newcritics - Latest Comments in Happy Birthday, Joan

Re: Happy Birthday, Joan

cez05 — Wed, 13 May 2009 06:01:41 -0000

Nice story, it caught my attention. It makes me say go and watch the movie..

Re: Happy Birthday, Joan

Self Styled Siren — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 20:03:27 -0000

Dan, if you go over to The Ballerina Gallery, which is a fantastic site, you can see what ballerinas looked like in the 1930s by looking at someone like Ulanova. In a nutshell: not the teensy sylphs of Balanchine's NYCB, but not Garbo either. And it's more than physical typing, there's a very peculiar gait and rhythm to the way a classical ballerina moves that Garbo just doesn't have. But she's Garbo, and that ain't hay.

MaryC, I had drinks last night with a friend who reacted the same way you did to the excerpt, but for a slightly different reason. She thought Cathy's emphasis on how wonderful everything was became just a leetle too repetitious. I don't think we'll ever know for sure what childhood was like chez Crawford, but I don't have much trouble saying I am glad she wasn't MY mother. But I did lose patience with Christina when she suggested a few years ago that Joan might have murdered one of her husbands. It was like, enough already. And over the years it's become plain that a lot of stars were probably dreadful parents--Bing Crosby comes to mind--but that isn't ALL the general public knows about them. I'd just like to see the good Joan work come more to the forefront.

Re: Happy Birthday, Joan

MaryC — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 19:18:30 -0000

Reading the Vanity Fair excerpt, I feel more sympathetic to Christina. What comes across in everyoneÃ¢â‚¬â„¢s comments from Bette Davis to Douglas Fairbanks to little sister Cathy to Miss Crawford herself is that Christina and Christopher werenÃ¢â‚¬â„¢t grateful enough. They didnÃ¢â‚¬â„¢t express their gratitude as they should have to generous Joan who kind-heartedly rescued them from a life of, as Miss Davis put it, orphanages and foster homes and who knows what. Why, she did a noble deed and those little ingrates didnÃ¢â‚¬â„¢t appreciate it.

Re: Happy Birthday, Joan

Dan Leo — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 17:10:55 -0000

I plan on watching Grand Hotel tonight!

Oh, and so true about Garbo not looking like a ballerina -- unless ballerinas looked like Garbo back in the old days...

Re: Happy Birthday, Joan

Self Styled Siren — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 15:03:27 -0000

Dan, there were a good many straight men who loved her a lot, including Gable and Tracy as well as Mankiewicz, so you have very good company.

As for Grand Hotel, I always find it fabulous. Garbo strikes some people as too dramatic but she's playing a very self-dramatizing part. The one thing the movie can't do is make her LOOK like a ballerina, though.

Re: Happy Birthday, Joan

Dan Leo — Mon, 24 Mar 2008 17:55:28 -0000

As usual after reading the fabulous Siren I now have the urge to re-watch a movie I haven't seen in ages, in this case Grand Hotel. Maybe there's something wrong with me as a supposedly straight male, but I also love Joan Crawford. Her vitality just surges through even the most absurd and obscure 4:15 AM Turner Classic Insomniac Specials.

Re: Happy Birthday, Joan

Self Styled Siren — Mon, 24 Mar 2008 17:32:52 -0000

Thanks for the kind words. She was definitely a star who required a good director but in the right hands she could be quite a presence.

As for the language, yes, it's something isn't it? but the "rode through the studio" remark was too fabulous not to repeat. :D

Re: Happy Birthday, Joan

oakling — Mon, 24 Mar 2008 16:25:33 -0000

Wonderful tribute! I started out knowing so little that I was shocked to hear her birthdate, and now I feel like I understand her and her career and need to go grab some DVDs to watch right away. And I love learning what salty language people used in real life, in comparison to the stuff Hollywood was showing us at the time....