Publicly she was eloquent, classy, articulate and graceful. Her eye contact with whomever she was speaking was intense. Watching her old interviews leaves one longing for those kinds of days where people carried themselves with poised pride.
Ahh although much scandals occurred during Hollywood's golden age the people were so publicly poised and graceful beautiful that in some ways you see them only as they are on the silver screen where as today people will never again have such dignity class .grace and beauty Hollywood today is a sewage plant
Buying children back then was common for people in the movie business or very wealthy. Mr Steele, it was said by Christina, was very kind to her and her brother. Mr Steele gave Christina a baby doll she had long wanted. Joan took the toys Mr Steele gave them for Christmas and gave them away and that’s when the kids were shipped to the school. Christina said Joan was jealous of her and her brother. She didn’t want him to get to close to them. That was in the book mommie dearest by Christina. Christina had allot of behavior problems as a young woman. Joe Esposito told a story about him inviting Christina to Elvis house one night. Christina objected to Joe lightning Elvis cigars for him. Not that Elvis couldn’t do it himself but Elvis put the cigar in his mouth and asked Joe if he had a lighter. So Joe reached to light the cigar for Elvis just doing it like a joke. Christina reached up and grabbed the cigar out if Elvis mouth. She did that twice. Joe told her don’t do that the first time, when she did it again, Elvis got mad and ordered her out of his house never to return. That was in Hollywood hills where Elvis lived. Joe said Elvis was really mad. Elvis didn’t allow a woman to speak or behave the way Christina did towards a man. She really had no business jerking the cigar out of Elvis mouth and she was never allowed back. Joe said the most irritated at a woman he ever saw Elvis was at Christina. Lol
@@gracieg7601 I read that Christina annoyed Shirley Temple as well. Apparently when Miss Temple was giving Crawford a tour of her closets, Christina mistook the costumes for clothes. Shirley Temple bought many of her costumes from her studio to keep as a souvenir and she was annoyed that Christina kept pawing them.
As a abused child let me tell you my mother was a street angel house devil functioning alcoholic sociopath narcissist...she only abused us girls and had a favorite son...Joan reminds me of her and i believe Christiana...
Yes..my mother was her age, a Lucille Ball look alike and...a Dr. Jeckle Mr. Hyde. She was charming and elegant in public....at home, I was the scapegoat for my younger brother. It was rough!!! I eventually left for a modeling career in NYC in the late 60's...the verbal abuse never stopped. Such a strange generation. But I love her dearly....This year she's 110.
I was right there up to “I loved her dearly.” My mom died in 2018. I’ve never been so relieved. Not happy, but relieved- the B flick zombie that kept getting up and pursuing me no matter where I fled, finally stayed down
I heard from a relative of hers that her step father sexually abused her and her birth mother physically and emotionally abused her. That was the source of her dysfunction and in the words of her relative "the whole family was really fucked up...pretending to be ok but really were not healthy emotionally". It's to her testament as an actress that she was able to create so many adoring fans who never really knew her
That would explain her deeply troubled soul. The pain from being that hurt as a young child messes you up like nothing else. Another great video, I love the comment section.
It's virtually ALL of Hollywood. Your favorites, so get ready to deal with it. It's all coming out. It's all celebs...made a deal with the real devil. Music, politics, anyone that's a rich celebrity in any way, at least most of them Another thing they do is sxual inversion. See The Shills Have Lies channel. I have a feeling there's going to be enormous bonfires of movies and "music."
I'm enjoying your programmes- you put across more in 18 minutes than some do in an hour or more. No frills, no gushing tributes from 'friends', just the facts, and some unique insights. Many thanks.
Your remarks at the end of the video are spot on. People and relationships are complex and can be contradicting. Whatever the exact truth is, I have a lot of sympathy for Christina and Christopher, who definitely suffered a lack of love and sincerity, no matter what Joan's friends say.
She was so beautiful in the beginning of her career. Changing her eyebrows to overly thick & dark changed her face in an unflattering way, making her look older & harsh. On another note, « Mildred Pierce » was her best performance. Incredible movie.
