Rating: 
Summary: so lame it borders on the absurd
Review: I'm afraid the definitive Crawford biography has yet to be written. I hope someone will be able to explain this complex woman -- her life has the makings of a great story.There's very little that is new in Quirk-Schoell's effort. In fact, the only thing I learned was of Crawford's incestuous relationship with her stepfather at age 11, although it has been hinted at several times before. The authors say it explains her almost-lifelong promiscuity. Maybe. The book is irritating in its one-sidedness. In trying to redeem Crawford's legacy, the authors have made her more saintly than Loretta Young. They even say such turkeys as "Torch Song" and "Queen Bee" are great movies with great Crawford performances. Only a lovesick fan would agree. Those two films and many of Crawford's others are watchable only for camp value. In fact, most of the book is a review of her career, one movie at a time, with lavish praise for nearly every performance. Not to say all of it is undeserved, because Crawford made some excellent films, including "Mildred Pierce," "The Women," "Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?" and "Sudden Fear." I only hope this doesn't keep a serious biographer from tackling the Crawford story. I hope to buy it someday.
Rating: 
Summary: Not that essential
Review: If you have read any of the earlier books on Joan Crawford's life and career and hope to find new information in this book, don't bother. Aside from snippets about her stepfather and Christina Crawford, everything is old hat. Indeed, this book tends to focus more on her movies, giving a lenghty snyopsis of each one and analyzing her acting as well as her co-stars, and while there is nothing wrong with this, it has been done before! Aside from the movie analysis', the authors always follow with a paragraph or two on who Joan went to bed with during the making of the film (which, unless he was gay, married or ugly, was just about all of them). I was hoping for a biography that delved more into Crawford's private life - what made this woman tick? - what kind of beliefs did she have? - what did she do when she was not working on the set? - what did she eat for dinner at night?. This pedestrian bio only scratches the surface - by page 10, Crawford has already made her first movie - very little info about how she reached this stage in her life is given. The authors apparently only talked to a handful of people for this book and most of the information apparently comes from the author's own interviews with her in the 50s and 60s. And it is very annoying when the author (or co-author) writes about himself as if he were someone else! So, sadly, a definitive biography of Crawford has yet to be published.
Rating: 
Summary: I still believe Christina
Review: In a way I feel like a total loser for passionatley defending something I will never know for sure because I wasn't there. But I LOVE Christina Crawford's book and her version is more fun to believe. I liked this book, but all I was really interested in was what the author had to write about defending Joan, which wasn't detailed until the last chapter. He writes that Joan was abused by an ugrateful daughter. But how do you explain Joan not bothering to show up at Christina's high school graduation, and leaving her with only TWO dresses to wear for half a school year? What about telling everyone Chrsitina was expelled from school which was false and easily proven by Joan's own letters to Christina? I just cannot believe Christina would sit down and make up all those cruel letters Joan wrote to her growing up. I wonder if she still has them? The one part that did make me sad was when Joan was having one of her late night calls with the author and cried "I think Christina's going to write a book about me". Also sad is that Joan slept her way to the top. Hollywood is such a sleazy town. Talent has very little to do with success, it's all about how you LOOK and who you'll sleep with to get there. I would have liked to know what her other three children are doing these days. I haven't heard anything about Christopher at all for a long time.
Rating:
Summary: Joan Crawford, the Essential Mythology
Review: It's truly a temptation when you are a fan of a certain actress to want to celebrate her memory and legacy and skirt the reality. The main reason I disliked this book was it seemed to me that the writers were not objective enough w/the subject and although some of the book was informative and entertaining, not much of it was the truth as I have heard it thru interviews w/people who knew JC. One thing that certainly stands out is the constant reprimanding of Christina Crawfords book "Mommy Dearest". Sadly, Joan Crawford did abuse her kids--this book calls that fiction. More than one actor/actress that worked w/the star said as much, witnessed as much. To call the childs accusations total fiction is to slap the face and abuse as much as the child was abused. There was also one more thing that I had to point out that I found very, very funny--and truly showed that the authors took more from fan magazines of Crawfords time than fact. In the preface of the book one author quotes Crawford as saying "I had the same makeup man that Lon Chaney had." Obviously this was such a red light as to make the rest of the book a joke. Everyone knows that Chaney was a wizard w/makeup, his life and trade was makeup. This book was unfortunately laughable. I would not recommend it to anyone.
Rating:
Summary: Interesting Information
Review: Joan Crawford, the Essential Biography has lots of information about Joan Crawford that I didn't know before. I learned that during her early years in Hollywood she was a female escort to visiting businessmen. And I learned more about her marriage to Douglas Fairbanks (one of my favorite male leading men). The part about her feelings for Clark Gable I already knew, but in this book, I found out that her mother and brother didn't believe in her, but when she made it big, they took money from her. To tell the truth, I'm not all that interested in any body's sexual orientation. What I want to know is how they became stars in such a difficult and fascinating business. I loved the picture of Joan on the cover--I think it's sexy, contemporary and just plain elegant. A simple sleeveless dress, as in less is more. One of the people I wish the authors had mentioned more was Irving Thalberg, the boy genius of MGM. He was an important person in Joan Crawford's career and one of the people I personally would have wanted to meet.
