Film historian Jeanine Basinger offers some unique insights into Crawford’s feelings about other actresses

NEED TO KNOW

• Joan Crawford’s rivalries in Hollywood are well documented, with much attention paid to her rivalry with Bette Davis
• In the introduction to Jungle Red! The Making of MGM’s The Women, friend and film historian Jeanine Basinger dismisses the notion that Davis was Crawford’s most significant adversary, pointing instead to Norma Shearer
• Basinger and author Illeana Douglas explore the complex dynamic between Crawford and Shearer in the deep-dive on the film

Jeanine Basinger’s unique friendship with Joan Crawford has left her with particular insights about the star’s life behind the scenes.

Basinger writes the introduction for Illeana Douglas’s book, Jungle Red! The Making of MGM’s The Women, where she talks about Crawford’s role in the 1939 comedy. The film historian touches on Crawford’s feud with Norma Shearer on the set and compares it to one of Crawford’s most well-known rivalries.

“I count myself fortunate to have had Joan Crawford for a friend. I knew from our conversations that the only Hollywood rival she really, really disliked was Norma Shearer. Bette Davis was never on her hit list,” Basinger writes.

“She and Davis were at different studios in the 1930s, and the idea we hear today—that Crawford feared Davis was going to steal Franchot Tone away from her—can exist only in the minds of people who did not know Joan Crawford. Nobody could steal her man, and for that matter, no one who knew Bette Davis would ever imagine that she would actually want Franchot Tone,” the historian noted.

Basinger explained that Crawford was resentful of Shearer’s position as the studio head’s wife, as the actress was married to Irving Thalberg, cofounder and head of production at MGM.

“Crawford carried MGM more than any female star on the roster, but Shearer got first pick of the best roles because her husband looked out for her interests,” Basinger wrote. “Crawford had to fight for anything good, and ‘Crystal’ was no exception. Louis B. Mayer felt the part was too small for her and too unsympathetic for her fans to accept, but Crawford didn’t mind playing the bitch … Crawford didn’t feel the need to be loved on-screen, only off.”

In the end, Shearer played Mary Haines, while Crawford played Crystal Allen. Of the casting, Basinger wrote, “The characters of Crystal and Mary suit Crawford and Shearer, and play to their individual strengths. The former never kids herself, and the latter knows she’s got to wise up. The former learns she could never really live happily as a wife like Mary, and the latter learns she has to embrace her inner Crystal and fight for what she wants.”

“Both actresses know how to showcase their own brand of toughness, vulnerability, and drive, and both deliver for The Women at a very high level,” she concluded.

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In a 2014 interview with Wesleyan, where Basinger serves as the Corwin-Fuller Professor of Film Studies, founder and curator of the Wesleyan Cinema Archives and Chair of the Film Studies Department, she shared how her friendship with Crawford came to be. Basinger wrote to The New York Times to defend Crawford against a piece she felt unfairly portrayed her, leading to the outlet allowing her to run a rebuttal. That caught the eye of Crawford, who called Basinger to personally thank her.

According to Basinger, the actress said, “You, my dear, are a very great lady, and I am grateful to you beyond more than I can express for your kindness in presenting me as you see me, as a real person.”

The professor invited Crawford to speak with the students, an offer she surprisingly accepted. Crawford’s visit to Wesleyan was her only-ever campus appearance.

“We became good friends, talked on the phone a lot,” Basinger shared. “I would go in and visit her in New York. I still have the recipe she gave me for Jerusalem artichokes. Not that I ever cook.”

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