Just had the thought that the thick dark eyebrows that are in fashion with teenagers and 20 somethings now are Crawford eyebrows! Maybe if they saw Joan Crawford's later films they would think again.......😄
I actually think her thicker eyebrows are an enormously striking feature. Brooke Shields has similar eyebrows. In Joan's case, in particular, a thicker eyebrow was needed to frame those huge blue eyes.
@@joshnosher3536 Thank you! I don’t know why anyone would say that “changing” one’s eyebrows would make them look older and harsh. That’s rubbish. They weren’t “changed” at all, just not plucked - they were wonderfully natural.
💎🕊️✌️🖖🫂 Mrs. Lucille Fay LeSueur Fairbanks ... AKA "Miss Joan Arden Crawford" ... Had Looked As Her MAMMA Did ... AT FIRST ... UNTIL HER DADDY'S FEATURES HAD TAKEN OVER HER EXTERIOR APPEARANCE; 🧬 It's ALL About OUR Dominant AND Recessive Genetics, From WITHIN Our OWN Bodies .... 🤓 🌟
Unfortunately, Crawford isn't the only person in recent times to have been crazy in private but publicly a star. If the truth were known, there are plenty of stars just like this right now.
Paul Simmons just Nicole Kidman. She stood there laughing as the kids were tortured and molested by her father and the cult he was in. Look it up in RU-vid!
Ming The Merciless what about the bitch Marlene Dietrich? She told her daughter to basically get over it,after finding out the female nanny raped her!...don’t believe ? Look it up! Oh here you go, here is the story cos I know you won’t look it up. It’s even in one of the documentaries on here...I am not gonna do your homework again. www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2581864/Cruel-Marlene-lesbian-nanny-raped-daughter-grandson-claims-cold-emotionally-detached.html
Great video!! I love watching 1930's-40's films featuring Joan Crawford. She absolutely crackles with electricity and steals every scene. Amazingly beautiful. Thank you.
I love how people respond to abuse years after it happens ..... “oh get over it that was years ago “. And “You can’t live in the last “. It is a true crime when these monsters affect a kids childhood. Whether you know it or not the damage has been done and it is quite real for a lifetime.
Then we carry that damage with us as it weighs us down like where carrying it in a back pack. We're lucky we live in a time where we can start to shed those traumas through therapy, 12 step programs and many other ways. All of these people jumping in and trying to defend her narcissistic abuse are flying monkeys.
3AM in Texas. I cant sleep and LOOKIE THERE!Mr Jerry dropped by with another great story. I really enjoy these........ Putting on a pot of coffee and going to visit with Jerry & Joan awhile ! Thanks JS! Great stuff buddy :) Herb
I absolutely love your narration! Your voice is soothing and you are most well informed and fair and balanced in your representation of these amazing but sometimes difficult movie stars. Much thanks to you for doing this and keep on!
Yes i'm skepticle of tell all stories wben people are dead any itelligent person knows there are always more than one side to a story only gossips rumour mongers and rabble rousers side only one side
ehridawg I think that was the episode where Joan is blind and pays to have Tom Bosley give up his eyesight so she can see for 8 hrs, then there's a city black out so she's in the dark till the sun comes up where upon she once again loses her sight. Something to that effect. It's irony was brilliant.
Joan Crawford had a rough time, but she worked to get out of the life she had known in her younger years. An amazing actress with an even more amazing career!
Child abuse isn't really about the child or the child's behavior. It's actually about the abuser and their negative feelings toward themselves or the people who mistreated them (most often a parent). Children are easy targets because they can't fight back.
@@georgiesinclair6951 i disagree, we know what Jesus says about hurting the children. But why would you come out with a comment as ugly as you did? I rarely read ugly comments on RU-vid, that's why I left Facebook, rude uncivil people.
@@spookygirl7761 I wish every evil person gets exactly, what they deserve. Some of us believe hell is a good place for the evil to go, (so I won't have to get revenge on them.) I leave it for God to take care of. I wish that God would imprison all evil doers in hell.(He will) I think God's okay with what I think about hell, and the sinners that won't repent.. Please God give them what they deserve.
