Mommie Dearest

Mommie Dearest PDF Author:
Publisher: Paramount Pictures
ISBN: 9780792105725
Category : Biographical films
Languages : en
Pages : 129

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Book Description
The story of the tormented and glamorous star, Joan Crawford, struggling to survive in a cutthroat world, succumbing to a rage leading to alcoholism and child abuse.

Mommie Dearest

Mommie Dearest PDF Author:
Publisher: Paramount Pictures
ISBN: 9780792105725
Category : Biographical films
Languages : en
Pages : 129

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Book Description
The story of the tormented and glamorous star, Joan Crawford, struggling to survive in a cutthroat world, succumbing to a rage leading to alcoholism and child abuse.

With Love, Mommie Dearest

With Love, Mommie Dearest PDF Author: A. Ashley Hoff
Publisher: Chicago Review Press
ISBN: 1641608714
Category : Performing Arts
Languages : en
Pages : 361

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Book Description
When she died in 1977, Joan Crawford was remembered as an icon of Hollywood's Golden Age—until publication the following year of her daughter's memoir, Mommie Dearest. Christina Crawford's book was an immediate bestseller, combining the infrequently discussed topic of child abuse with the draw of Hollywood drama. But when Paramount Pictures released the film version, starring Faye Dunaway as Crawford, it was panned, and it remains one of the most legendary critical bombs in film history. The lavish, big-screen adaptation drew unexpected laughter for its over the top the scenes depicting life in the Crawford household. Rarely have such good intentions been met with such ridicule. Despite this, the movie was a commercial success and remains, four decades later, immensely popular as an unintentional camp classic. Based on new interviews with people connected to the book and the film—from cast and crew members to industry insiders—With Love, Mommie Dearest details the writing and selling of Christina's book and the aftermath of its publication, as well as the filming of the motion picture, whose backstage drama almost surpassed what was viewed on-screen in the film. Hollywood historian A. Ashley Hoff explores the phenomenon, the camp, and the very real social issues addressed by the book and film.

Book of Mutter

Book of Mutter PDF Author: Kate Zambreno
Publisher: MIT Press
ISBN: 1584351969
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 217

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Book Description
A fragmented, lyrical essay on memory, identity, mourning, and the mother. Writing is how I attempt to repair myself, stitching back former selves, sentences. When I am brave enough I am never brave enough I unravel the tapestry of my life, my childhood. —from Book of Mutter Composed over thirteen years, Kate Zambreno's Book of Mutter is a tender and disquieting meditation on the ability of writing, photography, and memory to embrace shadows while in the throes—and dead calm—of grief. Book of Mutter is both primal and sculpted, shaped by the author's searching, indexical impulse to inventory family apocrypha in the wake of her mother's death. The text spirals out into a fractured anatomy of melancholy that includes critical reflections on the likes of Roland Barthes, Louise Bourgeois, Henry Darger, Theresa Hak Kyung Cha, Peter Handke, and others. Zambreno has modeled the book's formless form on Bourgeois's Cells sculptures—at once channeling the volatility of autobiography, pain, and childhood, yet hemmed by a solemn sense of entering ritualistic or sacred space. Neither memoir, essay, nor poetry, Book of Mutter is an uncategorizable text that draws upon a repertoire of genres to write into and against silence. It is a haunted text, an accumulative archive of myth and memory that seeks its own undoing, driven by crossed desires to resurrect and exorcise the past. Zambreno weaves a complex web of associations, relics, and references, elevating the prosaic scrapbook into a strange and intimate postmortem/postmodern theater.

