Joan Crawford: The Ultimate Movie Star Page #3

...with the studio, because a cadet

actually got kicked out of West Point...

...for going on a date with her.

Shortly after that,

she and Billy got into a car crash.

The studio wasn't too happy about this

when they got back to Hollywood.

Joan Crawford made the,

l thought, rather impudent remark:

''How can you get a decent part

in a picture...

...when Norma Shearer

sleeps with the boss?''

Joan could be very aggressive

in defense of her career.

She'd go up to the bosses,

including lrving Thalberg, and complain:

''Norma gets everything,

and l just get the other stuff. ''

lrving was very protective of Norma

and he bristled at this...

...and he put her in a Western

with Tim McCoy.

Joan served her time.

She learned a lesson:

Don't mess with lrving Thalberg.

Next, Joan was given a starring role

in a film that would cement her fame:

Our Dancing Daughters.

In the movie, Crawford came through

as her own unique creation...

... which MGM had been avoiding

from the beginning.

This was the Joan that had been

in the nightclubs...

... the Joan that had been impressing

everybody else.

She was finally allowed to be free,

and the public reaction was monumental.

Our Dancing Daughters. Oh, l love it.

Those pictures made us famous.

Crawford was supposed to be the one

that did all the dancing and everything...

...but was pure, and l was the one that

was supposed to be sweet but wasn't...

...and got the wealthy man

and it didn't work.

lt went over so well,

we made two more.

You see some of those pictures today

and they're really laughable...

...because she is so fluttery and dances

up a storm and plays very coy.

F. Scott Fitzgerald noted:

''Joan Crawford is doubtless

the best example of the flapper.

The girl you see in smart nightclubs

gowned to the apex of sophistication.

Toying iced glasses with a remote,

faintly bitter expression.

Dancing deliciously. Laughing

a great deal with wide, hurt eyes.

Young things with a talent for living. ''

Filmdom had a new star...

...and hers was the ultimate

Cinderella story.

That of a flapper who had made it

through the ranks...

... to become a credible actress

and a genuine box-office movie star.

Crawford's salary had slowly increased

to $ 250 a week.

But after the success of Our Dancing

Daughters, MGM doubled her income.

Her prosperity paid for a new house...

...in the fashionable

Brentwood neighborhood.

She hosted glittering parties,

attended premieres...

...and answered a flood of fan mail.

Joan had it all.

She was the hottest commodity

at the biggest film studio in Hollywood.

But she lacked the social standing...

...befitting her position

in the film community.

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