Granny Omaha...you are so right ...Only a child who live with a narcissistic parent..who let her favorit sociopathic daughter cause strife within the whole family until she died..pure bliss when her favorit died
I think all parents secretly have their 'favorite'. Doesn't necessarily mean they love their other children any less, they just either see themselves or another loved one a lot in them or they gave them little trouble growing up. It's a fascinating phenomenon.
Growing up in a home that was totally different from what others saw, I believe Christina's story. You never know what happens behind closed doors. I call it "The lawn sure looks nice" syndrome.
Gordon Hall Agreed. I find that the people who very strongly defend Christina and condemn Joan are often victims of abuse themselves. And it makes sense that an abuse victim would tend to support someone like Christina, who claims to be a victim. But it also makes it almost impossible for them to even consider that Christina might have lied. I guess I'm somewhere in the middle. I don't doubt that Joan was abusive, at least by today's standards. I think that Joan, like pretty much every other movie star of her day, was a narcissist. Honestly, I wouldn't want her for a mother. But I don't believe everything Christina claimed. For one thing, some of her claims have already been proven untrue. Also, the way she writes just feels dishonest and manipulative to me. So I guess I believe Joan was a driven, narcissistic diva who could be cruel and Christina is a narcissistic diva who lies for attention/money but did have a shitty childhood for the most part thanks to her mother
@@carowells1607 To believe Christina has lied to gain "money" &/or "attention primarily based on how you "feel" about her writing style is a ridiculous basis for Christina's claims to be dismissed as you do when you say: "The way she writes just feels dishonest and manipulative to me"! You are ignoring the many accounts of Joan's extremely abusive behaviour towards her children, particularly the two eldest, provided - and this is critical - by fellow actors, film executives and others in the industry, numerous industry 'insiders' including crew on set, employees of Joan and many other adults - to name but a few - who are credible witnesses and who came forward with allegations of abuse (by Joan) well before Christina ever did. And you claim Christina has been proven to have lied but provide no sources to substantiate this claim of yours. Please look into the actual accounts - by adults, independently of Christina - of Joan's abusive 'parenting style' before you again claim Christina's exaggerating her "shitty childhood" by lying, in order to gain money and attention. Having a narcissistic mother will typically ensure the abused child grows up to be a 'people-pleaser', and if the one abused is female they are far more commonly empathic individuals, not narcissists like their mothers. There's no evidence Christina has become a narcissist like Joan Crawford was. On the contrary, only subjective 'assessments' like those you made about her writing style - which, to you, "feels dishonest and manipulative" - are used to point to Christina being a lying narcissist. Are you a literary expert who has somehow a proven way of analysing writing style to determine the veracity of the writer's subject matter? Such analysis is fraught with difficulties and has no legitimate claim to determining a writer's credibility. Critically, do you have any experience as a psychoanalytic psychotherapist or in the field of working with survivors of (childhood) abuse, including narcissistic abuse? Unless you do - indeed unless you are a trained, accredited and experienced psychologist with particular experience and expertise dealing with both the victims of narcissistic abuse(rs) and of other types of abusive by parents, your assessment of Christina - her claims of abuse by Joan, and her motivations for continuing to draw attention to it and to abuse by parents - has no credibility. There's indeed merely you falling back to your personal feelings about her style of writing being supposedly "dishonest and manipulative." That is no legitimate basis for your dismissing Christina's credibility as you have.
Joan Crawford aged so strangely. She was a beautiful young woman and by her late 40's, you would not have known it was the same woman, her looks changed so much. It's not that she wasn't still attractive, she just looked like a completely different woman. If you look at most people who have aged in front of you, you can still see the young person that they were. Not so with Joan.
She was constantly "reinventing" herself throughout the years. She didn't get her trademark "Crawford look" (huge eyebrows, shoulder pads, etc.) until the late 30's and 40's.
I agree, always thought she aged oddly. Her looks became much harder. The huge eyebrows and heavy lipstick with short cropped hair didn't help. By the 50s her look was almost frightening, appearing nothing like the youthful beauty she once was. By the late 60s I thought she started looking better, older yes, but she was softening her look a bit. There no doubt her looks went through many changes during her life.
