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    The Golden Age of Hollywood Movies 1931-1943: Vol II, Joan Crawford
    The Golden Age of Hollywood Movies 1931-1943: Vol II, Joan Crawford
    The Golden Age of Hollywood Movies 1931-1943: Vol II, Joan Crawford
    Ebook193 pages2 hours

    The Golden Age of Hollywood Movies 1931-1943: Vol II, Joan Crawford

    By James R Ashley

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    Joan’s childhood was right out of a Dickens novel. Her mother was indifferent to her, her 3 fathers ran out on her, and her brother held her in contempt. She grew up alone and friendless, having to work her early years at a succession of menial jobs in order to make ends meet for her mother and shiftless brother. Having to work at school so many hours to pay her tuition, Joan had no time to be educated and much to her shame later in life, she had only completed the 5th grade. When Joan’s 3rd father began sexually molesting her, Joan was blamed for enticing him and kicked out of the house.

    Making her way to Chicago, Joan became a chorus girl at some of the most disreputable clubs there. On the side she made nude stag movies to pay the rent. Forced by a friend to do a screen test for MGM, she was given a movie contract, despite her lack of interest in the movie industry. Joan started out by playing the role she knew best, a carefree flapper who loved to dance her ass off all night. Making some largely nondescript silent films, Joan now burst into talkies, playing a girl from the wrong side of town working her way up. Joan was drop dead gorgeous and she slept with every man and woman who could advance her career, rising up to be one of the top female stars in the motion picture industry.

    In the 1940s, however, Joan had become a has-been and although she would peak with Mildred Pierce (1945), in which she would win her only Oscar and What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? (1962), which she should have won one for, her film career was virtually over.

    Joan’s lack of education and absence friends while she was growing into adulthood left her without the ability to conduct a normal personal life. Since she had schemed and manipulated people to achieve her ends in the movie industry, she became equally as hard and cruel in her personal relationships. The end result was that her husbands were merely stepping-stones in the development of her career and her daughter Christiana and son Michael were mere props in the self-image she wanted to project. All Joan’s personal relationships were without any feeling or emotion and as a result, she had a relatively unhappy life

    However, Joan was truly beautiful at her height and she made riveting movies that one never tires of seeing. Her voice, inflections, and style is unforgettable and she will never be surpassed in playing the girl from the wrong side of the tracks, as that was what she was. So see how a working-class girl scorned by everyone made it to the top of her chosen profession and achieved an immortality reserved to only a few.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherJames R Ashley
    Release dateAug 15, 2013
    ISBN9781301759620
    The Golden Age of Hollywood Movies 1931-1943: Vol II, Joan Crawford

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      Book preview

      The Golden Age of Hollywood Movies 1931-1943 - James R Ashley

      The Golden Age of Hollywood Movies, 1931-1943

      Vol II: Joan Crawford

      James R Ashley

      Copyright 2015 James R. Ashley

      Smashwords edition

      Table of Contents

      Introduction

      The Early Years

      Family

      Joan's Children

      Love Life

      Chorus Girl

      Film Career

      Films

      Across to Singapore (1928)

      Our Dancing Daughters (1928)

      Our Modern Maidens (1929)

      Possessed (1931)

      Laughing Sinners (1931)

      Grand Hotel (1932)

      Rain (1932)

      Dancing Lady (1933)

      Chained (1934)

      Forsaking All Others (1934)

      Love On the Run (1936)

      Mannequin (1937)

      The Shining Hour (1938)

      Gone With the Wind (1939)

      The Women (1939)

      Ice Follies of 1939 (1939)

      Strange Cargo (1940)

      A Woman's Face (1941)

      When Woman (Ladies) Meet (1941)

      Reunion in France (1942)

      They All Kissed the Bride (1942)

      Above Suspicion (1943)

      Mildred Pierce (1945)

      Humoresque (1947)

      Daisy Kenyon (1947)

      Possessed (1947)

      Flamingo Road (1949)

      Goodbye My Fancy (1951)

      This Woman is Dangerous (1952)

      Torch Song (1953)

      From Here to Eternity (1953)

      Johnny Guitar (1954)

      Queen Bee (1955)

      Autumn Leaves (1956)

      The Story of Esther Costello (1957)

      What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? (1962)

      Strait Jacket (1964)

      Hush, Hush, Sweet Charlotte (1964)

      Berzerk (1967)

      Trog (1970)

      Television

      Last Years

      Death

      Estate

      Bibliography

      Introduction

      Joan’s childhood was right out of a Dickens novel. Her mother was indifferent to her, her 3 fathers ran out on her, and her brother held her in contempt. She grew up alone and friendless, having to work her early years at a succession of menial jobs in order to make ends meet for her mother and shiftless brother. Having to work numerous hours at school to pay her tuition, Joan had no time to be educated and, much to her shame later in life, she had only completed the 5th grade. When Joan’s 3rd father began sexually molesting her, she was blamed for enticing him and kicked out of the house by her mother.

