Mildred Pierce

Recently I had the chance to visit the Hollywood Museum again in the old Max Factor building. If you haven’t been, it’s well worth the trip, believe me. What fascinated me this time however was the memorabilia and make up tips relating to Joan Crawford. I’ve read quite a bit about Joan Crawford, so I was super excited when I found out that Karina Longworth of You Must Remember This podcast (who I interviewed here) was doing a series on the icon. I also just realized I asked her about doing a series on Joan Crawford!

One of my favorite Crawford films is definitely Mildred Pierce (1945).  The film was produced at a time that Crawford’s career wasn’t doing so hot.  It helped get her back on track and the storyline is great.  Here’s some fun trivia about the film courtesy of IMDB and a few photos.  Check it out and let me know what you think.  In the meantime, make sure you check out the You Must Remember This podcast and the interview I did with Karina Longworth!

–Michael Curtiz was initially less than keen at working with “has-been” star Joan Crawford as she had a reputation for being difficult. Curtiz was soon won over by Crawford’s dedication and hard work.

–Monty’s Beach House, used in the key opening scene and several others, was actually owned by the film’s director, Michael Curtiz. It was built in 1929 and stood at 26652 Latigo Shore Dr. in Malibu. It collapsed into the ocean after a week of heavy storms in January 1983.

–Joan Crawford was nominated and won the Academy Award for Best Actress for Mildred Pierce. She was not at the award ceremony because she was home in bed with pneumonia. However, in the special features of the dvd, her daughter Christina says that she faked her illness. Joan did not think she would win the Academy Award and she did not want to attend the ceremony to be humiliated. It was said that after she heard that she won the award for Best Actress, she jumped out of bed, did her make up and put on her best negligee to meet the press.

–After seeing the film, James M. Cain sent Joan Crawford a signed first edition of the original novel. The inscription read: “To Joan Crawford, who brought Mildred Pierce to life just as I had always hoped she would be, and who has my lifelong gratitude.”

–Shooting the early scenes, director Michael Curtiz accused Joan Crawford of needlessly glamorizing her working mother role. She insisted she was buying her character’s clothes off the rack, but didn’t mention that her own dressmaker was fitting the waists and padding out the shoulders.

–Joan Crawford had been under contract with Warner Brothers for two years before starring in this movie. To get the role, she had to submit to a screen test after years of flops at MGM – her previous studio – and turning down several scripts at Warner Brothers.

–William Faulkner contributed to the script, but his additions were not used. He wrote a scene that had Butterfly McQueen consoling Joan Crawford while singing a gospel song.

–Warner Bros. didn’t want to cast Ann Blyth as Veda because she was under contract to Universal, and it would necessitate a loan-out. Joan Crawford coached Blyth privately for her screen test and after viewing it, Warner’s began negotiations to “borrow” her for the film.

–According to Ann Blyth, Joan Crawford instructed her to actually slap her in the staircase scene.

–Shirley Temple was originally considered for the part of Veda Pierce.

–The film’s release was deliberately held back until September 1945 in the hopes that it would find a more sympathetic audience in a post-war atmosphere.

–Mirroring her own life, Joan Crawford had also supported herself as a waitress and saleswoman before she achieved success as an actress.

–The ad slogan “Don’t tell anyone what Mildred Pierce did” was parodied by a Los Angeles diner which had a sign that read: “For 65c we’ll not only serve you a sell blue plate – we’ll tell you what Mildred Pierce did.”

–Ann Blyth remembered Joan Crawford as “the kindest, most helpful human being I’ve ever worked with. We remained friends for many years after the film. I never knew that other Joan Crawford that people wrote about.”

–There were conflicts between Michael Curtiz and Joan Crawford. He wanted her canned, claiming she was altering the look and interpretation of the character to make her more glamorous. There were the inevitable arguments over shoulders, with Crawford tearfully (and not altogether truthfully) claiming her dowdy off-the-rack Sears dresses were unpadded. Curtiz started referring to her as “Phony Joanie” and “the rotten bitch,” laying into her mercilessly in front of cast and crew. Crawford wanted the director fired and replaced “with a human being.”

–Shot on stage 14 at Warner Bros. studios.

–The original novel had no murder in it. Veda ran off with Monty at the end. But, the success of Double Indemnity (1944), with its killing and flashbacks caused the screenplay to be altered.