# Question about the Joan Crawford/Bette Davis feud **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 8, 2003, 2:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-the-joan-crawford-bette-davis-feud/173816 "2003-05-08T02:30:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![moi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c2a13f/32.png) [@moi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/moi)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2003, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-the-joan-crawford-bette-davis-feud/173816/21 "2003-05-12T16:11:13Z")
Thanks, **Eve**! I was pretty much waiting with bated breathe for you to give me The Straight Dope; I’ve also gone back and searched those previous threads. Apologies for not thinking of that first! ---
**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 12, 2003, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-the-joan-crawford-bette-davis-feud/173816/22 "2003-05-12T17:03:04Z")
So long as we’re on the topic, can someone tell me if Bette really said (during the filming of the beach scene in _Baby Jane_) “Good God, Joan, you’re going to kill me with those tits”? The story goes, Joan was unhappy about the way her chest flattened out when she lay on her back on the beach. So she used some padding – rather a lot of padding, apparently. Bette had to hug her in the scene, prompting the line above. I _so_ want that to be true. Such things almost never are, though. ---
**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 12, 2003, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-the-joan-crawford-bette-davis-feud/173816/23 "2003-05-12T19:20:07Z")
**masonite** , I think it was in _Divine Feud_ that Davis was quoted as saying that falling across those falsies was like falling on two footballs. As far as direct quotes, I don’t know. There are quite a few things that supposedly came out of Bette’s mouth that sound “too good to be true”. Then again, we are talking about Bette Davis, so none of it is entirely impossible. So far I’ve finished _Divine Feud_ and _Conversations with Joan_. I’m about halfway through _I’d Love to Kiss You_. I _have_ to find _Mother Goddam_…from _ILTKY_, it sounds like the Davis commentary sections are priceless. ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2003, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-the-joan-crawford-bette-davis-feud/173816/24 "2003-05-12T19:51:25Z")
Oh, you _must_ find Joan Crawford’s _My Way of Life_, an unintentionally hilarious etiquette and memoir book from the early '70s. Some of it is a scream, but Joannie actually gives some very good advice: for instance, once every half-dozen years or so, have a friend follow you around and take candids of you in your regular clothes, hairstyle and makeup. You don’t really “see” yourself in the mirror, and don’t realize that look from ten years ago looks awful on you now. ---
**Author:** ![j.c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/73ab20/32.png) [@j.c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/j.c)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2003, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-the-joan-crawford-bette-davis-feud/173816/25 "2003-05-12T20:38:23Z")
How dedicated are you? The Warner Bros. archives are chock full o’ memos from Davis’ career. Costumers and set dresser notes are the most telling. She didn’t bathe, she burned cigarette holes in her costumes and set furniture, she mistreated all the little people, etc. etc. Great fun. I forget which university has the dope, but they are not in California. (A friend of mine and his partner made the trek.) Additionally, as of ten years ago diaries and letter collections from Davis’ school chums were available in some nowhere library in Massachusetts. By all accounts, all the girls and teachers hated her and all the boys had a somewhat different opinion. She seems to been both the town pump and the girl you wanted for a May Day dance date. One of my aunties had a huge collection of Photoplay and Screen magazines. (Where are they now? Think of the fortune they’d bring on eBay!) The interviews with Bette Davis always had a comment or two about how she didn’t like girls who showed their chests to get an audition, how much she wasn’t the type of girl to show her chest to a director, etc. Gave the impression that, at the time, the public had the idea she was very much that kind of girl. (Presumably, the “interviews” were prepared by studio P.R.) In my humble, AMC-watching opinion, Bette Davis worked hard to build her reputation as a wit in order to compete with Tallulah Bankhead. In addition to being one of the wildest, wittiest women in America, Bankhead “created” the characters that made Davis such a respected star. It’s no secret that Davis’ onscreen version of, for instance, Regina Giddens in “The Little Foxes” was based on Bankhead’s stage performances. Isn’t it sad that there isn’t anything interesting about Meg Ryan? ---
**Author:** ![rocking\_chair](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rocking_chair/32/2918_2.png) [@rocking\_chair](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rocking_chair)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2003, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-the-joan-crawford-bette-davis-feud/173816/26 "2003-05-12T23:25:43Z")
may i hijack to ask about another joan? what is the joan-olivia feud about? it must be something spectacular if 2 sisters can’t even be in the same state of the union. ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2003, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-the-joan-crawford-bette-davis-feud/173816/27 "2003-05-12T23:41:32Z")
Olivia de Havilland is an acquaintance of mine, but I wouldn’t dream of asking her–neither sister will talk about it. But you really have to admire a feud that goes on for sixty years. ---
**Author:** ![rocking\_chair](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rocking_chair/32/2918_2.png) [@rocking\_chair](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rocking_chair)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2003, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-the-joan-crawford-bette-davis-feud/173816/28 "2003-05-13T00:08:17Z")
and the fact that both remain “mum” about it. it seems most chalk it up to sibling rivalry, i figure it has to be more than that. something earthshattering, perhaps body burying. hatfields and mccoys in the family tree? ---