@3rrlia Of course she was a full blown narcissist! Lol! You've got to be that and a lot of other things as well if you are trying to make a living as an actor/actress. You really do sell your sole to the devil in the entertainment industry.
Joan Crawford was never a "screaming mad woman", except for the role she played in certain movies. She is the most misunderstood Actress from the Golden Age of Hollywood. Many other Hollywood children have written similar exploitation books, but none as successful as such writing had become "Old Hat". The children of Judy Garland could have written such a book, but none did as they respected their parent, as was not the case with the 2 adopted children of Joan Crawford. The other 2 children always praised their mother and denied what was written in "Mommie Dearest".
Wow Jerry! This documentary was very informative! You hit the basis of her life! It is so I possible to included everything because there isn't enough time and our eyes would be so watery from tiredom! LOL. Very good review!!
Miriam Hopkins was the first (or one of the first) major Actresses in Hollywood to successfully adopt a child while still a single parent. She adopted a son, Michael Hopkins who went on to a successful career in the United States Air Force and is buried in Riverside, California at the National Cemetery. That one turned out a very good and loving relationship with Michael always having good things to say about his mother and his life with her. Much of what her son Michael said about his life was outlined in the recently published Biography titled Miriam Hopkins: Hollywood Rebel.
I always look forward to seeing your videos, Jerry. You do such a great job. I know I'm speaking for almost everyone who enjoys them too. Thank you for your great service.
Mr. Skinner, thank you so much for this great UPLOAD s! Your very good Research is impressing and a joy to watch!!!! Many loving greetings to you from Berlin👑🔝😆
Many commenters seem to think she should have "taken care" of her brother; that it was sad he ended up working at a hotel. Why? He wasn't unable to earn a living. He had his own life to live. Why should Joan have given him any money? Who knows - maybe she did, and he blew it. For that matter, she had a perfect right to leave most of her money to charity too. It was hers to dispose as she wished.
YaYa Says like some people with puppies...they don’t want them as they get older. Joan did it to look good and cos she was lonely. She didn’t know how to love children
Joan Crawford was already a well known Star in Hollywood when Bette Davis arrived a struggling Actress. Joan Crawford donated a great deal of money over the years to the Woodland Hills Motion Picture Retirement Home and remain helpful to Franchot Tone until his death. She kept this secret over the years never wanting the publicity for the massive amount of charity work she did for other Actors in Hollywood.
One of the favorite things narcissists love to do is hide behind a veneer of decency and an image in general. They all do it so that when the rumors and gossip start to spread about them people will say but they did this and they did that so they can't be bad people. Study up on narcissists and sociopaths because their at least 10% of the population. You know one narcissist you know them all because they all behave in a similar manner.
My top favorite actress! Versatile and perfect timing/delivery! This woman had an extremely difficult life. Some respond by staying a victim, some get tough, some learn and turn their life around, and some just give up. No one knows how they will respond to tragedy.
@@js2702 exactly in accord with Heather....you have no idea what went on with Joan and Christina. Cathy and Cindy had nothing but praise for Joan. I suspect greed and jealousy on Christina's part.
I'm new to your page and I must say is a huge Crawford and Davis fan I absolutely appreciated and loved your biography like Crawford it was done with class and taste thank you for a wonderful film and now I'm going to look to see what others you have you have a new fan
I've seen other Jerry tributes and I love it when he- actually I love it when anybody- is unintentionally funny. The mix of glamorous topic and hayseed voice is a treat.
Right. The comparison is not entirely accurate, but he has a gentle, pleasing Southern drawl that is quite appealing and intriguing for all. I'm from Louisiana and have a Southern drawl as well, so I've been told. We're proud of our heritage!
Excellent and personally, I have read everything ever written on her by her and her children, seen interviews etc and I believe Christina. Some don't. I do. Call it gut .
As far as Christina goes she had recanted and admitted she was jealous of mommie dearest and her carrer and she may have "exagerated about her behaviour" especially since the other siblings don't remember those incidents happening
@@mikefarrell734 that is not true. Christopher said is was true and the twins (who weren’t really twins I’ve read somewhere) wouldn’t say a bad word about Joan because they enherited from her. Tough one of them sold the Oscar statue and I dare say thAt doesn’t show much respect, does it???!!!!
