The Truth About 'Mommie Dearest'

Publish date: 2024-05-05

Do you think that Christina was telling the truth, or do you think the abuse was made up? I think she was telling the truth, but her behavior regarding the book and the supposed tales of "trauma" afterwards is questionable. If it was so traumatic why did she partake in comedy readings with Joan Crawford drag queens? But then again, trauma works in mysterious ways and we all have our own individuals methods to get over it. Maybe poking fun at it (and poking fun at Joan) is Joan's children's way of getting over it all. What do you think?

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by Anonymousreply 117November 30, 2020 3:20 AM

I think Christina thinks she told the truth that she was the victim of an abusive monster, and Joan thinks she was taken advantage of by an ungrateful brat, and that the truth is somewhere in the middle.

by Anonymousreply 2November 26, 2020 9:49 PM

Didn't one of Joan's costars say she witnessed much worse? Who was that?

by Anonymousreply 4November 26, 2020 10:06 PM

June Allyson was but one, R4. There were others. People in Hollywood felt sorry for Crawford's kids. This was back in the day when parents could much be much harder on their kids and no one batted an eye.

by Anonymousreply 5November 26, 2020 10:13 PM

Some people think Christina exaggerated or that Dunaway's depiction was OTT. They were spot on. Narcissistic mothers are hell.

by Anonymousreply 6November 26, 2020 10:15 PM

After Christina's lackluster acting career never happened, she made a career out of making up stories about her mother. I don't think Joan was a good mother but I think most of CC's book is straight up fiction. I think Drew Barrymore had it worse with Jaid Barrymore, who was such a narcissist, she pimped her daughter's celebrity out for drugs and entrance to the clubs and parties.

by Anonymousreply 7November 26, 2020 10:16 PM

It's been well established that Faye is the reason Joan was portrayed the way she was. Christina has always said that her mother was a bad mother, but she wasn't THAT BAD!!! She was shocked when she saw the movie and went on a counter campaign on talk shows to try and repair the damage that was done to Joan's memory by Faye's interpretation and characterization of Joan as a monster.

by Anonymousreply 9November 26, 2020 10:26 PM

There's a lot of stuff Christina does in the movie that would make me beat the shit out of her, too.

by Anonymousreply 10November 26, 2020 10:32 PM

Joan was complicated and she probably had no business trying to raise children for multiple reasons, but to be fair it’s likely a rare few celebrities of her caliber that are ever suited to meet the complex and developmentally shifting emotional needs of a child. Given Crawford’s alcoholism and instability it’s doubtful Chris and Christina weren’t abused, but to what extent we’ll never know to since Joan wasn’t alive to give her side of the story. I certainly wasn’t there so IMO it’s not my place to judge Christina for how she’s processed and come to terms with how she was treated by her mother.

by Anonymousreply 11November 26, 2020 10:48 PM

Mmeory is tricky. I'm sure that not everything Christina put in the book was as she described it, but I'm guessing she recorded the jist of it. By the time the twins were adopted Joan may have mellowed. She didn't have a great upbringing herslef.

by Anonymousreply 12November 26, 2020 11:22 PM

Everything I've read/seen about Joan Crawford makes me think she'd be diagnosed with bipolar disorder today. It would explain her drive to succeed, her ability to "manifest" charisma or whatever celebrity stardust quality was in demand, her ability to work long hours under the studio system, as well as the off-the-charts instability, cruelty, masochism, and distrust that Christina Crawford described in her book.

I understand it was scandalous to air that kind of dirty laundry at the time, but I don't doubt for a second that it was all true.

by Anonymousreply 13November 26, 2020 11:33 PM

I think it was mailny true. Joan Crawford was bipolar and some of her friends even came forward and said they had witnessed her abusing the kids in front of them on seperate ocasions. Bette Davis's "abuse" was totally made up though. Bette Davis actually treated her adopted daughter well and she turned out to be an ungrateful piece of crap.

by Anonymousreply 14November 26, 2020 11:38 PM

r15 "I am not one of YOUR FAAAAAAAAAAANS!!!!

by Anonymousreply 17November 27, 2020 1:31 AM

r13 the traits you described seem more in line with a personality disorder rather than bipolar disorder

by Anonymousreply 18November 27, 2020 1:32 AM

With some of the crap that we’re hearing about Hollywood today. I believe it is 100% true.

by Anonymousreply 19November 27, 2020 1:34 AM

What's up with that clown makeup she has on in OP's pic?

by Anonymousreply 20November 27, 2020 1:36 AM

What kind of mother instructs the nurse to tie their child in a chair, OP? Joan was abusive...

