Best 'BUtterfield 8' Moments from Taylor & O’Hara

Elizabeth Taylor wakes up to MGM's "BUtterfield 8!"

If Elizabeth Taylor wasn’t the star, would 1960’s BUtterfield 8 be worth watching at all? While the sexy soap opera has curiosity value, the movie was made for one reason—MGM wanted to cash in on its star, before Taylor checked out of her long-time studio.

BUtterfield 8 isn’t a great movie—or even a good one, in reality. The slick saga of a sinner has been routinely scorned, with no revisionist reappraisals. Elizabeth Taylor’s performance, though mostly praised upon its release, has since been overshadowed by her sympathy Oscar win, for nearly dying of pneumonia that year. Even the John O’Hara novel gets a knee jerk reaction as trashy, though it’s one of his best books.

A rare happy moment between the happy couple of 'BUtterfield 8.'
Even then, Harvey's Weston Ligget has a pouty moment!

Despite controversy and criticism, BUtterfield 8 is worth watching: as a look at sexual attitudes of the Playboy generation; as how morally two-faced filmmaking was in mid-century Hollywood; and especially, as proof of star power, pulling in audiences with a weak vehicle.

MGM played up the connection between O'Hara's Gloria Wandrous & Hollywood's Elizabeth Taylor to sell the movie.

The back story to BUtterfield 8: Elizabeth had shot to superstardom with WB’s Giant in 1956, but was still working off a measly contract with MGM. When Taylor married showman Mike Todd, they forced Metro to agree that 1958’s Cat on a Hot Tin Roof would be her last film for them. Todd famously died in a plane crash that year—and guess what? The gentleman’s agreement between Mike and Metro went poof! MGM let Taylor make Suddenly, Last Summer as a freelancer, but when she started negotiations for Cleopatra, Metro reminded Taylor that she owed them one more film for $125,000—not quite the million she was angling for Cleo. When Elizabeth asked MGM head of production Sol Siegel if this was anyway to end an 18 year relationship, he famously replied, ‘Fortunately, or unfortunately, Miss Taylor, sentiment went out of this business a long time ago.’ That quote illustrates why Taylor became such a tough customer to studios, as an independent star.

Elizabeth Taylor's message to MGM, when forced to make 'BUtterfield 8,' or to sit off-screen
for two years?

Another reason MGM was so hot to get another movie out of Taylor is because she had become a bigger star than ever, with the legendary Liz-Eddie-Debbie scandal. I once read that MGM offered Elizabeth three scripts in a row for that last film role—all prostitutes. If you look at Metro’s miniscule 1961film releases during this time, it’s not hard to figure out the other two flicks: Ada was a southern hooker who ends up a politician’s wife. This epic would surely have come back to haunt Elizabeth when she later became a Republican senator’s wife! Susan Hayward, 15 years older than Taylor, played the tough hooker. The other, demurely titled Go Naked in the World, went to Gina Lollobrigida as a hooker who falls for prodigal son Tony Franciosa, only to find out blustering Greek tycoon Ernest Borgnine was one of her best customers! For those who think BUtterfield 8 was bad, just imagine Elizabeth stuck in one of these clunkers.

John O' Hara's second novel captures an era.

What’s a pity was that BUtterfield 8 is based on one of John O’Hara’s most praised novels. Set in early ‘30s New York City, post-stock market crash era, looks at the last days of a notorious party girl, Gloria Wandrous. And if you think Gloria’s name is a bit much, she was based on Starr Faithfull, who died young, under mysterious circumstances. The story is surprisingly sympathetic toward the heroine and is a sharp snapshot of an era.

Gloria Wandrous from the BUtterfield 8 novel and her real-life inspiration Starr Faithful are routinely described as a call girl, prostitute, or nymphomaniac. There is no evidence that Starr Faithful was a prostitute; nor is Gloria Wandrous described as a call girl in the novel. Starr and Gloria were both promiscuous, stemming from issues of molestation as a child. I’m no sex therapist, but female promiscuity isn’t the same as nymphomania, is it? The movie is ambiguous over Gloria’s morals and how she makes a living. She fusses over “taking money” for a torn dress. Her character is unashamedly sexual, so she must be a nympho, right?

