Showpeople: when Joan met Greg, Sophia and Max; and when Margaret met Harry ...

My 400th post! So here is another look at that great photo of the 1962 Oscar winners, with as was the custom, the previous year's winners, plus a great Margaret Sullavan anecdote, which I have to thank my pal Daryl for!



I wrote a while back about Loren and Peck presenting each other with Oscars - here again is that great shot of Joan Crawford graciously sharing their limelight! You have to hand it to Joan! No wonder Bette was left seething with rage in the wings!



The 1961 winners (Maximilian Schell and Loren) as was the custom presented the 1962 best actor and actress awards. Bette was nominated for WHATEVER HAPPENED TO BABY JANE? but Joan (who hadnn't been nominated for their little film) had volunteered to accept the best actress award on behalf of any nominee who could not be present. Peck got his from Sophia and Max announced that Anne Bancroft had won as best actress, but Anne was not there so Joan swept past Bette (they were both backstage) and (as legend has it, said "excuse me, I have an Oscar to collect") graciously accepted the award on Anne's behalf and she (looking terrific by the way) got to pose with the other winners! [that is Max next to Joan - looking like her hot date for the night]. So there was Bette empty-handed while Joan posed clutching an Oscar (so what if it was not hers) with Greg and Sophia and Schell basking in the publicity! Things were even less cordial between Joan and Bette after that !



And the Margaret Sullavan story? Margaret was one of the great stars of the '30s and '40s (as noted previously, at label). When she made NO SAD SONGS FOR ME at Columbia in 1950 (which turned out to be her last film), there is the story that she had a meeting with the head of the studio, the notoriously vulgar Harry Cohn. Cohn was supposed to have said to her, "Willie Wyler tells me you're really hot in bed," whereupon she stood up and walked to the door. But before she left, she reportedly said, "I don't believe Willie would have told you that, because he's a gentleman... but incidentally, I am!")



I am now taking a break for a week or so, as have family visitors staying so I expect to show them lots of London and various famous gardens! Back soon.