James Wilson on a not-so-silent screen star’s day in court
The film The Artist has recently given us a superb portrayal of a watershed time in Hollywood history. Not to be outdone, the English law reports of the day contain another.
Young starlet
In 1931 a young American actress achieved every aspiring thespian’s dream: a contract with a major Hollywood studio. She was not particularly well-known at the time, but soon gained critical and commercial acclaim, enabling her to renegotiate her contract on more favourable terms a few years later.
Nevertheless, she became disillusioned with the standard of roles she was being asked to play, and eventually moved to London to escape the punitive (as she saw it) terms of the contract. The studio, Warner Bros, took exception, and applied for an injunction in the English courts to prevent her from committing any breach. The actress defended the case under her married name of Ruth Nelson, but by then was known to all by her stage name: Bette Davis.
Exclusive deal
Her contract was in the standard form under the old Hollywood