      Making her way to Chicago, Joan became a chorus girl at some of the most disreputable clubs there. On the side she made nude stag movies to pay the rent. Forced by a friend to do a screen test for MGM, she was given a movie contract, despite her lack of interest in the movie industry. Joan started out by playing the role she knew best, a carefree flapper who loved to dance her ass off all night. Making some largely nondescript silent films, Joan now burst into talkies, playing a girl from the wrong side of town working her way up. Joan was drop-dead gorgeous and she slept with every man and woman who could advance her career, rising up to be one of the top female stars in the motion picture industry.

      In the 1940s, however, Joan had become a has-been and although she would peak with Mildred Pierce (1945), in which she would win her only Oscar, and have a one-shot resurgence in What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? (1962), which she should have won an Oscar for, her film career was virtually over.

      Joan’s lack of education and absence of friends while she was growing into adulthood left her without the ability to conduct a normal personal life. Since she had schemed and manipulated people to achieve her ends in the movie industry, she became equally hard and cruel in her personal relationships. The end result was that her husbands were merely stepping-stones in the development of her career and her daughter Christiana and son Michael were mere props in the self-image she wanted to project. All Joan’s personal relationships were without any feeling or emotion and, as a result, she had a relatively unhappy life

      However, Joan was truly beautiful at her height and she made riveting movies that one never tires of seeing. Her voice, inflections, and style are unforgettable and she will never be surpassed in playing the girl from the wrong side of the tracks, as in real life she was, who makes good. So turn the page and see how a working-class girl, scorned by everyone, made it to the top of her chosen profession and achieved an immortality reserved to only a few.

      The Early Years

      Joan was born Lucille Fay LeSueur on March 23, 1904. Her father was a free-lance contractor named Tom LeSueur, her mother a waitress named Anna Bell Johnson. Anna’s family warned her that she was making a big mistake in marring LeSueur but she was too in-love to heed their advice. Their warnings turned out to be prophetic, as shortly before Lucille was born, Tom LeSueur abandoned his family for parts unknown; the responsibility of supporting a family on his meager income had apparently proved too much for him.

      When Joan became a movie star, a man in Waco, Texas, wrote her, claiming to be her father. She wrote back and requested a photograph, which she then showed to her mother. She confirmed Tom LeSueur’s identity. At his request, Joan decided to meet with him.

      One day Hal (Joan’s brother) brought her father onto the set she was working on. He proved to be shy and was unable to communicate his feelings to her. And although Joan was curious to see him, she felt no attachment to him and after a short conversation broke away. The next day Joan saw him return to the set on his own. She looked up from talking to a director to see him wave to her, then blow her a kiss. They were not to see each other again.

      With her husband’s departure, it was up to Anna to now support herself and her 2 small children (Lucille and Hal), so she took in laundry and found local odd jobs. Despite all Anna could do, however, her small family lived in poverty. Anna thought she might do better elsewhere and moved to Lawton, where she met and soon married Henry Cassin, another bad choice. Daddy Cassin, as Lucille referred to him, was the only adult to give her any attention and affection. Cassin ran a vaudeville theater in the city, where he booked 3rd class (bottom of the barrel) acts.

      Before long Cassin was accused of embezzlement and although he was found not guilty, the upright citizens of Lawton were unwilling to give him the benefit of doubt and boycotted the vaudeville house he ran. Seeing no future in staying, Cassin moved his family to Kansas City. Soon, tiring of running a seedy residential flophouse there, he just took off one day without saying a word to anyone. Lucille was 10 years old at the time and in her opinion he had left because her mother was a nagging bitch and her brother Hal was a lazy good-for-nothing. Lucille said, I wish he’d taken me with him. Lucille now preferred to be called Billie Cassin, after the nickname her step-father had given her.

      Suitable for nothing else, Anna now took another menial job in a laundry. She, Billie, and Hal took up residency in an unused room behind the laundry. The single room was a hovel, without either cooking facilities or anything that could pass for a bathroom.

      Although Anna had struck out twice in her marriages, she still had one more time at bat before she was out, and, not surprisingly, she chose badly once again. This time it was a bum named Harry Hough. He had a penchant for young girls and before long Anna caught him fondling Billie. Anna seems to have been so desperate for a man that she apparently blamed Billie for provoking the incident and continued to live with Hough. Billie was now forced to hit the road, in order to restore tranquility in her household. This did Anna little good, however, as Hough left her in short order, and then it was strike 3. This was the last time Anna would marry.

      This constant switching from father-to-father, with the next one seemingly always worse than the previous one, adversely affected Billie in a number of ways. Emotionally, it turned her into the slut she would be for the rest of her life. She would go through man after man in a never ending process, using each to achieve another stepping stone in her career as a movie actress. She would choose her husbands and lovers no better than her mother Anne had chosen hers and would be just as miserable as Anna was throughout her life. Anna could get a man easily enough but she never could keep one for very long and neither could Billie.

