeth Taylor, garnered...
), in his Greenwich Village apartment. He chastises Gloria for wasting her life on one-night stands, but agrees to ask his girlfriend Norma (Susan Oliver
Susan Oliver
Susan Oliver was an American actress, television director and aviator.-Early life and family:Susan Oliver was born Charlotte Gercke, the daughter of journalist George Gercke and astrology practitioner Ruth Hale Oliver, in New York City in 1932. Her parents divorced when she was still a child...
) to lend her a dress. Gloria leaves, whereupon Norma jealously gives Steve an ultimatum: He must choose between her and Gloria.
Liggett takes a train to the countryside where his wife Emily (Dina Merrill
Dina Merrill
-Early life:Merrill was born Nedenia Marjorie Hutton in New York City, New York, the only child of Post Cereals heiress Marjorie Merriweather Post and her second husband, Wall Street stockbroker Edward Francis Hutton...
) is caring for her mother. A friend, Bingham Smith (Jeffrey Lynn
Jeffrey Lynn
Jeffrey Lynn was an American actor.Born Ragnar Lind in Auburn, Massachusetts, Lynn was a school teacher before he began his acting career. He came to Hollywood and made his film debut in Out Where the Stars Begin...
), advises him to end his adulterous relationships and return to Bing's law firm instead of working for the chemical business of Emily's father.
Gloria lies to her doting mother Annie (Mildred Dunnock
Mildred Dunnock
Mildred Dunnock was an American theater, film and television actress.- Early life :Born in Baltimore, Maryland and graduated from Western Senior High School, Dunnock was a school teacher who did not start acting until she was in her early thirties...
), claiming to have spent the night at Norma's. A neighbor, Fanny Thurber (Betty Field
Betty Field
Betty Field was an American film and stage actress. Through her father, she was a direct descendant of the Pilgrims John Alden and Priscilla Mullins....
), insinuates that Gloria spends many nights in "less than virtuous" circumstances.
Liggett returns home. Finding the lipstick and money, he phones Gloria to explain the money was meant for her dress, which he had torn.
While drinking later that night, Liggett advises her to ask a high price for her lovemaking talents, prompting Gloria to jam her stiletto heel into his shoe. She insists that she does not take payment from her dates and claims that she has been hired as a model to advertise the dress she is wearing at three different bistros that very night. Liggett follows her and watches Gloria flirt with dozens of men at several clubs. He drives her to a run-down motel owned by middle-aged female ex-vaudevillian called Happy (Kay Medford
Kay Medford
Kay Medford , was an American character actress and comedienne.She was born Margaret Kathleen O'Regan in New York City to James and Mary O'Regan, first-generation Irish-American parents, both of whom had died by the time she was 15 years old...
). After sleeping together, Liggett and Gloria decide to explore their relationship further.
Norma finds the mink coat in Steve's closet. He tries to explain that after Gloria's father died, Steve looked after her like a brother. Norma again asserts that she does not want to continue their relationship with Gloria in their lives.
Liggett disappears with Gloria for five days. His mother-in-law suggests to Emily that she divorce him. Emily feels he is frustrated by the life her family has handed him and insists she will be patient with him.
Liggett finally admits to Gloria that he is married. Far from being surprised, she thanks Liggett for the respect he showed her, finally calling her by name instead of "honey" or "dollface." Gloria describes herself to her mother about having been a "slut" and Annie slaps her. Now that her mother has finally heard the truth, Gloria says she has finally fallen in love with only one man.
Gloria visits her psychiatrist, Dr. Tredman, to insist that her relationship with Liggett has cured her of promiscuity. She rushes to Liggett's apartment building with the mink coat to return it, but sees his elegant wife Emily in the entryway and leaves in shame.
Liggett takes up Bing's offer of a job at the law firm. When he returns home, Emily has noticed that her mink is gone. Liggett nervously makes excuses and rushes out to search for Gloria at her regular clubs, but finds instead that he is just one in a "fraternity" of Gloria's ex-lovers. "We meet at Yankee Stadium," one says.
