Welcome to the Q & A with Casey LaLonde

[stuart.uk]

Casey

I agree about the hairdos, but thought Joan's simple style in both Autumn Leaves and Johnny Guitar were great. I think I'm right in saying that along with Bette Davis, Joan continued wearing hats even when they were no longer fashionable in the 60s and 70s. Talking about hairdos I watched Joan in the 60s horror flick Beserk on you tube yesterday. It struck me, maybe a shorter simplier hairstyle like in the two other films I mentioned might have been better and made her look a little younger, because her 62-year-old figure in the film is as shapely as ever, as she showed she still had great legs when doing her ringmaster bit!

[caseylalonde]

Good evening Chris!

Well, you are right. The Women is one of the funniest films of the 30’s with some of the sharpest dialogue ever written for the silver screen AND of the only Crawford comedies.

There were light comedic elements in some of her early silents, but Joan was mostly a song and dance and dramatic actress.

Joan most definitely saw herself as a dramatic actress. She pursued roles at Metro and famously held out for almost two years while under contract at Warner Bros. until Mildred Pierce was cast. She was looking for the dramatic role that would bring her an Oscar. It finally came with Mildred Pierce.

Thanks for the questions!

[MissGoddess]

Hi Casey! I guess today is your last day with us...I've enjoyed reading all the posts and comments,
it's been great having you here. Do you think, pretty please, you could answer my post before
you go? I wrote it Monday but I guess it got lost in the shuffle . It's back on about page 3, I think.

Thank you and I hope you'll be with us again in the future!!

[Vecchiolarry]

Hi Casey,

FYI: -
You ask how I happened to know all these people - -
I wrote a thread on my grandmother, the woman with whom i lived in Beverly Hills, off & on from 1946 to 1957. I went to university in Heidelburg from November 1957 to October 1960; and then lived in Malibu from 1961 to 1964, when I returned permanently to Canada...
My grandmother, Eleanor Doheny (Nell) died in 1965.

The thread is "Nell - Eleanor Doheny" - on about page 4 of "People in Film"....

Larry

[stuart.uk]

Casey

I was just wondering about Joan's relationship with Bette Davis. Despite what has been said and read both women appeared at the very least to respect each other professionally

[JackFavell]

Casey -

Thanks for your wonderful replies. Your visit here has made me want to watch all of Joan's films again, in order!

You mentioned that Joan felt that Our Dancing Daughters was tailor made for her (and I would agree). Did she enjoy working with Anita Page and Dorothy Sebastian? Did she feel strong during the making of the film and in command of her performance?

And, forgive me, I think Moira asked this already, but I wasn't sure about the answer - did Joan have a favorite director? How much did she rely on her directors? How much control did she have during her peak years over her cast mates and directors?

I would love to know if she had a favorite leading man (or maybe a second favorite, assuming that Gable was her favorite), or anyone she especially enjoyed working with, male or female?

I would also like to know how she felt about Daisy Kenyon, and whether she enjoyed working with Henry Fonda and Dana Andrews?

Sorry for the barrage of questions on your last day.

Casey, I certainly hope you will poke your head in from time to time and visit with us, as one film fan to another. Thank you so much for taking the time to answer our questions.

[caseylalonde]

Good evening Stuart,
Shorter hairstyles for older women usually always work. In both Autumn Leaves and Johnny Guitar, Joan was wearing the short, although certainly not pixie style, hairdos. It just worked for her, as with many other Hollywood actresses of a certain age. Bette Davis was the same way, with her hairdo becoming shorter as she aged. I agree that Joan and Bette definitely continued their own fashion trend with the wearing of hats well into the 60's and 70's. I think they were just trying to hold on to a time when hats were king.

That upswept and braided 'do didn't do a lot for me in Berserk. The film's production was not well funded and Joan used her own wardrobe, minus the ringmaster's getup for the film. I would be surprised if the production even had a makeup / hair artist on staff. Just another "B" movie, although this time starring Joan Crawford!

Thanks for the observations!

[caseylalonde]

Hi Joe,
Bob Thomas’ biography is a good, standard look at my grandmother’s life and career. Nothing explosive, but just a good read.

I revisited Harriet Craig about two years ago and I agree. Her character was one of the most plainly evil women on screen during the era, trying at all times to control all of those around her and resorting to trickery and plain mean tactics to get her way.

As you know from watching the film, Harriet keeps one clean house! My grandmother was just a bit more than tidy. I have said on many occasions that if she were still alive today, or born just a bit later and sought some counseling, that she would have been diagnosed as Obsessive / Compulsive. Her neat freak habits are well document, from changing out the toilet seats after every husband, insisting on showering instead of a bath, etc. I think the Harriet Craig role may have really spoken to Joan’s possible OCD? Just a hypothesis!