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by Anonymousreply 21November 27, 2020 1:38 AM

Of course it was true. The book was not the movie and other celebrities backed up her claims. Joan was ducking crazy and not just because of what she did to her kids. She was insane, period.

by Anonymousreply 22November 27, 2020 1:42 AM

Joan really did use a harness on Christopher to prevent him from masturbating. Really demented woman.

by Anonymousreply 23November 27, 2020 1:43 AM

Helen Hayes was quoted as saying "Joan Crawford tried to be all things to all people. I just wish she hadn't tried to be a mother." She also said "It would have been futile for me or anyone else to protest. Joan would only get angry and probably vent her rage on the kids."

by Anonymousreply 24November 27, 2020 1:45 AM

There are newspaper articles where Joan proudly talks about hitting her kids with objects. She had a whole host of personality disorders. Christina said that a lot of it seemed to happen when she was drinking, especially at night. The story June Alyson talked about what she witnessed with Christina tells you all you need to know. Joan was sadistic. She came up with fucked up forms of punishment that only a sick mind could conjure up.

Christina will never say what went on with her brother Christopher. I got the sense that Joan may have sexually abused him. Christina always said that what was done up her brother was far worse. She said it was harder because he was male. She wouldn’t go past saying that.

by Anonymousreply 25November 27, 2020 1:46 AM

ONLY AN IGNORANT OAF WOULD SAY FAYE'S PERFORMANCE WAS OVER THE TOP!!!!!!!!!!!

NO MORE WIRE HANGERS EVER!!!!!!!

by Anonymousreply 26November 27, 2020 1:49 AM

Faye wanted an academy award and took mundane dialogue and chewed up the scenery to give an Oscar-worthy "PERFORMANCE!!!!"

But it backfired on her. The critics panned her for her melodramatic histrionics.

by Anonymousreply 27November 27, 2020 1:59 AM

[quote]What kind of mother instructs the nurse to tie their child in a chair, OP?

That is no indictment. Stop judging that type of behavior based on what we know today. Kids were also routinely spanked back then. In fact, other people had permission to spank your children. Kids used to ride in the front seat of cars. My parents routinely picked me up in late 70s after being drunk off their asses at a friend's party. Times change.

by Anonymousreply 28November 27, 2020 2:05 AM

[quote]Faye wanted an academy award and took mundane dialogue and chewed up the scenery to give an Oscar-worthy "PERFORMANCE!!!!"

[quote]But it backfired on her. The critics panned her for her melodramatic histrionics.

Christina said at the time, "They made a Joan Crawford movie."

by Anonymousreply 29November 27, 2020 2:08 AM

According to one Datalounger's experience, working for John Epperson a.k.a. "Lypsinka", (I believe that's him as Joan in the OP photo) was worse than working for Joan herself.

by Anonymousreply 30November 27, 2020 2:22 AM

The Passion of the Crawford

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by Anonymousreply 31November 27, 2020 2:25 AM

Christina was telling HER TRUTH. And only delusional queens and Million Dollar Housewives are have so much emotion wrapped up in Joan to give a shit either way. Except it, Joan was a drunken insane loon. The end.

by Anonymousreply 32November 27, 2020 2:26 AM

If she was truly bipolar, she would have had a round or two in "the bin" and her friends would have seen her behave rather peculiarly.

by Anonymousreply 33November 27, 2020 2:28 AM

I meant Million Dollar Movie housewives, the kind who were addicted to the movies on channel 9, in New York, in the 1960s-70s.

by Anonymousreply 34November 27, 2020 2:34 AM

The one thing about the movie Mommie Dearest I do love is it makes the not-so-subtle suggestion that sometimes you end up adopting a haughty little child who back talks!

And that's what Joan got - a frosty little child with an attitude.

