Is She, or Isn't She?

Fellow classic film lover and royal consort of one of my dearest friends, Trav SD wrote a scrumptious piece yesterday on J.C.'s birthday chronicling the layers of discovery he went through with La Crawford and her filmwork.

Personally, I have always bristled at the gorgon image of Crawford from Mommie Dearest (1981) and some of her later work. It is an extreme enough image to be laughed at and lampooned- but not to be believed. I think in most of Crawford's films- even the ones where she overplays the bitchery (like Queen Bee (1955)), she always finds at least a moment to dig beneath the vicious veneer and show the vulnerability of a woman who became hard not because she wanted to- but because it was how she survived.

I think Crawford was an actress who perpetually used the truth of her own experience to fuel her art. And I, for one, am grateful for that.

Happy Belated, Cranberry!