Hello from Litchfield, Connecticut! Thank you for your surprise email. I must say it astounds me how folks find things out. How did you know I was a devout Joan Crawford fan? Your website is FANTASTIC! I do not know where to begin. Well, because it is the end of the day and I shall be leaving work soon I will be belief. My favorite aunt bought me Joan's and John Wayne's autographs at a celebrity auction (around 1963) I was 10. Of course I wrote to both of them and only Joan responded. That's what did it. I have been lucky enough to have seen several movies of hers in theatres. I saw "Strait Jacket" at a drive in with the family...a crowded and scream filled drive in. I saw "I Saw What You Did", "Berserk!" and "Trog" in indoor theatres. And when "Baby Jane" was released in late 1967 before its TV showing I got to see that also!!! That was a treat! I had the good fortune of meeting Joan Crawford in 1971 (?) in Boston when she was promoting her book, "My Way Of Life"...and that I will tell you about at the next writing.

Hello, again.
I would like to continue our conversation we started yesterday. But first, you've got to tell me how you heard about ME!! Was it from the book dealer in London that just sold me a few Crawford books? As I mentioned, I love your website. Your tribute to Joan is awesome. Do you sell your work? Is that what you do for a living?

Let me tell you about my Crawford encounter...
Continuing from my youthful obsession with her because she answered my letter, I continued on after high school to pursue a college degree in English at St Anselm College in Manchester, New Hampshire. Manchester is about an hour north of Boston and the daily paper of choice is The Boston Globe. One Sunday there appeared a full page ad for the Jordan Marsh department store with a large picture of Joan. They were advertising that in two days she would be at their store for a book signing etc. Truthfully I did not even know she had written a book! Of course, I HAD to be there. I convinced a friend (who conveniently knew the city) to tag along and on Tuesday we embarked on our adventure early - we skipped classes and THUMBED (hitchhiked) to Boston. You know collee guys, we had no money. We got to Boston in a few hours and when turned the corner to Boylston St. where the store is located we noticed complete pandemonium. The street was a buzz with motor and foot traffic and we noticed (literally) thousands of people crowed outside the store. Then I realized why there was pandemonium. Crawford had just arrived. This pleased me. My friend knew of Joan Crawford, but was hohum. He figured she was a has-been. He was thunderstruck by the incredible deluge of people that crowded this store and converged upon this old movie star. We finally managed to get inside the store, I purchased a copy of the book and took my place in a very long line that had formed circling the ground level of the store. Finally when I came upon Joan I got choked up. Here I was 17-18 years old and I was unable to come up with the words or even the courage to speak. Joan Crawford ASKED ME questions. Was I in school? What was I studying? She had quite an entourage with her including Pepsi people and she spoke to me in the kindest way. She autographed the book and I blurted out that I was wondering if she could give me some time for a college newspaper interview. She told me that her schedule was tight but that she would like to accommodate me. She introduced me to Mary Jane Raphael who was her Pepsi secretary. Mary Jane took me aside, asked me exactly what I wanted and how long it would take. She said NO! I was crushed and perhaps my face displayed that fact because then Joan (who was still signing other people's books) piped in and said "Mary Jane, the gentleman may ride with us in the limo to the hotel if that time would suit his purpose". Of course, I said yes! I had to wait until she finished her tasks there at the store. I felt terrible for my friend because he wasn't invited and in my ignorance I did not ask him to be invited. The time finally arrived. Crawford had actually stayed AN HOUR beyond her scheduled time allotment because of the demand for autographs. She signed every last one until the store's supply was gone. I then walked with Joan, Mary Jane and the security men to the store entrance and there was such mass confusion - the crowd had grown - that the security team pulled a stunt we often hear of now. They told the crowd she had left. Then they shuttled us over to the waiting limo at another entrance. True Hollywood. Although tired, Joan was radiant. She looked a lot younger than she actually was. No facework that I could detect, very little makeup. The one odd thing as the fur hat she wore that covered up all of her hair. She graciously answered all of my questions which in hindsight I took little time to prepare and were probably STUPID! Being the 70's and with a war going on and the world of films changing, I should have considered asking philosophical questions but I did not. I was starstruck. This is getting lengthy. let me end here by telling you how the interview ended. We arrived at The Ritz-Carlton Hotel where I was told she as later going to hold court for the TV and newspaper media. She wanted to rest. Ironically they had no bellboy available at the immediate moment SOOOO I said I would be more than happy to carry her luggage up to the room...and I DID! Versatile, huh? She said thank you and shook my hand. When I got back to the lobby, my ever loyal friend was waiting for me! I don't even think I bought him lunch. And it was over as quickly as it began. We hitchhiked a ride back to our campus.

Over the last twenty years I have had occasion to meet many film stars and celebrities. Some geat, some terrible.Of all of the famous people I have ever met, Joan Crawford was without a doubt the most engaging personality; honest, courteous, interested and truly the only one who ever made me feel like I was in the presence of someone special.

Ed

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Hi Roy,

Thanks much for sending me your weblinks. I thought they were terrific. Love the pics! Most interesting was your admiration for Miss Davis in The Anniversary. I think it's an incredible film yet hardly anyone has seen it or knows much about it. I also heard she absolutely hated the director of that film, which is odd because it seems to move effortlessly.

My best,
Steve

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Hey thanks for the great site ..I've only just got my computer so have not got the technology down yet..I have been bidding on lots of great ebay auction items. Is that where you got my address? if you want to talk about Bette just email me sometime..I've seen all her movies but one "Seed" took along time and visits to film archives. Bye.

