Help Me Like Barbara Stanwyck

[ClassyCo]

It's recently posted in its entirety on the Hag Horrors thread.

That link didn't work when I clicked on it. I like DVD copies better anyway.​

 

[Justine]

Watch The Thorn Birds, Barbara Stanwyck was so good in that. She tried to seduce a young Richard Chamberlain who played a priest. She had a great scene when she told him to "kiss me on the lips like we were lovers" and another one when he was drying off after being caught in a rain storm and she runs her hands over his naked body. She was kind of creepy, kind of sad, kind of desperate at the same time and her performance was first class and deservingly won an Emmy for her performance.

I remember watching The Thorn Birds when I was fairly young and she terrified me. Great performance!

 

[Snarky Oracle!]

Watch The Thorn Birds, Barbara Stanwyck was so good in that. She tried to seduce a young Richard Chamberlain who played a priest. She had a great scene when she told him to "kiss me on the lips like we were lovers" and another one when he was drying off after being caught in a rain storm and she runs her hands over his naked body. She was kind of creepy, kind of sad, kind of desperate at the same time and her performance was first class and deservingly won an Emmy for her performance.

 

[Crimson]

Those few minutes are some of the finest screen acting I've ever seen. Shame THE THORN BIRDS wasn't a theatrical film; Stanwyck probably would have won that elusive (Supporting Actress) Oscar.

Interesting that Crawford and Stanwyck, whose lives and careers had so many parallels, both rallied late in the game to give spectacular performances on TV. After being mired in dreck (Crawford) or coasting by in roles that only required professionalism (Stanwyck), they both just about topped any past work they had done with NIGHT GALLERY and THE THORN BIRDS.

 

[Crimson]

One other parallel with Crawford: they were both hard adoptive mothers. Interesting how little impact this had on Stanwyck's image. I've never read any full biographies on Stanwyck, and have come across only tidbits on her relationship with her son. I gather he despised her, and had virtually nothing to do with her past childhood. I imagine the lack of impact on Stanwyck is because he didn't (as far as I know) engage in resentful interviews or write a sordid tell-all.

 

[Justine]

One other parallel with Crawford: they were both hard adoptive mothers. Interesting how little impact this had on Stanwyck's image. I've never read any full biographies on Stanwyck, and have come across only tidbits on her relationship with her son. I gather he despised her, and had virtually nothing to do with her past childhood. I imagine the lack of impact on Stanwyck is because he didn't (as far as I know) engage in resentful interviews or write a sordid tell-all.

Interesting - I didn't know that, not that I would have actively looked out for that kind of information.

I think also from my perspective - as someone in their 20's - the only reason I know about Joan Crawford and the discourse around her parenting is because of the pop culture around the Mommie Dearest film.

 

[Snarky Oracle!]

One other parallel with Crawford: they were both hard adoptive mothers. Interesting how little impact this had on Stanwyck's image. I've never read any full biographies on Stanwyck, and have come across only tidbits on her relationship with her son. I gather he despised her, and had virtually nothing to do with her past childhood. I imagine the lack of impact on Stanwyck is because he didn't (as far as I know) engage in resentful interviews or write a sordid tell-all.

I think he wound up selling child pornography. Stanwyck said that some children are "just born bad."

I'm more sympathetic to Missy than I am Crawford.

 

[Crimson]

I think he wound up selling child pornography.

Attempted to sell "lewd" books to teenagers. I have no idea what that means, exactly, but in 1960 some comic books would have been deemed "lewd".

Stanwyck said that some children are "just born bad."

Well that, honestly, is BS on her part. I suspect Joan would have said the same about Christopher and maybe Christina. Stanwyck adopted her son as an infant. Unless he was the Anti-Christ, he was the product of his upbringing, which seems to have been a combination of cold indifference and extreme discipline.

In any event, I just picked up A Life of Barbara Stanwyck and the author seems to have interviewed the son extensively. I'll see what he had to say.

 

[Crimson]

Well that book was 1,000 + pages and only covered to 1940!! I'm not sure Abraham Lincoln warrants a biography of that scope, let alone a movie star. I skimmed through it, but returned my digital copy because I doubt I would ever read it all.