Taylor & Harvey laugh with director Daniel Mann. It's been said ET didn't like Mann,
but I've lots of happy shots like these. 

However, the script Elizabeth received was modernized and turned into a voyeuristic soap opera that capitalized on her own personal scandal. Taylor’s defiance at being forced to perform in BUtterfield 8 actually worked for the role of wild child Gloria. Long-time MGM producer Pandro S. Berman made Elizabeth a star in National Velvet 15 years prior.  Berman knew that despite her threats, Taylor’s professionalism had been drummed into her head starting at age 10 by Metro and Sara, her stage mother. Berman told ET: “Play this and you’ll win the Oscar.”

I recall watching the Oscars back in ’77, when Berman was given the honorary Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award, they ran clips from the producer’s long career. When snippets of BUtterfield 8 with Taylor were shown, there was a ripple of laughter from the audience—that’s how legendary the feud between the producer and his star had become. Ironically, the big winner of the night was Network’s Paddy Chayefsky, a friend of Elizabeth’s who did some rewrites for BUtterfield 8 as a favor. When Taylor presented the revisions to Berman, he tossed them in a waste paper basket without even looking. According to the producer, Taylor flew off the sofa, ready to claw his eyes out. Personally, I think Pandro saw their prior collaboration, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, a few too many times!

Elizabeth Taylor as a bad brunette & Dina Merrill as a pure blonde at odds over bad boy Laurence Harvey.

What’s amazing is how the MGM script throws Elizabeth’s tabloid notoriety in her face under the guise of Gloria getting flack. In the novel, the other characters do not insult Gloria for her supposed lack of morals. And in the text version, Gloria knows she is deeply troubled, but she’s not teary and ashamed, like Taylor’s Wandrous in the last half of the film.

Like so many movies from the first half of the ‘60s, BUtterfield 8 has one foot stuck in the fuddy-duddy ‘50s while trying to swing with the ‘60s. The film feels contradictory because it’s hypocritical. First, BUtterfield 8 salivates over Gloria’s “sinning” and later slams her for it, by humiliating and punishing her. Once Gloria falls in love, she’s in misery. The screenwriters are forced by the censors to fall back on the old cliché: once a whore, always a whore.

No sale! This was how MGM was selling ET post Liz-Eddie-Debbie scandal.

As for Taylor’s “sympathy” Oscar, won after having almost died six weeks prior to the ceremony— obviously the star won out of sentiment. What’s been forgotten: Elizabeth was nominated for playing Gloria Wandrous before she was near death. And that BUtterfield 8 was MGM’s biggest grossing movie of 1960. The Academy, especially then, liked nominating box office hits. Also, Elizabeth got mostly good personal reviews—and it was widely known that Taylor was forced to play her part. This was Taylor’s fourth consecutive Oscar nomination, after career-changing Giant: Raintree County; Cat on a Hot Tin Roof; Suddenly, Last Summer; and now BUtterfield 8. Maybe Shirley MacLaine should have won for The Apartment, but Taylor’s win wasn’t a total head scratcher. Robert Osborne compared Taylor’s win to when Bette Davis won a consolation Oscar for 1935’s Dangerous—anyone remember that classic?—when Davis was famously overlooked for her career-defining Of Human Bondage. Davis put over Dangerous, much like Taylor enlivens BUtterfield 8.

Shaky Elizabeth Taylor accepted her Oscar only six weeks after nearly dying.

A testimony to Taylor’s drawing power was that—despite people who wrote to fan mags, columnists, and MGM, swearing they’d never see an Elizabeth Taylor picture again—moviegoers flocked to her films. It didn’t matter whether it was artistic fare like Taylor’s Tennessee Williams, Edward Albee, or Shakespeare adaptations, or sudsy cinema that played off her personal life, like BUtterfield 8, The VIPS, or The Sandpiper. In that sense, the public was just as hypocritical as MGM.

