How Much Money Did Mommy Dearest Make

1978 memoir and betrayal by Christina Crawford

Mommie Dearest
Offset image
Author	Christina Crawford
Country	United States
Language	English
Genre	Memoir
Publisher	William Morrow & Co.
Publication date	Oct two, 1978
Media type	Print (hardcover)
Pages	286 pp
ISBN	0-688-03386-5
OCLC	4114625
Dewey Decimal	791.43/028/0924 B
LC Class	PN2287.C67C7

Mommie Beloved is a memoir and exposé written by Christina Crawford, the adopted daughter of actress Joan Crawford. Published in 1978, it attracted much controversy for its portrayal of Joan Crawford as an unbalanced and alcoholic female parent, with some family friends denouncing information technology as fiction and others corroborating it. It was turned into a 1981 film of the aforementioned name starring Faye Dunaway.

Upon the decease of their mother in 1977, both Christina and her brother Christopher were disinherited.

Synopsis [edit]

In the book, Christina contends that Joan, whom she describes as not wishing to be involved in parenting her, was an alcoholic who hit her regularly and placed more than importance on her career than her family life.

Christina suggests that Joan may have adopted children as a publicity stunt to sustain her career. She implies Joan had a long list of affairs with men, whom Christina was required to call "Uncle" and on some occasions "Gremlin", and that Joan besides had many affairs with women. Christina writes that as she grew older and more difficult to control, Joan found excuses to remove Christina from the home by sending her to diverse boarding schools and strict religious academies, oftentimes specifying in her instructions that Christina must exist allowed no contact with the outside world. Often, the threat of boarding schoolhouse or the actual sending of Christina to these schools was used to punish Christina for defying her mother or fighting back confronting her abusive behavior.

Christina recounts several events in which Joan's behavior was unbalanced, and at least one meet with her mother where Joan attempted to strangle her. In another encounter, Joan reportedly discovered Christina'south apparel hanging in a cupboard on wire hangers, which Joan detested, instead of crochet hangers, and reprimanded her harshly. In an incident in which Christina refused to eat very rare beef, Joan ordered the meat returned to the fridge and refused to allow Christina any other food for several days until she finished the repast; Christina managed to hold out until her mother gave upwards and allowed her regular meals once more. Joan allegedly tending of her children'due south possessions to punish them for small transgressions. Christina also wrote that Joan strapped Christina's younger adopted brother, Christopher, to his bed each night until he was 12, ostensibly to control his sleepwalking.

Christina reported that Joan's controlling and erratic behavior continued throughout Christina'due south adulthood. She asserts that Joan was jealous of her daughter'southward burgeoning acting career, to the point of taking over Christina'southward role in the soap opera The Secret Storm while Christina was in the hospital recovering from an operation to remove an ovarian cyst. (Christina's character was 28 years quondam; Joan was then in her 60s.) She also used money to control the adult Christina'southward behavior by refusing to give her money for bones living expenses, even while taking her out for expensive meals and paying for taxis.

The book culminates with Christina learning that she and her brother Christopher were being disinherited upon the death of their mother in 1977, fifty-fifty though Christina believed that both she and her blood brother had reconciled with their female parent prior to her death.

Reactions [edit]

The volume's publication in 1978 created an enormous amount of attention.

Some of Crawford'southward friends disputed the version of events presented in Mommie Dearest. Amidst them were Van Johnson, Cesar Romero, Bob Hope, Barbara Stanwyck, Sydney Guilaroff, Ann Blyth, Gary Gray, and peculiarly Myrna Loy,^[1] Crawford'due south friend since 1925. While acknowledging that Crawford was highly aggressive for much of her life, critics have suggested that Christina embellished her story. Douglas Fairbanks Jr., Crawford'southward start husband, stated, "The Joan Crawford that I've heard about in Mommie Dearest is non the Joan Crawford I knew dorsum then." The two younger Crawford children, Cindy and Cathy, built-in in 1947 and also adopted past Crawford, have stated categorically many times that they did non witness or experience any of the events that were described in the book. Christopher Crawford stated "I honestly to this twenty-four hour period practise non believe that she ever cared for me."^[2]

Bette Davis, longtime rival of Crawford's, denounced the volume, stating "I was non Miss Crawford'south biggest fan, but, wisecracks to the reverse, I did and yet do respect her talent. What she did not deserve was that detestable volume written past her daughter. I've forgotten her name. Horrible."^[3] ^[four] Ironically, Davis'south daughter later wrote a heavily criticized book alleging an abusive upbringing with Davis.

Liz Smith, writing in the Baltimore Sun, said, "I was inclined to believe Joan was misguided in her attempts to 'mold' her children—and was vain and cocky-absorbed like about great stars—but the stories of beatings and near-madness were over the height."^[5] Crawford's secretary for nearly fifty years, Betty Barker, likewise stated that while Joan was strict, Christina and Christopher were never abused.^[half-dozen]

Others such as Helen Hayes,^[7] James MacArthur,^[8] and June Allyson^[9] stated they saw questionable behaviour from Crawford, but not outright corruption.

On July xx, 1998, Cathy Crawford LaLonde filed a lawsuit confronting her sister Christina Crawford for defamation of grapheme. LaLonde stated in her lawsuit that during the 20th ceremony book bout of Mommie Dearest, Christina publicly claimed to interviewers that LaLonde and her twin sister, Cynthia, were non biological sisters, and that their adoption was never legal. Lalonde stated neither merits by Christina was true, and fastened copies of the twin girls' birth certificates and adoption documentation to the lawsuit.^[ten] The lawsuit was later settled out of courtroom for $5,000 plus courtroom costs.^[11]

Epilogue [edit]

In 1981, the book was adapted as a pic, starring Faye Dunaway. Christina gave negative feedback about the movie.

