Donald Spoto. Possessed:The Life of Joan Crawford.
New York: William Morrow, 2010
as reviewed by Ted Odenwald
Donald Spoto, the renowned biographer of more than two dozen stars of stage and screen, believed that a new biography of Joan Crawford was required because “perhaps no other star…has been so underappreciated, misrepresented by rumor, innuendo, fabrication, unfounded allegation and rank distortion.” The most damning claims came in the form of the vitriolic memoir, Mommie Dearest, written by her adopted daughter, Christina. Unfortunately, Joan Crawford’s name also evokes the horrific scene in the movie version of Christina’s book in which the actress/mother beats her children with a wire hanger. Spoto dismisses this scene as Hollywood sensationalism; Christina’s book had never alleged any such beating. She did say that her mother had been infuriated when the children left clothes and hangers lying about, but physical abuse was never a part of the episode. Spoto also notes that Crawford would not have allowed metal hangers in her home. Citing evidence from several of Crawford’s friends, from her younger adopted twins, Spoto claims that the actress appears to have been a loving, if strict, mother. Christina’s accusations, supported by her adopted brother, appear to be motivated by revenge for their not being included in Crawford’s will. Spoto’s purpose is to “set the record straight,” objectively giving praise and criticism where they are due.
The author focuses upon the actress’s career, tracing her roles in more than 80 movies, revealing the gradual development of her performing gifts, and explaining the extent to which she was allowed to use these gifts as an actress. For 18 years she cranked out second-rate pictures under her MGM contract, exploited by the studio as a “glamorous star,” but seldom treated as a true actress. Her move to Warner Brothers Studio gave her the opportunity to take on challenging roles such as Mildred Pierce. Crawford claimed that the role “…was a delight to me, because it rescued me from what was known at MGM as the Joan Crawford formula. I had become so hidden in clothes and sets that nobody could tell whether I had talent or not.” With this movie, “she took her audiences to a new level, in which she would embrace types often shunned by actors to maintain a loving fan base. Henceforth, the women [she] played would be tougher, more seasoned, more resourceful….” In other famous roles such as in Possessed, Humoresque, and The Damned Don’t Cry, she played women “with an almost manic intensity.”
Insecurity had hounded her throughout her career; she grew up in poverty, had little education, and was treated as little better than a slave by her mother. Her sense of inadequacy led her to imagine reasons for rivalries that simply did not exist. Her drive to improve herself and to succeed became an obsession. “Nothing was more important to her than her career, and the will to maintain it would in time become both her blessing and her curse.” Spoto believes that Crawford excelled in several of her leading roles because she identified with the characters’ obsessions: “Something of them existed in her,” and she strove through these characters to expose and examine her demons. In Possessed, she played a woman of such “manic intensity” that she lived (as did Crawford) on the “edge of destruction,” [flirting] with the madness of multi-leveled possession.” Like her character, Ethel, in The Damned Don’t Cry,” she had to fight for status and acceptance. As Ethel says, “You gotta kick and punch and belt your way up ’cause nobody’s gonna give you a lift.” In the picture Harriet Craig, she portrayed “a middle-aged, middle-class woman with a pathological need to maintain a perfect, spotless home and to dominate her husband.” This character’s obsession with cleanliness mirrored Crawford’s behavior; “her mania for an almost impossible tidy and sanitary existence was certainly a sign of her interior need to …purity, as much as it was a sign of her longing to unite her actual life with her ideal life.”
Her professional demeanor, often besmirched by Hollywood gossips as being snobbish and unapproachable, is praised by Spoto, with countless testimonies from fellow actors, directors, and producers-all claiming that she was always a focused, dedicated professional performer; she was punctual, understanding of her characters, familiar with the script, supportive of fellow performers and knowledgeable in all aspects of film-making. Some difficulties occurred in the later years of her career, as she isolated herself by having her own living quarters combined with her dressing room; while the film was being shot, she lived separated from family, friends, and fellow actors. She also became impatient with young actors, as she resented the prejudicial treatment of aging performers and the preferential treatment of novices, regardless of the gifts of either.
Crawford’s personal life was colorful as many of her film roles. She had many intimate relationships-both marital and extra-marital. Her relationship with Clark Gable lasted for decades, though it was an intermittent one. Her marriage to Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., failed primarily because his wealthy family never really accepted her, leading the couple to destructive affairs and bouts with alcohol. Her marriage to actor, Franchot Tone, was both a blessing and a curse to Crawford; she learned a great deal about performing from her husband, but as she eventually was rewarded with more and better roles, he became jealous and abused her both emotionally and physically. Eventually, each took lovers, separated, and divorced. Supposedly, her happiest marriage was to Alfred Nu Steele, the President of Pepsi-Cola. Because of her charisma as a star, Crawford was used as a representative of the company for several years. “Part of [Crawford’s] toughness came from [her] compulsive need to maintain her image as a star, which she now had to transform and reinvent as the full-time wife of a business executive.” Unfortunately, when Steele died suddenly at the age of 57, she discovered that her husband had left her in deep debt, squandering all of the money she had brought to the marriage while also borrowing heavily against his salary with Pepsi-Cola. She struggled to pay back the money, both by serving on the board of Pepsi-Cola and by returning to acting, most notably in Whatever Happened to Baby Jane. Gossip columnists tried to claim that Crawford and co-star, Bette Davis, were at war in this production, but both performers claimed that there were never any problems on-set or off.
Spoto, after analyzing most all of Crawford’s films, her letters, and journals, concluded that she was “rare among her peers.” She was exceptional in most of her performances, “very infrequently mak[ing] a false move in any scene of any picture.” He claims that almost everything that she performed on-screen “was right for the moment-she was her technique.” While fellow performers may have found her more difficult to work with , “no one ever turned down the chance to work in one of her pictures.” Spoto concludes that while Joan Crawford “behaved like a star…she was a great deal more…[She was] one of the truly great actresses in the history of American film.”
Ted Odenwald and his wife, Shirley have lived in Oakland for 40 years. He taught HS English at Glen Rock High School for all of those years plus one more. Now he is enjoying time spent with his family, singing in the North Jersey Chorus and quenching his wanderlust. Ted is also the Worship Leader at the Ramapo Valley Baptist Church in Oakland.