Possessed (49 page)

90
Remarkably often, it has been claimed
On JC’s wide range of roles in the 1930s, see Basinger,
The Star Machine.

91
“Our relationship was private”
Chandler, 188.

92
“We have members in all sections”
Marin L. Dommer’s Joan Crawford Fan Club letter is reproduced in Thorp, 100–101.

93
“dull to the point”
George Jean Nathan, review of
Grand Hotel, New York Herald,
December 28, 1932.

“one of the drollest”
Ibid.

94
“unstable”
JC, interview by Philip Jenkinson.

“felt sorry for her”
Robert Montgomery,
The Hollywood Greats,
TV documentary on Joan Crawford, August 3, 1978.

Sydney Guilaroff
Sydney Guilaroff to the author, February 26, 1991. See his obituary in the
Independent
(London), May 31, 1997, and an unpublished interview by Jimmy Bangley for Classic Images, available online at http://www.classicimages.com/past_issues/view/?x=/1997/january/sguilaroff-interview.html.

95
“accessory characters”
Marie Belloc Lowndes, foreword to
Letty Lynton,
n.p.

96 Letty Lynton
gown
Gledhill, 74–89.

CHAPTER SIX

102
“She liked to pose”
Hurrell’s recollections of JC were documented in Kobal; in a 1941 issue of
International Photographer;
and in
Interview
magazine, vol. 2, no. 3 (March 1981). For an important article on Hurrell, see Virginia Postrel, “Starlight and Shadow,”
Atlantic,
July–August 2007.

105
“There will be no divorce”
Katherine Albert, “The Inclusive [sic] Inside Story of the Separation of Joan and Doug,”
Modern Screen,
May 1933.

“Doug had married”
Donald Marshman, “The Second Rise of Joan Crawford,”
Life,
June 23, 1947.

106 Dancing Lady On the production of
Dancing Lady,
see esp. Haver, 136–48.

110
“I admire my sister-in-law”
Alma Whitaker, “Joan Crawford Wants Sister-in-Law’s Baby,”
Los Angeles Times,
December 31, 1933.

111
“No actress living”
Cameron Shipp, “The Last of the Movie Queens,”
Cosmopolitan,
April 1951.

“cares more than anyone”
Helen Louise Walker, “Joan Crawford: The Most Remarkable Girl in Hollywood,”
Silver Screen,
January 1934.

116
“This is one of Miss Crawford’s” Variety,
December 20, 1934.

117
“He contributed greatly”
JC, “What Men Have Done to Me,”
Modern Screen,
November 1951.

118
Hollywood Presbyterian Hospital
On the matter of Joan’s bequest to Hollywood Presbyterian Hospital, see, e.g., Quirk and Schoell, 269.
“In the two years after 1937”
Robert White, “The Joan Crawford No One Knows,”
Los Angeles Times,
May 21, 1939. 120
“not a distinguished performance”
Howard Barnes, review of
No More Ladies, New York Herald-Tribune,
June 15, 1935.

“the appeal of cold turkey”
Review of
No More Ladies, Time,
June 24, 1935.
“There was a time”
Joan’s remarks were pasted on the back of a publicity still taken during
No More Ladies
and sent out to the press. 122
“I became a pretty good”
Patricia Bosworth, “ ‘I’m Still an Actress! I Want to Act!’ ”
New York Times,
September 24, 1972.

“Joan Crawford welcomed me”
Olivia de Havilland, interview with the author, January 27, 2010.

CHAPTER SEVEN

127
“She must get her homework done”
Basinger, “A Woman’s View,” 132–33.

130
“A light fell on top of him”
See Moore, 147.

131
“a vapid Cinderella pipe dream”
Howard Barnes, review of
The Bride Wore Red, New York Herald-Tribune,
October 16, 1937.

“underlying shabbiness”
Frank S. Nugent, review of
The Bride Wore Red, New York Times,
October 17, 1937.

132
“she remained in her suite”
“Joan Crawford’s Father Is Dead,”
Fort Worth StarTelegram,
January 1, 1938.

133
“The part of me”
Vogel, 55; the letter was sent to her friend Genie Chester.
“Practically all the major studios” Independent Film Journal,
May 1938; see also
Time,
May 16, 1938.

“It used to be” Time,
May 16, 1938. 135
“I hope we will always”
“Divorce Granted to Joan Crawford,”
New York Times,
April 12, 1939.

138
“I’d play Wally Beery’s grandmother”
JC said this often; see, e.g., JC with Ardmore, 90.

139
“With George in command”
Vogel, 59.

“She was serious about improving”
George Cukor, “She Was Consistently Joan Crawford, Star,”
New York Times,
May 22, 1977; this was the text of Cukor’s eulogy at the Los Angeles memorial service for JC. 141
“I don’t think Clark”
Chandler, 281–82. 143
“a formula turned into” Time,
April 8, 1940.

