they eat caviar and fancy rich-tasting food all the time. The dinner is ruined by Alice's inability to keep up the lie, but she blames the situation on the supposed slovenly behavior and poor cooking skills of Malena (Hattie McDaniel), the maid hired by the Adamses for the occasion. Mr. Adams unwittingly embarrasses Alice by exposing the many lies she has told Russell. When Walter shows up with bad financial news, Alice gently expels Russell from the house now that everything is "ruined." Walter claims that "a friend of mine got in a jam," and to help his friend, Walter has stolen $150 from Mr. Lamb. (The obvious implication is that Walter stole the money to pay off his own gambling debts.) Mr. Adams decides to take a loan against his new factory to save Walter from jail. Just then, Mr. Lamb appears at the Adams house, accuses Adams of stealing the glue formula from him, and declares his intention to ruin Adams by building a glue factory directly across the street from the Adams plant. The men argue violently, but their friendship is saved when Alice confesses that her parents took the glue formula only so that she could have a better life and some social status. Lamb and Adams reconcile, and Lamb indicates that he will not prosecute Walter. Alice wanders onto the porch, where Russell has been waiting for her. He confesses his love for her despite her poverty and family problems. Cast Academy Award nominations The film was nominated for the Oscar for Best Picture, and Hepburn for Best Actress. Although Bette Davis won the award for her performance in Dangerous, she said that Hepburn deserved the award, and Hepburn ended up receiving the second-most votes. Production The 1935 film of Alice Adams is the second adaptation of the Tarkington novel. A silent film version had been made in 1923, directed by Rowland V. Lee. Katharine Hepburn wanted George Cukor to direct the film, but Cukor was engaged in directing David Copperfield. Cukor advised her to choose William Wyler or George Stevens as director. Although Hepburn favored the German-born and Swiss-educated Wyler, the producer Pandro S. Berman favored the American George Stevens. The plot of the film differs from the book Alice Adams in significant ways. Most importantly, the novel depicts Alice as permanently estranged from Russell. The original script by Dorothy Yost and Jane Murfin