# Mommie Dearest: Was Joan Crawford really a whacko? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 14, 2002, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mommie-dearest-was-joan-crawford-really-a-whacko/109053 "2002-05-14T18:31:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2002, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mommie-dearest-was-joan-crawford-really-a-whacko/109053/21 "2002-05-15T01:01:25Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Eve \* > \*\*Otto—All the press stories at the time it happened had her found in bed. Only after the Kenneth Anger book came out did the “found in bathroom” stories get started. > > Sidle—I dunno. I’ve seen the photos, and it doesn’t look like Joan. An interviewer asked her straight-out in the early 1970s, and she laughed and said, “I wouldn’t have been that stupid.” She had an MGM contract when she arrived in Los Angeles in 1925, so there wouldn’t have been a financial need to do stag films. \*\* What is a “stag” film? 😕 I remember reading part of the book and then tossing it aside in disgust. Supposedly, the kids had to give away all their Christmas presents to charity, or something like that. Whatever… ---
**Author:** ![Arnold\_Winkelried](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Arnold\_Winkelried](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arnold_Winkelried)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2002, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mommie-dearest-was-joan-crawford-really-a-whacko/109053/22 "2002-05-15T01:27:32Z")
[Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate® Dictionary](http://www.m-w.com) Main Entry: **[sup]3[/sup]stag** Function: _adjective_ Date: 1843 **1 a :** restricted to men \ **b :** intended or suitable for a gathering of men only; _especially_ : **[PORNOGRAPHIC](http://www.m-w.com/cgi-bin/dictionary?book=Dictionary&va=pornographic)** \<_stag_ movies\> **2 :** unaccompanied by someone of the opposite sex \<_stag_ women\> - **stag** _adverb_ ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2002, 2:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mommie-dearest-was-joan-crawford-really-a-whacko/109053/23 "2002-05-15T02:20:51Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Arnold Winkelried \* > \*\*in re Lupe Velez - I heard the “drowning in the toilet” version on Frazier. So there! \*\* Woo hoo! Reinforcements! ---
**Author:** ![Linus\_Van\_Pelt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ebca7d/32.png) [@Linus\_Van\_Pelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Linus_Van_Pelt)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2002, 5:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mommie-dearest-was-joan-crawford-really-a-whacko/109053/24 "2002-05-15T05:13:07Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Ukulele Ike \* > \*\* > > ## quote: > > ## Originally posted by Arnold Winkelried in re Lupe Velez - I heard the “drowning in the toilet” version on Frazier. So there! > > Woo hoo! Reinforcements! \*\* It’s also in the IMDB. _They_ couldn’t make any mistakes like that, could they? 😉 ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2002, 6:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mommie-dearest-was-joan-crawford-really-a-whacko/109053/25 "2002-05-15T06:22:33Z")
This kind of thread is one of the reasons I so love the SDMB. You have folks like **Eve** , who I adore because there’s absolutely nothing that’s ever happened in Hollywood that she doesn’t know about and is willing to educate us with. jayjay (waiting for the next Fatty Arbuckle thread) ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2002, 1:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mommie-dearest-was-joan-crawford-really-a-whacko/109053/26 "2002-05-15T13:21:59Z")
Did he use a Champagne bottle, or Coca-Cola? (waits for **Eve** ’s muffled scream) – Ukulele Ike, who feels that these classic entertainers, who devoted their lives to our pleasure and enjoyment, would appreciate that, even in death, they are continuing to provide amusement to thousands through a variety of supremely goofy urban legends ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2002, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mommie-dearest-was-joan-crawford-really-a-whacko/109053/27 "2002-05-15T14:56:04Z")
The IMDb has the Lupe Velez terlet story?! Oy. “Information Superhighway,” my eye. “(waits for Eve’s muffled scream)” —“Urrrphhpgh!” How was TGAT? ---
**Author:** ![Sir\_Rhosis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d9b06d/32.png) [@Sir\_Rhosis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sir_Rhosis)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2002, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mommie-dearest-was-joan-crawford-really-a-whacko/109053/28 "2002-05-15T22:09:47Z")
Totally prurient and irrelevant tangent. Is it true that when he and Lupe were married the make-up people had to apply copious amounts to Johnny Weissmuller’s clawed back and (new word I just made up) hickeyfied neck? Come to think of it, that may have been in Anger’s book which I read years ago. Is it a totally discredited tome? Sir Rhosis ---
