Mommie Dearest and the Marmont

The unintentionally campy “Mommie Dearest” with Faye Dunaway began production January 1981. I solely mention Faye because if you’ve seen the movie, you know that she completely devours everyone else in the cast. Choppy, over-dramatic, and full of poorly written dialogue, I am still fascinated by this movie that tries to be too many things and in the end, fails at all of them. And yet, you can’t help but be entertained by it…for all the wrong reasons. The AFI website has lots of interesting details about the production. According to the Village Voice, Anne Bancroft was originally cast by November 1979 with Franco Zeffirelli as director. By September 1980, Variety announced Bancroft was out and Dunaway was in, with Frank Perry replacing the legendary Zeffirelli. 



Filmmakers toured Crawford’s Brentwood home at 426 North Bristol but found it “unsuitable” for filming.



Other film locations included Chadwick School in Palos Verdes Peninsula, CA, the administration building at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios, and Perino’s Restaurant (at 4101 Wilshire Boulevard, torn down a few years after filming). The beach scenes at the beginning of the movie were shot in Malibu.

Wait a minute…Anne Bancroft? I would be fascinated to have seen her version of “Mommie Dearest.” Something tells me she would have been more restrained and given a more nuanced performance than Faye. The book With Love, Mommie Dearest by A. Ashley Hoff gives some background as to why Bancroft left the project just before filming was to begin:

Bancroft had been discussing the project with [producer Frank] Yablans for over a year but would not commit herself to it until she saw a script she liked—and was sure the film would be directed by someone of whom she approved. When it was announced Yablans had signed Franco Zeffirelli to direct, Bancroft’s commitment followed. Production at the time featured a screenplay by James Kirkwood, and filming was slated for the following spring. Spring came and went. Columnists speculated Bancroft was getting cold feet at the notion of playing a beloved film icon in a negative light.…“Producer Frank Yablans is suddenly back to square one with his screen adaptation of ‘Mommie Dearest,’” gossip maven Marilyn Beck announced in her column in the spring of 1980. “Production on the controversial project was to have started this spring with Anne Bancroft playing that sorry Mommie, Joan Crawford. But now Yablans says that director Franco Zeffirellis is out and ‘all that I can tell you about Anne’s involvement at this point is that I think she’s still in.’”

“Along came ‘Mommie Dearest,’” began legendary comedy writer and raconteur Bruce Vilanch.…“This is what I know: Anne Bancroft was going to do the picture, and Paramount ran a trade ad with a picture of Anne, the Joan Crawford portrait in the frame, which they subsequently used with Faye [on the poster]. And they were ready to go with the movie. And the day the picture appeared in the trades, as I understand it, Anne Bancroft went to her husband Mel Brooks, who is a friend of mine, and asked, ‘Do I look like Joan Crawford?’ And he said, ‘You look like a woman in the home who thinks she looks like Joan Crawford, and has dressed up to look like Joan Crawford.’ And she said, ‘Should I not do this picture?’ And he said, ‘Look, we’ve all read the book. It’s one thing to picture Joan Crawford chopping down a tree in the backyard. It’s something else when you actually put on the makeup and the costume and do it. The audience’s reaction will be laughter because it won’t sync with their view of who it is, and it’s such an over-the-top conceit.’ So she quit, she backed out of it.…That alone makes him a genius, the fact he had that observation before anybody else did.

The book is an excellent account of the trials and tribulations of the making of “Mommie Dearest” along with the aftermath and how the film is evaluated in present day. If you want to view the script that Bancroft “approved” you can see it at The Concluding Chapter of Joan Crawford. It is an interesting look at what would have been a very different movie. Below is a shot of Joan with Bancroft in 1963 from the The Best of Everything: A Joan Crawford Encyclopedia website, when she gave Anne her Oscar for “The Miracle Worker.” This is the Oscar that Crawford famously swept by loser Bette Davis to accept on behalf of Bancroft.



For an insider’s look at the production itself, look no further than Rutanya Alda’s book, The Mommie Dearest Diary: Carol Ann Tells All.



You might recall that Alda played Crawford’s frumpy and mousy assistant, Carol Ann. The character and the performance given by the actress inform the audience that this person lives only for Joan. Carol Ann is based on a medley of people in Crawford’s life, including her real-life assistant, Betty Barker (left $35k in Crawford’s will) as well as secretaries/assistants Florence Walsh and Anna Marie Brinke, according to Hoff’s book. In it, he also adds “As far as Christina Crawford’s book was concerned, Barker denied having ever seen or heard of Joan Crawford abusing her children. Christina, on the other hand, told Rutanya Alda she and Christopher loathed Betty, saying ‘She lied about us and was always making trouble.’”