143
“A rich experience”
Donna Marie Nowak, manager of the important and valuable Internet Web site http://www.filmsofcrawford.com.

“thrilling and fun”
Crothers, 19.

“I don’t think God”
Ibid., 165.

“it has more to say” Time,
July 1, 1940.

“She found all the comedy”
Cukor, “She Was Consistently Joan.”

CHAPTER EIGHT

149
“I don’t think he”
Chandler, 277.
“I was amazed”
Swanson, 381.

151
“I left California with the baby”
Chandler, 278.

152
Joan documented many episodes:
JC’s grandson, Casey LaLonde (the son of Cathy LaLonde, whom Joan adopted as a baby in 1947), found the home movies among his mother’s possessions and edited the contents for the sake of economy and interest. For a detailed summary of the contents, see http://www.filmsofcrawford.com/id163.html.

“very sentimental about him”
Christina Crawford, 74.

Joan’s silence about the baby girl
The adoption was first mentioned in the
Los Angeles Times,
May 24, 1940, and in
Time,
June 3, 1940.
“Her transcontinental journeys”
Jimmie Fiddler, “Joan Crawford Adopts Baby: Star Explains Mystery of Trips to New York,”
Los Angeles Times,
May 25, 1940.

153
“Mother and I were”
Christina Crawford, 23–24.

157
“She played a disfigured”
George Cukor, “She Was Consistently Joan Crawford, Star,”
New York Times,
May 22, 1977.

159
“fine, palatial residence”
Deatherage, 82–95.
“She adored you”
Ibid., 91.

160
Rachel Crothers was the most famous
See her obituary in the
New York Times,
July 6, 1958; reviews in the same newspaper by Brooks Atkinson of
When Ladies Meet,
October 7, 1932, and
Susan and God,
October 8, 1937; and Jean Ashton, “The Neil Simon of Her Day—And an Ardent Feminist,”
New York Times,
May 25, 1980.

163
“walking into the sunset”
Walker, 137.

164
“Making it was hell”
Roger Clarke, “Jules Dassin: You’ll Never Work in This Town Again,”
Independent
(London), August 9, 2002.

165
“I think Joan”
Quirk and Schoell, 118–19.

“Reunion in France
is glibly untruthful”
Review of
Reunion in France, New York Times,
March 5, 1943.

165
“Whatever it is”
Review of
Reunion in France, Time,
January 4, 1943.

166
“The hour and a half”
Review of
Above Suspicion, New York Times,
August 6, 1943.

CHAPTER NINE

1
“I imagine you’ve heard”
Vogel, 71.
“I was so pleased”
Chandler, 296.

169
“There were spells”
Tapert, 59.

170
“a miniature Disneyland”
Christina Crawford, 33.
“Joan Crawford’s daughter Christina”
Hayward, 90.

“Mr. Mayer was”
JC, interview by John Springer, Town Hall, April 8, 1973.
“It was difficult to leave Metro”
JC, letter to Lotte Palfi Andor, September 1, 1943.

171
“It was as if”
Walker, 142.

172
“I’ll tell you something, Joan”
The anecdote about JC’s meeting with producer Henry Blanke is reported by the director of
The Damned Don’t Cry
in the commentary track on the DVD:
The Damned Don’t Cry,
DVD, directed by Vincent Sherman (1950; Burbank, CA: Warner Home Video, 2005).

173
The only drama in Joan’s life
“Woman Held After Row,”
Los Angeles Times,
January 17, 1945, and
Los Angeles Examiner,
same date.

175
“These damn pads”
The incident has been widely reported: see, e.g., Walker, 147.

176
“The Joan Crawford I knew”
Ann Blyth’s comments are drawn from her introduction to the TV broadcast of
Mildred Pierce
on the Turner Classic Movies network, and from her remarks at a screening of the same film at the Castro Theater, San Francisco, July 21, 2006.

“The hours are”
JC, letter to Genie Chester, in Vogel, 79.

177
“Romance wasn’t quite the word”
Cain, 279.
“It always came back”
Ibid., 303.

178
“to Joan Crawford”
According to a memorandum in the Warner Bros. Archives at the University of Southern California, this message was inscribed in a copy of
Mildred Pierce
for JC on March 7, 1946.

180
“One day he just”
Christina Crawford, 37.

“I was unutterably lonely”
Tapert, 59; see also Newquist, 154; JC and Ardmore, 97–100; and Johnes, Crawford, 62. 182
For the first time in five years
On the Academy Awards for 1945, see Osborne, 86–89.

185
“adored making that film”
JC Archives/NYPL: letter to Joseph Parades (the Pepsi-Cola Company), August 12, 1974.

185
“Moviegoers will note”
Review of
Humoresque, Time,
January 13, 1947.