Ron

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Hi Roy,

Great Joan site. She really was such a huge star, and one of my favorites. I do think she was given a bad deal by her daughter and her book. Have you seen the Biography series on Crawford? It was shown on the A&E network here in the States. Perhaps it is at Tower or Virgin records in London. I have one small correction: Sudden Fear was released in 1950, I think, and Davis' career was already in decline at that time-the films you mention were done in the Early 1940's. (Now, Voyager, Little Foxes)

Thanks!

Neal

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** High Priority **

Excellent site. Thank you for sharing it with me.

Angus

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I enjoyed your site, thanks for sending me the email. I am a huge Joan
Crawford fan. In fact, my first book Curse of the Silver Screen - Tragedy &
Disaster Behind the Movies covers many troubled movies, including the making
of Joan's last film "Trog." If you are interested, the book is available on
amazon, barnes and noble and borders web sites. My second book is coming out
this summer and is on director William Castle. Called Scare Tactic - The
Life and Films of William Castle, the book will detail the making of two
more Crawford classics - Strait-Jacket and I Saw What You Did.

Best of luck,
Jack Law

Thanks. Strait-Jacket is a favorite of mine as well. You might be interested
to know that Joan Crawford was not the original star of the film, but
another actress actually accepted the part and began fittings and
preparation for the film, but had to suddenly drop out of the production.
Joan Crawford was then offered the part. The details are in my book.

Jack Law

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Thanks for the link!
Branden

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Your JC page is fantastic! Your illustrations are great ( I am a huge JC fan!!! ) I found your page through ebay. You may be interested in getting on the fan email list at egroups.com...there are a lot of us out there and it is pretty interesting!

Darwin

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Dear Roy,

I'm a big fan of Joan Crawford and I love the images of her you've manipulated and put on your site. I love the still from Torch Song where she's just ripped off her wig! One of my favourite Joan films and such a treat in Technicolor to see her in blackface looking like a drag queen in that outrageous blue sequinned outfit. I really dig your other stuff too.

Keep up the great work. Bless you,

Valpy

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Dear Roy,

Thanks for replying so quickly. I wasn't buying anything on E-Bay. I was sent the link to your site by a friend called Darwin I met on the Joan Crawford e-group. In the past, however, I've bought Joan related books: My Way of Life, A Portrait of Joan, The Ultimate Star, Mommie Dearest, Joan Crawford Speaks and Bette related books: This 'n' That, The Lonely Life, I'd Love to Kiss You, and Mother Goddam.

I'm from Plymouth, Devon. My fascination with Joan Crawford began when I was about 10 years old. I saw a full page portrait (probably by George Hurrell) of her in one of my parents' Sunday colour supplements. It was a glamorous studio portrait. Half of her face was eclipsed by shadow so that only her exquisitely glossed lips and one heavily lashed eye were visible on one side. I didn't really have any idea who she was then but I cut out the picture and I sellotaped it next to my wardrobe mirror where it remained for many years.

A Woman's Face is the first Crawford film I can remember watching - several years ago. It is only fairly recently, however, that I have started to consciously make an effort to watch her films and find out more about her. I got more interested in Joan after becoming a keen follower of Bette Davis. Like it or not, their names are
always linked! Eventually I found I was far more interested in Joan even though I still love Bette.

The more I have watched and discovered about Joan, the more fascinated I have become. I now try to indoctrinate all my friends into becoming fans. I'm always trying to sneak on the end of Humoresque on the pretext of showing my friends where Madonna got the idea for her Power of Goodbye video hoping they might want to watch the whole film. Very often people are quite open to the idea of watching Whatever Happened to Baby Jane? because most people have usually seen the French and Saunders parody and are keen to see how the real thing compares. Most people who I persuade to watch Mildred Pierce or A Woman's Face are usually impressed by those two films.

I'm now 29 so I guess I've admired Joan for about 19 years and really become an ardent fan in the last 5 years.

Female on the Beach is great fun - very camp. Joan wears some great outfits and delivers some good bitchy lines. I want to live in her beach house. Having read extracts from Esther Williams' biography where she reveals that her former lover, Jeff Chandler, was a transvestite makes it even more interesting to watch him too! He is a tall broad-shouldered muscular man and it is amusing to imagine him in women's clothes!

All the best, John (Valpy)

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I have bought many Joan items on e-bay, including an RC Cola Ad and a Queen Bee
movie poster...it is a great resourse. I will most likely bid on your Harriet
Craig peice, I love it.

I am from San Francisco and I have loved Joan since I was about 11 years old
(after reading Mommie Dearest) and I am now 34, so for quite a long time. The
egroup.com group is great, I had no idea how many Crawford fans were out there
and how young some of them are!

Take care,
Darwin

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Hi Roy and greetings from York.
Thanks for your e-mail it was good to hear from you.
I've just visited your site and I am impressed - keep up the good work!
Also I've noticed you have an item on ebay which I shall be keeping my eye on
as I am a great BETTE DAVIS fan and collector.
You're illustrations of Bette was ... well what can I say - terrific.
Lets keep in touch on a regular basis,and I look forward to hearing from you soon.

Best regards,
Kenny

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I agree with Steve that "The Anniversary" is a wonderful Bette Davis film, a great performance and entirely underappreciated. The movie did very poorly in this country but I was under the impression it did well in the UK? In your salute to Bette, you allude to Joan Crawford being in England at the same time Bette was making "THe Anniversary". True. The movie Joan was making was called "Berserk!" and it was NOT a flop...it was an enormous hit according to the copies of Variety that I have. It opened on January 10, 1968 at the DeMille theatre in NYC and played a few weeks and broke house records the first week it opened. It did very well in my area of the country as well. One of your correspondents mentioned the A&E Biography series on Joan...it was well done. But there is another TV Biography that was part of an HBO "Legends" series from around 1981. It was a thirty minute tribute narrated by Arthur Hill.

From,

Ed

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