I enjoyed this. The rare photos of her and how you shared more about her than what the world knew of her...I've always wondered what Christopher and christina did in joans eyes to warrant leaving them nothing
The morning of Crawford's death, she was not alone. Aside from her secretary, one of her fans had spent the night in the apartment, and even though she was obviously in bad shape, she insisted on cooking breakfast for the fan. She then said she was going to lie down for a while. She never woke up. It was not a suicide or anything like that.
princess bell Bette had a filter but she rarely used it. Hollywood is a phony place and Bette never conformed. She told it like it was and she had Joan figured out and would call her out for it.
A thoughtful fair assessment of Joan Crawfords life. I found the Mommie dearest movie very distressing, it brought back too many horrible memories for me. The haircut scene showing crazy Joan with scissors really scared me, Christina has said it took many years for her to get over the fear and trauma.
How come everyone forgets how completely jealous Christina was and wanted to be a super famous actress also...?!!? Joan even tried to facilitate an acting career for Christina... But that is not how things work in life. Of course!
Christian also said the movie was completely off. Interesting how people pick & choose what is convenient or entertaining to believe. I'm personally happy I'm not so gullible .
No, Christina was never a big star like her mother. She was probably thinking in what other ways she could get notoriety and dough. Then the horrendous book was a thought. With the support of Christopher she continued with the slanderous mostly exaggerated book. It all comes down to Christina's greed and jealousy. Before Joan died, Joan caught word or had a premonition that Christina was up to something. That is probably why Joan disinherited Christina and Christopher. Cathy and Cindy never had a bad word for Joan, and they were not disinherited. Granted Joan was probably more strict than most Hollywood parents, but she wanted those kids to amount to something and be self-sufficient!!! Not like the namby-pamby spoiled brats that the Hollywood children were becoming.
Shame on Hollywood...for wanting to hold onto secrets ( they knew ) christina was a pioneer...a strong brave woman...god bless her for the positive impact she made
Christina was a disgruntled spoiled brat. Joan had done enough for her during her life. Note that Christina's book didn't come out until after Joan's death. Joan couldn't possibly defend those lies told by her nasty daughter.
Mikyla Smith.... if Christina Crawford was such a pioneer, why did she not have Mommie Dearest published while Joan was still alive??? Some pioneering!!!! It all comes back to haunt Christina for being greedy, jealous and resentful!!! What in hell was Christina thinking, and what was her problem??? I think she became the epitome of the spoiled brat who Joan did not want her to become. Christina Crawford certainly did not make a POSITIVE impact!!
Okay, I've read the book and seen the movie, that said, I think I need I to set a few things straight. 1. Joan couldn't adopt legally because she was single. At the time JC adopted the Christophers and later Christina and the twins, Social services wasn't what we know it to be now.. Most adoptions were done through agencies and children were only given to rich families. This is the reason why Joan turned to black market adoption through Georgia Tann. 2. As for Christina, I do think there are some truth in her claims. I mean, why would she lie about the abuse she suffered? I'm sure to even write about that was painful for her as was the film. Real abuse victims tell a consistent story and her brother Christopher backed up her story. Why would either lie about it?
Robin Neher exactly. Why on earth would Cristina go through all his trouble if she had had a happy childhood with her « mother »? But the people who don’t believe Cristina are those who think that since Joan was a great actress, she couldn’t possibly be a cruel mother. Nothing to do with the 2 unfortunately.
It should also be noted that the book "Mommie Dearest" helped bring child abuse to world-wide attention and many people stated that they had similar experiences.
Stephens College is a private woman's college, also in Columbia, MO. trivia: George C Scott was in plays and I believe taught a bit at the college, during his own studies at Missouri.
