Thread Number: 44687
the movie Hitchcock... maybe the wrong forum |
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Post# 655956   1/26/2013 at 08:29 (4,107 days old) by classiccaprice (Hampton, Virginia)   |   | |
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Post# 655961 , Reply# 1   1/26/2013 at 09:17 (4,107 days old) by danemodsandy (The Bramford, Apt. 7-E)   |   | |
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Post# 656069 , Reply# 3   1/26/2013 at 16:16 (4,107 days old) by bajaespuma (Connecticut)   |   | |
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and yet with Crawford's obsessive-compulsive behavior when it came to cleaning and housekeeping it is more than conceivable that somebody who researched the story reported that she had two separate identical washer/dryer combos for whatever rationale that damaged psyche required. I wouldn't be a bit surprised if one was restricted only for her clothing.
A friend of the family went to her co-op to photograph her in the Sixities and reported back to us that he was required to remove his shoes in the hallway outside of the apartment (nothing unusual there) because the entire apartment was carpeted in white, STARK WHITE, broadloom so Ms. Crawford would be aware if there was an errant speck of dirt inside her home. This was the apartment that was referred to in the movie ("Let's tear down that BITCH of a bearing wall and put a window where one ought to be"); Crawford insisted on a custom-made kitchen with banks of round cabinetry and counters which were, back then, outrageously expensive. Glad nobody in the family owned any PepsiCo shares. I must confess I never liked her as an actress, and after Christina's book was released I wasn't too surprised. She's not the first hateful bitch to achieve extreme success and won't be the last. I still remember a quotation attributed to Helen Hayes, "Joan was good at a lot of things; motherhood wasn't one of them". I have no sympathy for people who abuse children. |
Post# 656078 , Reply# 4   1/26/2013 at 16:33 (4,107 days old) by danemodsandy (The Bramford, Apt. 7-E)   |   | |
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There are two sides to every story, and some folks in a position to know held that Joan had been not been treated with complete fairness.
Betty Barker, who was Joan's secretary for decades, said many times that Christina was a handful: "Oh, Joan was willful, and Christina was willful, and they just clashed." Myrna Loy, who toured in Butterflies are Free with Christina playing the ingenue role, was very vocal about Christina's ego, lack of professionalism and disruptive behavior. And Christina's tale somehow glosses over the enormous professional damage her behavior - and Christopher's - inflicted, or could have inflicted, on an aging star who was struggling to stay in the game in a Hollywood nearly shipwrecked by the advent of TV. Christina's complaints about her stay with the nuns are heartrending - but Joan put her into the convent because she was caught in a sexually compromising situation with a boy. This would have made for highly damaging publicity in the world of the early '50s. Christopher's runnings-away and juvenile charges did make the tabloids and did do damage. I do not say - have never said - that Joan behaved perfectly, nor that there were not abusive incidents. But Christina's adoptive sisters, Cindy and Cathy, were always working to tell the other side of the story - that the Joan Crawford they had known was a good mother to them. It is a matter of record that Christina and Christopher were very difficult children. And that can - most unfortunately - sometimes drive the best-intentioned parent to do things they know they shouldn't. |
Post# 656082 , Reply# 5   1/26/2013 at 17:00 (4,107 days old) by Maytagbear (N.E. Ohio)   |   | |
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That KitchenAid made me cringe. As far as I could tell, everything else was correct, but.... Lawrence/Maytagbear |
Post# 656090 , Reply# 7   1/26/2013 at 17:31 (4,107 days old) by danemodsandy (The Bramford, Apt. 7-E)   |   | |
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Please accept that there are two sides to this story. Joan's grandson, Casey Lalonde, has worked for years to get more of the other side out.
The Fifties were not today. Children - including Yours Truly - were chattels, objects, things that parents could do with as they wished; the experience of being a child then was as different to today's as Mars is to the Earth. At fourteen, I had the experience of finding out - quite accidentally - that the man I knew as "Dad" was not actually my father, that I was the product of a first marriage about which I had known nothing. It had all happened when I was quite young, and everyone reasoned I was too little to remember anything, and that it was best to sweep the whole thing under the carpet. My right to know my own origins had been of no importance compared to the emotional convenience of the adults involved. And I am here to tell you - by the Lord God Almighty, that hurt. But - when I located him, my birth father turned out to be a ne'er-do-well, a womanizer and alcoholic who got into such constant trouble he died before he was forty from his excesses (I "found" him through burial records). My stepfather, on the other hand, was the one who kept a roof over my head, food in my belly and taught me how to read at age two - the beginning of the literacy that spawned my career as a writer. My stepfather participated in that long-ago deception, and it was a terrible thing to do to a child. But that deception was not all there was to him, nor to our relationship, and while I can't condone the sin, I do love the sinner. Most of Joan Crawford's movies were black-and-white. This world isn't. |
Post# 656100 , Reply# 8   1/26/2013 at 18:08 (4,107 days old) by lesto (Atlanta)   |   | |
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Speaking of Joan Crawford, has anyone noticed the Maytag AMP she and Bette Davis had in their kitchen in "What Ever Happened To Baby Jane"? |
Post# 656102 , Reply# 9   1/26/2013 at 18:18 (4,107 days old) by danemodsandy (The Bramford, Apt. 7-E)   |   | |
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Post# 656109 , Reply# 11   1/26/2013 at 18:53 (4,107 days old) by bajaespuma (Connecticut)   |   | |
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All of the casework was curved to make two semi-circular banks of cabinetry. None of the doors were flat, everything had to be custom-fabricated, custom-welded etc. I worked for a kitchen company on Madison Avenue in the late Seventies called Elgot and the Kitchen guys who worked there, Anthony Noto and Walter Bell knew details of the job which was talked about for years because it was so unusual, it was for a famous movie star and it was so expensive. And these guys did a lot of custom installations for a lot of rich New York bitches. Joan's kitchen was one for the records. For a woman who was reportedly so stingy with her family, she spared no expense when it came to her appetite for ridiculous and excessive luxury.
I'm sure the truth about Crawford isn't what Christina presents us, but don't tell me that difficult children are the cause and excuse for bad parents. Not buying it. Lots of people have difficulties in their careers; you make the decision to be a parent, don't blame your problems on your children. We were lucky enough one summer to spend some time in Cap Ferrat in the South of France with some friends of my parents who were later convicted of stock fraud but were living the high life at the time. Their next-door neighbor was Gregory Peck and we heard, and yes, this is second-hand information, that his son Tony was a victim of extreme abuse from Mr. Peck. This was crushing news, because I had always admired the man and though very highly of his work. I think the combination of extreme wealth and celebrity can make for nightmarish circumstances for their children. They are protected by wealth, legal power and the isolation of security. It's not like the next-door neighbors are going to hear the screaming and calling child protective agencies. |
Post# 656119 , Reply# 12   1/26/2013 at 19:22 (4,107 days old) by danemodsandy (The Bramford, Apt. 7-E)   |   | |
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Post# 656483 , Reply# 13   1/28/2013 at 09:39 (4,105 days old) by tecnopolis (Ocala/Dunnellon, Florida 34481)   |   | |
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Post# 656594 , Reply# 14   1/28/2013 at 19:04 (4,105 days old) by classiccaprice (Hampton, Virginia)   |   | |
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