Joan Crawford - Hollywood Martyr
Joan Crawford was the greatest of all Hollywood Stars and I will brook no argument on this point. I will concede she possibly wasn’t the greatest actress but she was the ultimate Star and Glamour Girl as she herself said “if you want the girl next door, go next door”
Over the years I have read every book published about her. From her own frank autobiography, a Portrait of Joan to her Daughter Dearest’s monstrous hatchet job and every sugar coated biography in between.
So far no one has written the definitive biography that this vastly underrated talent deserves. I would like to say David Bret’s new biography Joan Crawford Hollywood martyr is it but sadly we are still waiting for someone to do Joan real justice, however David Bret does take a good stab at it and for once explores, at length, her relationship with and adoration by, so many gay men and along the way gives us one hell of a gossipy and entertaining read. It may not be definitive but it’s definitely one of the better ones.
Many people only know of, or remember, Joan from Mommie Dearest her daughter Christina’s barbaric and cruel "memoir" written after her Mother’s death but we shouldn’t forget that in a career that starred her firstly, as a flapper in Silent films and progressed through Shop Girls, Businesswomen, Suffering Mothers and finally Scream Queens. Joan Crawford kept her Star Billing, Glamour and Fuck Me Shoes for over 50 years and was the undisputed Queen of Hollywood.
If you don’t know much about Crawford do yourself a favour and pick up David Bret’s book and learn what real stardom is all about.
Trailer for Joan in Torch Song
Buy The Book at Amazon Joan Crawford: Hollywood Martyr
Read more about Joan at Joan Crawford Queen of Camp
Visit the excellent site http://www.joancrawfordbest.com/
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3 comments:
So true Joan Crawford was the greatest of all stars!
Where do the "Fuck Me " shoes come from? I heard years ago about a reference in a John Waters film, but it was a complete misnomer. Two drag queens were having a conversation:
"These are the shoes that Joan wore in Mildred Pierce"
"Can I have them?"
"No"
""well fuck you!"
"NO-Fuck you!"
That's roughly it
Joans shoes (the ones with the ankle straps she was so fond of) have always been called that. I heard they were named by Bette Davis who made a remark about Joan being all shoulder pads and fuck me shoes! In her interview at the Town hall someone asks Joan does she know the name her shoes are refered to and she replies. "I do I believe it starts with an F. but theyve held me up a very long time those shoes" natch she got a very big laugh!
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