**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 13, 2003, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-the-joan-crawford-bette-davis-feud/173816/29 "2003-05-13T02:31:07Z")
They don’t make stars like they used to. What do we have now in celebrity feuds? Fred Durst and Britney Spears. Eminem and Moby. Pfui. I need to start watching more films from the Golden Age… ---
**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 13, 2003, 4:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-the-joan-crawford-bette-davis-feud/173816/30 "2003-05-13T04:18:23Z")
“We had faces back then.” ---
**Author:** ![Rilchiam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/2bfe46/32.png) [@Rilchiam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rilchiam)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2003, 4:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-the-joan-crawford-bette-davis-feud/173816/31 "2003-05-13T04:35:56Z")
**jayjay** , if you want to read about some real ego-tripping and tantrum-throwing, I have some entertainment magazines from the early '90s which chronicle Kit Culkin’s push to get his kid(s) to the top, and his abuse of privlege once there. ---
**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 13, 2003, 4:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-the-joan-crawford-bette-davis-feud/173816/32 "2003-05-13T04:57:34Z")
I don’t know, **Rilchiam**. It may just be the additional distance of sixty years or so, but there’s a difference of _feel_ between the Old Hollywood feuds and star egos and the modern stuff like the Culkins. The Culkins are a freak show. Macauley grew into an adult that only a mother could look at and find attractive, the younger son is, again, more obscure than his brother (if that’s possible at this point), and the father was just a monstrous male Mama Rose, without the charm or the talent of Roz Russel (or Madam Merman, for that matter). Again, I’m not sure if it’s just the mists of time drawing the veil of mystery over the old-time real-life drama, but it all _feels_ different. ---
**Author:** ![Rilchiam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/2bfe46/32.png) [@Rilchiam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rilchiam)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2003, 6:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-the-joan-crawford-bette-davis-feud/173816/33 "2003-05-13T06:37:07Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by jayjay \* > \*\*Again, I’m not sure if it’s just the mists of time drawing the veil of mystery over the old-time real-life drama, but it all _feels_ different. \*\* Well, I’m sure that’s part of it. I do have an appreciation for old-school drama, but I also like reading about stuff that happened during my lifetime, partly because it **did** happen during my lifetime. I vas dere, Sharlie. ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2003, 12:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-the-joan-crawford-bette-davis-feud/173816/34 "2003-05-13T12:49:36Z")
Of course, _nothing_ beats the [William Charles Macready/Edwin Forrest](http://www.mcny.org/Exhibitions/astorriot/astorriot.htm) feud! ---
**Author:** ![Kalhoun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3bc359/32.png) [@Kalhoun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kalhoun)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2003, 1:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-the-joan-crawford-bette-davis-feud/173816/35 "2003-05-13T13:46:47Z")
Heh. Boys will be boys! ---
**Author:** ![Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otto)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2003, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-the-joan-crawford-bette-davis-feud/173816/36 "2003-05-13T14:24:06Z")
Eve > [@](#): > > Joan did a lot of admirable things she never got credit for: nursed her dying ex, Franchot Tone, through his final illness I caught the last few minutes of a Joan bio on the Biography Channel last week and this was mentioned and I was gobsmacked. I had never heard of this prior to that despite all of the biographies I’ve read of her and that mention her. jayjay > [@](#): > > So far I’ve finished Divine Feud and Conversations with Joan. I’m about halfway through I’d Love to Kiss You. I have to find Mother Goddam…from ILTKY, it sounds like the Davis commentary sections are priceless. Bette wrote two books (largely) on her own. _The Lonely Life_ (the title of which everyone misinterprets) and _This ‘n’ That_. Both worth reading IMHO. Eve again > [@](#): > > Olivia de Havilland is an acquaintance of mine, but I wouldn’t dream of asking her–neither sister will talk about it. I thought one half of that equation beyond talking about the feud or anything else with anyone other than John Edward. There’s a mention in _The Divine Feud_ about what happens When Feuds Collide. While Olivia and Bette were doing publicity for _Hush Hush Sweet Charlotte_, the story goes, Bette made some remark and Olivia responded with “Bette dear, how would you like to be doing this with Joan Crawford?” to which Bette replied “How would you like to be doing it with Joan Fontaine?” j.c. > [@](#): > > In my humble, AMC-watching opinion, Bette Davis worked hard to build her reputation as a wit in order to compete with Tallulah Bankhead. In addition to being one of the wildest, wittiest women in America, Bankhead “created” the characters that made Davis such a respected star. It’s no secret that Davis’ onscreen version of, for instance, Regina Giddens in “The Little Foxes” was based on Bankhead’s stage performances. Seeing as how Davis appeared in well over 100 movies, television roles and stage roles, of which exactly three were based on roles Bankhead originated, I don’t think that’s a reasonable opinion. Supposedly Bankhead confronted Davis at a party, saying something about how Davis stole all the roles Bankhead made famous on stage, to which Davis replied “You’re right, Miss Bankhead.” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-the-joan-crawford-bette-davis-feud/173816.md?page=1)