Mother’s Day with Joan Crawford
May 10th, 2009 by Scott Marks
At Home With Joan Crawford (1953)
What better way to celebrate this May Ten than with the biggest mother of them all, Miss Joan Crawford? This first clip resurfaced (in truncated form) in a hilarious compilation called Hollywood Outtakes & Rare Footage that was released several years after the publication of Christina Crawford’s sensational tell-all, Mommie Dearest. At Home With Joan Crawford was a PSA produced by Warner Bros. to be shown in New England theaters to help raise money for The Jimmy Fund Clinic, a cancer research group. Audiences cringed when they heard the offscreen voices of Joan’s two children Christine and Christopher bid their “mommie dearest” goodnight. The fact that it was shot in the style of a brooding film noir didn’t help matters. Audiences had a chance to save a child’s life. Too bad they weren’t one of Joan’s.
Joan Crawford on What’s My Line? (1961)
Joan loved parading her adopted charge before the cameras. (A series of miscarriages prevented Ms. Crawford from having children of her own.) She used her kids like props, much in the same manner Joan Rivers carted around her beloved pooch Spike. Joan turned up as the Mystery Guest on What’s My Line? and saw to it that she packed her twin daughters Cynthia and Cathy. Note the way Joey Bishop intimates that John brought them on camera as potential dates for both he and Bennett Cerf. A can of Bon Ami cleanser across the skull sounds pleasurable in comparison.
Joan & Christina Crawford on The Jerry Lewis MDA Telethon (1968)
In his review of Johnny Guitar, Francois Truffaut observed that as she aged, Joan Crawford became more masculine. In this clip from the 1968 MDA Telethon, Jerry Lewis introduces “solid citizen” Crawford who proceeds to read a pity pitch not from the heart, but off a series of prepared notes she brought with her on stage. (With that mile-high challah hairdo how did she ever manage to fit her head through a door frame?) At this point in her career Joan was going through a quart of vodka a day and it shows in her faltering delivery of the hopelessly maudlin poem The Clumsy Falling Down Child. Not eager to share the spotlight after her marvelous, marvelous performance, Joan barely takes time to introduce Christina before immediately whisking her away to the phone banks.
Tags: Christina Crawford, Jerry Lewis, Joan Crawford, Joan Crawford Christina Crawford, Joan Crawford Mothers Day, Joan Crawford Whats My Line, Mommie Dearest, Mothers Day, The Jerry Lewis MDA Telethon, Video, Whats My LineFiled Under Uncategorized
New Photos Added: Johnny Depp, Orson Welles, “Baby Jane,” Angie Dickinson, Jack Brickhouse, Cary Grant, Jean Seberg, Jerry Lewis, etc.
October 4th, 2008 by Scott Marks
Jean Arthur (with Charles Boyer) - 1 Photo added from History is Made at Night.
Chicago TV and Radio - 3 images of Jack Brickhouse added. HEY! HEY! (Thanks, Rob!)
Cartoon Movie Posters - New gallery with 84 images added.
Raymond Burr - New gallery with 11 images added.
Kirk Douglas - 1 image added from Lust for Life.
Johnny Depp - 2 images added from Arizona Dream (with Jerry Lewis).
Cary Grant (poolside with Randolph Scott) - 1 image added.
The Jerry Lewis MDA Telethon - 1 image added.
Angie Dickinson in Point Blank - 1 photo added.
Jean Seberg - 1 image added.
Frank Tashlin - 24 images added.
Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin and Shirley MacLaine in Some Came Running - image added.
Orson Welles - 16 images added. (Thanks, Rob!)
Bette Davis, Joan Crawford and Maidie Norman in Whatever Happened to Baby Jane? - New gallery with 34 images.
Jayne Mansfield, Tony Randall, Joan Blondell and Shamroy in Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter? - New gallery with 13 images.
Tags: Angie Dickinson, Bette Davis, Cary Grant, Jack Brickhouse, Jean Arthur, Jean Seberg, Jerry Lewis, Joan Crawford, Johnny Depp, Kirk Douglas, Orson Welles, Raymond Burr, WHATEVER HAPPENED TO BABY JANE?Filed Under Image Blog
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