I can totally understand Joan's need to slap her around. Christina could be a little bitch. She needed some correction.

by Anonymousreply 35November 27, 2020 2:40 AM

The little wretch made it all up. WHIP her for that.

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by Anonymousreply 37November 27, 2020 2:50 AM

Remember, we are talking about a great actress. She gave us Torch Song, for God's sake!

by Anonymousreply 38November 27, 2020 2:52 AM

I think she only told us the highlights of her relationship with her mother. The daily grind of being around Miss Perfect must have been grueling. She was probably glad to go live at that nunnery to get away from her.

by Anonymousreply 39November 27, 2020 2:57 AM

R13 is correct. She was bipolar and an alcoholic. I’m Sure she was a complete nightmare

Also explains why she mellowed with age, which happens to many bipolar women post menopause.

by Anonymousreply 40November 27, 2020 3:25 AM

There isn’t a doubt in my mind that Christina was telling the truth. Joan probably was bipolar and probably had a Cluster B personality disorder on top of it.

Christina seemed to be kind of a willful child who pushed Joan’s buttons, probably more intentionally as she reached her teenage years. Joan wanted dolls she could dress up and parade in front of the cameras and Christina probably sensed that from an early age.

by Anonymousreply 41November 27, 2020 3:27 AM

Faye was the runner up for the NYFC beat actress award so not everyone attacked it.

Eve Arden, Cheryl crane and Liza backed up Christina in various ways.

Anne Bancroft was attached to the mommie dearest film for a time, i wonder what she would’ve done with it.

by Anonymousreply 42November 27, 2020 4:05 AM

That Joan Crawford so cruelly excluded from her will ("for reasons that are well known to them") her two oldest children shows she had a great deal of hostility towards them. I have no doubt she abused them as children. I don't know how anybody could think differently, unless they were just dimwit fans of Crawford's.

by Anonymousreply 43November 27, 2020 4:15 AM

How is the air in your black and white world R43?

by Anonymousreply 44November 27, 2020 4:17 AM

Bancroft might have pulled it off. Didn't know she had been considered. Miss Dunaway is in the zone, so it's all good.

by Anonymousreply 45November 27, 2020 4:21 AM

"... she mellowed with age, which happens to many bipolar women post menopause."

So do you advocate hysterectomy for female manic depressives?

by Anonymousreply 46November 27, 2020 4:25 AM

Miss Dunaway lost her shit with age.

by Anonymousreply 47November 27, 2020 4:27 AM

I don't know if Christina told the truth, but I do know that my aunt met Joan at some meet-and-greet, and thought JC reminded her of her mother/my grandmother.

My grandmother used to beat the shit out of her kids.

by Anonymousreply 48November 27, 2020 5:49 AM

I think that the book was mostly true. Maybe a few things here and there were exaggerated or not remembered with 100% accuracy, but the bulk of it rings true.

My mother had narcissistic tendencies, and I had some of the same shit growing up - hearing adults say we were the "perfect family", while knowing that when they'd gone away and it was just my family at home, my mother would go back to screaming abuse and complaining about how awful it was that people expected her to feed and clothe her children when she had other things to worry about. And Joan Crawford was a textbook case of Narcissistic Personality Disorder, she was WORSE.

by Anonymousreply 49November 27, 2020 5:53 AM

That scene where Joan straddles the kid and tries to choke the life out of her either happened or it didn't.

And in front of a reporter no less!

by Anonymousreply 50November 27, 2020 5:56 AM

Dataloungers ability to constantly recycle the same thread topics over and over and over again never ceases to amaze me.

by Anonymousreply 51November 27, 2020 6:08 AM

Nobody ever tiers of Mommie Dearest r51.

by Anonymousreply 52November 27, 2020 6:10 AM

Faye and Mommie Dearest is the topic gift that keeps on giving! It never gets old and makes me want to watch the movie. I would love to watch the movie in a theater with 300 gay men! It would be a real hoot!

by Anonymousreply 53November 27, 2020 6:40 AM

Joan was an abuse survivor and went on to abuse others in her personal and professional life. She was also a drunk. Drunks are often violent and abusive. Yes, this went down.

by Anonymousreply 54November 27, 2020 7:44 AM

Is Rex Reed three feet tall?

by Anonymousreply 55November 27, 2020 8:24 AM

Christina Crawford is trash.

by Anonymousreply 56November 27, 2020 8:35 AM

r56 = the ghost of Joan Crawford

by Anonymousreply 57November 27, 2020 10:36 AM

It's weird that you never hear anyone talk about Joan pulling a "don't fuck with me, fellas" type of diva attitude on the sets of movies. Once the cat was out of the bag with Christina's book, you'd think that eventually some people would come forward with stories of their own, but they didn't.

