Daily Dialogue — July 22, 2013
Joan stands over Christina’s bed, shaking from anger. She holds a dress hung on a wire hanger.
Joan: No… wire… hangers.
Christina bolts up, instantly awake.
Joan: What’s wire hangers doing in this closet when I told you: no wire hangers EVER? I work and work ’till I’m half-dead, and I hear people saying, “She’s getting old.” And what do I get? A daughter… who cares as much about the beautiful dresses I give her… as she cares about me!
Joan flings the dress at Christina.
Joan: What’s wire hangers doing in this closet? Answer me!
Joan begins snatching dresses out of the closet, hurling them through the room.
Joan: I buy you beautiful dresses, and you treat them like they were some dishrag. You do. Three hundred dollar dress on a wire hanger. We’ll see how many you’ve got if they’re hidden somewhere. We’ll see… we’ll see. Get out of that bed. All of this is coming out. Out. Out.
Christina: Please, Mommy!
Joan: Out. Out. Out. Out. We’re gonna see how many wire hangers you’ve got in your closet.
Joan pulls the last dress off its wire hanger and flings it away, keeping the hanger.
Joan: [weeping] Wire hangers, why? Why? Christina, get out of that bed. Get out of that bed.
Joan advances on her. Christina gets out of bed, but runs into the corner. Joan chases her down and begins beating Christina with the hanger.
Joan: You live in the most beautiful house in Brentwood and you don’t care if your clothes are stretched out from wire hangers.
Christina: Please, Mommy, don’t, Mommy, don’t!
But still the blows rain down…
Joan: And your room looks like some two-dollar-a-week furnished room in some two-bit back street town in Oklahoma!
— Mommie Dearest (1981), screenplay by Robert Getchell, Tracy Hotchner, Frank Perry, Frank Yablans, book by Christina Crawford
The Daily Dialogue theme for the week is tantrums, suggested by Aarthi Ramanathan. Today’s suggestion is by bolo boffin.
Trivia: Faye Dunaway truly felt she would win an Oscar for her performance as Joan Crawford. When the film was released to poor reviews and Paramount’s promotion of the film as a camp classic, Dunaway was furious. To this day she refuses to talk about the film. In fact, when she is interviewed she submits a list of topics that are off-limits to the interviewer, one of which is Mommie Dearest. She has been known to stop interviews if asked about the film. It has been stated by Christina Crawford that Dunaway claimed to have been haunted by the ghost of Joan Crawford and this has provided an explanation as to why Dunaway does not like to talk about the film.
Dialogue On Dialogue: Commentary from bolo: “One of the most famous tantrums ever. There’s so much more going on here besides one of the most over-the-top camp scenes ever filmed. Clues to Joan’s secret fears come roaring out — the fear of getting old, of losing love, of not being valued. But when she cannot strike out at the world, Joan finds in Christina a suitable substitute. If Christina sees fit to torment Joan with wire hangers, then two can ride that horse in the rodeo, fellas.”
Note: We need some suggestions, folks. Otherwise I will have a virtual tantrum. And believe me, you do not want to %$*&%#%$ see that!
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