Mostly, poor kid. Put up for adoption and ended up with an alcoholic, abusive father and ice cold mother. Seems like the adoption was a ill-conceived effort to save a faltering marriage, and then she had little interest in the kid. When he turned out disappointing to her expectations of a perfect child (he got chubby), she discarded him to military school and all-but eliminated him from her life. Minus the physical abuse, she seemed to share Joan's crackpot parenting approach; excessive discipline and a manic indulgence/deprivation (right up to taking away his gifts to send to an orphanage). So, Joan keep her crown as Hollywood's worst parent but Stanwyck seems a likely runner-up.

 

[ClassyCo]

It's fairly common knowledge that Earl Hamner Jr. originally approached Barbara Stanwyck to play Angela Channing on FALCON CREST, but she turned it down. The role ultimately went to Jane Wyman, a close personal of Barbara's. Apparently when Wyman later asked Hamner about Stanwyck being offered the role first, Hamner assured her it was merely a rumor.

FALCON CREST has a soft spot in my heart, even though I've never finished the show (I've finished the first three seasons, but I'm a lazy viewer). I wonder how the show would've played had Barbara been Angela.

What would've been different? How would Barbara have played Angela versus how Jane played her?

Could Barbara have guest starred on FALCON CREST, and if so, who would she have played?​

 

[Crimson]

Except for a clip here and there on YT, I haven't seen FALCON CREST since it went off the air; and even then I only watched it indifferently because it aired after DALLAS. That said, my recollections of the show may be hazy and unfair.

Sometimes shows develop and evolve around their stars, but I don't think FC did. Had Jane Wyman been known for playing that kind of teeth clenching bitch before? I don't think so. Since the show wasn't tailored to Wyman's previous image, I don't think it would have evolved differently with Stanwyck in the role.

 

[Crimson]

Stanwyck winning an Emmy for THE THORN BIRDS and turning her acceptance speech into a tribute to Ann-Margeret.

 

[Snarky Oracle!]

Except for a clip here and there on YT, I haven't seen FALCON CREST since it went off the air; and even then I only watched it indifferently because it aired after DALLAS. That said, my recollections of the show may be hazy and unfair.

Sometimes shows develop and evolve around their stars, but I don't think FC did. Had Jane Wyman been known for playing that kind of teeth clenching bitch before? I don't think so. Since the show wasn't tailored to Wyman's previous image, I don't think it would have evolved differently with Stanwyck in the role.

The first three seasons are great. Until, of course, they fired the show runner.

 

[Snarky Oracle!]

 

[Crimson]

Oh, I need to find more of this show. Better than Shelley Duvall!

 

[Crimson]

Curiously, Stanwyck turned up in a dream I had the other night. We were trapped in an elevator on a sinking ship (talk about a double whammy!) I assume my brain conflated Olivia's LADY IN A CAGE with Stanwyck's TITANIC, despite never seeing either of them. She was screaming a lot, which annoyed me more than being trapped in an elevator on a sinking ship. And then I woke up.

 

[Toni]

Stanwyck playing Angela Channing would have been less black-humored and cynical. I always thought that Ms. Wyman took the show as a black comedy and she did the best to make her understandable. Stanwyck as Angela probably would have been more sexually active and more subtle. IMHO, of course.

"Oh Peter darling, would you please loan me a few millions?
Pleeeease! I´ll let you try my wig..."​

 

[ClassyCo]

Curiously, Stanwyck turned up in a dream I had the other night. We were trapped in an elevator on a sinking ship (talk about a double whammy!) I assume my brain conflated Olivia's LADY IN A CAGE with Stanwyck's TITANIC, despite never seeing either of them. She was screaming a lot, which annoyed me more than being trapped in an elevator on a sinking ship. And then I woke up.

That's quite an interesting dream.​

 

[Toni]

I dreamed last week that I met Joan Collins in a kind of Film Festival and convinced her to give me an interview, so there I went. But she didn´t want me to record it and that ended badly. My first thought was, how am I going to tell the chat friends that I interviewed Ms. Collins but I have no proof of it. I even gifted her a bouquet of flowers (from Miss Piggy!). Life is sad. This only used to happen with VP. Now also with JC.

At least I could recognize her because she wore no mask...​

 

[Jock's Ghost]

Way better than Crawford. She aged so gracefully. even gave that turd, THE COLBYS some much needed heft and dignity.