The Mommie Dearest Collection

The Mommie Dearest Collection PDF Author: Christina Crawford
Publisher: Open Road Media
ISBN: 1504049063
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 700

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Book Description
Together in one volume for the first time: The harrowing #1 New York Times bestseller with a new introduction, and its triumphant sequel. This volume includes two memoirs by Christina Crawford, recounting the abuse she endured as a child and her journey to recovery as an adult. Mommie Dearest: An unprecedented memoir of child abuse, Mommie Dearest also chipped away at the façade of Christina Crawford’s alcoholic abuser: her adoptive mother, movie star Joan Crawford. What transpired between a seemingly fortunate child of Hollywood and a controlling and desperate woman was an escalating nightmare and, for Christina, a fierce struggle for independence. This ebook features an exclusive new introduction by the author, plus rare photographs from her personal collection and a revealing one hundred pages of material not found in the original manuscript. “A horror story that goes beyond showbiz scandal-mongering . . . Delivers an unexpected charge.” —The New York Times “Probably the most chilling account of a mother-daughter relationship ever to be put on paper.” —Los Angeles Times Survivor: Mommie Dearest cast a spotlight on the unspoken horrors of family violence, but the years following its publication tested Christina Crawford’s resilience in unexpected ways: a backlash intended to shame her, a film adaptation that compounded the trauma, alcoholism, divorce, and a stroke that left her paralyzed. Staying true to her fighting spirit, the author made a remarkable comeback. Survivor is more than a memoir of triumph over tragedy. For anyone who has suffered challenging despair, it is a spiritual roadmap to recovery, finding peace, and celebrating a fulfilling life. “One closes this fine, moving read with great respect for Christina Crawford.” —Kirkus Reviews

My Way of Life

My Way of Life PDF Author: Joan Crawford
Publisher: Graymalkin Media
ISBN: 1631681095
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 138

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Book Description
From “Grand Hotel” to “Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?,” Joan Crawford played some of the finest parts Hollywood had to offer, establishing a reputation as the most spectacular diva on the silver screen. Even when the cameras quit rolling, her life never stopped being over-the-top. In My Way of Life, a cult classic since it was first published in the early 1970’s, Crawford shares her secrets. Part memoir, part self-help book, part guide to being fabulous, My Way of Life advises the reader on everything from throwing a small dinner party for eighteen to getting the most out of a marriage. Featuring tips on fashion, makeup, etiquette and everything in between, it is an irresistible look at a bygone era, when movie stars were pure class, and Crawford was at the top of the heap.

Joan Crawford

Joan Crawford PDF Author: David Bret
Publisher: Da Capo Press
ISBN: 0786732369
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 371

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Book Description
In the first biography of Joan Crawford to give the full, uncensored story, bestselling author David Bret tells Crawford's rags to riches climb, from working in a Kansas City laundry to collecting an Oscar for her defining role in Mildred Pierce, and on to her devotion to Christian Science and reliance on vodka. He discusses the star's legendary relationship with Clark Gable, her countless love affairs, her marriages -- three of them to gay men -- and her obsession with rough sex. Bret divulges what really happened that led her to disinherit two of her four children, earning her the nickname "Mommie Dearest," as well as how her loathed mother forced Crawford to work as a prostitute, appear in pornographic films, and sleep her way to the top. Bret analyzes Crawford's films, many of which were constructed purely as vehicles where actress and character were often indistinguishable. Overtly generous towards her coterie of gay friends, she was heartless towards her enemies, particularly Bette Davis, her co-star in Whatever Happened to Baby Jane, with whom she shared a lifelong feud. Drawing on a wealth of unpublished material and interviews, David Bret presents a unique, fascinating portrait of a single-minded, uncompromising woman.

Survivor

Survivor PDF Author: Christina Crawford
Publisher: Open Road Media
ISBN: 1504049071
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 251

