Joan Crawford: The Essential Biography

345 Pages·2002·30.13 MB·English

by  Lawrence J. Quirk

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THE UNIVERSJITY PRESS OF KENTUCKY
Publication of this volume was made possible in part by a grant
from the National Endowment for the Humanities.
Copyright © 2002 by The University Press of Kentucky
Scholarly publisher for the Commonwealth,
serving Bellarmine University, Berea College, Centre
College of Kentucky, Eastern Kentucky University,
The Filson Historical Society, Georgetown College,
Kentucky Historical Society, Kentucky State University,
Morehead State University, Murray State University,
Northern Kentucky University, Transylvania University,
University of Kentucky, University of Louisville,
and Western Kentucky University.
All rights reserved.
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Quirk, Lawrence J.
Joan Crawford: the essential biography I Lawrence J. Quirk
and William Schoell.
p.cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-8131-2254-6 (alk. paper)
1. Crawford, Joan, 1908-1977. 2. Motion picture actors and
actresses-United States-Biography. I. Schoell, William. II. Title.
PN2287.C67 Q57 2002
791.43'028'092-dc21
2002011472
This book is printed on acid-free recycled paper meeting
the requirements of the American National Standard
for Permanence in Paper for Printed Library Materials.
Manufactured in the United States of America.
To the Memory of
Henry Hart
(1903-1990)
and
William Theodore Schoell
(1909-1991)
This page intentionally left blank
Preface ix
Acknowledgments xvu
1. Childhood's End 1
2. Pretty Lady 13
3. Window Dressing 25
4. Life at El Jodo 37
5. Two of a Kind 51
6. Skin Tone 67
7. Love on the Run 83
8. Jungle Red 000
9. Scarred 97
10. Mildred 123
11. Possessed 139
12. Victim 153
13. The Bitch is Back 169
14. The Queen of Pepsi-Cola 189
15. Teen Idol 205
16. War of Nerves 219
17. Secret Storms 233
18. End of an Icon 245
19. Serpent's Tooth 253
Afterword 269
Filmography 271
Notes 275
Bibliography 283
Index 285
Photographs follow pages 142
I knew Joan Crawford for thirty years.
I first met Joan in 1947, during my first trip to Hollywood, on the
set of Daisy Kenyon. I was then twenty-three years old and working for
Hearst's Boston Record-American. I was in Hollywood not only to do
stories on stars and movies, but also to interview some friends of my
uncle, James R. Quirk of Photoplay, because I had gotten the idea to
write a biography of him. At our first meeting, Joan asked me how old I
was; when I told her, she muttered under her breath, "Cute!" (At the
time, this was inexplicable to me). She told me that my uncle had helped
her a lot in her career, and she was very helpful in introducing me to
people who had known him and could pass on anecdotal material about
him, such as William Haines, an actor with whom Joan made several
films in the late 1920s. (I also asked these people about Joan, whom I
found fascinating.) Many years later, Joan admitted to me that she had
been one of the gals Louis B. Mayer had used to "entertain" visiting
executives and the like when they were in California. The girls were
provided as dates; whatever happened afterward was up to them. It even
emerged that my uncle had been one of these men. Joan said that, unlike
a lot of the other men, Uncle Jimmy always treated her with kindness.
Joan began corresponding with me on the stationery she always
used; her friend Jerry Asher (to whom she also introduced me) called
them "Joan's baby blues." Over the years, Joan and I became friends. I
met her again in 1952 while I was in the Army and she was appearing at
a Broadway theater in connection with her new film Sudden Fear. She
said then that she hoped that the movie would jump-start her career,
which it did. In May 1956, Joan visited New York and I went down to
Penn Station to greet her; a Columbia Pictures photographer took a pic
ture of us. When I worked for the Motion Picture Herald in the late
1950s, she was so happy with my review of Autumn Leaves that she and
her husband Alfred Steele invited me to '21' in 1957. At that meeting,