Joan Crawford: The Ultimate Movie Star Page #5

a new crop of stars at MGM...

...and Joan knew that the competition

was gaining on her.

The studio head used

''Box-Office Poison'' to his advantage...

...and offered her a mere

one-year contract.

In fear of leaving

the security of the studio...

...she was willing to cut her

price per picture in exchange...

...for a longer contract

at a lower salary.

She signed a new five-year agreement

and offered Mayer the advice:

''No more goddamn shop girls. ''

With newfound enthusiasm,

Crawford aggressively sought out...

... the role of the heartless mantrap

Crystal Allen in The Women.

Louis B. Mayer said, ''Why would you

want to play this awful b*tch?''

She said, ''I'd play Wally Beery's

grandmother if the part was good. ''

And you think she would.

After much pleading

with director George Cukor...

...she won the part opposite

her MGM rival, Norma Shearer.

He had created quite a stir

on the MGM lot...

...because here was

''The Queen of MGM''...

...and ''The Dancing Girl,''

together in the same picture.

And they knew that there

might be some skyrockets going off.

Joan had not appeared

in a film with Shearer...

...since she had

doubled for her in 1925.

And after 14 years of accepting

Norma 's rejected roles...

...and suffering her

airs of condescension-

Oh, no, Stephen.

l couldn't think of your

disarranging your evening.

-Crawford had an arsenal of rage,

and now a vehicle to vent it.

So help me, l'm gonna slug you.

l only had that one

sequence with Crawford.

Thank God, l wouldn't have wanted

to be in the rest of them.

That was a catfight all the way.

George Cukor was aware

of the rift between Joan and Norma...

...and skillfully kept the two apart

until the very last minute.

People were expected

to do off-stage lines.

When they're playing scenes together,

they intercut.

-l beg your pardon.

-l am Mrs. Stephen Haines.

And then each one, in turn, respects

the other and does off-stage lines...

...with the other actress.

And Joan, just to be spiteful...

...kept knitting all the time

and never having to look at it.

But you could hear

the click of the needles...

...knitting needles going back and forth.

And put all the antagonism into it

and contempt...

...and a sort of a one-upsmanship

over Norma.

When it came time

for Joan's close-up...

...Norma wouldn't come out

of her dressing room.

When Crawford and Shearer

were called to shoot publicity stills...

...neither one would enter the session

first, so both circled the parking lot...

...until Cukor pulled them

from their limousines in tandem...

...and instantly they behaved

like the best of friends.

Say, listen.

l've worked too hard to land this meal

ticket to make any false moves now.

Romance?

Listen, peace is a whole lot more

to me than any romance.

They're not gonna get me out

on that limb again, ever.

She is the villainess, and yet l find oddly

sympathetic at the end of the picture...

...when she's been defeated

by all these cats.

Her exit is really rather touching.

Well, girls. Looks like it's back

to the perfume counter for me.

And by the way,

there's a name for you ladies...

...but it isn't used in high society...

...outside of a kennel. So long, ladies.

The Women was an instant hit,

and a new Joan Crawford emerged...

... that of the legitimate actress.

She was a total, technical,

consummate artist...

...and yet could allow the emotion

to come through too.

When she showed up in the morning,

she knew her lines.

And she knew your lines.

And she knew his lines,

and she knew her lines.

All she wanted you to do

was know yours.

She understood cutting.

She knew where the camera was.

She knew what the best angles

for her were.

She was so experienced you didn't have

to worry about her hitting her marks.

She somehow or other could step in

and feel the light right on her.

The heat from the lamp

was better there.

When it was her close-up, she gave the

performance that she was there to do.

When it came around

to close-up on you...

...she stood right next

to the camera...

...and she gave exactly

the same performance...

...that she did when

it was her close-up...

...including exactly

when the tear came out.

She said, ''You want tears?''

And he turned to the director

and said, ''Of course, she's-''

''Which eye?''

Which eye? You gotta give her credit.

Now, l don't know how she did that.

Joan never got bored

with being praised.

Franchot said, ''l had to say,

'How gorgeous you look.'

How divine she was dressed. ''

He had his own ego

to be concerned with.

He couldn't always be placating hers.

l think she just got bored with the

marriage, and he just got tired.

The Tone marriage

was at the breaking point.

After her last

in a series of miscarriages...

...Joan was informed by doctors that she

was physically unable to have children.

When Louella Parsons contacted Joan,

suggesting a scoop about their affairs...

...Joan suggested a better story.

She said, ''I'm divorcing Franchot. ''

In March of 1939,

she signed the divorce decree...

...on the grounds of mental anguish...

... with her eye on the creation

of a new and exciting Joan Crawford.

Joan Crawford wanted to be a mother.

She applied to social services...

...to be an adoptive parent,

but they turned her down.

Psychologically, they saw that she was

an unfit candidate, as a single parent...

...to adopt a child.

So she used a baby broker

in Las Vegas.

We were bought.

There's no other way to say it.

l was named Joan...

...after Joan Crawford.

Oh, thank heavens, l didn't stay that.

-Hello, Julie.

-Go away, Pig.

Having achieved motherhood, Joan

went back to work with Clark Gable...

...in his first film since

Gone With the Wind...

... the action-drama Strange Cargo.

The only woman in the cast, Crawford

roughed out the location conditions...

...and delivered one

of her toughest performances.

But the hardest blow came

when she lost top billing to Clark Gable.

Joan put up a fight...

...but soon gave in to get the

front office to give her better roles.

A Woman 's Face marked

a transition for Joan.

Here was maybe the most

glamorous woman in Hollywood...

...who was playing

this scarred woman.

You can tell that she's just been

starved for some kind of meaty role.

Cukor was determined to edit down

whatever mannerisms...

...she had accumulated

during that decade.

And there's a wonderful scene in the

film when she has to finally tell...

...how she got her scar, you know.

What is, you know, her story.

Cukor evidently tortured her

and made her do it...

...take after take after take...

...until it was devoid of any melodrama.

And it's very effective.

She did do a good job in it,

but it was a bomb at the box office.

This is not the Joan Crawford

that people wanted to see.

MGM made no effort to get

Joan an Oscar nomination.

That was very disturbing for her.

A whirlwind romance bloomed for Joan

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