Bette Davis in Town All Summer

From the Queen of Free

OMGGS!

Bette Davis FOR FREE!

National Theatre at 1321 Pennsylvania Avenue is hosting a Bette Davis Film Festival all summer long. How gracious of it! (Why do theatres do this?)

But, hold on, you don't sit in the theatre. Read below.

"Now, Voyager" played June 2. Just divine, Ms. BD. Extensive, I mean, extensive notes on the movie were distributed beforehand along with a good one-page biography on Ms.D.

Upcoming: "The Little Foxes" (June 9), "Marked Woman" (June 16), "Jezebel" (July 7), "Dark Victory" (July 14), "The Letter" (July 21), "All About Eve" (July 28), "Mr. Skeffington" (Aug. 4), "Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?"(my favorite when I was 13 years old) (August 11)

If you go thinking you'll be sitting in the theatre, do think again. The movies play in the mezzanine where seating is, the positively hardest you can imagine: on the plastic chairs found at CVS. Take a pillow!

Anyway, to BD aficionados, this is paradise, or almost. The screen's not full but me thinketh I doeth complaineth too much. After all, BD is free...on the screen.

Get there early (before 6 p.m when tickets are distributed) to stand in line and get your ticket. Open seating began around 6:15 p.m. for the show at 6:30 p.m. No food or drink. Sitting in the front is the best, at least, in my opinion since seating is not elevated.

The crowd: Mixed race and gender; average age: 50; dress: whatever.

About 60 persons attended. Some seats were empty. Thank you, National Theatre!