Regardless of who is telling the truth or not, the Carol Ann character doesn’t add much to the film other than to show an example of the fawning adoration that Crawford fans possessed. No matter what behavior she witnessed, Carol Ann continued to suck up to Joan in the film. Back to Rutanya’s book. It’s a short and breezy read that is nowhere near as lurid as the cover art and title imply. The photo on the back shows a very glamorized Alda; this is a look that is so far from Carol Ann that at first glimpse it is hard to believe the two are one and the same.



This is a constant theme throughout the book about the filming; any time that Alda looked too pretty, Dunaway would talk to the crew and made sure that either Alda was made frumpier or in the worst case scenario, the scene was cut. For the scene where Joan marries Pepsi Cola magnate Al Steele, Alda recalls:

I have my middle age makeup on and a beautiful gray taffeta wedding party dress. This is the dress Ms. [Irene] Sharaff mentioned was by a famous French designer when we were having wardrobe fittings at the beginning of the film. It is gorgeous and fits me perfectly. I have a cute hat on and I look so good. Faye is in a beautiful pink satin dress that buttons down the front with an orchid corsage. Harry Goz was there as Al Steele, as well as about twenty-five extras. One lady comments that I have the smallest waist. Faye overhears this and gives me a look.…Frank P. comes by and and says they will not use me in the wedding scene. What! How can you not have Carol Ann at the wedding? “You look too good, Rutanya,” Frank says. “I told you this at the beginning, you can’t look good. I have no control over this.” “But Frank,” I stammer, “This costume was approved in the test shots, I mean I can justify Christina not being there, if she is in school or in New York, although I think she should have been there too. But Carol Ann! She should be making sure the photographers get really good shots, and she could be giving last-minute photos to sign, as Joan was always signing her eight-by-tens, and she should be making sure Joan looks good. There are twenty-five strangers there who have never been seen in the film. They don’t mean anything.” “It’s out of my hands, Faye doesn’t want it,” Frank says, and quickly. leaves. Incredible! Frank is so afraid of Faye. He’s afraid of being fired by her!

Was Carol Ann really necessary for this brief scene? Not really, especially when you look at a press photo from the actual event. I don’t seen anyone buzzing around Alfred and Joan, do you? What you see in the finished movie is mainly Al and Joan, intercut with VERY brief clips of guests/photographers/columnists asking questions and taking photos. For a movie already pressed for time to tell a complicated story, why would you add extraneous bits about signing autographs and futzing with Joan’s makeup and outfit? These are the type of tales in Alda’s book that inform me that she really didn’t have a grasp of what the overall movie was about. While she did a more than capable job as Carol Ann, the success of the film did not ride on Alda’s shoulders or her character’s.



Alda kept a diary during the production of “Mommie Dearest,” so despite the book being written more than thirty years after the film’s release, the details she gives are very specific. The reason I bought the book was to see what she had to say about the Chateau Marmont, which is where she stayed during filming.

I am booked to live at the famous Chateau Marmont in Los Angeles for the indefinite duration of the film. I had driven by that place so many times when I lived in L.A. I’ve always wanted to stay there, but it’s been beyond my budget. At last, months at the Marmont. It’s wonderful.…[actor] Richard [Bright, Alda’s husband] will come later, after he’s made arrangements to bring our cat, Kukums, with us. (He was a black and white beauty who found me one day during a huge rainstorm in New York and followed me home. He had been very sick and recovered sleeping on my bed for a solid week. He was the smartest, most fearless cat I’ve ever had, and we made quite an entrance at the Marmont’s gardens and pool, as I put the leash on him and he went out for his daily constitutional.)…The lobby of the Chateau Marmont is beautifully decorated and the Christmas tree that greets me is spectacular. I am checked into room thirty-five, a one-bedroom suite.



Recently, I was able to check room 35 off my Chateau Marmont bucket list. Here’s what the interior looks like now:



The kitchen (below), where according to Alda “…the too loud, too sensitive fire alarm goes off twice from cooking on the stove in my room at the Marmont. Scares me like crazy.”



