SALLY SAGE

Wairarapa Times-Age, 27 December 1940, Page 9

SALLY SAGE

STAND-IN FOR BETTE DAVIS. The proudest young woman in Hollywood is no star or famous actress, but a little stand-in named Sally Sage, and she is proud because, to use her own words, “I am stand-in for a queen and two Academy Awards.” Miss Sage is stand-in for Bette Davis, queen of the screen’s dramatic stars, and she is as proud as if she were the actress herself. Miss Sage told me that Bette was the most considerate person in the world to work for, never getting temperamental, and scorning the “grand dame” and “I am the star” manner affected by so many of Hollywood’s cinema queens.

The best example of Miss Davis’s thoughtfulness for her stand-in occurred during the filming of “Jezebel.” They were shooting scenes in the

swamps, and Sally was supposed to stand in the centre of the studio-made swamp in slush and mud to her knees while camera and lights were focussed. This, as you probably know, is the main part of a stand-in’s job. It saves wear and tear on the star, and gives her a rest between “takes” and scenes.

“I was just about to wade into the pool of slush,” Sally told me, “when Bette walked on the set for the first scene of the day. . “As soon as she saw what I had to do she objected strenuously. She told Director Willie Wyler that she would do her own standing-in for the swamp scenes. She said she could see no earthly reason why I should get all wet and dirty and then have to sit around all day in my wet things, when she had to go into the slush to act in the scene. “There was quite an uproar, but, over the objections of Wyler and the producer, and the rest of the cast, Bette just waded into the pool and ended all the arguments. She stood there for 30 minutes while everything was adjusted, and then stood there for another 30 minutes or more while the actual scene was shot.”

Sally Page watches intently every scene Bette makes, and gets annoyed when the director is not quite satisfied with each “take” Miss Davis makes.

Miss Sage has very good reason to be devoted to Miss Davis, because Bette insisted some time ago that she be placed under contract with her at a (straight salary of £lO a week for 52 weeks a year. This means that Sally draws her salary whether Miss Davis is working or not. Usually she is used in small parts in other pictures when she has no stand-in work to do. Sally has no ambitions to be an actress, although Miss Davis has offered to coach her. She is quite happy to be stand-in for Miss Davis, and enjoy the security of a guaranteed salary. She said if she were an actress she would want to be as great as her heroine, and she knows that is impossible. Bette never forgets her birthday, and always gives her useful presents a' Christmas and New Year. Miss Davis has a real affection for her pretty little stand-in, and shows it in a . thousand little ways. If she is sick, she sends her home and does her own standingin, and sees that Sally has the bes! medical care without cost to the standin.

They are not at all like eacn othei in looks, and Sally actually has to darken her very blonde hair with a dark net veil to match Miss Davis’s hair for lighting tests. Her colouring is so much lighter than Bette’s that another standin has to be used if Miss Davis if making a colour picture. But Bette sees that Sally’s salary continues jus! the same.