Artists, especially actors, are always their worst critics. That said, although we enjoy watching Harriet Craig, Joan is quoted as saying, “Harriet Craig was alright. Formula, but not too bad. At least I played a woman with which a portion of the audience could identify.” I find that quote just a tad funny, because I don’t personally know any woman who could identify with Harriet!

On a more personal Joan note, during this time she and director Vincent Sherman were involved in a relationship. They were involved during the filming of Harriet Craig and the subsequent Goodbye, My Fancy.

Thanks for the question!

[caseylalonde]

Good evening charliechaplinfan!

Thank you for introducing Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. as a topic. I have never seen a copy of The Fairbanks Album and should probably just order a copy from used bookseller. Joan and Doug indeed had a fairly good marriage, although they were both so young working in the high stakes world of Hollywood. They remained great friends until the day Joan died. Every interview I have seen and read of Doug, he always spoke very highly of Joan. Their marriage just didn’t work out.

They were both young and beautiful when they were married and all of that California sun didn’t hurt things either!

I am not sure if this was discussed on The Oasis boards yet, but this week some home movie footage of Leslie Howard surfaced in England. A documentary filmmaker was interviewing Leslie’s daughter, Doodie, and found the film canisters in her basement. It is ironic, because that is exactly the same circumstance in which I discovered my grandmother’s Home Movie Collection. Just sitting on a shelf in the basement!

Anyway, the film apparently has scenes of Doug and Joan frolicking at William Randolph Hearst’s Castle at San Simeon. I can’t wait for the documentary to be released. A link to the Howard story is here: http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2010/sep ... nd-footage

Joan did indeed remain good friends with Franchot until his death in 1968. I find it fascinating that Joan remained good friends with her ex-husbands, especially Doug and Franchot.

If you exclude the love of her later life and last husband, Al Steele, I would say it is a toss-up between Doug and Franchot. Phillip Terry, not so much.

I am sure she had at least some regrets about each marriage ending after four years. However, Joan was a realist and didn’t dwell much on her marriage failures. After 1939, she was busy raising a family, most of the time as a single mother, so her attention was definitely elsewhere.

Thanks for the questions and for introducing Doug Fairbanks to the discussion!

[caseylalonde]

Dear Professional Tourist,

Thank you for the question on what would have been a knock-out quasi sequel to Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?. Joan didn’t make it through much of the production before she claimed “ill” and left the film. Olivia de Havilland was a good friend of Bette Davis and agreed to fill in for Joan. The film turned out well enough and it is always a hoot to see yet another crazy Bette Davis horror film.

I too would just love to see any outtakes from the short time that Joan was involved in production. One shot of Joan definitely made it into the film, however. Next time you watch the movie, take particular notice of the opening sequence when the taxi pulls up to the house. The Joan / Olivia character exits the car, but it is definitely Joan! Ms. de Havilland it ain’t!

I don’t know if any other footage exists, but the film is not that old. Hopefully something remains and it will eventually see the light of day through a new DVD release or a bit on TCM.

Thanks for the question!

[moira finnie]

Hi Casey,
Could you please talk about your grandmother's friendship with William Haines? Do you think that she was really helpful to him when he became an interior designer? Do you think that your grandmother had a strong sense of design uniquely her own, or did she have a trained eye from years of working with creative people in the studios?

I'm sure that others have asked you this, so please forgive me, but do you think that if Joan had come along a generation or three later, could she have had a career in the management of a studio or been accepted into a business such as Pepsi quite easily? All her drive, discipline and organizational skills seem tailor made for an executive!

Do you think she had any political leanings?

Thanks!

[mongoII]

Hi Casey,

Like they say in Brooklyn, you did a SWELL job here at the Silver Screen Oasis.
My compliments to you for answering all those questions about Joan Crawford in detail,
which was most interesting.
It was a pleasure having you with us. BRAVO!

Joe

And no doubt, your grandmother WAS the ultimate movie star.

[caseylalonde]

Good evening MissGoddess!

You all have given me such a warm welcome to The Oasis. I definitely plan to keep posting and becoming a regular on the site. I have met thousands of classic Hollywood fans from around the world in recent years, but none so truly interested in the real stories and sagas that made classic Hollywood what is was as here at The Oasis. My thanks!

I do apologize for missing your question. I have been copying the questions in Microsoft Word and I must have deleted your question. I do remember answering your question, but I just didn’t get it posted. Here goes:

My mom, Cathy, sister, Carla and my niece Olivia were on ABC in March 2008 to talk about Joan. This was the same month in which Charlotte Chandler’s new biography, Joan Crawford: Not the Girl Next Door was released and about a month after a very fine UCLA Joan retrospective occurred.

