Dorothy Manners Tells All...
My Memories of Joan Crawford

She scrubbed the kitchen floors of her luxurious homes because, "It's good for the figure," but she would never even walk to the nearest corner...

If she hadn't been a great movie star she would have been a great press agent. Knew all the angles. During her marriage to Franchot Tone I told her I was using the "angle" of how well their marriage was succeeding despite the difference in their backgrounds -- he from a wealthy family with a college education, she from an orphanage and sixth grade education. I said it was remarkable people from such different worlds were hitting it off so well.

"I've got a newer angle for you, Dorothy," said Joan, "I'm divorcing Franchot."...

Although she looked as slim as a reed and was the envy of professional models, she never weighed less than 140 pounds. Her bones were as big as a man's...

Her feelings for her friends were deeply sentimental. In the years I knew her she never failed to write a handwritten note on my birthday or at Christmas, and did this for all her pals. To those she disliked, she was coldly unforgiving...

I think she was the healthiest female I have ever known. Never had colds or even headaches. Which makes her tragic death by heart failure even more shocking to her intimates...

She loved white, hated blue -- "They named 'the blues' after it."

The last time I saw her she cooked me a Mexican "brunch" at her apartment in New York. It was raining buckets outside -- a day for talking and musings. She said, "I feel sorry for today's stars. They've never learned to enjoy their fame. To them, it is dross. To me it was solid gold all the way."

She was a Great Star. A Great Woman.