And regarding all the "don't fuck with me, fellas" and "bitch of a bearing wall" quotes everyone loves, some of those don't show up in the book at all, they were invented for the movie. Yablans told Ebert that reality wasn't important for the movie, and he also had massive contempt for Joan and didn't try to hide it. The movie was meant to be a hit job.

So much of what people think they know about Joan comes from made-up lines screamed about "teenage brothels" and "rodeos." The actual book is quite different, and in several cases the stories Christina tells start out mild and then escalate in ways that aren't wholly convincing.

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by Anonymousreply 58November 27, 2020 11:07 AM

I believe it was essentially the truth. There have been enough celebrities over the years who have confirmed a lot of what she wrote to make me believe Joan was abusive to those kids. But like all books, I believe she probably exaggerated some things, either on her own or at the behest of her editor. The 100% truth is rarely interesting enough to sell on its own

by Anonymousreply 59November 27, 2020 11:33 AM

[quote]R32: Except it, Joan was a drunken insane loon.

Jesus WEPT.

by Anonymousreply 60November 27, 2020 11:34 AM

R59 Numerous Hollywood legends who worked with Joan and were guests at her home did say that they never saw any evidence of child abuse.

I'll talk the words from the likes of Henry Fonda & Barbara Stanwyck over that Christina Crawford any day.

by Anonymousreply 61November 27, 2020 1:38 PM

Thank you R58. Joan was far from perfect, she was human. But a lot of the myth of Joan Crawford is just a bunch of fiction and that has now been turned into a legend and truth. Christina was the prototype for the whiney millennial. Given everything, but never enough.

by Anonymousreply 62November 27, 2020 3:00 PM

Yes r61 eve arden and Helen Hayes had A LOT of credibility issues! 🙄

by Anonymousreply 63November 27, 2020 3:23 PM

Reportedly Christina was hysterical when she saw the finished film in previews and tried to give the money back to stop Paramount from releasing it, LOL.

by Anonymousreply 64November 27, 2020 3:46 PM

[quote] Christina was the prototype for the whiney millennial. Given everything, but never enough.

I know, right?

by Anonymousreply 65November 27, 2020 4:43 PM

Really, R61, Fonda? Who else's word would you accept, Bing Crosby?

by Anonymousreply 66November 27, 2020 5:00 PM

Stanwyck would have said something about Joan being abusive to her kids, I think, and Fonda probably would have too, because he was the type to think the women should be good moms while the dads could be bastards because it was their right.

Directors would talk at length about how Davis or Stanwyck or any number of actresses were difficult, but you never got anything but comments on professionalism when discussing Joan until you get to the Johnny Guitar era.

And one of the people who said he saw Joan abusing her kids was Vincent Sherman, who also admitted to hitting Joan himself, so there's that.

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by Anonymousreply 67November 27, 2020 9:42 PM

Miss Stanwyck was a friend of Joan's and she and Hank were hardly Parents of the Year themselves. Just caught the Dick Cavett Show the other night where June Allyson describes her one experience with Joan and Christina and it was very sad.

by Anonymousreply 68November 28, 2020 1:28 AM

True. Daughter of an abusive drunk. Christina doesn't resent people who enjoyed Faye or Joan's acting

by Anonymousreply 69November 28, 2020 1:32 AM

Mommie Dearest is a masterpiece, which doesn't get enough credit.

It's a no-holds-barred look at child abuse. Faye Dunaway gives the performance of a lifetime as Joan Crawford, struggling with mental illness and self-control. A powerful performance.

Diana Scarwid wonderfully plays Christina, the troubled adopted daughter who is passive at home but a tramp at school, who lets out her inner whore when she's away from her mother's reign of terror, bringing shame to her mother in front of the headmistress and even more shockingly, in front of a reporter. Long before Aguilera, Crawford was the original XXXtina, who knew where to find the boys and the booze.

