what happened to birdie?
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Archived from the IMDb Discussion Forums — Film and Television Discussion
fugazzi49 — 9 years ago(July 09, 2016 01:24 PM)
Thelma Ritter's Birdie was one of the best characters in the film, and one of the two who never were fooled by Eve. But she seems curiously absent from the last third of the film. I may have missed something. was her absence explained? Did Eve have her fired? Any thoughts?
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Jimmy-128 — 9 years ago(September 14, 2016 08:29 PM)
I doubt Eve has her firedremember, by the time we last see Birdie (at Bill's birthday party), Margot, the only person who could fire Birdie, is not about to take any suggestion Eve makes. If anything, she wants
Eve
out of her life, not Birdie.
The character disappears because she's Margot's companion, which means Margot has to be in any scene she's inand none of Margot's scenes after the party involve situations where Birdie would be with her. She
might
be at the audition (but Margot's being late precludes that), but she wouldn't go upstate with Margot, Karen, and Lloyd, she wouldn't go to the Cub Room with them and Bill (remember, she doesn't even go to the airport with Margot and Eve to see Bill off), and she wouldn't go to the awards dinner.
The only scene where it would have made even a little sense to have Birdie was after Karen reads Addison's column and goes to Margot's apartment, but I can't think that she would have added anything that particular scene needed.
Besides, Margot also disappears somewhat towards the end of the film, because after Eve's play for Bill fails, she turns her attention to Lloydwhich means that the person affected would be Karen, not Margot. So with no Margot, there's no need for Birdie.