Great links, Greg. Boy, Lucy and Joan Crawford. What a couple of strong minded dames....I bet Vivian Vance kept her head down and stayed out of their way. I just love Vivian Vance - the best sidekick ever.

Fun links, Greg...thanks for posting them.

I love the story about Joan being canned by Louis B. Mayer and then taking "Mildred Pierce"....and ending up winning an Oscar.

I'm not a big Crawford fan - Carol Burnett did a "Mildred Fierce" send-up that was hysterically funny - but she was right on the mark as Crystal Allen in the original version of "The Women". Don't both with either remake. Dated but great dialogue; you have to listen fast to hear it. I particularly enjoyed the blow-by-blow description of the fight between Mary and Steven as the maid tells it to the cook. As for Joan, her phone conversation at the store with Steven - who, she's indignant to report, is trying to break his date with her for his WIFE, of all people, is classic.

You are so right, AA...Carol Burnett was hysterical at everything she did...we had a big discussion of her show on a long-ago thread...she's the best!

...right, Drink?

ha

I'm going to post that YouTube clip (I think I posted it on the (infamous!) Funny Jokes thread way back there...of her as Stella Toddler on a game show with Harvey Korman as the host...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QpWeXSkovCo

I love the original version of "The Women". Great cast. I haven't seen the Meg Ryan re-make. Have you seen the 1950s version of "The Women"? It's called "The Opposite Sex" and is a musical with June Allyson as the saintly wife and Joan Collins as the wicked other woman. Great showcase for the fashions of the time but sadly lacking otherwise. Does have Joan Blondell in it, which I have always found interesting as I thought she and June Allyson hated each other. It was my understanding that June Allyson stole Dick Powell away from Joan Blondell, but I have since read that Ms. Blondell was having an affair with Mike Todd while Powell was romancing June Allison. This is the same Mike Todd who later stole Liz Taylor away from Eddie Fisher before dying in a plane crash. Boy, it is sure hard to remember who's who in all those old Hollywood love affairs.

Auburn Annie:
Great call with The Women. The best part of Joan's phone conversation at the store with the married guy is her friend/pal/co-worker constantly passing by making snarky remarks. Someone should have gotten an award for writing.

I love all those old "screwball comedies" they made in the '30's and '40's!

You have to keep your ears open for sure to not miss anything, like you say, AA...rapid-fire and absolutely delicious...nothing more entertaining.

I saw a good one I had not seen in a long time on our local PBS station a few weeks ago with Cary Grant and Jeanne Crain called "People Will Talk" about a doctor who falls in love with his patient (JC) and I wouldn't call it one of the most rapid-fire of the genre, or even if it would be in that genre...it was an adorable movie, though, and so wonderfully entertaining. Of course, the presence of Cary Grant in any movie pretty much assures it will be worth watching, for that one fact alone!

I do highly recommend renting it or watching for it, it's definitely worth the time.

Another great old comedy is "Sullivan's Travels" (1941) with Joel McRae and Veronica Lake, directed by Preston Sturges; he did a lot of good comedies. And "Sullivan's Travels" is where the Coen brothers got the name for "O Brother, Where Art Thou", a bit of movie trivia.

Re The Women, here's part of the TCM summary:

Based on Clare Boothe's hit Broadway play, The Women (1939) is about a group of bitchy, backbiting, Park Avenue Ladies Who Lunch...and dish...with disastrous results for the only one of them who's happily married. The entire cast — more than 130 speaking roles — is female.

Appropriately, the screenplay credit went to two of Hollywood's women pioneers, Jane Murfin and Anita Loos. Murfin had been writing "women's pictures" since the silent days, and she produced a faithful adaptation of Boothe's play. Maybe too faithful. Shortly before production began, the censors objected to the racy dialogue. Enter Loos, the petite dynamo who began writing silent movies as a teenager, and who excelled at snappy dialogue. Loos claimed that she sat on the set and produced instant, cleaned-up variations of Boothe's innuendo-laden repartee.

The Women was directed by George Cukor, who was known as Hollywood's leading "women's director." And with an all-star cast headed by MGM's dueling divas, Cukor had his hands full. Norma Shearer had been the Queen of the Lot when her husband, Irving Thalberg, was head of production at MGM. Recently widowed, Shearer still had considerable clout. For years, Joan Crawford had lost plum roles to Shearer, and deeply resented her. Crawford, who had recently been declared "box office poison," needed a hit. Realizing that the role of husband-snatching Crystal in The Women was a meatier one than Shearer's virtuous wife, Crawford went after it. But even a juicy part couldn't stifle her resentment. When she had to sit off-camera and feed lines to Shearer during Shearer's close-ups, Crawford, knitting furiously and noisily, never made eye contact with her co-star. Shearer, rattled, asked Cukor to send Crawford home. Cukor did, and later insisted that Crawford apologize. She did, grudgingly. But relations between the two stars never thawed.

Shearer's contract stipulated that she get star billing. Crawford fought for, and won, equal billing. Then Rosalind Russell, who was giving a hilarious, movie-stealing performance, decided she deserved co-star billing as well. So she called in sick until she got it. Somehow, Cukor stroked all the egos and kept all the actresses busy enough to keep the feuds to a minimum. The result was a fast-paced, witty and brilliantly-acted farce.

================================
Can you imagine the UNcensored dialogue that Loos cleaned up?

"The Women" (original) what a bitch fest!

George Cukor had to have had the diplomacy of a master!

Love all these "inside dirt" stories, guys!

.....First, even though you didn't officially author that, I am clapping wildly from the peanut gallery.

Like Greg, I love Joan Crawford (I composed so many posts on that thread, and they all sounded retarded, so I ditched it altogether.....) and was researching her and Lucille Ball's careers the other night.

THAT was a discovery of some merit. Their filmographies are extremely LONG.

I had many questions about one movie - THE WOMEN.

We must be more connected than I originally gathered.

This is sort of off topic or completely off topic, but I'm posting anyway. I just learned today that a favorite of mine, British actress Mollie Sugden, passed away at the age of 86. I only ever saw her in one role, that of Mrs. Slocombe on the British series "Are You Being Served". I think this show has been running on our local PBS stations for 20 years or more.

As Mrs. Slocombe, she was wonderfully hilarious and a delight to watch. Mrs. Slocombe, a widow lady who lived with her cat, was the head saleslady in Women's Lingerie at Grace Brothers Department Store in London. She always pretended to be about 20 years younger than her actual age. Her double entendres when she talked about her cat were hysterical:

"Animals are very psychic; the least sign of danger and my pussy's hair stands on end".

"I have to get home. My pussy hates it when I work this late."

Mollie Sugden, wherever you are, thank you for all the laughs. I will never forget the wonderfully dotty little Englishwoman in the pastel colored wigs.