Dunaway and Scarwid have so much tension in their scenes, it pops off the screen. They perfectly capture the strained and complex relationship between Joan and Christina. The love, the resentment, the jealousy. They deserved Oscars. A shame that their powerful performances are written off as simply camp.

One day people will realize that Mommie Dearest is an incredible film about child abuse.

The truth about Mommie Dearest is... it's a masterpiece.

by Anonymousreply 70November 28, 2020 1:56 AM

One of many things that upset Christina about the film was that the movie condensed events, like the notorious manic "night raids". Combining them was convenient cinema shorthand, but it made them seem way over the top and less believable.

by Anonymousreply 71November 28, 2020 2:02 AM

"I'll talk the words from the likes of Henry Fonda & Barbara Stanwyck over that Christina Crawford any day."

What exactly did they say to exonerate Joan Crawford from allegations of child abuse? I never heard anywhere that they defended her. Their word wouldn't count fro much anyway, seeing as how they were both shitty parents themselves.

by Anonymousreply 72November 28, 2020 2:12 AM

r70 is the reason *uh-huh* was invented.

by Anonymousreply 73November 28, 2020 2:16 AM

Stanwyck had her own questionable relationship with an adoptive child. I don't think I'd take her word about anything.

by Anonymousreply 74November 28, 2020 2:26 AM

[quote] Faye and Mommie Dearest is the topic gift that keeps on giving! It never gets old and makes me want to watch the movie. I would love to watch the movie in a theater with 300 gay men! It would be a real hoot!

How about a theatre with 300 owls? That would be an even bigger hoot!

by Anonymousreply 75November 28, 2020 3:00 AM

This is going to make me sound like a bad person who is just defending Joan again, but so be it.

I think that before the world became so kid focused, any kind of discipline from, let's say, before 1985 could be considered child abuse by today's standards. Before children took over the lives of adults (and for some reason we GenXers - who were raised by wolves - are the biggest perpetrators of this crime) kids were just raised and disciplined differently.

Did Joan go overboard on occasion? Maybe. But she never got to tell her side of the story. Joan went on Secret Storm for that little bitch, if that's not a mother's love, I don't know what it is.

by Anonymousreply 76November 28, 2020 3:01 AM

I think Christina's "truth" is horseshit. I grew up in a poor, tough, household. My parents were tough as hell. My dad was from way upstate NY (near the border) and my mom was from the deep south. We got belt beatings on our bare asses if we were bad, mouthed off, etc. I saw my dad knock my brother's tooth out with a punch to the face after calling our mom a "stupid bitch" for throwing his pot down the toilet (he was 15). It was the 70s/80s. Was it right? I'm not sure. Others had it far worse. If you behaved badly as a kid in those days you got your ass handed to you and all adults agreed it was a good thing. Did Joan take it too far? By Hollywood standards - yes. By standards in most American households at that time I imagine she was just considered very strict.

by Anonymousreply 77November 28, 2020 3:14 AM

"By standards in most American households at that time I imagine she was just considered very strict."

Going into a psychotic rage and attempting to strangle your child to death was "just considered very strict?" I hope YOU never become a parent. You'd probably punch your child in the face and tell yourself you're "just being very strict."

by Anonymousreply 79November 28, 2020 3:38 AM

What sort of mother would Kate Hepburn have been?

by Anonymousreply 80November 28, 2020 3:51 AM

Does anyone know what Christopher looks like now and what he does for a living? Are him and Christina still close?

by Anonymousreply 81November 28, 2020 3:54 AM

R81 I think he is decease-ed.

by Anonymousreply 82November 28, 2020 3:56 AM

[quote]Going into a psychotic rage and attempting to strangle your child to death was "just considered very strict?"

Were you there for that? Is there actual footage?

by Anonymousreply 83November 28, 2020 3:56 AM

"Were you there for that? Is there actual footage?"

