How Joan Crawford Broke Into The Movies

Joan Crawford. The very whisper of her name sends shivers down the roots of rose bushes everywhere.

How I Broke Into The Movies is a book published in 1930. It contains 60 articles on the title theme, written by movie stars of the day. Each star has a portrait on the left page and text they've (purportedly) written on the right page with the star's hand-written signature at the bottom for validity. The previous articles I've published are:

• How Marion Davies Broke Into The Movies
• How Gloria Swanson Broke Into The Movies
• How Colleen Moore Broke Into The Movies (also announced the WORLD INTERNET PREMIERE of the Moore's 1925 silent film Ella Cinders newly scored by me with jazz music of the 1920s)
• How Clara Bow Broke Into The Movies

I will continue publishing articles until the book is digitized. Here is the WORLD INTERNET PREMIERE of How I Broke Into The Movies written (in her own words) by Joan Crawford.

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How I Broke Into The Movies Joan Crawford picture
Right click to view the full-size image.

How I Broke Into The Movies by Joan Crawford
Right click to view the full-size image.

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Some interesting Joan links

Joan does radio

Hollywood Star Playhouse: January 15, 1951 "Statement In Full"

Screen Directors' Playhouse: May 26, 1950 "Flamingo Road"

Screen Guild Theatre: October 15, 1939 "None Shall Part Us"

Silver Theatre: May 7, 1939 "The Train Ride"

Suspense: June 2, 1949 "The Ten Years"

Suspense: March 22, 1951 "Three Lethal Words"

Stars Over Hollywood: October 6, 1951 "I Knew This Woman"

Stars Over Hollywood: March 1, 1952 "When The Police Arrive"

Joan plays Password

Late 1962, Post Baby Jane
Pre The Caretakers release

Joan in Rain, 1932

Joan Crawford is Sadie Thomson in Rain 1932

Joan speaks German

Joan Crawford's scene from Wir schalten um auf Hollywood
an MGM promotional film in German from 1931

Joan on Pinterest

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Christina Amphlett 1959-2013

Chrissie Amphlett was the lead singer and, with Mark McEntee, the driving force behind Divinyls, the Australian band behind many new wave classics including Boys In Town, Pleasure and Pain, and I Touch Myself. They stopped recording in 1997 and, I recently found out, Chrissie took on the iconic role of Judy Garland in the 1998 Australian production of The Boy From Oz. I found this tender and loving performance of Peter Allen's All I Wanted Was The Dream from the cast recording of The Boy From Oz.

As the song played I was reading that Chrissie had passed away from breast cancer in 2013. I hadn't heard this. We were both born in 1959.

So I bookend the subtlety of this moving performance with the pure rock and roll of the first Divinyls I heard. Thanks for Siren Song and all the rest, Chrissie. Peace out.

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Rachael Lily Rosenbloom Lives!

With all the Hello, Dolly-baloo last week, another small yet pivotal performance (in the annals of musical theatre history) took place on Monday March 13, 2017: the first performance in 44 years of Paul Jabara's self-proclaimed disco musical Rachael Lily Rosenbloom ... And Don't You Ever Forget It.

Written almost entirely by Jabara (with book help from Tom Eyen), Rachael... never made it to Broadway despite seven previews at the Broadhurst Theatre. Since the musical Carrie has been revamped and is now produced often, Rachael... captures the crown as the most notorious flop in Broadway history. Unfortunately, even with the tweaks afforded the show for this concert staging, one can see why. The book is a pastiche of musical theatre references and campy laughs that don't really gel as a compelling story. And the characterization of Rachael makes no sense within the context of, for example, the title - Rachael changes her name to Raquel halfway through the show. In other words, we've forgotten it.

