In a role that could be difficult to make interesting—wife of a playwright, best friend of a famous actress, part of the theatre by marriage—Celeste Holm creates a complex and mostly sympathetic character. Protected from the exigencies of the workaday world by her wealth and marriage, Karen’s fur coat is a symbol of this cushioning effect. She is rarely without it, snuggling into it even to attempt to hide her trick with the petrol - from Margo, and herself, in the scene in the car. In a delightful exchange, she compares her coat with the sable coat belonging to the star who stayed so briefly at Bill’s party. Clothes not only create personae to face the world, but also to indicate where one’s place in the world is. Instead of guarding Margo’s inner sanctum against intruders, Karen provides access for Eve. An outsider in some ways herself, this could explain why she betrays Margo later. • What really were her motives in causing Margo to miss a performance? • What is the significance of the scene in the Ladies’ Room with Eve? • How meaningful is Karen’s life? • Is it accurate to describe her as a ‘trophy’ wife? • The script describes Karen’s face as ‘lovely’. She is always perfectly groomed. Margo, on the other hand, is not. What is suggested by this? • Analyse the scene where she is painting? What choices does she have? • Has anything changed for Karen by the end of the film? VATE INSIDE STORIES 2014—ALL ABOUT EVE
KEY QUOTES: KAREN RICHARDS • "Then stop being a star. And stop treating your guests as your supporting cast...It's about time Margo realized that what's attractive on stage need not necessarily be attractive off." • [to Eve, who is upset] "The reason is Margo, and don't try to figure it out. Einstein couldn't." • "That boot in the rear to Margo. Heaven knows she had one coming. From me, from Lloyd, from Eve, Bill, Max, and so on. We'd all felt those size 5's of hers often enough." • "It would all seem perfectly legitimate. And there were only two people in the world who would know." • "...the boot would land where it would do the most good for all concerned." • "...it was no more than a perfectly harmless joke that Margo herself would be the first to enjoy. And no reason why she shouldn't be told about it - in time." • "That cynicism you refer to I acquired the day I discovered I was different from little boys." • "Lloyd never got around somehow to asking whether it was all right with me for Eve to play Cora." • " I'd never known Bill and Lloyd to fight as bitterly and often and always over some business for Eve... I'd never known Lloyd to meddle as much with Bill's directing" • " It seemed to me I had known always that it would happen, and here it was. I felt helpless, that helplessness you feel when you have no talent to offer - outside of loving your husband. How could I compete? Everything Lloyd loved about me, he had gotten used to long ago." • “You're Margo, just Margo." • “Margo, Bill is all of eight years younger than you.” • “You are not to consider giving that contemptible little worm the part of Cora.” • “ Margo Channing's not been exactly a compromise all these years. Why, half the playwrights in the world would give their shirts for that particular compromise.” • “ It strikes me that Eve's disloyalty and ingratitude must be contagious.”