Mommie Dearest

[Daisy Pusher]

mrpancake said:

Okay, this is going to sound stupid, but:

I've never seen the movie, and know nothing about Joan Crawford, really. Upon seeing this thread and having heard a lot about the movie, I saw some of the clips on YouTube. Why was Joan Crawford so crazy and mean? Is there any explanation at all?

Weeeelllll, the book (and movie) were highly exaggerated. For example, the whole axe/tree thing did not happen. In Christina's version, MGM canned Crawford, which caused her to flip out and tear up the rose garden, and pull the whole "Tina! Bring me the axe!" scene. In reality, the rose garden had long since been dug up and replaced by a victory garden (this was WWII). Crawford was nothing if not a pro at self-promotion. Also, she had been, for some time, disgusted with MGM. She'd already secretly negotiated a new contract at Warner Brothers to be ready and waiting when her MGM contract expired. Jack Warner's intention in signing Crawford was to keep Bette Davis in line, because Bette was always bitching about script quality, too. It's not like Crawford was sandbagged by LBM. She was ready to get out, since MGM was changing (and LBM was on his way out too, soon to be replaced by the insipid Dore Schary), and Warners was happy to have her. And her career got back on track for a while there after she jumped to Warners, she won her Oscar and everything.

Also keep in mind that Crawford had two other daughters, Cathy and Cindy, that she adopted as well. They are/were devoted to her memory and were adamant at the time Mommie Dearest came out that Christina's story is mostly bullshit.

Having said all that, I do think that Joan was probably just as nutty and egotistical as a lot of the great Hollwood stars are. She was ballsy, a control freak, and as had been pointed out, probably OCD.

Also, even if it's a load of garbage (and I do think a lot of it is exaggerated or made up), Mommie Dearest is one hell of a fun flick to watch. I'd like to join Dwan, Jensational and Kafka at the movie viewing party, if its all right, because Valley of the Dolls is my ALL TIME FAVORITE camp flick of all time. Showgirls is pretty good, too, but we can't forget Xanadu!!!!

[dwanollah]

Cathy? Cindy? Christopher?

We know what VC Andrews was reading, don't we?

[linared]

I went to a big abortion rights rally and some people had signs with pictures of Joan Crawford, that said "No more wire hangers". I thought it was both gross and funny.

[ang]

linared said:

I went to a big abortion rights rally and some people had signs with pictures of Joan Crawford, that said "No more wire hangers". I thought it was both gross and funny.

Thats hilarious, in an entirely squicky way. ;D

I havent seen Mommie Dearest for YEARS - but I vividly remember watching it when I was probably...I guess 8-9 years old? I went through a phase of duning my face in iced water with a squeeze of lemon in it, to keep my skin looking firm. Yes, before even hitting puberty. It seemed so very 'Hollywood'.

[kafka]

kokopelli said:

Also keep in mind that Crawford had two other daughters, Cathy and Cindy, that she adopted as well. They are/were devoted to her memory and were adamant at the time Mommie Dearest came out that Christina's story is mostly bullshit.

I remember hearing that too, Daisy Pusher. And a big Thank You for your wonderfully detailed post as it contained a lot of facts I didn't know about.

I was reading about her on IMDb and, while I know it's not always accurate, I found a few interesting things in Crawford's biography section, some of which show the extremeness of her germ and cleanliness OCD:

• She taught director Steven Spielberg how to belch while filming their episode of "Night Gallery" (1970).
  
  After her friend Steven Spielberg hit it big, Joan sent him periodic notes of congratulations. The last one came two weeks before her death.
  
  Was asked to take over Carole Lombard 's role in They All Kissed the Bride (1942) after she died in a air crash during a war bond tour. She then donated all of her salary to the Red Cross who found Lombard's body, and promptly fired her agent for taking his usual 10%.
  
  Each time Crawford married, she changed the name of her Brentwood estate and installed all new toilet seats.
  
  At the time of her death, the only photographs displayed in her apartment were of Barbara Stanwyck and President John F. Kennedy.
  
