The people you see underneath the marquee are the members of the Joan Crawford Strange Cargo internet ‘discussion’ group. I originally joined the group back in 2004 when we did How Whatever Happened to Baby Jane Happened. I joined all of the Joan and Bette internet chat groups I could to learn as much as I could from hardcore fans about the two stars. The Bette groups were dead in the water. No activity. The Joan groups were filled with extremely enthusiastic, even rabid fans. There are various schools of Joan Crawford fans. Sort of a like various interpretations of Christianity. Of course we all know Joan is bigger then Jesus Christ, but I had to make my point.

There are those who believe Joan was a loving and benevolent saint who never laid a hand on her children, never got drunk and made a fool of herself a little too often, and never got a little carried away in the ego department. I am not one of those people. On the flipside there are those who believe Joan is that woman you see Faye Dunaway portraying in ‘Mommie Dearest’. A raging whirling dervish that spent her life drinking all she could, screwing anything that moved and beating the hell out of her children with wire hangers. I am not one of those people either. I think that anybody that would believe either one of those portrayals is an idiot, but that’s just my opinion.

What I found on the Strange Cargo Joan Group were a group of people that believe Joan was a magnificently flawed human being that remained a star for almost 50 years. Granted some of those years involved cavemen and axes, but Joan was the original Madonna. Constantly reinventing herself. I also happen to think she was an extraordinary actress but my definition of actress may differ from yours. We love her grit, determination and her essence. No, I don;t like the fact that she was abusive towards her children- 2 of them , at least, but I wasn’t crazy about it when it happened to me either. I got over it and have a great relationship with my parents. Christina Crawford did not. If she did she wouldn’t have anything to talk about on television or for any paid speaking engagements. I’m not saying I don’t believe her, I’m just saying it’s been a few years she should consider moving on, and that Joan shouldn’t be remembered for this when she has this amazing body of work and did what few WOMEN of her time have done before. Where was I? Oh, the group… I eventually left all the Joan groups but one, Strange Cargo. I stayed because the people were funny, smart and they know their Joan without being unrealistic about who she could be as a person. That all said I was about nervous about meeting a few of them in San Francisco. I went alone, and these would be the folks I planned on hanging out with! What if they were smelly or were folks you didn’t want to be seen sitting with in a cosmopolitan movie house? I mean, I have my reputation to think about.

Filed under: My Way Of Life