I was proud that my mother, after not giving an interview since 1981, came out in support of Joan. Chandler’s book contains a postscript of an interview conducted with my mother just before publication of the book, highlighting my mother’s memories of living with Joan in the 1940’s onward. I was not part of the interview, as my mom has retired to south Florida. I still live in the Philadelphia area, as in my childhood.

I have been working for several years now to begin the process of repairing my grandmother’s image after the decades long beating by Christina. With fans like you, the tide is turning. Thank you for the kind words.

Joan’s work ethic and professionalism is legendary. When I read today about stars complaining about working conditions or a long shooting schedule, I wonder what Joan would think. She would probably tell them to suck it up and get back to work!

She is just as famous for her care and friendship of the hundreds of crew members she worked with over the years. I think back to Billy Wilder’s Sunset Boulevard in the scene when Norma Desmond (Gloria Swanson) returns to the Paramount lot after retiring those many years ago. All of the older crew members celebrated the return of Ms. Desmond to the lot because of their special friendship and how well she treated all of the crew. The same is to be said of Joan. She knew how to treat people well and the Metro and Warner Bros. crews worked very well with her.

Class indeed!

Joan was born to be a movie star. Once she got her break and became a contract player at Metro, she worked day and night to make her dream of stardom a reality. She did so, with flying colors.

Up until her marriage to Al Steele, Joan was not a frequent flyer. She chose to travel by train and sea. Not a bad way to travel! So, to relax and unwind between films, she would spend quiet nights at her house, okay, mansion, in Brentwood, entertaining friends, showing films and swimming in her lovely pool. She and select guests would head to Carmel, San Simeon (during her early career) or Palm Springs. There was always plenty to do and see in California that did not require heavy travel.

Joan was a mix of both. She definitely enjoyed the company of family, friends and fans, but she could still spend time by herself and enjoy life.

Joan was an extensive reader as well. Her lack of formal education made her to want to read and learn the classics as well as modern works. One of her biggest fears was to be viewed as uneducated, especially starting with her marriage to Doug Fairbanks, Jr. She never wanted to appear that she didn’t know the classics and she wanted to always be ready to discuss the latest in literature.

As for my single favorite one-on-one moment with Joan, it was when my mom and dad would drop me off at her apartment in Manhattan. They would go shopping or sight-seeing and I would eat lunch with JoJo in her sparkling white kitchen. Usually leftover cold, roasted chicken with mayo. Still brings back many warm and fuzzies when I think of her kitchen!

She loved having us kids come by. My sister and I were her only grandchildren within a few hours’ drive, so we saw her most. It was always fun going to JoJo’s apartment. She always treated us with the warmth and love any grandchild would expect from their grandmother. Family was number one for her, as you stated, given her difficult upbringing.

And oh yes, My Way of Life. The book is sadly out of print, so you may have to contact some local libraries, used bookstores, or if you are willing to shell out around $100 on Ebay. I bought an autographed copy last year for around $100. The book is a treasure trove of Joan-isms. It is most definitely a lifestyle book for the rich and famous. Joan goes into great detail about simple lifestyle choices, makeup / hair, entertaining friends and family, cooking and how to please “your man.” If I had my druthers, I would have the book made into a stage play. It is just that interesting and was a pre-cursor to Martha Stewart.

Thank you so much for your lovely observations and interesting questions!

[caseylalonde]

Good evening Larry,

I just read the entire thread you forwarded. Your experiences are simply amazing! I am in splendid company on The Oasis!

I just don’t know where to begin, but thank you for the details. Again, I am simply amazed!

Please keep in touch.

[caseylalonde]

Good evening Stuart,

The Joan vs. Bette feud was, in my opinion, blown out of proportion over the years. There was the usual sniping between stars at competitor studios. There were the nasty comments over the years from both sides. Rumors swirled before, during and after the filming of Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?.

The rumor has it that it was a tug of war between Joan and Bette over Franchot Tone that ignited the brouhaha. Maybe it was simply two competitive Hollywood actresses giving the works to each other to gain some unknown upper hand?

I don’t know if you saw the recent TCM documentary on Bette Davis, Stardust: The Bette Davis Story? The way the press of the time and people today talk about the feud, it was a constant battle. If you watch the documentary closely, I don’t know how much time Bette actually gave to thinking about her fight with Joan. Bette was so busy raising a family and working that she couldn’t have had much time to strategize against Joan. The same can be said of Joan.

Sure, I can pick up any biography of either actress and pick the quotes out of the air, but I just don’t think it was that bad.

I am sure there was at least a basic level of professional respect from both actresses. But again, sometimes the sniping would infect even their professional relationship. I think the drama of the feud was what actually sold the feud, not the actual substance of their relationship.

Thanks for the question!