I’ve always heard that the movie version of BUtterfield 8was totally different from O’Hara’s novel. Frankly, in an era when the studios bought novels for their premise only or a Broadway musical for a couple of hit songs, I was surprised that even the framework of the novel made onscreen. Aside from the updated era, the movie’s attitude is what’s so different from the novel. It’s too bad the 1935 book feels more mature and three-dimensional than the 1960 film.

The dense atmosphere of the novel is lost in the film update, yet BUtterfield 8 offers a glossy snapshot of sex in the Playboy era. Participants play like they’re swingers, but there’s lots of ‘50s Hollywood guilt attached, especially for the woman. Gloria’s married lover Weston Liggett comes off like a sourpuss version of Mad Men’s Don Draper, jealous, judgmental, and berating Gloria for her behavior, which is the same as his—except she’s not judging. BUtterfield 8 now seems ironic, since this was how Elizabeth Taylor was judged at the time. Everyone in the movie takes potshots at Gloria/Elizabeth, with the cast voicing what a segment of the audience was probably thinking about the star. Taylor was routinely referred to as a home wrecker, but Eddie Fisher, who left his wife and children, was just viewed as helpless.

'Peyton Place' stars Mildred Dunnock & Betty Field spend most of their time in 'BUtterfield 8' gossiping about Gloria.

As for the acting, Elizabeth is especially zingy as the unrepentant party girl. When the script has Gloria go from lust to love, the movie becomes a sappy soap opera. Taylor tries to inject pathos into the part, but she must contend with the scriptwriters making Gloria character traits change on a dime. BUtterfield 8 has a terrific supporting cast, but they’re all archetypes or stereotypes: Dina Merrill as Emily Liggett, a nicer Betty Draper; Susan Oliver as Norma, the jealous girlfriend; Mildred Dunnock as Gloria’s mother in denial; Betty Field as Mrs. Wandrous’ snarky best friend; and Kay Medford as “Happy,” the one hour motel owner.

Laurence Harvey as married cad Weston Liggett, played with charm that made Larry the ideal 'Manchurian Candidate.'

The two men in Gloria’s life are hopeless. Laurence Harvey was a charming party boy off-camera and became instant friends with Elizabeth Taylor. In his heyday, Harvey always played the sneering heel. As Weston Liggett, Harvey looks sleek as the rich ne’er-do-well, but his supercilious disposition becomes borderline psychotic. Why a fiery, fun girl like Gloria would give the film Weston the time of day, much less her phone number, is beyond me. Harvey always seemed to be rehearsing for The Manchurian Candidate! Eddie Fisher, whose character was named Eddie in the novel, is changed to Steve for the film. Either way, Fisher is lethargic and dour, and hard to imagine why Gloria has remained life-long friends with this lackluster pal.

Elizabeth Taylor as Gloria gets some advice from 'Happy' the motel owner, zesty Kay Medford.

As for the film itself, Daniel Mann directs competently if not excitingly. For those who say that BUtterfield 8 is a bore, I’d say that’s half true. The film has some memorable moments, mainly in the first half: the opening near-silent scenes of Gloria’s ‘morning after’; Gloria scrawling ‘No Sale!’ in lipstick on her lover’s mirror; Taylor in a slip, covered only by a mink; Wandrous and Liggett’s sparring in a cocktail lounge, capped by her grinding a stiletto into his instep; Gloria’s repartee with her pal’s fiancée and her mother’s best friend; Gloria and Mrs. Wandrous’ confrontation, capped by Taylor crying, ‘Face it, Mama. I was the slut of all time!;’ Liggett’s nasty showdown with Gloria in the bar over the mink coat; Gloria’s childhood confession to pal Steve; and of course, Gloria’s red sports car crashing over an embankment.

Yes, the film drags once Gloria finds love, but not happiness. The movie’s muddled morals make for confusing character development. Blame MGM and the censors for that.

 BUtterfield 8 may not be great, but not because of Elizabeth Taylor or John O’Hara. Taylor’s herculean efforts and O’Hara’s intriguing heroine makes BUtterfield 8 worth a watch.

Eddie & Elizabeth to Susan Oliver: Did anyone ever tell you that you look like Debbie Reynolds?!

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