      Anna’s minimum wage job at the laundry failed to cover expenses, and since she apparently exempted Hal from getting a job (he being her favorite), Billie was forced to take up the slack. During her teenage years Billie worked at a never-ending succession of menial jobs, mostly as a floor-scrubber, maid, or cafeteria worker, in order to provide that margin of money the family needed to survive. And although she attended school, she usually had to work so many hours to pay for her tuition that she had no time to attend classes. The result was Billie grew up largely uneducated. She never developed the proper analytical and decision-making skills needed to function normally, with the result that she continually made bad decisions and behaved in an increasingly irrational manner throughout her life. As a result, she largely lived a life of fear and misery and all the stature and money she acquired along the way did nothing to improve the quality of her life.

      When her father Tom Leseur ran off, Billie was forced to join her mother working a backbreaking job at the laundry. Billie attended public school irregularly and not only had to endure the shame of falling behind 3 grades, but her ill-fitting Raggedy Ann clothes made her the laughing stock of her classmates. Cassin thought that sending the 13-year-old Billie away to St Agnes Academy would make a change for the better, but it didn’t. Cassin intended paying the tuition from the money he made from the hotel he leased and managed. However, the majority of the residents there were transients, who frequently left without paying their bills. As a result, Cassin was forced to arrange with the nuns for Billie to do jobs around the school to earn her room & board. Billie had to serve students their meals and clean out their rooms from Monday through Friday from 1916 to 1919. Her teachers and fellow students treated her as a hired menial, with the result that she made no friends in either group. On weekends she went home to work beside her mother in the laundry.

      When the family moved to Kansas City after Cassin’s embezzlement trial, the 15-year-old Billie was enrolled at the Scarritt Elementary School for difficult children. Because of her lack of education and the thought that there was something wrong with her mentally, Billie was again held back from her proper age group. And although she was ridiculed and bullied by her classmates, she didn’t complain. Once again she had to work weekdays at school to pay for her tuition, while on weekends her mother, who had been promoted to running the wash-house, assigned her the dirtiest jobs there. Billie was the only student to work at the school and had to clean 14 rooms, make everyone’s beds, and cook and wash dishes for 30 students. By her own admission she was only able to attend classes 2 or 3 times a year, with the result that she received virtually no education at all, and no one cared. The schools’ headmistress was only interested that she complete the work assigned to her and beat her with a broomstick if she did not. Billie begged her mother to let her return home, which she did, but with little improvement for her, as she now slaved away at the laundry for long hours and was frequently slapped in the face, arms, and legs by her mother, many times for no reason at all. Anne worked Billie as a slave and treated her as one, not even bothering to talk to her daughter on most days.

      Billie now attended Rockingham Academy under another work program. This time Billie stuck it out, graduating in March 1923—the month that she turned 18. Unfortunately, her diploma had nothing to do with what she had learned, it was just a formality for her completing her indentured servitude and was therefore largely worthless. She then got a job as a salesgirl at Kline’s department store for $12 a week. After working all day, she began dancing all night with wild abandon and became quite good at it, winning 20 trophies in just 4 months.

      Billie now got accepted into Stephens College, an all-female school in Columbia, Missouri. She had submitted a forged high school diploma and once again paid for her tuition by waiting on tables in the college dining room. Although she was a popular student and always the life of the party, Billie did not have the academic background to have any chance of passing the 1st semester mid-term exams and just 2 days before they were to be given she left the school

      When she was an actress, MGM put out that Joan, as Billie was known then, had completed 12 years of elementary and high school and then attended 1 semester of college. Joan was far more honest with her education background, saying I never went beyond the 5th grade, and that she really had no formal education to speak off. Her lack of schooling was to give her an inferiority complex that was to be an embarrassment for her entire life. And although she tried to make up for it later, her efforts would only result in the facade of a thin veneer that would only fool those who did not know her well.

      Billie returned to Kansas City but refused to go back to the laundry her mother worked at, instead, getting a job wrapping packages, being a telephone operator, then clerking at a department store. Hough made Billie pay room and board out of her meager wages and if that wasn’t bad enough, he began to come on to her. Anna became resentful that Billie was trying to take away her man and made it clear that she wanted Billie gone. Fortunately, at that time Billie got a 2-week gig as a backup chorus girl for a touring singer named Katherine Emerine. At the end of the engagement Katherine told Billie to look her up in Chicago if she ever wanted a job and shortly after Billie bought a one-way ticket there, vowing never to return to Kansas.

      Family

      Hal Billie and her brother Hal had never gotten along. Hal had always been dotted over by his mother, just as Billie had been generally ignored by her. Whereas Billie had to constantly earn her keep by scrubbing floors, doing backbreaking work in laundries, and waiting on tables, Hal was allowed to hang out drinking with his pals in place of either going to school or working. Billie’s resentment of her brother apparently did not apply to sex, as Hal said that she explored my pants and every other kid’s. When Anna caught them in the act one day, she blamed Billie and from then on

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