05/06/2024
Joan Crawford embodied “one archetype after another: jazz baby, bad girl, Cinderella, heiress, boss lady, monster, survivor—all while staying essentially herself,” according to this diverting biography from screenwriter Bernstein (Mr. Confidential). Born Lucille LeSueur somewhere “between 1903... and 1908” in San Antonio, Tex., Crawford, who died in 1977, left behind her hardscrabble childhood to become a professional dancer in New York City. After she was discovered by a talent scout, she moved to Hollywood, where her “vibrancy” and “self-assurance” landed her roles in silent films. Dividing the actor’s life into stages, Bernstein frames Crawford as “queen of the movies” during her 1930s and early ’40s heyday; “mother and martyr” from the mid-1940s to early ’50s, during which time she adopted two children, aided the U.S. war effort by growing victory gardens and hosting picnics for servicemen, and won an Academy Award for her starring role in Mildred Pierce; and “dragon lady” in the mid-to-late ’50s, as she fought to carve out a career during middle age. There’s plenty here that entertains, though Bernstein tends to rely on flattering sources and skates over such controversies as daughter Christina’s portrayal of Crawford as a cruel alcoholic in her 1978 memoir, Mommie Dearest. Those flaws aside, it’s a spirited portrait of a Hollywood legend. (July)
In a new book by writer Samuel Garza Bernstein titled Starring Joan Crawford: The Films, the Fantasy, and the Modern Relevance of a Silver Screen Icon, a more complete and nuanced picture of the Hollywood icon is painted.
In the new book Starring Joan Crawford: The Films, the Fantasy, and the Modern Relevance of a Silver Screen Icon, Hollywood historian Samuel Garza Bernstein draws on reams of press coverage and never-before-seen restored images from movie posters and stills, publicity shots, sheet music, and magazine covers. Starring Joan Crawford is both a celebration and a compelling exploration of how she informed ideas about wealth and class, femininity and gender roles, identity, and fulfillment.
"Gorgeously written and meticulously researched, Starring Joan Crawford is a delicious melange of biographical details, cultural criticism, and fanboy fantasia that brings the most vivacious actress of the twentieth century screamingly to life. Freed by the author's sharp eye from the wire-hanger-wielding monstrosity she has become in the collective mind of popular American culture, Miss Crawford becomes flesh and blood once more. In Samuel Garza Bernstein's unputdownable book, her meaning and import are illuminated in the most up-to-date Britney-Xtina-Gaga terms. The superstar is young again, and so is Hollywood, and maybe even the reader, too."—Frank DeCaro, author of Drag: Combing Through the Big Wigs of Show Business.
"Samuel Garza Bernstein brilliantly titles his new book Starring Joan Crawford, but in keeping with the religious thrust, it could just as aptly be called Joan: The Bible. Because it IS the Bible on Joan Crawford. Garza Bernstein brings the real Joan to vivid life, in a style that’s both dishy and intimate, but also as erudite and thoroughly researched as a PhD thesis. The men, the movies, the moxie, it’s all here."―Kim Powers, author of Rules for Being Dead and The History of Swimming
"Samuel Garza Bernstein's book Starring Joan Crawford is a bold and complex amalgam of biography, critical analysis, Hollywood gossip, and fantasy. Garza Bernstein successfully balances the apocryphal with scholarly truth, camp with sober insight. It's a satisfying, hearty stew spiced with wit and a genuine love and respect for its eternally fascinating subject."—Charles Busch, American actor, playwright, screenwriter
“Samuel Garza Bernstein writes about a woman we all wish we knew because she sounds like a f―king hoot! And he does a great job of telling you why we should all wish she was in our circle of friends if we got to dip back in time."―Karen McCullah, screenwriter, Legally Blonde and author, The Bachelorette Party
Starring Joan Crawford looks at her career and her meaning, at why Crawford continues to resonate.
Whether Joan Crawford mattered artistically is debatable; that she still matters culturally is Samuel Garza Bernstein's exuberantly argued thesis. In Starring Joan Crawford, Bernstein holds a loupe to Crawford's deathless high-camp persona—both on—and offscreen.... Starring Joan Crawford is a splendid pastiche. Bernstein supplies copious photos; film-by-film synopses with original credits; the odd reproduced-in-full article by or about Crawford; and recaps of his fantasy Crawford vehicles (e.g., 2023's Barbie). Bernstein implicitly makes the case that humor and serious criticism aren't unnatural bedfellows, as when he offers this measure of Crawford's still-thriving legacy.
If you love ‘With Love, Mommie Dearest’ and want to know more about the real Joan Crawford, this book helps explain her movie star allure and iconography in pop culture.
06/21/2024
Playwright and biographer Bernstein (Mr. Confidential: The Man, His Magazine & the Movieland Massacre That Changed Hollywood Forever) illuminates actor Joan Crawford's enduring popularity by spotlighting her long career. He provides details of her entire filmography, which began with silent films in the 1920s and lasted until the early 1970s. Where this biography shines is in Bernstein's inclusion of quotes from Crawford's interviews and from reviews of her films over the years; however, the present-day film roles and press he imagines for Crawford are confusing and don't necessarily contextualize her relevance today as much as he intended. Still, where so many other books on Crawford have made her into a caricature, this volume evaluates her work on its own merits. The long shadow cast by Mommie Dearest (the scathing memoir written by Crawford's daughter) even today, nearly 50 years after Crawford's 1977 death and the memoir's publication (to say nothing of the subsequent film), is perhaps inescapable, but this book provides much-needed insight and perspective on popular culture's continuing fascination with Joan Crawford. VERDICT An enjoyable read that stands out among the numerous books written about Crawford over the years.—Claire Sewell