It was described in detail in "Mommie Dearest." I believe it happened.I assume you don't. But that's because you're in love with Joan Crawford. Not everyone loves her like you do.

by Anonymousreply 84November 28, 2020 4:53 AM

R80 Terrible. Not everybody is cut out to be a suitable parent and Hepburn was incredibly independent. To ad lib Sandra Sullivan (Mink Stole) in Polyester "Children would only get in the way of my lifestyle" (I left out erotic because Hepburn doesn't strike me as that).

by Anonymousreply 85November 28, 2020 4:56 AM

Most great actors who chew up the scenery are "mentally ill". Just fyi. They go unmedicated which is why they are such great actors. Once you medicate their crazy asses, they can't perform! They need that blur between reality and fantasy. It's a double edged sword.

Faye is one of those actors.

Side note. She almost deserves credit as co-director because she completely created the character of "Joan Crawford" who was not anywhere close to the real life Joan Crawford! You could actually rebrand Mommie Dearest as "The Faye Dunaway Story".

I knew Faye's (short-lived) Assistant and the psychopathic stories are off the rails! I hope her son has been kept journals so we could have "Mommie Dearest 2.0" starring Cate Blanchet as "Faye Dunaway"!!!

by Anonymousreply 86November 28, 2020 4:58 AM

Love the idea of Cate playing Faye!

by Anonymousreply 87November 28, 2020 5:23 AM

A 60-year old friend of mine recently learned she was disinherited from her parents’ will for some trespass she committed on her Mother in middle school! Even though they continued to have a relationship until the Mother’s death a few years ago & she gave this women her only biological grandchildren (who, not the step-grandchildren from a son’s marriage, are in the Will).

by Anonymousreply 88November 28, 2020 5:37 AM

Cate's nose is too big for her to play Faye.

by Anonymousreply 89November 28, 2020 5:39 AM

Cate can ACT a slimmer nose.....

by Anonymousreply 90November 28, 2020 5:46 AM

"Joan went on Secret Storm for that little bitch, if that's not a mother's love, I don't know what it is."

Oh for fuck's sake, you think Joan was too old for publicity stunts or something?

by Anonymousreply 91November 28, 2020 5:48 AM

Jessica Lange played Joan with no nose.

by Anonymousreply 92November 28, 2020 6:02 AM

Cate Blanchet played Katherine Hepburn!!! She could pull off Faye Dunaway!

by Anonymousreply 93November 28, 2020 6:11 AM

Ryan Murphy Presents:

Cate Blanchet Playing Faye Dunaway Playing Joan Crawford

by Anonymousreply 94November 28, 2020 6:15 AM

I’m sorry you were abused as a child R77. I can assure you that wasn’t normal behaviour for everyone back in the old days.

by Anonymousreply 95November 28, 2020 6:25 AM

It's so interesting to see all the Rose McGowan and Anthony Rapp threads full of people saying "that never happened, they're lying grifter whore scum," but on these Joan and Christina threads, you can tell some people are practically addicted to the idea that campy antiheroine Joan Crawford was a psychotic rage beast. All you hear from them is "Christina is telling the truth! You're evil for not believing her tales of abuse!"

Then they accuse everyone else of having inappropriate emotional reactions.

by Anonymousreply 96November 28, 2020 6:42 AM

It was common, R77, don't let anyone tell you otherwise. Those were the years when teachers brought enormous wooden paddles to school and beat the shit out of kids as a matter of course. Things changed in the 1980s, I think some of the younger GenXers (and younger than that) probably didn't grow up with the same kind of discipline issues.

Heck, the other day I was rewatching an old 1991 Simpsons and Marge sent Bart to bed without any dinner as punishment and I was briefly shocked, then remembered that was so common it was a sitcom joke trope back then. Nowadays you'd get social services sent to your house if your kid reported that you refused to feed them.

by Anonymousreply 97November 28, 2020 6:48 AM

Yeah, I think it definitely happened. I can't see her as bipolar though, more like borderline personality with a raging alcohol addiction.

by Anonymousreply 98November 28, 2020 7:07 AM

Starting at an early age (7), Christopher repeatedly ran away from Joan's lovely home. I guess he was just an ungrateful brat, unable to appreciate the fact that being strapped to his lovely bed (until he was 12) or having his hand held in the lovely burning fireplace until it blistered was nothing unusual, and certainly not abusive. It may be possible that Stanwyck and Fonda didn't witness these and other episodes because, unlike Christopher, they didn't actually live in Joan's house...

by Anonymousreply 99November 28, 2020 7:16 AM

What is your source for that R99? And don't say Christina's book or the movie.

by Anonymousreply 100November 28, 2020 7:18 AM

R93 Cate Blanchett did a terrible job playing me. Just like Meryl Streep click, click, click.

by Anonymousreply 101November 28, 2020 7:21 AM

L.A. Times interview (1978)

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by Anonymousreply 102November 28, 2020 7:22 AM

[quote]Once caught playing with matches, his mother made him hold his hand in the fireplace. "I had blisters all over my hand; that day I ran away for the first time. I was 7."