The bathroom:



The bedroom:



A great view of the pool and Sunset Boulevard from 35:



One of my favorite stories in Alda’s book is about do-gooder Jane Fonda:

Met Gita Breslin at the Writers Guild for screening of film “9 to 5.” It was fun going with her, as Gita had worked as being a stand in for Jane Fonda on many of her films and was also her personal masseuse. She told me they had broken their relationship when Gita had somehow gotten injured on Jane Fonda’s film set and filed for disability insurance and Jane had gotten very angry at Gita for doing that. Jane never hired Gita again.

I never believed for a minute that Jane Fonda was as much of a champion for the underdog as she publicly portrays herself to be.



From Sunday, January 18th:

I take Kukums [shown above in room 35] for a walk around the pool. He can’t wait to get out for a walk every day. He still waits for me with the leash. Everyone thinks it’s so strange to see a cat out for a walk. He loves to eat grass. We walk and sit for a while. Go shopping at Quinn’s health food store for dinner. Make chicken at the Marmont.

Quinn’s Health Food store (once called Quinn’s Nutrition Center) was a popular local store just off Melrose Avenue at 226 North Larchmont Boulevard. Of course it no longer exists.

Wednesday, January 31st:

Joanna [wife of Michael McClure, also staying at the Marmont] got up early for a conference in Pasadena. I met Richard and Michael at Schwab’s at 10:30 for breakfast. (Schwab’s was a famous drug store and coffee shop where a lot of actors hung out there and Lana Turner was rumored to have been discovered. I once had lunch at the counter and Jerry Brown, who was then the young governor of California, sat right next to me without any bodyguards and we chatted like we knew each other. It was that kind of place.) Back to the Marmont and run into the wonderful actress, Cathleen Nesbitt. She looks fabulous at ninety-two.

You might recall Nesbitt (below right) from her role as the snooty grandmother in Disney’s “The Parent Trap” (1961) with Maureen O’Hara and Hayley Mills.



Wednesday, February 4th:

Take Kukums for daily walk around the pool—we save little Billy’s life, a two-year-old English boy who falls in. There is no one else around, no parents watching. Richard hears me yell and jumps across some tables and we both bend over the deep end and grab his arms and hoist him up. He doesn’t cry—he doesn’t realize how serious this was. No, actually, he does start crying, because his green lollipop is still in the pool. Richard rescues his green lolly with the big pool scoop and he stops crying. His parents finally show up and we tell them what happened and they don’t seem concerned at all. This should have at least quivered their stiff upper lip. Lucky for them we were there. Do they know that?



Below is a photo from Alda’s book taken at the Marmont with Joanna McClure, Michael McClure, and Richard Bright. The McClures were prominent figures in the San Francisco Beat poetry movement back in the 1950s. Michael died in 2020; Joanna appears to still be alive.



This was a hard match for me; possibly it is showing poolside cottage 89 on the second floor  at right behind them. Below is a contemporary shot from a different angle of where I believe Alda’s photo was taken. Cottage 89 is above the ping pong table.



The best part of Alda’s very short book is the story of her early years in Latvia and glossed over all too quickly. The hardships she endured and overcame would make a very interesting movie. Instead, more time is spent on Faye’s poor treatment of the cast and crew of “Mommie Dearest.” It’s enough to make your eyes cross.



On the recent blu ray of the film, Producer/Screenwriter Frank Yablans had this to say about Faye’s performance:



Maybe it turned out to be more of a caricature than a character, but when you’re dealing with something that’s bigger than life, you have to present it bigger than life, and so we did, and I’m very proud of where we went with it. There were a couple of times I guess we could have toned her down a little bit, particularly when she attacks the rose bushes, which is considered one of the rare moments on film. I take a little bit of the blame, because I should have asked Frank [Perry] to pull her back a little bit on that scene, but you’re watching this thing and you’re watching her go and you’re watching where she’s going with it and I got swept up in the moment of this absolute rage, “Hollywood Royalty!” This woman has just been given a death sentence in Hollywood and so she has all this rage in her, so it probably went over the top. Maybe in another lifetime I’ll bring it down a little bit! Ha!

Rutanya was also interviewed for the featurette and gave this amusing anecdote:

I gotta’ tell you a story; when I was in Christina Crawford’s house, I took a look in her closet. There’s a lot of wire hangers!