**Author:** ![Briny\_Deep](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/briny_deep/32/17188_2.png) [@Briny\_Deep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Briny_Deep)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2002, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mommie-dearest-was-joan-crawford-really-a-whacko/109053/29 "2002-05-16T00:16:36Z")
**Guin** : that was my reaction too. The most memorable illustration of the sheer _pettiness_ of that book, to me, was how she wasn’t allowed into the formal dining room, she had to eat her meals in the _breakfast nook_, the poor thing… ---
**Author:** ![Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otto)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2002, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mommie-dearest-was-joan-crawford-really-a-whacko/109053/30 "2002-05-17T00:02:34Z")
Arnold > [@](#): > > So why did Joan Crawford cut her daughter out of her will? “For reasons which are well known to her.” Eve > [@](#): > > All the press stories at the time it happened had her found in bed. Oh come now, surely one so canny in the ways of the Hollywood press corps isn’t citing Hollywood press reports as authoritative? Sir Rhosis > [@](#): > > Is it true that when he and Lupe were married the make-up people had to apply copious amounts to Johnny Weissmuller’s clawed back and (new word I just made up) hickeyfied neck? Now this HAS to be true…I saw it on E!'s “Mysteries and Scandals,” and A.J. Benza would **never** be party to spreading misinformation about Hollywood legends. ---
**Author:** ![Jerrybear](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/8c91f0/32.png) [@Jerrybear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jerrybear)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2002, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mommie-dearest-was-joan-crawford-really-a-whacko/109053/31 "2002-05-17T00:22:34Z")
Crawford was a completely worthless waste of a human being. She should have been executed for the torture she put her children through, as should all other child abusing scum. I do not believe in capital punishment for anything other than child abuse and other domestic violence. ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2002, 1:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mommie-dearest-was-joan-crawford-really-a-whacko/109053/32 "2002-05-17T01:21:05Z")
Hey in my world, giving away all my presents to little orphans constitutes child abuse. 🙂 I remember seeing part of the movie, where Joan is telling Christina about giving away all the gifts, but there are two she wants to keep, so Joan relents. I just thought it was creepy, showing a kid all these great things and then taking them away for a power trip. Just sort of spiteful. Maybe it wasn’t that bad IRL, but whatever… ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2002, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mommie-dearest-was-joan-crawford-really-a-whacko/109053/33 "2002-05-20T14:03:27Z")
"Crawford was a completely worthless waste of a human being. She should have been executed for the torture she put her children through, as should all other child abusing scum. " —Ah. Christina will be so happy that at least ONE of her readers was gullible enough to believe all the discredited lies in her book, and ignore all the testimony to the contrary. ---
**Author:** ![plnnr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7ea924/32.png) [@plnnr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/plnnr)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2002, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mommie-dearest-was-joan-crawford-really-a-whacko/109053/34 "2002-05-20T15:14:02Z")
So, Lupe and Johnny Weismuller are in her bathroom and he’s telling her about how strong he is, champion swimmer, swings from trees, blah, blah, blah, and she tell him. “You think you’re so hot, I can do handstand on the rim of that toilet.” Well, Johnny, being no fool, makes her a bet. “Lup,” says Johnny, "I’ll bet you $100 that you can’t do one handstand on the rim of that toilet.: Lupe, ever the trooper, proceeded to press herself into a handstand over the open toilet, thereby allowing her skirt to fall down over her face and exposing her hoo-haa. Weismuller, aroused by this display of both female strength and body parts, reached out to grab Lupe’s ankles. Startled by this, Lupe’s hands slipped from the rim of the toilet and she plunged headfirst into the commode. Coroner’s ruling: Death by misadventure. I thought that was common knowledge. ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2002, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mommie-dearest-was-joan-crawford-really-a-whacko/109053/35 "2002-05-20T15:29:40Z")
Plnnr . . . If I weren’t already planning to kill Ukulele Ike’s wife and marry him, I’d kill your wife and marry YOU. ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2002, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mommie-dearest-was-joan-crawford-really-a-whacko/109053/36 "2002-05-20T15:33:17Z")
Hee hee hee…nicely done, **plnnr**. The cassette of the May 4, 1977, Garcia Band show is in the mail. ---
**Author:** ![plnnr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7ea924/32.png) [@plnnr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/plnnr)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2002, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mommie-dearest-was-joan-crawford-really-a-whacko/109053/37 "2002-05-20T16:00:09Z")
Now, as to whether Lionel Atwell was REALLY wearing ladies underwear when he died, and whether Clifton Webb had his mother’s mummified body in his basement… [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mommie-dearest-was-joan-crawford-really-a-whacko/109053.md?page=1)