Gloria goes to visit Happy, who relates that her own wild and promiscuous life in her youth brought her nothing but pain and led to a depressing dead end. When she finds Liggett at a bistro the following evening, he launches into a series of drunken insults and taunts Gloria, saying "honey, baby, dollface, kid" and creates a scene. Gloria then drives a drunken Liggett to his apartment building where Emily, spotting them from a window above, watches as her husband throws the coat at Gloria, saying that he would never give the tainted object back to his wife.
Gloria goes to Steve, saying cynically that she feels she has earned the mink coat she is wearing, every thread and fur pelt. She recounts that when she was 13 years old, Major Hartley, a friend of her widowed mother, had repeatedly raped her while her mother was away.
The next day, a defeated Liggett asks Emily for a divorce. He explains that he loves Gloria so much that the thought of her deserting him drove him into a rage.
Norma, meanwhile finds Gloria asleep on Steve's couch, but he calmly asks Norma to marry him.
Back home, Gloria tells her mother she is going to Boston to begin a new life. She gives the mink to Fanny and leaves in her sports car. Finding out where she went, Liggett drives until he spots her car at a roadside café. (The café today is a single-story office building, 54 South Liberty Drive, Stony Point, New York
Stony Point, New York
Stony Point is a triangle-shaped town in Rockland County, United States. Rockland County is part of the New York Metropolitan Area. The town is located north of the town of Haverstraw, east and south of Orange County, New York, and west of the Hudson River and Westchester County. The population...
.) He tries to apologize to Gloria by asking her to marry him, but Gloria insists that she is "branded" by his insults. He convinces her to go to Happy's to talk in private, but when Happy greets her sarcastically, Gloria speeds away.
Liggett drives after her, trying to catch up to her increasingly fast pace. While turning to see him follow her, Gloria misses a sign for road construction and hurtles over an embankment to her death.
When he returns to the city, Liggett tells his wife about Gloria's death and announces that he is leaving to "find my pride."
Cast
- Elizabeth TaylorElizabeth TaylorDame Elizabeth Rosemond "Liz" Taylor, DBE was a British-American actress. From her early years as a child star with MGM, she became one of the great screen actresses of Hollywood's Golden Age...
as Gloria Wandrous - Laurence HarveyLaurence HarveyLaurence Harvey was a Lithuanian-born actor who achieved fame in British and American films.- Early life :Harvey maintained throughout his life that his birth name was Laruschka Mischa Skikne. However, his legal name was Zvi Mosheh Skikne. He was the youngest of three boys born to Ber "Boris" and...
as Weston Liggett - Eddie FisherEddie Fisher (singer)Edwin Jack "Eddie" Fisher , was an American entertainer. He was one of the world's most famous and successful singers in the 1950s, selling millions of records and hosting his own TV show. His divorce from his first wife, Debbie Reynolds, to marry his best friend's widow, Elizabeth Taylor, garnered...
as Steve Carpenter - Dina MerrillDina Merrill-Early life:Merrill was born Nedenia Marjorie Hutton in New York City, New York, the only child of Post Cereals heiress Marjorie Merriweather Post and her second husband, Wall Street stockbroker Edward Francis Hutton...
as Emily Liggett - Mildred DunnockMildred DunnockMildred Dunnock was an American theater, film and television actress.- Early life :Born in Baltimore, Maryland and graduated from Western Senior High School, Dunnock was a school teacher who did not start acting until she was in her early thirties...
as Mrs. Wandrous - Betty FieldBetty FieldBetty Field was an American film and stage actress. Through her father, she was a direct descendant of the Pilgrims John Alden and Priscilla Mullins....
as Fanny Thurber - Jeffrey LynnJeffrey LynnJeffrey Lynn was an American actor.Born Ragnar Lind in Auburn, Massachusetts, Lynn was a school teacher before he began his acting career. He came to Hollywood and made his film debut in Out Where the Stars Begin...
