I've Been Watching Joan Crawford Since 8pm Yesterday....
I am astonished.
Not that I haven't been amazed by her before, she is dazzling.  Especially in her younger days.  Not just some Moon face with lots of makeup and tulle.

Ok, so she's wearing a lot of makeup.  Without it she was pretty, too.

No makeup.  Oh, you're thinking she abused her kids, what a horrible person.  So they say.  I was abused as a child. I was beaten up at night for no reason except I was in the same house with my stepmother.  She hit me with brooms across my back, screamed abuse and all that stuff.  I can smell a fake when I see one, someone who is luxuriating in the interest and sympathy.  Christine Crawford had her issues with her mother and has been as honest as she saw it.  I wasn't there.  I do love the talent this woman had and I guess I will leave it at that.
As I sat and watched everything from "The Unknown" with the GREAT Lon Chaney Sr to "Laughing Sinners", sound and silent, I can not believe the work this woman did.  Today's actresses /actors seem to complain if they work more than 2 movies back to back.  Imagine being in your office, not only doing your job, but the next persons and the next persons and even the manager.  She did every type of part.  From the ones she is known for--the campy ones--to these delicate parts where she is with Clark Gable and she's the star.  Imagine that no one knew who that guy with the big ears was???  But she glows. And every kind of part, from circus performer to taxi dancer, to wealthy, to very poor.  Not just one type but all types.  And she worked until she was well past the age she could stop because she loved it.
And yes, she loved the attention she got, too.
This little kid--her father gone when she was very little and her mother working here and there, and always telling her that her brother was so much better than she was.  Joan paid for their lives with the work she did.  No wonder she scrubbed her own floors and raised her kids to do chores and get a backbone.  She danced on stage, and went to Hollywood and by baby steps became a big star.  She did what she had to, to become a Star.

When she won her Oscar she was home in bed.  She said she was sick.  I think she was scared.

She never neglected her fans, or her family.  Just before she died she gave away her beloved dog, a little poodle, because she knew it was the end and she didn't want her baby to be placed with someone that would be any less loving than she was.

And did you think this would be a brutal, critical thing?  No.
I love Joan Crawford.  January on TCM will be a good month--she's on every Thursday night.  Take in some films.  It's a lot of fun and and maybe you will love her, too.