Joan Crawford: The Ultimate Movie Star Page #3

about being ''piss-elegant. ''

True love reigned on the home front.

She renamed her home El Jodo...

...a take on their first names,

and nicknamed him ''Dodo. ''

They hosted glamorous soirees

and held the mantle...

...as Hollywood's hottest couple.

The ice melted with her in-laws...

...and she was finally received

at Pickfair...

... though still treated

as an outsider by Mary Pickford.

There were so many

different Joan Crawfords.

She seemed to have made

the very smooth adjustment...

...to early-'30s women's pictures.

The shop girl who makes good.

In Dance, Fools, Dance,

she portrayed a girl reporter...

... who exposed a gangland killer

played by an up-and-coming Clark Gable.

Doug, Jr. couldn't understand

why she was always late...

...coming home from the studio.

Well, she was having

a little rendezvous with Clark.

You're going to have supper

with me tonight, in my room.

-We've gotta get better acquainted.

-l'd love it.

-l'll go undress now.

-Okay.

This led to three successful films

for them at MGM.

Laughing Sinners starred Joan

as a wanton woman...

...saved by

Salvation Army officer, Gable.

l often wonder if you don't

miss the things you used to do.

l've forgotten all about that.

lt don't seem like l ever was

Bunny Stevens.

l'm glad, lvy. l was afraid

seeing him again might bring it all back.

They were too much alike.

They were both people who had

really scrambled to get where they were.

They were both of the people,

they were the proletarian stars.

lt was during the film Possessed...

...that they probably had

their most serious affair.

lnside, l'm exactly what l was

when you found me, a factory girl.

Smelling of sweat and glue.

Common. That's what l am, common!

And l like it. That's what l like about Al.

He's my own kind.

That's the level l belong to,

and that's the level l'm going back to.

Certainly they did have an association

over a period of years...

...but he had a very convenient marriage

to an older woman.

He was always seen

socially with her...

...but he was very active

with his leading ladies and lovers.

He had this very protective shield...

...from any of his romances...

...who got a little too close

and too demanding.

For her 1932 film Letty Lynton,

Joan adopted an exciting look.

lt's really around Letty Lynton...

...that she comes into

what l would call her face.

Where the lips,

the eyebrows, the eyes-

You finally see

the Joan Crawford face.

The famous Crawford lips

became almost a joke in Hollywood.

But they were a great trademark

for her.

The eyebrows, which she exaggerated,

also became a trademark of hers.

l don't think l ever knew anyone

who was so aware...

...of her appearance on the screen

as was Joan.

Her wardrobe of gowns,

dresses and suits...

... were by the famed

costume designer, Adrian.

The relationship between

Adrian and Joan Crawford...

...was pretty much

the first great partnership...

...between a designer

and an actress.

The Letty Lynton dress

was one of the handful...

...of great costume designs

that really influenced that period.

The audience never stopped

to think why a girl...

...who is probably making $ 15 a week

can wear these designer gowns...

...but that's part of the Hollywood

make-believe.

She was tiny, you know,

and she had a very large head...

...for the small body that she had.

l was shocked when l saw her.

She was tiny, but, oh, she was mighty.

She really was mighty.

Letty Lynton was

a tremendous success for Joan.

But no film that year was bigger

than the Oscar-winning Grand Hotel.

lt had a magnificent cast.

Wally Beery, both Barrymores,

Lionel and John...

...Greta Garbo, and Joan Crawford

as a stenographer in the hotel.

And she kept up with them.

-You're a little stenographer.

-A little stenographer.

That's fascinating.

l don't suppose you'd take some

dictation for me sometime, would you?

lt was lrving Thalberg's

all-star masterpiece...

...about decadence in Berlin

between the wars.

You loved the baron, didn't you?

l could take care of you, if you'd let me.

l have enough money.

l'm ill, Flaemmchen. l won't live long.

Will you stay with me until-?

Oh, look here, that's nonsense.

We'll find a great doctor.

He'll cure you.

They can cure anything these days.

-You think so?

-Of course. You'll see.

She had no scenes with Garbo,

which she regretted.

lt was a very sympathetic role, and

she was thrilled to be in that company.

lt did a great deal for her.

In the wake of her greatest triumph,

Joan lobbied to go on loan-out...

... to United Artists

to play Sadie Thompson in Rain.

lt really is a remarkable

piece of acting.

l think it was the best thing

she had done that far in her career.

What's touching about her performance

is the rawness...

...and that she hadn't quite become

Joan Crawford yet.

-You've got to go back to San Francisco.

-Oh, no, Mr. Davidson.

Your God and me

could never be shipmates.

The next time you talk to him...

...you can tell him this for me: That

Sadie Thompson is on her way to hell.

-Stop! This has gone far enough.

-Oh, no, it hasn't gone far enough.

You've been telling me

what's wrong with me.

Now l'm gonna tell you

what's wrong with you.

You keep yelling at me to be punished,

to go back and suffer.

How do you know what l've suffered?

You don't know. You don't care.

You don't even ask,

and you call yourself a Christian.

-Our father who art in heaven...

-You're a miserable witch.

-...hallowed be thy name.

-You believe in torture.

You're big, strong,

you got the law on your side...

...and the power to hang me.

All right!

But l've got the power

to stand here and say to you:

Hang me and be damned to you!

lt was a flop and she never forgot it.

Joan Crawford tended to base

her opinions of her films...

...on audience acceptance of them.

Rain was a film that she never forgot

was a flop.

Meanwhile, at Warner Bros.,

a young hopeful...

...named Bette Davis

was embarking on an acting career...

...playing tough young ladies

with gritty realism.

No one has any rights about me

except me.

Bette and Joan first encountered

each other at a press party...

...for the cinema 's hottest newcomers.

Bette was addressing the press when

Joan, already an established star...

...swept into the room,

effectively upstaging Davis.

Bette was pretty

contemptuous of Joan.

Bette Davis vowed then and there...

... to knock Joan Crawford

off her high horse.

lt was the end of her marriage

to Doug Fairbanks, Jr.

lt wasn't just Joan seeing somebody.

He was seeing other people,

and had been involved in a couple...

...alienation-of-affection suits.

He needed to break free

of this movie-star world.

Because she was very happy

in that world, and he wasn't.

In May 1933, Joan Crawford

filed for divorce.

She was about to begin

a new chapter in her life.

MGM put forth its biggest

Crawford vehicle to date...

... with the musical Dancing Lady,

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