Rating:
Summary: More Inaccurate then Essential.
Review: Lawrence Quirk and William Schoell's "essential" biography of Joan Crawford is short on biographical detail, and much more a study of Crawford's films and performances then her life.And even at that, it's full of inaccuracies. With two authors, you would have thought at least one of them would have done their homework and verified their facts. But there are some glaring mistakes.In their description of THE WOMEN (1939), they state that Mary Haines (Norma Shearer) goes to Nevada for a divorce where she encounters new friend Peggy Dow (Joan Fontaine). But Peggy is part of Mary's circle of friends right from the start of the film, and travels WITH Mary to Nevada. She doesn't encounter her there.The book states Victor Buono's daffy Cockney mother in WHAT EVER HAPPEND TO BABY JANE (1962) was played by Anna Lee. The lovely and beautiful British actress Anna Lee plays the Hudson sisters neighbor, Mrs. Bates. Buono's mother is played by character actress Marjorie Bennett.The book claims Crawford had a low opinion of Janis Paige during the making of THE CARETAKERS (1963), probably because Paige was "the kind of pretty, rising starlet" that she found threatening and not generally professional. But Paige had been starring in movies since 1946 as a Warner Brothers contract actress. She may not have reached Crawford's heights of stardom, but she was an established and professional actress, and far from a rising starlet by 1963.With such obvious errors, it's hard to take this book seriously.
Rating:
Summary: A Frustrating Experience
Review: Many reviewers here have expressed the same feelings of frustration that I had experienced during and after reading this book, so I won't repeat what has already been written. At one point early in the book, the authors dismissed Christina Crawford's "Mommie Dearest" as being untrue simply because of what they claimed were various inaccuracies in her story. The authors further went on to say that if Christina had factual inaccuracies in her story (and they felt that much--if not all--was inaccurate), then her entire story should be considered to be untrue. As I continued to read Quirk and Schoell's book, I noticed their inaccurate reports on several situations in Joan Crawford's life and career. Their rather acidic judgment of Christina's story kept running through my mind...and so it seemed only fair to place the same criteria upon their work...and it became difficult (if not almost impossible) to place any stock in what they had written. I was disappointed in my purchase. I should have saved my hard-earned money to buy something else. Reader beware!
Rating:
Summary: Joan Crawford--The Whitewash Biography
Review: Not only do the authors incorrectly describe plots of her most famous movies, notably The Women, they also completely overlook the fact that her cruelty to the children was well atested to by Helen Hayes and her son James McArthur. This book is not an even handed account of JC's life nor is it even a good reference to her movies.
Rating:
Summary: Most Definately NOT an 'Essential' Biography
Review: Review of Joan Crawfords films? Yes. Biography? No. I think one of the main problems I have with this book is that the author has a hard time distinguishing what is movie trivia in regards to Joan's films and what she did off the set in her personal life. For every bone thrown about Joan Crawford's actual everyday life we are bombarded with five more about on the set antics and remarks. For a true biography I would suggest looking for several other books in which the line between the actress and the person isn't so blurred. Another problem I had with the book is the 'Joan could do no wrong' viewpoint in which Crawford is presented. According to the book Joan Crawford was this fragile shell of a woman who sought fame but was the perpetual victim, often being pushed from one Hollywood drama to the next. Supposedly the movie flops Joan made, according to the book, were ALL the fault of the scripts she was given and evil directors where as until the end Joan was the unshakable movie actress who could do no wrong. Just sad fan obsessed drivel. And that the last chapter is almost exlusively devoted to slamming Christina Crawford (like the other chapters hadn't already done that enough) and Christina's own book 'Mommie Dearest' causes the authors lose all sense of authority on the subject and are resorted to childish name calling bullies. That a woman who was the victim of physical and mental child abuse for so many years is to be further abused by such blind fanatics is something I think this book ought to be ashamed of. I did enjoy some of the movie trivia in this book, but on a whole there were no new truths revealed and the jaded bitterness of the book's writing only left a bad taste in my mouth. I don't recommend this book to anyone who wants to read an honest biography of the star.
Rating:
Summary: About ... Time!
Review: The 1st book since Bob Thomas' monumental biography that tells us something we did'nt know, this book is for anyone who is interested in film history in general,Joan Crawfords fans in particular, and specifically,anyone who read "Mommie Dearest" and wondered why CC was able to quote from a letter she crumpled up in her fist,saying "God,I hated her." One sees CC, feverishly smoothing out the letter, saving it for later...Joan Crawford was a flawed,damaged woman. She was also the most successful actress in film history,with a work ethic her less successful peers could'nt keep up with. Compulsive,careerist,sexual, she also managed to be kind to those who did'nt have what it takes-like her daughter CC. This biography makes clear that,though probably not the best mother in the world,she made efforts many others would not have. The lasting impression I took away from the book is of a woman struggling to do her best and despite her enormous success, never feeling good enough in the minds of Hollywood establishment-a joke in itself-or ultimately in the mind of her failure of a daughter. One only hopes that when CC kicks off,someone will write a book about her-naw,that will never happen-she just isnt interesting enough.
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