Authors: Donald Spoto
9
“scrubbing floors for money”
Patricia Bosworth, “ ‘I’m Still an Actress! I Want to Act!’ ”
New York Times,
September 24, 1972.
11
“She made arrangements”
Christina Crawford, 61.
12
“Moving pictures have given me”
JC, interview by John Springer, Town Hall, April 8, 1973.
14
“In that little talk”
JC, interview by Philip Jenkinson, BBC-TV, 1968; similarly, see Roderick Mann, “Crawford: ‘Listen,’ She Says, ‘I Like to Work,’ ”
New York Times,
August 24, 1969; and Bosworth, “I’m Still an Actress!”
16
transferred her to the Oriol Terrace
On the history of the Oriole Terrace nightclub, see, e.g., Björn and Gallert, 17.
19
“When Miss Le Sueur came”
Joan Cross, “Name Her and Win $1,000,”
Movie Weekly,
March 27, 1925.
CHAPTER TWO
20
“as a member of”
MGM memo from R. B. McIntyre dated January 5, 1925, to Mayer, Thalberg, Rapf, et al. The purpose of the memo was to alert the payroll department to begin drafting checks to JC that month.
21
“From the day Lucille arrived”
Adele Whitely Fletcher, “I Remember Joan,”
Modern Screen,
August 1977.
24
“The imaginary life”
Morin, 81.
27
“It’s very clear”
JC always took great delight in countering any assertion that she had been foolish enough as to appear in pornographic films: she was, from day one, too serious about her career and too conscious of the dangers of a bad reputation to make a potentially fatal mistake. She spoke openly about these early threats—e.g., to Patricia Bosworth, “ ‘I’m Still an Actress! I Want to Act!’ “
New York Times,
September 24, 1972.
“I know she will be”
For Rapf’s comment on her name and other details of the contest to rename Lucille Le Sueur, see, e.g.,
Movie Weekly,
March 27, 1925.
28
“Lots of newcomers”
JC’s comment from 1925 was used with studio publicity photos over the next decade—in this particular form, it accompanied a still image taken on the set of
I Live My Life
in 1935.
29
“Joan always worried terribly”
See also Kotsilibas-Davis and Loy, 41.
“When they did not appear”
Fletcher, “I Remember Joan.”
30
“I hated that name”
Bosworth, “I’m Still an Actress!”
Metro drafted a check
A copy of the check duly sent to Mrs. Artisdale was preserved in the MGM archives: the payment was company check number 8382, drawn from the Culver City branch of the Pacific Southwest Trust & Savings Bank.
33
“Don’t exhaust the audience”
Tapert, 44.
34
“I forgot how to say no”
Chandler, 69.
Constance Bennett
One of the finest summaries of Constance Bennett’s life and career can be found in Tapert, 151–65.
35
glamour
My observations on glamour owe much to the thinking and writing of Virginia Postrel; see, e.g., her essay “Starlight and Shadow,”
Atlantic,
July–August 2007.
36
“Everything in Hollywood”
Ingrid Bergman to author, May 8, 1975.
37
“He gave me great advice”
Chandler, 67.
38
“She wanted to be profound”
Tapert, 220.
CHAPTER THREE
41
“He was a fine man”
Chandler, 93–94.
“Professionally, she was good”
Ibid., 94.
42
“I was just an MGM contract player”
Quirk and Schoell, 17.
“ever go through a ceremony”
“Young Cudahy’s Mother Warns of Annulment,”
Los Angeles Times,
May 6, 1926.
43
“Michael and I agreed”
“Love Knot Untied by Fair Joan: Miss Crawford and Scion of Famous Cudahy Family Break Off Engagement,”
Los Angeles Times,
June 8, 1926.
“a chronic liver complaint”
Obituary for Michael Cudahy,
New York Times,
February 16, 1947.
44
“I’m so sorry I made”
Vogel, 34.
“a piece of junk”
Review of
The Boob, Baltimore Sun,
June 15, 1926.
“He was a horny wise-guy”
Quirk and Schoell, 17.
“She had a reputation”
Ibid., 18.
45
“Joan Crawford rides high”
James R. Quirk,
Photoplay,
cited in Quirk, 43.
“so befuddled”
Review of
The Understanding Heart, Time,
May 23, 1927.
“I have decided”
Gloria Swanson, “Hollywood Remembers,” in
Hollywood Biographies
(Passport Prods., 2001); also, Tapert, 16. 47
“Joan Crawford is one”
Langdon W. Post, review of
The Unknown, New York Evening World,
June 5, 1927. 49
“Joan Crawford is quite charming”
Mordaunt Hall, review of
West Point, New York Times,
January 2, 1928.
