“In greeting some of Bette’s performances with what at first sight seems to be adverse criticism, the critics have really paid an indirect tribute to her ability. They have deemed her to be worthy of really serious criticism, the kind that is generally helpful to an actress, because the writer has taken the trouble to analyze the performance constructively; and that is something that none of the stereotyped Hollywood players ever achieve. The average Hollywood blonde-soignée, poised and well-rehearsed, walks through picture after picture and gets such notices as: ‘Miss Blank gives an efficient performance and looks charming.’ Bette has never had, nor would she want, such notices as that. Bette has had to take some hard knocks from the critics; but today she is better off than if she had dodged the brickbats altogether by sticking to routine parts and type roles. She has really got somewhere and that’s worth a lot of trouble.” -Leonard Wallace, remarking on Bette in Film Weekly on July 11, 1936