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 Better 'Ole (1926 film) spy. An old friend, however, has substituted blank cartridges for the real ones, and Bill is pardoned when Joan and his friend Bert arrive with the incriminating photograph. "The Better 'Ole" premiered at the Colony Theatre in New York City, New York on October 7, 1926. According to Warner Bros records the film earned $955,000 domestically and $318,000 foreign. The film, as well at its Vitaphone soundtrack, survive and remain intact, with the exception of one reel, which is currently missing. The film exists in the UCLA Film and Television Archive film archive. This film was released on DVD-R through