50
It’s a common misconception
There is a considerable literature on the early days of talking pictures. A good introduction may be found on the Internet, in the ancillary material provided for
The Jazz Singer
at http://www.imdb.com.
51
“began the awakening”
Katherine Albert, “Why They Said Joan Was ‘High Hat,’ ”
Photoplay,
August 1931, 65.
“passionate possessiveness”
Fairbanks, 24.
“there was no great warmth”
Ibid., 151.
“My parents divorced”
Douglas Fairbanks Jr. to the author, March 29, 1990.
52
“She was a few years older”
Fairbanks, 122.
53
“a vital, energetic”
Ibid., 123–24, 133.
“To be honest”
Ibid., 134.
54
“a warm reception”
Ibid., 132.
“The most important contribution”
Ibid., 135–36.
56
“Miss Crawford does”
Edgar Waite, review of
Rose-Marie, Los Angeles Examiner,
February 12, 1928.
“as one of the most admired”
St. Paul Pioneer Press, cited in
Quirk,
57.
“she simply walks off”
George Gerhard, review of
Four Walls, New York Evening
World,
August 13, 1928.
57
“does the finest work”
Bland Johnson, review of
Our Dancing Daughters, New York Mirror,
September 3, 1928.
“Hundreds of young women” Time,
October 22, 1928.
58
“the right script material”
Review of
Dream of Love, New York Sun,
December 3, 1928.
59
“Adrian had a profound effect”
Tapert, 53.
“That’s been quite a burden”
JC, letter to fan and friend Dan Mahoney of New York, November 22, 1928; also see Vogel, 40.
60
“Mostly he seemed”
Christina Crawford, 63.
CHAPTER FOUR
“Miss Crawford is as gorgeous”
Harry Mines, review of
The Duke Steps Out, Los Angeles Daily News,
March 19, 1929.
“It was Louis B. Mayer’s rule”
Pamela Blake, quoted in her obituary,
Daily Telegraph
(London), October 26, 2009.
“Billie cried with relief”
Douglas Fairbanks Jr. to the author, March 29, 1999.
“I had no particular desire”
Ron Alexander, “Douglas Fairbanks Jr. Tells His Story (Some of It, That Is),”
New York Times,
April 20, 1988.
65
“Neither Billie nor I”
Fairbanks, 148, 153.
“I didn’t know enough”
JC, interview by John Springer, Town Hall, April 8, 1973.
When she told him
JC recalled her meeting with Marafioti in JC with Ardmore, 49—where the name is incorrectly spelled as “Marafiotta.” 67
“The house, which they call”
426 North Bristol Avenue was described in “The Homes of the Stars,”
New Movie
magazine, December 1931. William Haines’s subsequent contributions to redecoration were nicely summarized by Lockwood.
69
“It would all be quite lamentable”
Lucius Beebe, review of
Our Blushing Brides, New York Times,
July 20, 1930.
70
“Joan Crawford displays”
Elizabeth Yeaman,
Hollywood Daily Citizen,
September 12, 1930.
71
“Douglas had been reared”
From an article written for JC, approved by her and subsequently published under her name: “What Men Have Done to Me,”
Modern Screen,
November 1951.
“I was out to”
Tapert, 46.
72
“she wanted to develop”
Sherman, 196.
75
“If I have to do one more”
W. E. Oliver,
“Blushing Brides
Is Talisman,”
Los Angeles Evening Herald,
August 2, 1930.
“Joan Crawford can hold her own”
Review of
Paid, Time,
January 12, 1931.
CHAPTER FIVE
82
“He seems slightly puzzled”
Review of
Laughing Sinners, Time,
July 13, 1931.
“Miss Crawford has seldom looked”
Andre Sennwald, review of
Laughing Sinners,
New York Times,
June 3, 1931.
“Regardless of the script”
Quirk and Schoell, 55.
84
“There were many times”
JC, interview by Philip Jenkinson, BBC-TV, 1968.
85
“It was a wild, wild place”
Charles Champlin, “Olivier Better Than Ever,”
Los Angeles Times,
January 19, 1976.
86
“I fought to keep my marriage going”
JC, “What Men Have Done to Me,”
Modern Screen,
November 1951.
89
“They gave me everything”
JC, e.g., during television interviews with Mike Douglas, Merv Griffin, Johnny Carson, David Frost and others.
“Miss Crawford adds”
Mordaunt Hall, review of
Possessed, New York Times,
November 28, 1931.
90
“It’s the best work”
Review of
Possessed, Photoplay,
December 1931.