Fact1: Margo 's close friend brings in besotted fan to meet After performance of Margo 's latest play Margo, Fact2: Margo tells moving story of growing poor in Wisconsin and losing young husband in World War II, Fact3: Eve taking bow to empty theatre while pretending to wear Margo 's costume for Aged in Wood, Fact4: Karen In hopes of arranges to miss performance of Aged in Wood Margo, Fact5: column criticizes Margo for not making way for Eve
Output: Margo Channing Bette Davis is one of the biggest stars on Broadway. But having just turned forty she is worried about what her advancing age will mean for her career. After a performance of Margos latest play, Aged in Wood, Margos close friend Karen Richards Celeste Holm, wife of the plays author Lloyd Richards Hugh Marlowe, brings in a besotted fan, Eve Harrington Anne Baxter, to meet Margo. Eve tells the group gathered in Margos dressing room—Karen, Lloyd, Margos boyfriend Bill Sampson Gary Merrill, a director who is eight years her junior, and Margos maid Birdie Thelma Ritter—that she followed Margos last theatrical tour to New York after seeing her perform in San Francisco. She tells a moving story of growing up poor in Wisconsin and losing her young husband in World War II. Moved, Margo quickly befriends Eve, takes her into her home, and hires her as her assistant, leaving Birdie, who instinctively dislikes Eve, feeling put out. Eve quickly insinuates herself into Margos life, acting as her secretary and adoring fan. She seems to anticipate Margos every need, including placing a longdistance phone call to Bill when Margo forgets his birthday. Margo becomes increasingly distrustful and bitter, particularly after she catches Eve taking a bow to an empty theatre while pretending to wear Margos costume for Aged in Wood. Margo asks her producer, Max Fabian, to hire Eve at his office, but instead Eve manages to become Margos understudy without Margos knowledge. As Margos irritation grows, Karen feels sorry for Eve. In hopes of humbling Margo, Karen arranges for her to miss a performance of Aged in Wood, so Eve will have to give the performance in her place. Eve invites the citys theatre critics, including the acerbic Addison DeWitt George Sanders, to attend that evenings performance, which is a triumph for her. After that evenings performance, Eve tries to seduce Bill, but he rejects her. Instead, Addison takes her under his wing and writes a column that criticizes Margo for not making way for new talents like Eve. That evening, Margo and Bill announce their engagement at dinner with the Richardses in the Cub Room of the Stork Club. Eve calls Karen, who was dining at a nearby table with DeWitt, into the ladies room and tells her to either ask Lloyd to give her the part of Cora—the lead in Lloyds next play, Footsteps on the Ceiling—or she will reveal Karens role in Margos missed performance. Before Karen can talk with Lloyd, Margo announces to everyones surprise that she does not wish to play Cora and would prefer to continue in Aged in Wood. Eve is cast as Cora. Just before the outoftown premiere of Footsteps on the Ceiling at the Shubert in New Haven, Eve presents Addison with her next plan: to marry Lloyd, who, she claims, has come to her professing his love and his eagerness to leave his wife for her. Now, Eve exults, Lloyd will write brilliant plays showcasing her. Angered that Eve believes she can manipulate him as easily as she does everyone else, Addison reveals he knows that her back story is all lies. Her real name is Gertrude Slescynski, she was never married, and she had been paid to leave her hometown over an affair with her boss, a brewer in Wisconsin. Addison blackmails Eve, informing her that she will not be marrying Lloyd or anyone else; in exchange for Addisons silence, she now belongs to him. A year later, Eve is a shining Broadway star headed for Hollywood. At an awards banquet, she thanks Margo, Bill, Lloyd and Karen with characteristic effusion, while all four stare back at her coldly. Eve skips a party in her honor, and returns home alone, where she encounters Phoebe Barbara Bates—a highschoolaged fan—who has slipped into her apartment and fallen asleep. The young girl professes her adoration and begins at once to insinuate herself into Eves life, offering to pack Eves trunk for Hollywood. While Eve rests in the other room, Phoebe dons the elegant robe that Eve wore to the banquet and poses in front of a multipaned mirror, holding the award as if it were a crown.