Not The Girl Next Door is a biography of Joan Crawford written by Charlotte Chandler. The book starts with interviews the author had with Ms. Crawford, then other interviews with people from her life, such as Douglas Fairbanks Jr.
Joan Crawford was born Lucille LeSueur in San Antonio Texas around 1908. Her biological father deserted her mother when she was in her infancy. Her mother remarried a man with the last name of Cassin, and Crawford preferred to be called Billie Cassin until Hollywood rechristened her "Joan Crawford."  She was a tiny person and had big blue eyes; she loved to dance and got her start in silent films playing a dancer while she was a teenager. Directors said her head was too big and her shoulders too wide; costumer designer Adrian decided instead of trying to de-emphasize her wide shoulders, to use shoulder pads to make her shoulders seem even wider--thus starting a fashion trend that endures to this day.
Crawford was a chorus girl with dreams of making it big. One night she saw Douglas Fairbanks Jr. (hence forth DF Jr.) in a play. She sent him a flattering note and asked him to come to her place for tea. A torrid affair ensued. DF Jr. said the sex was memorable--neither could get enough. DF Jr. took her to meet his father DF Sr. and Mary Pickford at Pickfair. This couple was Hollywood royalty--they didn't welcome Crawford into the fold.
Crawford's dream of marrying DF Jr. in a dress with a long train at Pickfair didn't happen, but she and DF Jr. married, and on their honeymoon night he said he eagerly anticipated more fantastic sex they had been enjoying. He stripped and took off his socks and threw them on the hotel room floor. In a voice he'd never heard from Joan before, she demanded "PICK UP THOSE SOCKS!"  She divorced him after 4 years.
DF Jr. said she had iron will and discipline. She was the only person he ever knew who enjoyed working out and watched her diet rigorously to maintain her figure. If denying herself was what it took to get to the top, she was willing to make any sacrifice.
Her star rose, and she made five films with Clark Gable during her career. They were rumored to have been lovers, but he wasn't the marrying kind. She later married Franchot Tone; Bette Davis had her eye on him too--this may have been the loci for their famous feud. Crawford was also said to have an affair with Spencer Tracy, and many others.
Crawford adopted four children, a novelty for a star then. The first two, Christina and Christopher bitterly disappointed her. By the time she married Pepsi Cola executive Alfred Steele, she had adopted twin daughters with whom she had a better rapport.
No one worked harder than Joan Crawford to make it in Hollywood--you have to admire her determination. Critics panned one of her early movies, Rain, in which she played Sadie Thompson, but that is one of my favorite Crawford movies. She was great--and she should have had a song written about her enormous beautiful expressful eyes--Bette Davis had nothing on her in that department.
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