  She had a cleanliness obsession. She used to wash her hands every ten minutes and follow guests around her house wiping everything they touched, especially doorknobs and pieces from her china set.
  
  She would never smoke a cigarette unless she opened the pack herself, and would never use another cigarette out of that pack if someone else had touched it.
  
  Always slept in white pyjamas.
  
  Whenever she stayed in a hotel, no matter how good and well-reputed it was, Joan always scrubbed the bathroom herself before using it.
  
  Her cleanliness obsession lead her to prefer showers to tubs, as she abhorred sitting in her own bathwater.
  
  After hearing that a plumber had used a toilet after installing it in her Brentwood home, she immediately had the fixture and pipes ripped out and replaced.
  
  Joan Crawford's hatred of wire hangers derived from her poverty as a child and her experiences working with her mother in what must have been a grim job in a laundry.
  
  Her four adopted children received little from her $2-million estate: $77,500 each for Cathy and Cindy, nothing for Christopher or Christina Crawford "for reasons best known to them".
  
• 
  

I can't believe she had all the pipes and fixtures, newly installed in her home, completely ripped out and replaced simply because the plumber used the toilet once. I knew she had a germ phobia but..... Wow!

[clementine74]

nothing for Christopher or Christina Crawford "for reasons best known to them"

Actually, I have to say that part of the movie sent chills down my spine.

"Did she? DID she?"

My absolute favorite line?

"Barbara PLEASE! PLEASE Barbara!!"

I saw Wigstock several years ago, but I do recall a part where some HUGE drag queen was playing Joan C, and a midget was running after her, playing Carol Ann.
I nearly died from sheer joy.
...Am I a gay man?

[Deleted]

I heard that the wire hangers fear had a much darker root than the working-in-a-laundry thing. According to this gossip that I read somewhere or other, she had gotten pregnant at a young age, and her mother forced her to have an abortion, using - yup - that ol' faithful wire hanger.

Safe, legal, and rare, folks!

[kafka]

eataknobatnight said:

I heard that the wire hangers fear had a much darker root than the working-in-a-laundry thing. According to this gossip that I read somewhere or other, she had gotten pregnant at a young age, and her mother forced her to have an abortion, using - yup - that ol' faithful wire hanger.

<shudder>

If true, the story would make sense of two things: her inability to have children of her own, such that she needed to adopt; and her psychotic breakdown at seeing a reminder of the butchery she'd experienced. Frankly, I wouldn't blame her for losing it. I'm not talking about the beatings or other stuff, none of which can be excused, but rather, her almost-demented rage merely at seeing the hangers.

Hmm, it may be a while before I can joke flippantly about "no wire hangers" now that it's taken on a totally different meaning.

[indigo]

As I said on the funny line's section my favorite bad movie of all time. It is gold! Gold!



Memorable Quotes from
Mommie Dearest (1981)
Joan Crawford: Tear down that BITCH of a bearing wall and put a window where it OUGHT to be.

Ha!

I'm kind of disappointed there os going to be a DVD coz I already bought a VHS copy of this, seeing as there was no DVD release. I'm going to have to shell out again. I am really surprised they never had a DVD for this movie until now.

You should read the imdb page's trivia section for this movie.

Link

A month after the film was released to bad reviews, audiences flocked to see the film armed with Ajax and wire hangers to actively "participate" with the film in a manner similar to The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975).

Even back then the people knew a winning loser when they saw one.

Little love was lost between costume designer Irene Sharaff and Faye Dunaway. "Yes, you may enter Miss Dunaway's dressing room," Sharaff once said, "but first you most throw a raw steak in - to divert her attention."

Hilarious.

I can't believe she had all the pipes and fixtures, newly installed in her home, completely ripped out and replaced simply because the plumber used the toilet once. I knew she had a germ phobia but..... Wow!

I am not surprised or shocked. That is very normal behavior for someone with germ phobia. It's all part of the irrational terror of being "contaminated" and part and parcel the mental illness they have.

[sleepy]

I've never seen it, either, mrpancake. Now I have to, obviously.