As with millions of others, I’m currently enthralled by Ryan Murphy’s FX series “Feud: Bette & Joan.” The “American Horror Story” and “Glee” hit-maker’s new show follows the personal and media frenzy that surrounded horror title Whatever Happened to Baby Jane and its leading ladies Bette Davis and Joan Crawford. Before the FX drama, I had virtually no knowledge of either woman outside of recognizing them as early Hollywood A-listers, but I couldn’t tell you a single movie they starred in. Horror is, obviously, my thing and my knowledge of cinema history doesn’t typically stray too far from that area. I had more of a concept of Ms. Crawford, at least, due to watching her daughter’s highly debated biopic Mommie Dearest. While I’d consider that unsettling in itself, it was far from a scary movie and the strange acting was worth the laugh but it never compelled me to research any of the Crawfords further.
Last summer, I started watching a few black-and-white movies to expand on the cinema history gaps in my brain and one of them just happened to be Whatever Happened to Baby Jane. I didn’t realize that either women co-starring in the feature were Bette Davis and Joan Crawford, although I was able to pin the feature as an early horror film gem. Audiences back then weren’t accustomed to half of the content and material in modern horror flicks; remember, The Exorcist was sending people to the hospital and handing out barf bags in 1973. Imagine what was considered horror back in 1962. Whatever Happens to Baby Jane follows two formerly famous sisters living in a Hollywood mansion, but all is not what it appears to be. Blanche (Crawford) is paraplegic and is being held against her will by psychotic Jane (Davis). Jane becomes more and more unhinged, partially due to jealousy, and will do anything to keep her damaged psyche and dirty little secret from being discovered.
Whatever Happened to Baby Jane wasn’t Crawford’s first foray into horror, that can be attributed to her 1927 role as Nanon in The Unknown. But, let’s not jump ahead. Before I highlight her parts in the blood red pool of horror film, let me first give you the background of her iconic, legendary and noteworthy career in Tinsel Town. Joan Crawford, originally named Lucille LeSueur, started performing in 1925 as a background actor and dancer. It was the latter trait that caught the eye of casting directors and it wasn’t long before she was earning meatier roles in titles such as Sally, Irene and Mary (1925), Paris (1926), Across to Singapore (1928) and Our Dancing Daughters (1928). Several years later, motion pictures made the move from silent films to “talkies” and Crawford saw her first audible role in The Untamed (1929).
1930 to 1937 was irrefutably Crawford’s heyday. Whether due to her many pairings with Clark Gable or because of the nation’s infatuation with sound films, Joan became a queen of drama, comedy, romance and film-noir. She lead the show or co-starred in a string of massive box office successes including Our Blushing Brides (1930), Paid (1930), Dance Fools Dance (1931), Grand Hotel (1932), Forsaking All Others (1934), I Live My Life (1935), The Gorgeous Hussy (1936), Love on the Run (1936) and her last hit The Last of Mrs. Cheyney (1937). Toward the end of the decade, her star power diminished ever so slightly and Crawford lobbied for her release from MGM before quickly signing to Warner Bros as a contract star in 1943. This proved to be a wise – though short lived – decision, as her first film with Warner Bros., Hollywood Canteen, was a lucrative release, and her next picture, Mildred Pierce, saw her win her first and only Oscar Award.
After working for over twenty years, Ms. Crawford’s reputation as a Hollywood star was fading out. Her string of moderately well received movies include Humoresque (1946), Flamingo Road (1949), The Damned Don’t Cry (1950) and This Woman is Dangerous (1952), but the following years were not nearly as pleasant. Follow up films Johnny Guitar, Autumn Leaves, The Story of Esther and The Best of Everything were released only overseas, failed to make back their production budget, or saw Crawford in a much smaller billing. Being seen as past her prime and as box office poison, the Mega Star was officially dead. This is when the actress, who also managed to add a Golden Globe to her awards shelf, turned her sights to horror films, or rather – these were the only roles offered to her.
It started with playing the role of of Myra Hudson in 1952’s Sudden Fear, and this is perhaps what opened Joan’s mind to the possibility of starring in horror films in the first place. She was offered the role of Blanche Hudson opposite Bette Davis in Whatever Happened to Baby Jane in 1962 and the rest is, quite literally, a tale for the history books. The women had a long standing feud that started well before the production of the black-and-white horror flick, due to disagreements over politics, fighting over men and eyeing each other as competition for the next big part for an older woman. Surprisingly to the studio heads at Warner Bros., Whatever Happened to Baby Jane was a tremendous benefit and made $4,000,000 in America and $5,000,000 in foreign territories against a budget of just $1,000,000.
Through the fallout and victory of Whatever Happened to Baby Jane, a new term was coined which described older women going crazy – psycho-biddy. Desperate for a paycheck and eager to cash in on another brush with movie fanaticism, Joan was seen co-starring in Strait-Jacket (1964) as the axe wielding lunatic Lucy Harbin. Strait-Jacket was a passable hit, grossing well over $2,000,000 at the box office. While I Saw What You Did, which was just a supporting role for the legendary actress, failed to make a profit in ticket sales in 1965, Joan was able to bounce back in the horror genre by starring in 1967’s modest hit, Berserk. The former Pepsi Cola spokeswoman saw a cameo appearance in Journey to Midnight in 1968 before starring in Trog (1970) as Doctor Brockton. A horror film would be, coincidentally, her last film role before her death on May 10, 1977.
So, I’ll poise the question. Can we consider Joan Crawford a scream queen? It’s a title that comes with higher power and acclaim, but there’s two very different kinds of scream queens. First, you have a talented actress who devotes most of her career to the horror and science fiction genres. This can be seen with women like Barbara Steele, Linnea Quigley, Heather Langenkamp, Debbie Rochon and Tiffany Shepis. Then, you have a talented actress who hasn’t performed in a ton of horror films, but their contributions were groundbreaking or were featured in cult classics and massive money makers. This can be seen with women like Janet Leigh, Fay Way, Marilyn Burns, Adrienne King and Jennifer Love Hewitt. A scream queen is a two sided coin and in this case I feel as if Joan Crawford falls on the side that lends itself to contributions over quantity.
Not only was she a prevalent force in eight horror films at the dawn of the genre as we know it today, but her inclusion in Whatever Happened to Baby Jane is clearly a classic. It’s of such interest over 50 years later that it spawned its own FX series, which sees its finale on April 23. All but one of her horror films were hits of a certain caliber or at least made their money back. And Joan pioneered her own catch phrase and movie subgenre, psycho-biddy. Her contributions to Hollywood elite pictures obviously over-shines her contributions to scary movies, but they can still be felt on syndication channels on television networks across the country. In my opinion, Joan Crawford can be considered a scream queen, though it’s best that we recognize her as one of the first high glam, high class women to carry the term. I’d love to hear your thoughts at the bottom of this post or on Facebook/Twitter, so please consider dropping your comments!
