Lauren Bacall and Humphrey Bogart fell in love on the set of To Have and Have Not in 1944 and were together until his death in 1957. The marriage was blissful, but it required Bacall to put her own acting career on the back burner. When her beloved Bogie died, Bacall was just 32 years old, and at first, she was totally adrift, both personally and professionally. This is the story of how Bacall spent the remaining 57 years of her life, from the disastrous rebound affair with Frank Sinatra to the almost as misbegotten second marriage, from her midlife reinvention as a musical theater star to her lifelong struggle to find a balance between being Mrs. So-and-So, and being Lauren Bacall.
Show notes!
I researched this episode concurrently with last week’s episode, so there’s not much more to report on the sources front, other than this Guardian article. Bacall herself left behind a goldmine in her memoirs, By Myself (which was updated about ten years ago with a new chapter, and re-released as By Myself and Then Some), and Now. Ordinarily I wouldn’t want to use a subjects own autobiographies as my primary sources, but Bacall’s voice is so strong, and her point of view mostly so clear (except for her occasionally blinkered view of her first marriage, but she basically cops to being to blinded by love that she couldn’t report on that objectively, so whatever) that it seemed like the best idea. Also, she just died, and it seemed like the best tribute to her would be to showcase her side of the story.
Discography:
“Preludes for Piano No. 2″ by George Gershwin
“An American in Paris” by George Gershwin
“After Parties” by DNTEL
“Welcome to Heartbreak” by Kanye West
“Dances and Dames” by Kevin MacLeod
“Prelude No. 21″ by Chris Zabriskie
“Erik’s Song” by Slowdive
“The Future” performed by Frank Sinatra
“looped” by Jahzzar
“The Best is Yet to Come” performed by Frank Sinatra
“For Better or Worse” by Kai Engel
“Dance of the Stargazer” by US Army Blues
“Single” by Everything but the Girl
“Quasi Motion” by Kevin MacLeod
“Autumn in New York” performed by Chet Baker
“Divider” by Chris Zabriskie
“Benbient” by canton
“Welcome to the Theater” from Applause, performed by Lauren Bacall
“Tikopia” by Kevin MacLeod
“Mesmerizing” by Liz Phair
“Cylinder One” by Chris Zabriskie
“Empty Bottles” by Magik Markers