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• 1 2015-04-27T10:27:21-07:00 Owning the Image I: Chasing New Screen Identities 4 text 2015-04-29T11:26:29-07:00      In her 1980 autobiography By Myself, Bacall discussed the implications on her career of her 1945 marriage to Humphrey Bogart. After her contract was sold to Warner Bros., Bacall received steady work in various roles similar to the one she successfully portrayed in To Have and Have Not, but the actress was often at war with the studio over the right to choose which of those roles she would play. As she noted in a 1957 interview with Hedda Hopper, she was on suspension eight times in her seven-year run at the studio, including a maternity leave in 1948 that was considered an “absence due to incapacity” by executives. Eventually, after several years of poorly received performances in less-than-stellar productions, Bacall and Bogart paid the studio $50,000 to buy out her contract in 1951.       In the 1950s, Bacall made headlines mainly in relation to her marriage and their involvement in numerous star-studded Hollywood circles. In 1951, she accompanied her husband on location as part of the production of John Huston’s African Queen, which garnered the actor his first and only Oscar. In her own right, the actress made only a handful of successful films during the decade, including How to Marry a Millionaire, in which she received third billing after superstar Marilyn Monroe and former pinup Betty Grable, and Designing Woman, her first film released after Bogart’s death.      This did not mean, however, that Bacall didn’t try to further her career independently in this decade. Producer-writer Joseph Mankiewicz received the following letter in August 1954, as he prepared to make final casting decisions for Paramount’s screen adaptation of Guys and Dolls:

  Dear Joe,

  Never having done this before I’m not quite sure how to begin. Simple and to the point is I suppose the best way. Of course it’s about ‘Guys and Dolls’ and Miss Adelaide. Don’t know if you have any preconceived ideas – but either way it won’t hurt to add another. I’d love to play the part and would very much appreciate it if you’d give me some thought. And having started off with one half of the family don’t you think you ought to take a stab at the other? I’d work hard as well. So mull it over in your mind please and let me know what you think.

  Bacall