Crack For Stronzo!!

[D_Elijah_MorganWood]

Others may like this too. I thought it was awesome. It's a 9 minute Joan Crawford dramatic reading.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b8fQn2q31Gc

 

[B_Stronzo]

J?

You're the fucking bomb. Thanks. The reading screams the 60s and if Lucille isn't reading from cards (and she's not...) it's an amazing presentation and so is Crawford. The diction, the infleciton to her words...

There's a sadness to the thing the transcends its intent too. I see it almost as the little girl from San Antonio and Kansas City. Super stuff.

Thanks my friend.

 

[D_Elijah_MorganWood]

I knew you'd love it as much as I did.

 

[D_Gunther Snotpole]

It's extraordinary ... you can see the dying embers of an era.
But you can imagine her dark power too.
Mommie Dearest seems all too credible.

 

[B_Stronzo]

One day we'll talk.

'Mommie Dearest' is, though most are unaware, a rather gross over statement by a decidedly disgruntled and intrinsically unhappy child.

Pity everyone's take on La Crawford is Christina's.

I'm in personal contact with some of Crawford's relatives (including her grandson Casey Lalonde) and two of her biographers. Was Crawford a task master? Yes. Was she the kabuki doll maniacal monster that was so campingly over-played by the overacting Ms. Dunaway. No.

Even Dunaway herself regrets the role.

A Joan Crawford retrospective including voice

 

[B_Stronzo]

Oh hell-

Let's put this thing into some perspective.

For CAMP fans this thing's the highest form:

Smack the beyotch!


If you want to know about the real Joan Crawford (née Lucille LeSueur) - the good, the inspired, the driven, the sexual, etc. - hit me up in pm.

 

[D_Gunther Snotpole]

Mommie Dearest seems all too credible.

I should certainly have emphasized that I was alluding to the book, and not the movie.

 

[B_Stronzo]

Ah............... the book.

Bette Davis' daughter did something similar just before Bette kicked the bucket and now BD (daughter) is some born again fag hating minister. I'm not joking either.

Bette Davis Hyman

She's got Bette Davis eyes? Well if so that's all she got.

 

[D_Elijah_MorganWood]

I'm actually reading B.D.'s book now. It seems much more credible than whiney Christina's pile of crap. I read Mommie and under close scrutiny is rife with contridictions. Cathy and Cindy tell a very different story than Christina does. By all accounts, Christina was a dreadful child. I don't remember if it's Cathy or Cindy that said "she's a fuckin' liar".

 

[DC_DEEP]

Ah............... the book.

Bette Davis' daughter did something similar just before Bette kicked the bucket and now BD (daughter) is some born again fag hating minister. I'm not joking either.

Bette Davis Hyman

She's got Bette Davis eyes? Well if so that's all she got.

Apropos, given your description of her, yes?

 

[D_Elijah_MorganWood]

One thing I always thought was humerous was that her first name was Barbara after her aunt. Bette hated the name Barbara so they called the child B.D.

 

[B_Stronzo]

I'm actually reading B.D.'s book now. It seems much more credible than whiney Christina's pile of crap. I read Mommie and under close scrutiny is rife with contridictions. Cathy and Cindy tell a very different story than Christina does. By all accounts, Christina was a dreadful child. I don't remember if it's Cathy or Cindy that said "she's a fuckin' liar".

It's both. Christopher (the only adopted boy) is somewhere in New York State and is rather out of the loop according to Joan's grandson.

I'm in touch with Casey LaLonde (Cathy's son) rather regularly since he's working to restore his grandmother's reputation Sorcerer. I'm doing Joan's maternal genealogical ancestry which is proving a daunting task.

Also Christina was proficient at pushing Joan's buttons from the get-go.

I know probably more than many people about the Lucille behind the Joan since I'm in regular contact with several of Joan's LeSueur cousins. There's much in the works about Joan biographically and Christina's exposé may have - in the end - had the reverse long range effect she intended.

I'll give B.D.'s book a chance on your recommendation.

My grandmother's friend went to school here in Massachusetts with Ruth Elizabeth Davis and my interest in Bette has always been less intense than that in Joan but here's a wonderful youtube "What's My Line" interview where Joan is truly lovely and she mentions the famous Crawford-Davis feud:

What's My Line 1962

This is a great clip and Joan is poised and still lovely in face and her bearing is regal.