The last pages of Christina's book suggest that she was non about to let her mother have the "final word" by omitting her daughter from her will. Biographer Fred Laurence Guiles later reported that Christina began writing her book before Crawford'due south death and have suggested that Joan'south knowledge of its contents may have been a factor in Joan cutting her daughter from her will.^[12]

Christina after released a "20th Ceremony Edition", which included 100 pages of new material and omitted about 50 pages of original material. The second edition names certain individuals not named in the original book and focuses more than on Christina'south relationship with her mother from her loftier school graduation until the 1970s. It also reveals what became of her brother and describes several incidents involving him.

Released by a smaller publishing visitor, the second edition included some anarchistic promotional methods. This included Christina actualization at presentations of the "Mommie Love" film (based on the start edition of her book) where Christina lectured about the new edition of her volume. Christina also appeared at readings with drag entertainer Lypsinka, who has fabricated numerous appearances as Joan Crawford during phase acts.^[thirteen]

In 2017 Crawford worked with lyricist and composer David Nehls on a stage musical adaptation of Mommie Dearest, which was produced by Out of the Box Theatrics in New York City.^[fourteen]

References in other media [edit]

Saturday Nighttime Live featured a sketch parodying "Mommie Beloved" on the ninth episode of its fourth season, airing on December sixteen, 1978.^[fifteen] Jane Curtin portrayed Joan Crawford as mercurial, ill-tempered, and micromanaging. Gilda Radner played an exaggerated version of young Christina as mute and possibly mentally handicapped, puffing her cheeks out and crossing her eyes as she sauntered around the set.^[sixteen] This sketch, which took identify around Christmas, also featured Dan Aykroyd as Clark Gable, Bill Murray every bit Cary Grant, Laraine Newman every bit Katharine Hepburn, and invitee host Elliott Gould as fictional graphic symbol Archer Armstrong.^[17]

Victoria Beckham referenced the famous wire hangers scene in her music video for "Let Your Caput Go".

4 years after Joan Crawford'southward decease, Blueish Öyster Cult released the song "Joan Crawford" as part of their anthology Fire of Unknown Origin (1981). In the final third of the song, there is a vocalization calling "Christina" with the lines "Mother'southward home" and "Come up to mother". In the groundwork, the word "No" is repeated over and over. This is in reference to parts described in the volume.

The 1989 book Daddy's Boy: A Son's Shocking Business relationship of Life with a Famous Father, is a comedic account of Chris Elliott'southward childhood, with rebuttals from his male parent, comedian Bob Elliot. It is an obvious parody of Mommie Dearest.

Editions [edit]

Mommie Dearest, Christina Crawford, William Morrow & Co., 1978, ISBN 0-688-03386-5, hardcover
Mommie Dearest, Christina Crawford, Vii Springs Printing, 1997, ISBN 0-9663369-0-9, expanded edition. The volume's 20th Anniversary Edition restored approximately 100 pages previously cutting from the original 1978 press. Christina Crawford bought back the book rights.
Christina Crawford (2017). Mommie Honey. Open Road Media. ISBN978-one-5040-4908-5.

References [edit]

^ "....if always there was a girl who needed a good whack it was spoiled, horrible Christina. Believe me, at that place were many times I wanted to smack her myself." - Myrna Loy in: Joan Crawford: The Essential Biography, Lawrence J. Quirk, William Schoel, University Press of Kentucky, 2013, folio 261
^ Parker, Jerry (October ane, 1978). "Like Girl, Similar Son Chris". Newsday.
^ Chandler, Charlotte (February v, 2008). "Daughter Dearest". Vanity Fair.
^ Dibdin, Emma (Feb 22, 2017). "A Timeline of the Real Feud Between Bette Davis and Joan Crawford". Harper'south Boutique.
^ Smith, Liz (February six, 2008). "New book gives another view of Joan Crawford equally a 'Mommie'". baltimoresun.com. Baltimore Sun. Retrieved Jan 12, 2014.
^ Day, Elizabeth (May 25, 2008). "I'll never forgive Mommie: Joan Crawford's daughter gives start interview in 10 years". The Observer. Guardian. Retrieved January 12, 2014.
^ Hayes, Helen; Hatch, Katherine (1990). My Life in Three Acts. Harcourt, Brace Jovanovich. ISBN0-15-163695-8.
^ Redbook v. 165, Redbook Publishing, Inc. p. 25. OCLC 1763595.
^ Allyson, June; Leighton, Frances Spatz (1983). June Allyson. New York: Berkley. pp. 77–84. ISBN0-425-06251-1.
^ "The Morn Call". July 21, 1998. Retrieved Oct xvi, 2021.
^ "The Morning Phone call". Nov 25, 1999. Retrieved October sixteen, 2021.
^ Guiles, Fred Laurence. Joan Crawford: The Last Word, Carol Publishing Corporation (1995), ISBN 1-55972-269-X
^ "Lypsinka Love: John Epperson, every bit icon Lypsinka, recreates Hollywood legend, Joan Crawford, at Studio Theatre". Metroweekly.com. February 8, 2007. Retrieved Jan 12, 2014.
^ BWW News Desk. "Out of the Box Theatrics Presents Reading of MOMMIE Love". BroadwayWorld.com . Retrieved September 15, 2017.
^ "SNL Transcripts: Elliot Gould: 12/16/78: Mommie Dearest - SNL Transcripts This evening". October 8, 2018.
^ "My Sat Night Life... Elliott Gould... S04E09".
^ "Pin on Heralde8".