Baby Face, French Lobby Card
Baby Face, 1933
Directed by Alfred E. Green
Spring Break. Let’s take time to soak in some sunshine, sin and bathtub gin. Served up shameless– please. Like Barbara Stanwyck in Baby Face.
After a transparently draped Jean Harlow boinked her way to the top in MGM’s Red Headed Woman, Hollywood’s studios were determined not to miss the scheming skank gravy train. In 1933 a parade of unrepentant adulterers, brazen boob-flapping strippers, thieving hookers, and unabashed homosexuals lit up the silver screen in an outpouring that tanked the censor ship*.
I Love Trouble, 1947 Original Half Sheet
Franchot Tone should have had “I Love Trouble” tattooed across his you-know-what. Was his love interest married? No problem. Other boyfriends? Game on. Jail bait? Gang Moll? Alcoholic? Smitten.
Stanislaus Pascal Franchot Tone was born in 1905 to a multi-millionaire New York industrialist and his society wife. A spectacular career start with Lee Strasberg’s ground-breaking Group Theatre in New York coincided with “girl trouble”– an unmarried pregnancy and an “inappropriate engagement”. After an accolade filled year in the footlights, Tone hightailed it out of NYC on the wings of an MGM contract in 1932.
Round 1 – The Movie Star
In Hollywood, Tone was a Fred Astaire movie come to life. Good looking, cultured millionaires’ sons didn’t grow on trees in the Great Depression. The dashing singleton had his pick of the ladies. But Tone set his sights on Mrs. Douglas Fairbanks Jr. –Joan Crawford. The fact that Crawford was not yet divorced, and in a torrid affair with Clark Gable did little to dissuade his pursuit.
Possessed, Half Sheet
Behold my numero uno trashtastic star, Joan Crawford. The fire in the eye of Blake’s tiger could never match the combustion in Crawford’s peepers when she gazed at an Academy Award. . . new boy toy. . .or vodka bottle!
Most stars need to step way out of their comfort zone to win an Oscar. Not Joan. She won her second Best Actress nod for playing a flakey nut case in Possessed. Most critics consider this her finest moment. Joan acknowledged to quite a few people that it was her super fave.
Crawford in 1947
Possessed was Joan’s follow-up to her Academy Award winning performance in Mildred Pierce, and another waltz out of the comfort zone as a boozy socialite in Humoresque. This completed her in your face trifecta come back at Warner Brothers. What a Roll! At this point in her career Joan was once again partying hard as a bachelorette after divorcing Phil Terry and adopting four kiddies. On top again in her 40′s.
Her libation of choice? Vodka 140 proof. No mixers Please.
Fix it up Joanie style:
1 Crystal Sazarac glass
Ice
Fill ‘er up !
Repeat. Repeat. Repeat.
Condition: Possessed. Half Sheet. 1947. Original. Fine – Near Mint. Poster has been professionally paper backed.
Recommended Read: The Joan Crawford Murders by Peter Joseph Swanson
I don’t know if there is a category for Camp Noir, but if there is I nominate Queen Bee starring Joan Crawford. So deliciously hammy, trashy and tres fashionable at the same time. Check out this Lobby card for the movie.. The Hollywood Wax museum would have a hard time copying this pose for zombie allure. Few could top the Queen Joan for over-the-top cinema glamour. The skin-tight costumes by Jean-Louis were nominated for an academy award. Unfortunately the skin-tight facial expressions and caterpillar eyebrows were somehow overlooked by the makeup committee.
Joan In Jean-Louis
The film was released in 1955 and co-starred Barry Sullivan, Betsy Palmer and John Ireland. I imagine a young Aaron Spelling crib noting this movie to to use as basis of his long running soap-monster Dynasty kingdom. Flashy tight costumes with shoulder pads and jewels – Check. Riding crop destruction scene – Check. Venomous dialog spewed by crazy scheming rich bitch, Check.
“Oh, they’re so smug and namby-pamby!” [Swings riding crop violently and knocks trophies off the mantle] “I wish I could get rid of them as easy as this trash!” .
