Wes Wheadon's WHEN BETTE MET MAE proves an original, exemplary hybrid documentary

Did you know that Bette Davis actually did meet Mae West -- and toward  the close of each of their legendary careers. TrustMovies didn't realize this, yet on the face of things, why wouldn't they have met -- and long before the evening that they finally did? Turns out they were fans of each other's work but chance and circumstance had decreed that they be kept apart until one autumn night in 1973 when... it happened. The film's director, Wes Wheadon, was present as this "creation" because he was a friend of both the cocktail party's host, Charles Pollack, a West Hollywood designer, Pollack's house guest, Ms Davis, and their guest, Ms West. And what a night it was -- even if, as it turns out, the (I am guessing) surreptitious tape recording Wheadon made ran out long before the evening did.

Mr. Wheadon, shown at right in present day (and  further below at the time of the event), has had the delightful and enterprising idea to hand us a very unusual combination of memorabilia and documentary using the actual tape for the audio along with acted/lip-synced visuals handled by a smart and well-cast group of actors portraying the folk who were present on this surprising, entertaining evening. His movie, WHEN BETTE MET MAE, runs only a little longer than that tape -- 63 minutes -- but for fans of both or either of these extraordinary leading ladies, the documentary will prove catnip indeed.

Shown above are, left to right the real  Davis, Wheadon and West, while below is the acting ensemble made up of Karen Teliha, Brandon Larcom and Victoria Mills, each of whom does a splendid job of  both impersonation and lip-syncing, while bringing to life these characters.

If the tape sounds a little grainy and heavy with background noise, so be it. The characters and the actors playing them soon win out over any audio defects present. And the conversation, though a little heavy on the oh-I-think-you're-so-wonderful stuff (I'm sure they did, but enough already!) eventually moves on to other more interesting subjects like work, career, men, children, acting and -- best of all -- being so popular that one is constantly impersonated..

The things we hear and learn about that latter subject are eye-opening (why West preferred  the work of Charles Pierce over that of Craig Russell, for instance), and why Davis had to put career ahead of husbands and children is another most interesting topic.

The evening -- and the movie -- is full of history and famous names, as well, so viewers may indeed learn something along with the fun of watching these two women go to town on their respective characters. Both Teliha (above) and Mills (below) have done impersonations of the respective actresses and are clearly quite gifted at it.

Narrated by whiskey-voiced Sally Kellerman, the film, as was the evening itself, is pretty much sui generis. I'm imagining that Wheadon had to wait until such time that no one else was still alive who could object and perhaps skewer the deal. But here it is at last: a meeting of minds and characters so redolent of Hollywood's heyday that I can't imagine there is not a very large audiences out there (in addition to the huge following of gay men to whom these icons mean so much) just ready to pounce on this piece of recreated, magic memorabilia.

When Bette Met Mae, is now available via Google Play -- to rent or to own. It is also expected to become available via iTunes this coming Tuesday, October 27.