Thought she was French Canadian. Don't know where I got that from? Her mother was goodlooking too.Yet another good one, Jerry. You are a fount of information - and I, for one, ( and I'm sure many others ), appreciate it.
| believe Christina Crawford's recollection of her abusive childhood. Many siblings in families have different memories of their childhood especially when there is an age gap. If Christina republishes an updated version of Mommie Dearest why not even if it is for financial gain it does not change the truth. Grandchildren cannot say what their grandparents were like as parents. i say shame on anyone who knew what went on.
teresa harris, you are correct. I wish I didn't live a similar experience but I did. My younger sisters are much younger and have a different viewpoint, but it does not change what was done to me. I had an abusive mother and stepfather who treated me like dirt, and I don't care what their excuses for their behavior are. Unlike Joan Crawford, they were not alcoholics, narcissistic most likely, but they knew that if anyone ever found out the truth they would be in legal trouble. There is no way the twins would know what Christina and Christopher experienced before they were in the picture or when they weren't present and the grandchildren would know even less.
She was so mean to those kids. And the 2 sisters did end up splitting the inheritance with Christina & Christopher. Thank you Mr. Skinner, I love your videos. 👍🏼👍🏼
Joan Crawford wanted to recreate the family she never had after all, she couldn't have children. Her mother sold her out at the age of 12. She also had to deal with the Hollywood casting couch. Her childhood was rougher than Christina's.
Putting aside her private life, she was a brilliant actress, who I much enjoyed. My Mom took us to the drive in to see, "What Ever Happened To Baby Jane". Scared the bejezus out of me!! Some lovely photos...Thanks Jerry, you're the greatest!!
I really enjoyed this and the one on Georgia Tann. New subscriber. I lived in Memphis for 20 years and can almost see the properties that you mentioned.
The wire hangers came from the local laundry which Joan sent her laundry to. Her children were taught to take the wire hangers out of their freshly laundered clothes and replace them with padded hangers but apparently Christina forgot to do this one time and the result was this..."NO WIRE HANGERS...EVER!"
I read Mommie Dearest and believed every word. I never liked Joan even before that though. I saw the depth of her tormented and demented side. She had rage. Thank you, Jerry, another perfectly documented video.
No, I have always suspected greed and jealousy on Christina's part after I read the book after 1978. Cathy and Cindy never had a bad word for Joan. What in the hell was Christina's problem??? I think that Christina wanted everything handed to her on a silver platter and grew up thinking that she was going to be the next Joan Crawford. Get a life, Christina!!!
It's unfortunate that therapy was new in her lifetime and not well thought of . As a narcissist and probable boarderline, she probably would have thought she didn't need it. Today , it is accepted/ common place. I don't even think medication which she needed was available until 1950's/60's for her mental health issues. Joan had rage from her own childhood from hell and never dealt with it. So sad. She acted it out. I come from a family where abuse is generational and passed down through the mothers as abusers. Thank goodness there was therapy for me and my mother and we healed our relationship. Also, I chose to forgo motherhood. Joan was never given that chance with her daughter to talk it out and get to understanding and hopefully forgiveness. I think Christina exaggerated out of her own anger, greed and jealousy.People aren't black or white but a blend/grey. Joan had many kind attributes. But never having any role model or love as a child motherhood was truly her worst performance. I wonder how Christina would have faired as a mother....not well, I am sure.
Jerry - I love your videos. They all seem "fair & balanced" in an effort to present the truth, as best we know. I also love your voice. It sounds familiar but I can't place it.
Darn it, Jerry! Not only are your biographies brilliant, you also manage to be respectful to people that probably do not deserve your respect. I'm old enough to have grown up watching a lot of the people that you talk about, and I appreciate every word you say. God bless, my American friend.
Some of Joan's Hollywood visitor friends did witness some of her abuse of Christina and Christopher. Actress Natalie Schaeffer saw Joan force Christopher to eat an entire box of bonbon chocolates, as punishment for having eaten a second bonbon. Eve Arden (herself an adoptive mother of two) opined that Joan ought never have tried to be a mother. Another guest (perhaps June Allyson) saw Joan make Christina, all dressed up for a childhood friend's birthday party, sit alone on a chair in Joan's hallway the entire duration of the party, missing it all. (Shades of the headmaster cruelty to charity pupils in the film Jane Eyre).
@@margaretross9150Helen Hayes thought Joan was too strict of a parent but she never witnessed any outright abuse. For instance she wrote of throwing Christopher a surprise birthday party and Joan being upset about it. Hayes though never elaborated more about the incident. She never described Joan's body language or what words were said.
