Lauren Bacall screen test for "To Have and Have Not". Hawks asked his secretary to find out more about her, but the secretary misunderstood and sent Bacall a ticket to come to Hollywood for the audition. After meeting Bacall in Hollywood, Hawks immediately signed her to a seven-year contract, with a weekly salary of $100, and personally began to manage her career. He changed her first name to Lauren, and she chose "Bacall" (a variant of her mother's maiden name) as her screen surname. Slim Hawks also took Bacall under her wing, dressing Bacall stylishly and guiding her in matters of elegance,
Lauren Bacall the 1950s by appearing as the leading lady in a string of films that won favorable reviews. Bacall was cast opposite Gary Cooper in "Bright Leaf" (1950). In the same year, she played a two-faced femme fatale in "Young Man with a Horn" (1950), a jazz musical co-starring Kirk Douglas, Doris Day, and Hoagy Carmichael. During 1951–1952, Bacall co-starred with Bogart in the syndicated action-adventure radio series "Bold Venture". In 1953, she starred in the CinemaScope comedy "How to Marry a Millionaire", a runaway hit among critics and at the box office. Directed by Jean Negulesco and co-starring Marilyn Monroe