I have this problem where I forget just how crazy-flapper Joan Crawford was — especially when she was still Lucille Fay LeSueur.

Crawford In Our Modern Maidens

(I guess that’s the problem when you’ve seen Mildred Pierce & The Women and not Mommy Dearest; you’ve grow accustomed to her brilliance and classic style.)

But the following interesting excerpt about Joan Crawford from Starlight Starbright, by Margaret Case Harriman, as it originally appeared in Vanity Fair, February, 1936, reminds me of Crawford’s wild & rowdy beginnings. (Links added by moi.)

In Hollywood, Joan set out to bring herself to public attention less by her work in pictures than by a continuous nightlife that would have put most girls under the sod. In less than two years she had won 84 cups in nightclub contests for dancing the Charleston, or by imitating Bee Jackson, the shimmy expert. She was, then, undistinguished in appearance from any other good-looking girl, except by her curiously arresting eyes. She hid the fine structure of her face by pulling her brown hair onto her cheeks and over her forehead, and by a careless mask of makeup. Latter, she dyed her hair a flaming red and rolled her stockings not quite far enough above her knee-length skirts.

Oh, I’m not saying that such a press puff piece doesn’t have it’s marketing agendas; and if you read the whole article, you’ll see the clear effort to move Joan from Flapper to a more mature (matronly) actress status (though it honestly reads more like a sales pitch to convince people in a post-WWII world). But when you see this photo of Joan Crawford looking like Madonna from her Desperately Seeking Susan days, I guess it’s pretty clear why the public would need a push.

Lucille Fay LeSuer (AKA Joan Crawford)

Whatever your thoughts on Joan (and she’s certainly one who inspires the “lover her or hate her” response), I double-dog-dare you not to be amused by this last bit from the vintage Vanity Fair issue:

She drinks wine now and then, but no hard liquor. At dinner parties given by Joan and Franchot Tone, the guests gather in the music room before dinner, on stools along the bar, while Franchot goes behind to mix cocktails. Joan wanders around happily enough with a glass of sherry. Once she saw a row of women sitting on stools along a bar, and the contours where each lady met the stool frightened her. Since, she has taken her sherry standing up.

Probably good advice for any ladies drinking this weekend *wink*

Tags: Hollywood, vintage glamour, vintage magazines, vintage style