Stella is a formidable character for any actress
to attempt, but Stanwyck beautifully meets the
challenge of balancing the character’s nonnatural-
istic and naturalistic qualities. On one hand, Stella
is loud and overdressed in clothes of her own mak-
ing; on the other, she is a tender mother who sacri-
fices everything for her daughter’s happiness.
After Stephen has returned to his former fiancée,
Helen Morrison (Barbara O’Neil), Stella visits
Helen, offering to divorce Stephen if he and Helen
will marry and raise Laurel as their own. Stella
wears a gaudy fur coat, ridiculous hat, and fussy
blouse. Her blunt way of speaking, mannish walk,
and nervous fidgeting with her hands set her apart
completely from the elegant, cultured, simply
dressed, and well-groomed Helen.
When Laurel becomes engaged to marry
Richard Grosvenor (Tim Holt), Stella is pleased
that her daughter will achieve the upper-middle-
class married life that has eluded her, but she real-
izes that she will be an embarrassment to Laurel.
She pretends to leave the country but instead
stands outside the New York townhouse in which
the marriage takes place, watching the ceremony
through a big window. All the movie’s major themes
culminate here in the Depression-era contrasts
between those born to wealth and those born to
work; in the contrast between the warm, secure
interior and the cold, rainy exterior, where envious
strangers grab a quick glimpse at what’s going on
inside before being hurried along; and in the con-
trast between Laurel in her white wedding dress
and her mother, who is dressed plainly.
Indeed, although she is wearing her usual heavy
makeup, Stella’s appearance has changed. Having
always set herself apart from the ordinary, she now
wears clothes that help her blend into the crowd—
a cloth coat with fur trim and a simple felt hat—and
she is not wearing jewelry. Stanwyck called this her
favorite scene in the movie: “I had to indicate to
audiences, through the emotions shown by my face,
that for Stella joy ultimately triumphed over the
heartache she had felt.”^49 We do not know whether
332 CHAPTER 7ACTING
12
Stella Dallas finds elusive happinessNot invited to the
wedding of her daughter, Laurel, Stella Dallas (Barbara
Stanwyck), in the eponymously named movie (1937), stands
in the street watching the ceremony through a window.
Stanwyck called this her favorite scene, no doubt because
she masterfully shows the range of emotions raised by this
bittersweet moment. In a close-up [1], with tears in her eyes,
Stella bites almost unconsciously on a handkerchief, smiling
through her tears. A moment later, in a long shot [2], she
walks away, still chewing on the handkerchief. Despite
director King Vidor’s indignation about the social barriers
that prevented her happiness, Stella is triumphant that her
daughter has found what eluded her. It’s the kind of
performance that helped to make Barbara Stanwyck one of
Hollywood’s most enduring stars.(^49) Barbara Stanwyck, qtd. in Ella Smith, Starring Miss Barbara
Stanwyck(New York: Crown, 1974), p. 99.