# A Joan Crawford estate sale (let the wire hanger jokes commence) **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 18, 2011, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-joan-crawford-estate-sale-let-the-wire-hanger-jokes-commence/603356 "2011-11-18T16:39:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2011, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-joan-crawford-estate-sale-let-the-wire-hanger-jokes-commence/603356/41 "2011-11-21T16:01:27Z")
> [@Pixiesnix](#): > > If you don’t mind me asking, how do you feel about Bette Davis? I always found the Joan/Bette feud to be fascinating. Well, the feud was mostly a publicity ploy. They didn’t \*like \*each other–though they respected each other–but were both too professional to hold up filming with a fight. Though Bette Davis was the first to admit she was a raging bitch, and she admitted it cheerfully quite often. As actresses, I take the stance that Crawford has aged better than Davis. Look at her films: she often got terrible, terrible scripts, but she \*never \*gave a bad performance. And some of her best (_Paid, Rain, Possessed, Grand Hotel, The Women, A Woman’s Face, Mildred Pierce, Humoresque_, the second _Possessed, Sudden Fear, The Best of Everything_) hold up against anyone. Even in camp trash like \*Queen Bee, Baby Jane \*and _Trog_, she is doing damn good work. Now, Bette Davis could also, of course, do amazing work: _Jezebel, Dark Victory, Now Voyager, The Letter, The Little Foxes, All About Eve, The Whales of August_. But she could also go around the bend and give some real “Bette Davis drag queen” howlers: _Of Human Bondage, Beyond the Forest, Sweet Charlotte, The Anniversary, Bunny O’Hare_. Katharine Hepburn, too, did some real bad imitations of herself. Crawford, though, is really under-rated as an actress: watch her in _Humoresque_, she is breath-taking. ---
**Author:** ![Pixiesnix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/898d66/32.png) [@Pixiesnix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pixiesnix)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2011, 2:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-joan-crawford-estate-sale-let-the-wire-hanger-jokes-commence/603356/42 "2011-11-22T02:38:51Z")
Ah, thanks for the reply, I’ll check those movies out. I’m more of a Bette Davis fan, though I also love Joan’s work, particularly in _Grand Hotel_ and _The Women_. I saw (on TCM, I think) that Joan and Norma Shearer had a rivalry. I know Joan didn’t like the fact that Norma got first pick of scripts because of her marriage to Irving Thalberg. I seem to remember hearing that the tension during the dressing room scene in _The Women_ was particularly thick. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2011, 3:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-joan-crawford-estate-sale-let-the-wire-hanger-jokes-commence/603356/43 "2011-11-22T03:21:12Z")
Eve, Did you ask Irene Mayer Selznick anything about Joan during your “friendly chat” with her? ---
**Author:** ![Yllaria](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yllaria/32/3452_2.png) [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2011, 5:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-joan-crawford-estate-sale-let-the-wire-hanger-jokes-commence/603356/44 "2011-11-22T05:09:41Z")
> [@Eve](#): > > . . . I would love to write a \*balanced \*book about her, but every year some other damn book comes out and further kills the market, so looks like it’s not gonna happen. Do you have any interest in, perhaps, a blog? Then every book would be an opportunity for a review or two. (Yes, I know that blogs are very different critters from books, and they are often not profitable at all. I do not have high hopes.) I would definitely follow any blog you wrote, even if it was not updated often. > [@Eve](#): > > If it was properly made in the first place and kept in cold storage, pretty much indefinitely. I have a white fox stole from the early '60s that’s still in perfect condition. Ah. My grandmother once had a leopard skin pillbox hat that she “kept carefully.” My one hint regarding furs is that the crisper in your refrigerator is not an acceptable form of cold storage. Although, since she was keeping it rather than ever wearing it, it’s possible that she never knew. ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2011, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-joan-crawford-estate-sale-let-the-wire-hanger-jokes-commence/603356/45 "2011-11-22T14:27:19Z")
> [@Yllaria](#): > > Do you have any interest in, perhaps, a blog? Nah, there are way too many blogs as it is, now. > [@Yllaria](#): > > My one hint regarding furs is that the crisper in your refrigerator is not an acceptable form of cold storage. But if you accidentally wear a frozen pork chop on your head, you can tell everyone it’s a Schiaparelli! ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2011, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-joan-crawford-estate-sale-let-the-wire-hanger-jokes-commence/603356/46 "2011-11-22T14:34:52Z")
> [@Sampiro](#): > > Did you ask Irene Mayer Selznick anything about Joan during your “friendly chat” with her? No, I was specifically quizzing her about Jean Harlow and Paul Bern. ---
**Author:** ![Zebra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c0e974/32.png) [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2011, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-joan-crawford-estate-sale-let-the-wire-hanger-jokes-commence/603356/47 "2011-11-24T01:46:58Z")
Eve, drop me an email if you’re looking for work. Man those paintings are hideous. I think I gave away one of those a few years ago in the White Elephant Swap. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2011, 7:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-joan-crawford-estate-sale-let-the-wire-hanger-jokes-commence/603356/48 "2011-11-25T07:42:08Z")
Pardon a hijack, but… a message for Eve: you should really see HUGO. It has probably more clips from classic silent films than any film I’ve ever seen on the big screen. Many are George Melies’ of course, but also _Intolerance_, Harold Lloyd’s clock scene, a couple of Chaplin moments, etc… ---
**Author:** ![Sigmagirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c89c15/32.png) [@Sigmagirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sigmagirl)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2011, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-joan-crawford-estate-sale-let-the-wire-hanger-jokes-commence/603356/49 "2011-11-25T16:19:59Z")
Only one item relating to Doug Fairbanks, and they’re playing _backgammon_. Yes, he’s in his bathing suit, but I’ve seen it before and a better picture. ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2011, 12:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-joan-crawford-estate-sale-let-the-wire-hanger-jokes-commence/603356/50 "2011-11-27T00:11:48Z")
> [@Sampiro](#): > > Pardon a hijack, but… a message for Eve: you should really see HUGO. I just saw \*The Artist \*tonight, and \*Hugo \*is next on my list! ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2011, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-joan-crawford-estate-sale-let-the-wire-hanger-jokes-commence/603356/51 "2011-12-14T18:06:31Z")
The auction brought $135,000, about 5-6 times more than the estimates. I’m surprised how little the furs sold for, though; some were probably that much when Joan bought them, especially if you adjust for inflation. [The run down](http://www.doylenewyork.com/content/more.asp?id=177). ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2011, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-joan-crawford-estate-sale-let-the-wire-hanger-jokes-commence/603356/52 "2011-12-14T20:31:45Z")
Oh, I forgot–I went, and was floating on a cloud of Joanitude all week. I saw the Pepsi brooch and gasped, and the nice lady asked, “Would you like to hold it?” I said–in my best gracious Joan Crawford voice–“that would be \*awfully \*kind of you.” I also got to look through her pearl-studded opera glasses! The sable coat and the pale-blue cardigan with seed-pearl embroidery were . . . just _gorgeous_. I bought the catalog and people were reading it over my shoulder on the subway. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-joan-crawford-estate-sale-let-the-wire-hanger-jokes-commence/603356.md?page=2)