(note how she takes Dorothy Kilgallen to task a bit)

 

[D_Elijah_MorganWood]

It's both. Christopher (the only adopted boy) is somewhere in New York State and is rather out of the loop according to Joan's grandson.

Correct me if I'm wrong but I think Chrisopher and his mother fell out of touch in the 60's and never spoke again.

I'm in touch with Casey LaLonde (Cathy's son) rather regularly since he's working to restore his grandmother's reputation Sorcerer. I'm doing Joan's maternal genealogical ancestry which is proving a daunting task.

I assume you saw the YouTube clip of the Anne Blyth interview at the Mildred Pierce screening Casey hosted at the Castro Theatre in San Francisco. She still looks like Veda, just old and facelifted.

I'm curious about the results of your work. [/quote]

I know probably more than many people about the Lucille behind the Joan since I'm in regular contact with several of Joan's LeSueur cousins. There's much in the works about Joan biographically and Christina's exposé may have - in the end - had the reverse long range effect she intended.

I hope some of it actually gets published. To most of the pop culture muggles, Joan Crawford is nothing but a wire hanger and kabuki makeup. I hope time and additional works can do something to change this. Joan was a troubled, multi-dimensional woman. Much has been lost in translation, including the fact that she once was the most photographed woman in the world and a screen idol.

I'll give B.D.'s book a chance on your recommendation.

I'm only to chapter 6 so far. I'll give you a full review when I'm finished.

My grandmother's friend went to school here in Massachusetts with Ruth Elizabeth Davis and my interest in Bette has always been less intense than that in Joan but here's a wonderful youtube "What's My Line" interview where Joan is truly lovely and she mentions the famous Crawford-Davis feud:

What's My Line 1962

This is a great clip and Joan is poised and still lovely in face and her bearing is regal.

I'm also partial to Joan. So far with the book, I'm getting a feeling she was a lot like Margo Channing.

 

[B_Stronzo]

Correct me if I'm wrong but I think Chrisopher and his mother fell out of touch in the 60's and never spoke again.

Pretty much accurate. Casey knows nothing of Christopher or his Aunt Christina who he last saw at his grandmother's funeral in 1977.

I assume you saw the YouTube clip of the Anne Blyth interview at the Mildred Pierce screening Casey hosted at the Castro Theatre in San Francisco. She still looks like Veda, just old and facelifted.

Yes. In fact I almost flew out to it but my schedule didn't permit. Plus in truth the kitsch factor seemed fairly high on the meter. One of the organizers of the thing is a close friend here in Boston and he and his partner have told me much of that event. Yes. You're "spot on" about the photos/look of Blyth Sorcerer.

I'm curious about the results of your work.

I'll keep you posted in pm Sorcerer. Much of what I'm contributing is genealogical in nature and I'm a an impasse just now with one previous "Joan genealogist" being a fucking bastard about sharing pertinent info (much as I sent him Joan's grandparent's wedding cert. from Illinois and her maternal uncle's birth record)! This shit's cut throat I tell you.

The idea here is to give Joan back to the public and not have everyone scream "no wire hangers" when Crawford's name is mentioned.

I hope some of it actually gets published. To most of the pop culture muggles, Joan Crawford is nothing but a wire hanger and kabuki makeup. I hope time and additional works can do something to change this. Joan was a troubled, multi-dimensional woman. Much has been lost in translation, including the fact that she once was the most photographed woman in the world and a screen idol.

For me what you write here is the sole reason I'm doing (as are the others with whom I'm in contact) what I'm doing. It's not an attempt to make Joan into something she wasn't. It's an attempt to restore some perspective. If anyone doubts that Joan Crawford was one of the most beautiful young women to grace the silver screen in the 1930s please rent her 1931 version of POSSESSED with Gable and watch her sing How Long Will it Last? and that should dispel the notion of exaggerated shoulder pads and come fuck me pumps, and over-stated eyebrows once and for all. In that movie she is the Art Deco period.

To quote Hurrell: "Joan loved the camera and the camera loved Joan" ... or something like that.

I'm also partial to Joan. So far with the book, I'm getting a feeling she was a lot like Margo Channing.

Odd you say that.

My grandmother's best friend "Auntie Helen" went to school with Bette. She said the same thing J. :wink:

Good call. Joan lovely and young

 

[D_Elijah_MorganWood]

I have a lovely 30's Hurrell above my desk here in my Study. That's the way I think of her. My collection of Joan junk is embarrassingly huge but fun.