Lauren Bacall in "The Mirror Has Two Faces" (1996). Bacall was born Betty Joan Perske on September 16, 1924, in The Bronx, New York, the only child of Natalie ("née" Weinstein; 1901–1977), a secretary who later legally changed her surname to Bacal, and William Perske (1889–1982), who worked in sales. Both her parents were Jewish. According to Bacall, her mother emigrated from Iași, the Kingdom of Romania, through Ellis Island, and her father was born in New Jersey to parents who were born in Valozhyn, a significant center of Jewish life, in present-day Belarus, then in the Russian Empire. Soon after her
The Gun in Betty Lou's Handbag gave it (two stars out of five): "The cast shines in "The Gun in Betty Lou's Handbag"; watching these performers, you know this movie would have made for an inspired farce given better writing and direction." The film was released on DVD by Touchstone Home Entertainment on September 2, 2003 and was released on Blu-ray by Mill Creek Entertainment in May 2011. The Gun in Betty Lou's Handbag The Gun in Betty Lou's Handbag is a 1992 American screwball comedy film written by Grace Cary Bickley and directed by Allan Moyle. The film stars Penelope Ann Miller, Eric Thal, Julianne