I will end this post with another insightful quote from Yablans:

Aren’t we all in some way villains, and aren’t we all in some way angels? That’s what makes an interesting subject. Joan Crawford, she was who she was before she ever got to Hollywood or she wouldn’t have become what she became. Hollywood doesn’t destroy people; people destroy themselves. This is an industry that you’re going to have high highs and low lows. You learn early on to deal with rejection and you learn not to take your success too seriously because it’s going to be fleeting, and if you don’t learn those things, I don’t care whether you’re in Hollywood or in Peoria, Illinois, you’re going to get destroyed because you’re not true to yourself.



And so ends today’s post about “Mommie Dearest” and the Chateau Marmont.

See more Chateau Marmont photos at my main website.

Marmont Monday: Franco illustrated

Actor/Director/Artist James Franco published a book in 2014 titled Hollywood Dreaming: Stories, Pictures, and Poems. It contains a piece titled “Chateau Dreams,” which takes place at the Chateau Marmont on Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood. If you’ve read my blog, you know it’s pretty much favorite place. And Willis loves it, too. The above shots were taken by Mona Kuhn for the debut issue of MisterMuse magazine. I immediately recognized the headboard from the Chateau:



The below Mona Kuhn polaroids of Franco were also taken at the Chateau and have circulated on eBay for awhile.



Some have sold, some have not.



I decided to pair some of my Chateau shots taken over the years with the appropriate prose from Franco’s piece:

Chateau Dreams

I picture them all, in different positions,
And the same positions,
And I, like a sculptor, would position them, and mold them.
Or like a choreographer put them through the same paces,
Again and again.



There is an area off the main hotel building
Where the bungalows are.
At the center of the arrangement of chalk bungalows
There is an oval pool like a blue pill,
Huddled by ferns, palms, and banana trees
Tended to be wild,
Webbed by a nexus of stone walkways.



In the day, in summer,
Mermaids and hairy mermen drape the brickwork.
At night the underwater lights electrify the pool zinc blue;
The surface cradles the oven-red reflection of the neon Chateau sign



Above Sunset, above the paparazzi and miniskirts.

There is a painting of a blond sailor,
Dressed in blue and red and white,
A stoic version of myself.
For nine months in ’06, while fixing my house,
I stayed in the bungalows,



First in 82, next to the little Buddha in the long fountain
Trickling.



Lindsay Lohan was about.
The Chateau was her home and the staff were her servants.
She got my room key with ease;
She came in at 3 a.m.;
I woke on the couch, trying not to look surprised.
Instead of f***ing her.
I read her a short story about a neglected daughter.
Every night Lindsay looked for me.
My Russian friend Drew was always around like a wraith—He, like the blond painting,
was my doppelganger—
Writing scripts about rape and murder.
A Hollywood Dostoevsky, he gambled his money away.



We played a ton of Ping-Pong.



In ’82, John Belushi died from a speedball in Bungalow 3;
In ’54, forty-three-year-old Natalie Wood in Bungalow 2;



In 2005, Lindsay Lohan lived in Room 19 for two years
Because she “didn’t want to be alone.”
Ambulance calls were a regular antidote to her demon rights.



Midway through my stay,
I changed to Bungalow 89.
In that room,
I read a bunch of Jacobean plays
About revenge, seduction, and lust.



In Bungalow 89 there was the sailor on the wall,
Glass-eyed and pale,
My stoic self.



The room was on the second level,
The exterior walls hugged by vines.

Every night Lindsay looked for me and I hid.
Out the window was Hollywood.

See more Chateau Marmont cottage/bungalow photos at my main website.

Chateau Marmont, 1938

This July 1938 image of the Chateau Marmont was taken from the residence across the street. Below is a contemporary view of the hotel for comparison’s sake, shot from the street.



On the left, you can see the residence with two garages where the photo was taken. Because of the contemporary look of the home from the exterior, I always “assumed” the original had been torn down and replaced. We all know what happens when you “assume.”



How the home looks at street level:



I decided to go on Zillow and see if there were any photos posted that might match my 1938 image. I was surprised to see that the original 1923 home still exists; what is visible from the street was a later addition.



A Google street view from May 2009 shows what the property looked like before the expansion:



This MLS Listing image taken from farther back on the property shows the Chateau in the background as well as the original portion of the home:



I am guessing that the 1938 photographer was standing on the lawn towards the left of this detailed MLS listing image, facing the Chateau when he took the picture, where I artistically added the red stick figure! 



