In 1950, Bette Davis was a couple years past 40.
She was a famous but aging Hollywood actress whose career was starting to go downhill.
But that year, producer and director Joseph L. Mankiewicz gave Bette a plum role in his film All About Eve (which he also wrote).
The character Davis played in it is a famous but aging Broadway actress whose career was starting to go downhill.
All About Eve premiered in New York City on October 13, 1950 and was released nationwide the next day. Movie fans everywhere soon knew the now legendary line Davis delivers in the film.
The line comes during a scene in which Davis throws a birthday party for her director and companion, played by Gary Merrill (who became her real life husband that year).
When she notices him being a bit too nice to an aspiring young actress (Anne Baxter), Davis gets jealous, starts quaffing drinks and acting snappish.
Her friend (Celeste Holm) notices and says to her: “We’ve seen you like this before. Is it over, or is it just beginning?"
Davis downs another drink, walks over to a staircase, looks down with a devilish smile and responds with the famed movie quotation:
“Fasten your seatbelts. It’s going to be a bumpy night.”
Of course, since the year was 1950, she was alluding to buckling up during a bumpy flight on an airplane. Cars didn’t have seatbelts back then.
All About Eve was a major hit that rejuvenated Bette’s career, earned her an Oscar nomination and a Best Actress award at the Cannes Film Festival.
There isn’t quite such a happy ending for the aging actress she played in the film. But I won’t tell you what happens. You should watch it for yourself on DVD 
Keep your eyes open for a young Marilyn Monroe during the party scene. It was one of her early roles and she didn’t get much screen time, but her beauty and sexy charisma are apparent. (Click this link to see a snippet.)
Here are some of the other famous quotes and phrases linked to October 13:
• “You must remember this, a kiss is just a kiss, a sigh is just a sigh...” - The famous song “As Time Goes By,” written by American songwriter Herman Hupfeld, was made famous by the movie Casablanca (1943). But it was originally written for the Broadway musical Everybody’s Welcome, which opened at the Shubert Theater in New York City on October 13, 1931.
• “Fail-Safe.” - The title of a book by Eugene Burdick and Harvey Wheeler that debuted in serialized form in the October 13, 1962 issue of The Saturday Evening Post magazine. It was soon published as a book that became a bestseller, burning the scary Cold War term “fail-safe” into America’s consciousness and language.
