I read an interesting book today called “With Love, Mommie Dearest” by A. Ashley Hoff. It’s about the creation and legacy of the motion picture “Mommie Dearest.”
“Mommie Dearest”, if you aren’t familiar, is a movie based on a book written by screen actress Joan Crawford’s adopted daughter Christina. Joan Crawford, you see, was….nuts. She adopted children, through legally dicey methods, for publicity purposes. She was abusive to her kids in a variety of ways…physical abuse, mental abuse, and…well, “potpourri”.
There’s a tremendous level of detail in these pages. For example: Did you know that Mel Brooks convinced his wife Anne Bancroft not to take the role of Joan Crawford? He told her:
Look, we’ve all read the book. It’s one thing to picture Joan Crawford chopping down a tree in the backyard. It’s something else when you actually put on the makeup and the costume and do it. The audience’s reaction will be laughter because it won’t sync with their view of who it is, and it’s such an over-the-top conceit.
I knew Mel Brooks was a genius, but that’s some Nosferatu-level predicting!
Note in the rose garden clip, her adopted son Christopher was locked into bed with some kind of evil 1940’s contraption.
So…..Faye Dunaway ended up taking the role of Joan Crawford. And the book really becomes an examination of Dunaway’s behavior. She spent the entire production of the film engaging in diva behavior: clearing the studio for such offenses as someone looking at her; another actor having a decent part; and the like. Not that it was all her fault; the film’s director, Frank Perry, failed to…well, direct Dunaway. It would be the director’s job to guide the actor into, shall we say, dialing it down a touch. In the absence of that guidance, her performance is off-the-rails bonkers. More than one person interviewed for the book suggests that Dunaway sort of became Joan Crawford, much like Jim Carrey disappearing into the character of Andy Kaufman in “Man On The Moon.”
Yikes.
One of the things I didn’t know until I read this book: There were people–a LOT of people–who felt that Christina Crawford’s book, and the movie, were an unfair smear on Joan Crawford. I mean, if you’ve ever seen the movie….if only 10% of that stuff really went down, I don’t see how anyone can be that oblivious.
Anyway, Faye Dunaway’s intense performance turned “Mommie Dearest” from a Oscar-caliber drama to a camp classic. When Paramount saw what was happening, they decided to change their advertising campaign:
The book has interviews with both actresses who played young Christina Crawford. Mara Hobel plays little girl Christina, and I am happy to report that, by and large, she did not suffer the wrath of the abuse depicted on screen…for the hanger beatings for example, Hobel was padded…and in one case a dummy was used. On the other hand, Diana Scarwid (adult Christina) damn near died from Faye Dunaway’s method acting in this fight scene:
“Barbara, please!” = “Bitch, please!”
“Mommie Dearest” is not a movie I’ve watched in a long time…but my favorite part of the film is when Christina, now an adult with an acting career, falls ill and is unable to play her character on the CBS soap opera “The Secret Storm.”
This reminds me of being at my grandmother’s house…she watched “As The World Turns” and “Guiding Light”, and once in a while a character would enter the scene and the announcer would intone, “Due to illness, the part of Dr. William Wainwright will be played today by Ralph Underpants.”
The movie depicts Joan’s soap-opera performance, which is slightly tipsy.
I don’t understand how they thought nobody would notice that the set for “The Secret Storm” was actually the Cunningham kitchen on “Happy Days.” The movie did go over budget, so I guess this is a way to save money.
“With Love, Mommie Dearest” is a great read if you’re interested in Hollywood history…that of Joan Crawford and the people who tried to tell her story on film. When I was in Nashville this past May, my pal the Prof and I saw “Mildred Pierce” in a local theater…..great movie! But if you don’t have time to watch a feature film, here’s a shorter option….