In November 2018, I snapped this overhead shot from Room 71 of the Chateau. You can clearly see the original structure and the addition:



Back to the original photo, I am guessing that the gent in the photo was either visiting or one of the people living at 8222 Marmont Lane in 1938.



The penthouse balcony was very lush in 1938 with lots of potted plants:



How it looks today:



See more vintage and contemporary Chateau Marmont photos at my main website.

More from the Hollywood Canteen

About 15 years ago, I did a post on the Hollywood Canteen. With a few new photos added to my collection, it seemed like a good time to do an update! The photo above shows Shirley Temple arriving for her appearance at the Hollywood Canteen, July 14, 1943. How do I know the date? Thanks to Shirley expert supreme, the Rita Dubas, who not only gave me the date that was written on the back of a photo from her collection, but shared the photo itself/ Not sure who the guy next to Shirley is, but the guy behind her looks a bit like Ray Bolger!



Rita also sent me a link to a FANTASTIC site filled with photos and background info about the Canteen. Edited from the Historic Hollywood Photographs website:

Shortly after the outbreak of World War II, actress Bette Davis approached fellow actor John Garfield and Dr. Jules Stein about starting a canteen for servicemen in Hollywood, similar to the Stage Door Canteen in New York. The three approached all the entertainment unions, guilds, movie studios and radio stations for support. They found a dilapidated barn located at 1451 N. Cahuenga Blvd and leased it for $100 a month for the duration of the war. Hollywood's motion picture craftsmen volunteered their services to do the renovation and transformed the place.

Below, from 1942 (L to R) Forrest Cooper, Jules Stein, Al Ybarra, Bette Davis & John Garfield planning the construction of the Hollywood Canteen



It was unanimously agreed that the Hollywood Canteen would be exclusively for enlisted servicemen, no officers allowed. The servicemen's uniform was his admission ticket. The only people allowed to volunteer were those who worked in some facet of the entertainment business. The Canteen had its grand opening on October 3rd, 1942 with Eddie Cantor as MC. The forecourt was filled with thousands of servicemen, dignitaries and civic leaders. All food, beverages, and cigarettes were free. Each night, two bands played to packed dance floors. Entertainers included Red Skelton, Spencer Tracy, Rosemary Clooney, Bob Hope, and Bing Crosby. Hostesses included Rita Hayworth, Marlene Dietrich, Paulette Goddard and Joan Crawford. When the war ended in 1945, fewer servicemen visited and the canteen closed by November. Over the course of its 3 year existence, the Hollywood Canteen had over 3 million servicemen come through its doors. It was truly Hollywood's finest home-front contribution to the war.

Below is a shot from opening night on October 3, 1942, with comedians Abbott and Costello at the microphone:



The medley below shows just how special the Canteen was, especially in light of today, this would NEVER occur. Top Hollywood celebrities like Hedy Lamarr, Marlene Dietrich, Betty Grable (with Sergeant Carl Bell, the millionth serviceman to visit), and Linda Darnell all served, danced, and socialized with the soldiers without pay or bodyguards. Let that sink in. Oh…and no social media.



Shirley puts her apron on to get down to business. The stars didn’t just show up — they WORKED!



From the How to Eat LA website comes an additional shot of Shirley from the same night, serving snacks to the servicemen:



And in case you think these celebrities were one-and-dones, no way; here’s Shirley performing again at the Canteen on a different night.



Rita informed me that the backdrop behind the band was styled after an 1890s vaudeville stage—the circular plaque above Shirley reads “Ennola Colber Hosiery Underwear.” Below is a detailed view of Shirley:



These previously posted images were from a collection I purchased, showing the exterior of the Canteen:





From the same batch, the soldier captured this view of Hollywood Boulevard featuring the NBC building:



Zooming in, you can also see the Palladium and the CBS building. The Palladium still stands.



This soldier relaxes at the cross streets of Sunset & Vine, just a few blocks from the Canteen:



The same soldier at Hollywood and Vine. You can see the Brown Derby sign in the background:



A detailed view of the United Nations War Relief ad:



The former site of the Canteen at Sunset and Cahueanga is now a parking garage and the CNN building. No plaque, no nothing to commemorate this historic location.



What are the sayings? They paved over paradise…time marches on…nothing lasts forever…well, you get the drift. Especially in Hollywood.

See more Hollywood photos at my main website.