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Book Description
Beyond Mommie Dearest—the inspiring and shattering sequel to the groundbreaking #1 New York Times bestseller. At publication the world as I knew it blew up in my face. Christina Crawford’s Mommie Dearest cast a spotlight on the unspoken horrors of family violence and exorcised the demons of her childhood. But in the years following the controversial bestseller’s publication, the author’s resilience was tested in ways she never expected. Crawford was forced to brave a stunning backlash intended to shame her, a film adaptation that bastardized her story and compounded the trauma, a descent into alcoholism, a divorce that ruined her financially, and a massive stroke that left her paralyzed. Staying true to her fighting spirit, she made a remarkable comeback. More than a personal memoir of triumph over tragedy, Survivor—now with a new preface for its 30th anniversary—is an enlightening spiritual roadmap to recovery for anyone who has suffered the ordeals of physical and emotional abuse, devastating illness, or seemingly insurmountable despair. Crawford’s story is not just about the will to survive; it is about the unparalleled joy of coming out on the other side, finding calm, and celebrating a fulfilling life. “The author of Mommie Dearest . . . hits her stride with this strong account of her simultaneous tragedies. . . . One closes this fine, moving read with great respect for Christina Crawford.” —Kirkus Reviews

An Abbreviated Life

An Abbreviated Life PDF Author: Ariel Leve
Publisher: Harper
ISBN: 9780062269454
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
"Mesmerizing... A portrait of something familiar gone wildly, tragically awry." —The New York Times “Sometimes, a child is born to a parent who can’t be a parent, and, like a seedling in the shade, has to grow toward a distant sun. Ariel Leve’s spare and powerful memoir will remind us that family isn’t everything—kindness and nurturing are.” —Gloria Steinem Ariel Leve grew up in Manhattan with an eccentric mother she describes as “a poet, an artist, a self-appointed troublemaker and attention seeker.” Leve learned to become her own parent, taking care of herself and her mother’s needs. There would be uncontrolled, impulsive rages followed with denial, disavowed responsibility, and then extreme outpourings of affection. How does a child learn to feel safe in this topsyturvy world of conditional love? Leve captures the chaos and lasting impact of a child’s life under siege and explores how the coping mechanisms she developed to survive later incapacitated her as an adult. There were material comforts, but no emotional safety, except for summer visits to her father’s home in South East Asia-an escape that was terminated after he attempted to gain custody. Following the death of a loving caretaker, a succession of replacements raised Leve—relationships which resulted in intense attachment and loss. It was not until decades later, when Leve moved to other side of the world, that she could begin to emancipate herself from the past. In a relationship with a man who has children, caring for them yields a clarity of what was missing. In telling her haunting story, Leve seeks to understand the effects of chronic psychological maltreatment on a child’s developing brain, and to discover how to build a life for herself that she never dreamed possible: An unabbreviated life.

What Ever Happened to Mommie Dearest?

What Ever Happened to Mommie Dearest? PDF Author: John William Law
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780982519530
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 242

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Book Description
With the 50th anniversary of What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? comes a new look behind the legendary film and Joan Crawford's foray into the horror genre that would make up the bulk of her later work. After the death of her husband Joan Crawford found herself in debt and needing to work. The success of Baby Jane would launch a series of films like Strait-Jacket, I Saw What You Did, Berserk and Trog. Now, take a look back at the final act of Joan Crawford's magnificent career and at the films and TV work most biographers skim over. Filled with photos and rare details from behind the screen, What Ever Happened to Mommie Dearest? offers a look at Joan Crawford's evolution from movie star to horror queen and literary monster and back to Hollywood icon.

Joan Crawford

Joan Crawford PDF Author: Bob thomas
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
ISBN: 9781501194351
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
Bob Thomas tells the fabulous truth of how Joan Crawford rose from a Kansas City telephone operator to one of Hollywood’s biggest stars in this compelling biography. Few Hollywood careers have been more fabulous, more scandalous, or more glaringly in the spotlight than that of Joan Crawford. Born Lucille Fay LeSueur in 1906, or 1908 according to her own press releases, Joan Crawford changed her name and rewrote her life story when she left her job as a telephone operator and grew into one of the most well-known film and television actresses in America. Now, pulling back the curtain on a breathtaking tale of rags to riches and triumph to tragedy, Bob Thomas takes readers into the life of Joan Crawford, sharing stories of her famed life filled with glamour, glitter, romance, and ultimate stardom.