The songs are fun but then Paul Jabara writes fun songs. Remember It's Raining Men, The Main Event, No More Tears (Enough Is Enough) and his Oscar-winning Last Dance? The latter was appended to this concert as a finale but none of Rachael...'s score is as memorable as the aforementioned pop hits although Dear Miss Streisand and Broadway Rhythm immediately come to mind as standouts. (Jabara did record a revision of the musical's Ocho Rios on his 1986 album De La Noche: The True Story (A Poperetta).)

Interestingly, on my very rare audience recording (puff, puff) of one of the 1973 previews (starring Ellen Greene and Anita Morris), the audience is quite receptive to the performance - as was the audience last week at Feinstein’s/54 Below. In my opinion, it had more to do with the performers and audience than the material being performed. Bonnie Milligan (as Rachael), Julia Mattison (as Stella Starfuckoff, the role originated by Morris) and Anastasia McClesky had the showiest roles but all the performers and the band made the hour and 15 minute concert quite enjoyable. My conclusion though is Rachael... will now be forgotten for another 44 years.

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Divine Hello, Dolly!

In the new revival of Jerry Herman's Hello, Dolly!, Bette Midler doesn’t so much inhabit the character of Dolly Gallagher Levi as allow Dolly to inhabit her own divinity. With double takes and side eyes, Bette's Dolly breaks the fourth wall while mining all the laughs from Michael Stewart’s classic book. (Breaking the fourth wall is a typical conceit of original playwright Thornton Wilder.) Midler is ably aided by David Hyde Pierce, a perfect foil as Horace Vandergelder and someone who the producers felt worthy enough to add the previously cut Vandergelder solo, Penny In My Pocket, as the second act opener. The rest of the supporting cast sing and dance joyfully in the ageless musical: Gavin Creel as Cornelius Hackl is adorable, Kate Baldwin as Irene Molloy is resplendent, Taylor Trensch as Barnaby Tucker is a mensch and Beanie Feldstein as Minnie Fay is a revelation. The sets are darling, dances energetic throwbacks, costumes colorfully vintage and Herman’s songs tuneful as ever.

Undoubtedly though everyone in the house for this first (March 15) preview was there for Midler’s return to the musical theatre. Exhilaration was in the air as we braved the 20 degree weather for the 8:00 PM curtain. (No late seating EVER … for this engagement.) When Bette finally enters on a trolley, there’s a standing ovation. Bette lifts her skirts to dance at Irene Molloy’s, there’s a standing ovation. She sings the act one closer Before The Parade Passes By, there’s a standing ovation. And following the always entertaining Waiters’ Gallop, when the Harmonia Gardens curtains part and Bette descends the stairs to the strains of the classic title tune, the roar of approval is deafening. Bette’s Dolly is, at once, boisterous, reflective, quirky … and quite hungry. This role would be her star-making turn - if she hadn’t already been a star for almost fifty years! Bette Midler in Hello, Dolly! is an event that comes along once in a lifetime and lucky me I have tickets for two more events. How lucky can you get!

(How lucky can you get! See what I did there?)

Click the link for a NSFW throwback on Bette called It's Not Porn. It's Bette Midler!.

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Spring Awakening and Pandora's Box

I just uploaded to archive.org the complete English text, in PDF, of four plays by German playwright Frank Wedekind!

• Spring Awakening
• The Lulu Plays is comprised of:
  • Earth Spirit
  • Pandora's Box
  • Death and the Devil

Spring Awakening is known today as the basis of the musical Spring Awakening with book and lyrics by Steven Sater and music by Duncan Sheik. The musical opened on Broadway in 2006 and played for a little over two years. This original production won several Tony awards including Best Musical, Best Book of a Musical and Best Original Score. It has been revived a number of times since then - most recently on Broadway in 2015.

Earth Spirit and Pandora's Box, the first two in The Lulu Plays trilogy, are the basis of the 1929 silent film Pandora's Box starring Louise Brooks and directed by G.W. Pabst.

Samuel A. Eliot, Jr. wrote the introduction to the collection in 1923, presumably the year it was published in the United Kingdom under the title Tragedies Of Sex. What a find!

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