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Across the Water
Tallulah's eight-year London success in various plays was a triumph and she finally achieved the fame that she so desperately wanted. London embraced Tallulah the minute she stepped on the stage in The Dancers. Wearing a buckskin dress,
Photographed by George Hoyningen-Huene in London, 1929.a feathered headdress and her thick golden hair falling to her knees, Tallulah was an exotic vision like they had never seen before. Tallulah's most fervent fans were young working class women. To them, Tallulah was the embodiment of their fantasies - a fashionable, beautiful girl living a glamorous life. The fans became somewhat of a cult, copying and emulating Tallulah's dress, hair and personality. They waited outside the theater forty-eight hours in advance of a new Tallulah opening. They attended her plays several times a week and never missed a premiere or a closing. They would become ecstatic when Tallulah appeared on stage, cheering wilding and chanting "Tallulah, Tallulah" or "Tallulah Hallelujah". The press wrote about them frequently and even gave them a name - "gallery girls".
Tallulah herself was an "accessible" icon. She reveled in her fans' idolatry and always acknowledged them, on-stage or off. She would blow them kisses from the stage and utter "thank you, dahlings", which would result in even more cheering. After a performance, Tallulah would greet her fans, sign autographs, chat with them and inquire about their family and loved ones. Sometimes, she would even invite them to her dressing room or to her home for a visit. One of the devoted gallery girls, Edie Smith, became a Tallulah employee and was with her for over thirty years.
In a foreign country and far away from the prying eyes of her family, Tallulah's outrageous antics grew even wilder. She continued to visit Napier, even though their romantic relationship had waned. Napier introduced Tallulah to Olga Lynn, a former Opera singer and now voice coach, and Lynn offered Tallulah her home to live in for a while. Tallulah luxuriated in Lynn's posh surroundings, complete with an army of servants. Lynn was a frequent entertainer and her home was always filled with famous personalities and dignitaries. Tallulah charmed them all.
Tallulah eventually bought her own house in the Mayfair section of London. Just like Lynn, Tallulah insisted on a menagerie of "servants". In Tallulah's house, however, they were less formal and were paid to be on hand to do any and everything for Tallulah, the most important requirement function being a companion and an ear to Tallulah's mouth, which never stopped.
Tallulah also bought herself a Bentley, which she loved to drive. She wasn't that good with directions, however, and constantly found herself lost in the London streets. She would telephone a taxi-cab and pay the driver to drive to her destination while she followed behind in her car. The press loved it.
Promiscuity came naturally to Tallulah and she went to bed with anyone who was interested. She professed to having a ravenous appetite for sex, but not for a particular type. "I've tried several varieties of sex. The conventional position makes me claustrophobic. And the others give me either stiff neck or lockjaw", she said. Once, at a party, one of her friends brought along a young man who boldly told Tallulah that he wanted to make love to her that night. She didn't bat an eye and said, "And so you shall, you wonderful old-fashioned boy."
She did conduct affairs with several men, but none of them were lengthy. The most serious was with Anthony de Bosdari, an Italian businessman she met while on tour with Her Cardboard Lover. They even became engaged, but this was soon called off when Tallulah caught her fiancé in several lies and correctly deduced that she was being used.
On the professional front, Tallulah triumphed. She appeared in twenty-four plays while in London, and there was not a season that she wasn't in a production. Although most of her plays were critically lambasted, they remained open due to Tallulah's tremendous popularity. When she did perform in highbrow fare, like Sidney Howard's They Knew What They Wanted, she succeeded, winning accolades from the critics if not from the gallery girls.
There was one role that Tallulah desperately wanted, but didn't get - Sadie Thompson in Rain. She campaigned heavily for the role and even flew back to the United States to audition for Somerset Maugham, the play's author. She was devastated when she heard that she had lost the role. She retreated to her room, closed the shutters, put on her Sadie Thompson costume and a jazz record, and took a handful of aspirin. Before lying down, she wrote a note - "It ain't going to rain no moh". She awoke the next morning feeling better than she had in months. (Tallulah would eventually get to play Sadie in the United States).
Tallulah had certainly made her mark on the London stage by the end of the decade. In a magazine poll, she was chosen as one of the most remarkable women in England, right up there with Lady Astor and the Queen. In 1929, her portrait was painted by the famed Augustus Johns and it was acclaimed as one of his best works.
Her star had certainly not dimmed since she had made her debut in 1923, but her finances had. She had never fully grasped the pound-to-dollar ratio and she spent her money freely. She also found herself in deep debt to the government for back taxes. In the Fall of 1930, Tallulah received a lucrative offer from Parmount Studios in Hollywood. It was too good to pass up. She gave a huge party and reluctantly said her farewells to her English friends and sailed for New York in January of 1931.
