First Published: September 11, 2021
This is a book about the life of Joan Crawford, who was born in 1904. Her real name was Lucille Fay LeSueur. Her parents were Thomas and Anna Bell Lesueur.
Her father left the family, and her mother took her and her brotehr to Lawton, Oklahoma.
There Anna met Henry Cassin, who ran an opera house, and they married. He was an influence on her as Joan loved to see the performances. When Cassin was accused of embezzlement, the family moved to Kansas City, Missouri, and shortly afterwards Anna divorced him.
Joan's relationship with her mother was not easy, and Joan was sent to Rockingham Academy, a boarding school. When she left the scchool, she met Ray Sterling, who she started a relationship with. He persuaded her to go to Stephen's College in Columbia, Missouri, but she dropped out in the first semester.
Her first dancing job was with Katherine Emerine's travelling revue as part of the chorus girls, but the company disbanded after just a few weeks. So she ended up in Chicago where a talent scout, Ernie Young, got her a job in the nightclub Oriole Terrace. There she got the attention of JJ Shubert, a Broadway producer, and got her a part in the production 'Innocent Eyes'.
Jacob J. Shubert (August 29, 1879 – December 26, 1963) was an American theatre owner/operator and producer.
Innocent Eyes is a musical revue in two acts with music, Produced by brothers Jacob J. and Lee Shubert, the musical premiered at the Winter Garden Theatre on May 20, 1924, where it ran for 126 performances; closing on August 30, 1924. Innocent Eyes was directed by Frank Smithson and choreographed by Jack Mason and Francis Weldon. The musical was created as a starring vehicle for the French actress and singer Mistinguett who had achieved fame at the Moulin Rouge and Folies Bergère. Humiliated by bad reviews in the American press, she left the production early after just 31 performances. Fay Marbe replaced Mistinguett and received better reviews in the show. Joan Crawford, then known as Lucile Le Sueur, made her Broadway debut in this production as one of the chorus girls.
Harry Rapf from MGM saw Crawford perform and offered her a screen test. She went to Hollywood and a year later he got her first part in the film 'Lady of the Night'. She was an extra and the double of the actress Norma Shearer.
Harry Rapf (16 October 1880 in New York City– 6 February 1949 in Los Angeles), was an American film producer.
Lady of the Night is a 1925 American silent romantic drama film directed by Monta Bell. The film stars Norma Shearer in a dual role.
Edith Norma Shearer (August 11, 1902 – June 12, 1983) was a Canadian-American actress who was active on film from 1919 through 1942. Shearer often played spunky, sexually liberated women.
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