I bet he never played with matches again.

by Anonymousreply 103November 28, 2020 7:27 AM

R102 Wow! So Christopher pretty much confirms everything that Christina said and had plenty of stories of his own. It’s obvious Joan was not a good person.

by Anonymousreply 104November 28, 2020 7:29 AM

R82 = Miss Warwick.

Yes, Christopher died in 2006.

I think a Ryan Murphy "making-of-Mommie-Dearest" would be fucking awesome. Further, I'd love to see a mini-series biography of Joan. You'd have to serialize it to get all the details right.

by Anonymousreply 105November 28, 2020 3:13 PM

Faye is incredible in this film. Its a b movie and tells a terrible story of violence and abuse but you can feel empathy for Crawford through Faye's performance. Love the opening montage.

by Anonymousreply 106November 28, 2020 4:19 PM

I wouldn't describe it as a B Movie, r106. I also wouldn't describe Faye as incredible. Perhaps incredibly over the top. But it's an over the top film which was obviously Frank Perry's choice. Faye chose to go along for the ride, much to her career's detriment. And it wouldn't have been as detrimental if the humorless Faye had just owned up to the cheesiness at the time and just moved on.

by Anonymousreply 107November 28, 2020 5:02 PM

Isn't Faye the reason why the movie was a joke? They actually filmed this thing like it was going to clean up at the Oscars. Someone must have seen the dailies and a knew what was happening.

by Anonymousreply 108November 28, 2020 5:04 PM

I'll have to dig out my Films in Review issue to see what Frank Perry said at the time.

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by Anonymousreply 109November 28, 2020 5:11 PM

Its hard to look at. Child and substance abuse and violence. People didn't want to discuss this topic openly 40 years ago.

I saw Faye's Crawford as a moviestar icon who demanded respect, received none and taking out her anger on others who couldn't fight back.

The showdown in the boardroom is the stuff of legend.

by Anonymousreply 110November 28, 2020 5:13 PM

[quote] Isn't Faye the reason why the movie was a joke?

No. She is the reason the movie is still talked about today. She took what is basically Lifetime movie material and added some depth to it.

by Anonymousreply 111November 28, 2020 5:20 PM

[quote]No. She is the reason the movie is still talked about today. She took what is basically Lifetime movie material and added some depth to it.

Oh look, someone finally wired Faye's house for the internet. Dionne has really opened the floodgates.

by Anonymousreply 112November 28, 2020 5:28 PM

[quote] Oh look, someone finally wired Faye's house for the internet. Dionne has really opened the floodgates.

Faye is in 4 movies still talked about today--Bonnie and Clyde, Chinatown, Network and Mommie Dearest. Clearly people know who she is--unlike Dionne.

by Anonymousreply 113November 28, 2020 5:30 PM

[quote]Clearly people know who she is--unlike Dionne.

And I guess wherever Aretha ended up also has wifi.

by Anonymousreply 114November 28, 2020 5:50 PM

Not me at R82.

Think I need to spend time talking about dead white ho' when you queenies have the subject so fucking thoroughly covered?

Oh, I met her. Scary. Tried to get me to take something out of her hand and eat it. Like she wasn't sure if I was domesticated.

You bet I bit her.

Hal took a pic.

Kisses, baby.

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by Anonymousreply 115November 29, 2020 10:26 PM

Joan had something called Patio Root beer in her fridge, but I don't see any Pepsi. Love that Fridge though.

by Anonymousreply 116November 30, 2020 2:52 AM

Pepsi made Patio---it was their counterpart to Coke's Fanta line.

by Anonymousreply 117November 30, 2020 3:20 AM

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