@HoneyWest said:

You can watch the actual performance here... they really nailed the the set and wardrobe and Susan the performance!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WIkwjXY7Nvw

Wow. Poor Bette looked so horrifically uncomfortable, but you have to give her credit for being game and pushing herself. And listening to the real version (as opposed to the edited one on Feud), you can hear that the song is more than a simple ditty meant to capitalize on a hit movie but actually sends a message. Funny, for all these years I never once thought about "Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?" as having a socio-political subtext; I always considered it a cheesy, campy, quasi-horror B movie with two has-beens.

What an embarassing performance. But at least Bette tried. Joan was a better singer and dancer. Joan even danced with Fred Astaire.

Unfortunately Joan wanted nothing to do with pushing the movie. She might have been able to do something with that awful song.

@Dedoc1967 said:

@HoneyWest said:

You can watch the actual performance here... they really nailed the the set and wardrobe and Susan the performance!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WIkwjXY7Nvw

Wow. Poor Bette looked so horrifically uncomfortable, but you have to give her credit for being game and pushing herself. And listening to the real version (as opposed to the edited one on Feud), you can hear that the song is more than a simple ditty meant to capitalize on a hit movie but actually sends a message. Funny, for all these years I never once thought about "Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?" as having a socio-political subtext; I always considered it a cheesy, campy, quasi-horror B movie with two has-beens.

This movie was on TCM a few weeks ago. I recorded it and watched it the other day. I've always loved this film. Both actresses gave wonderful performances and while I've always loved watching Joan Crawford, Bette was far superior in her role as Baby Jane. She really captured the nuances of her character, and you see how emotionally stunted she became. The loss of Baby Jane's father hit her hard and she never recovered from that, and her singing that song mirrors her feelings. When she was a child, she just sang the song kind of as a tribute to her father, but after her father died, the song became her only way to feel his presence again and connect in some way with him.

It's funny, I know technically this movie is considered part of the horror genre, but I've never seen it that way. I always just thought of it as a drama. A dark drama, but still a drama.

Anyway, They both gave awesome performances, and the characters Blanche and Jane were equally abusive to each other. They fed off each other and became dependent on each other.

And the ending was just sad on so many levels.