as Bingham Smith - Kay MedfordKay MedfordKay Medford , was an American character actress and comedienne.She was born Margaret Kathleen O'Regan in New York City to James and Mary O'Regan, first-generation Irish-American parents, both of whom had died by the time she was 15 years old...
as Happy - Susan OliverSusan OliverSusan Oliver was an American actress, television director and aviator.-Early life and family:Susan Oliver was born Charlotte Gercke, the daughter of journalist George Gercke and astrology practitioner Ruth Hale Oliver, in New York City in 1932. Her parents divorced when she was still a child...
as Norma - George Voskovec as Dr. Tredman
Production
Parts of this film were filmed on City Island, BronxCity Island, Bronx
City Island is a small island approximately 1.5 mi long by .5 mi wide. At one time attached to the town of Pelham, Westchester County, it is now part of the New York City borough of the Bronx. As of the 2000 census the island had a population of 4,520. Its land area is 1.023 km²...
. Studio shots were at Chelsea Studios
Chelsea Studios
Chelsea Studios is a television studio and sound stage at 221 West 26th Street in the Chelsea neighborhood of New York City.-History:The building was originally an armory that was home to Ninth Mounted Calvary which moved to 14th Street in 1914....
.
Elizabeth Taylor and her then-husband Eddie Fisher
Eddie Fisher
Edward Fisher may refer to:* Ed Fisher , American baseball player* Eddie Fisher , American singer* Eddie Fisher , American player* Ed Fisher , player...
hated the film, referring to it as 'Butterball Four'. Her now-famous response to the success of the film, made under protest in order to fulfill a contractual obligation to MGM
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc. is an American media company, involved primarily in the production and distribution of films and television programs. MGM was founded in 1924 when the entertainment entrepreneur Marcus Loew gained control of Metro Pictures, Goldwyn Pictures Corporation and Louis B. Mayer...
before being allowed to depart to 20th Century Fox
20th Century Fox
Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation — also known as 20th Century Fox, or simply 20th or Fox — is one of the six major American film studios...
to make Cleopatra
Cleopatra (1963 film)
Cleopatra is a 1963 British-American-Swiss epic drama film directed by Joseph L. Mankiewicz. The screenplay was adapted by Sidney Buchman, Ben Hecht, Ranald MacDougall, and Mankiewicz from a book by Carlo Maria Franzero. The film starred Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton, Rex Harrison, Roddy...
: "I still say it stinks." Elizabeth reportedly hated the film because, at the time of its making, she was not only being tied down to the project by the studio, but also because due to her "stealing" Eddie Fisher
Eddie Fisher
Edward Fisher may refer to:* Ed Fisher , American baseball player* Eddie Fisher , American singer* Eddie Fisher , American player* Ed Fisher , player...
away from his then-wife Debbie Reynolds
Debbie Reynolds
Debbie Reynolds is an American actress, singer, and dancer.She was initially signed at age 16 by Warner Bros., but her career got off to a slow start. When her contract was not renewed, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer gave her a small, but significant part in the film Three Little Words , then signed her to...
she was referred to as a "slut" and a "homewrecker" by US fans, which is exactly what her character, Gloria, was based on.
Awards
Taylor won the 1960 Academy Award for Best ActressAcademy Award for Best Actress
Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role is one of the Academy Awards of merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize an actress who has delivered an outstanding performance while working within the film industry...
for her portrayal of Gloria Wandrous; the film was also nominated for Best Cinematography, Color
Academy Award for Best Cinematography
The Academy Award for Best Cinematography is an Academy Award awarded each year to a cinematographer for work in one particular motion picture.-History:...
that year. Taylor was also nominated for the 1960 Best Actress - Drama Golden Globe Award
Golden Globe Award
The Golden Globe Award is an accolade bestowed by the 93 members of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association recognizing excellence in film and television, both domestic and foreign...
for the same role.