Joan Crawford: The Best of Everything

Letty hasn't been seen on the big screen or via any other media (except for rough bootleg copies) for the past 90 years because in 1936, MGM lost a lawsuit:

The 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals determined then that the studio had indeed plagiarized the 1930 play Dishonored Lady (while MGM claimed that their 1932 Letty Lynton film was based on a 1931 novel of the same name).

US copyright law says that a work published between 1923 and 1977 cannot enter public domain until 95 years after its publication: The 1930 play's 95 years was up in 2025!

So here we have it! :) And because a featured guest of this TCM event is George Feltenstein, who's been instrumental in Warner Archive Collection releases and is Warner Bros. Discovery Library Historian, it's not too crazy to posit that Letty will be released soon on DVD/Blu-ray!

TCM Film Fest "Letty" page. Full text of 1936 court decision.

This site's "Letty Lynton" page.

While the above is the SUPER-BIG news of, literally, The Century for Joan fans,

there are also a lot of other interesting Joan events upcoming!

May 1: Autumn Leaves -- Los Angeles: Aside from its huge Letty Lynton premiere, the TCM Classic Film Fest is also featuring a 70th-anniversary showing of Autumn Leaves earlier on the same day!

May 9: The Damned Don't Cry -- Palm Springs: The Arthur Lyons Noir Film Festival screening features a personal appearance / book signing by recent JC bio author Scott Eyman.

May 26: Possessed ('31) -- Blu-ray release by Warner Archive Collection.

4/26/26

PHOTOS:

1930: Montana Moon -- A film still with Johnny Mack Brown (includes press caption).

1931: Dance, Fools, Dance -- A film still with William Bakewell.

1932: Letty Lynton -- New film still (with Robert Montgomery); bigger replacement still (with Nils Asther); and bigger replacement publicity shot by Hurrell.

FILMS: Letty Lynton -- An MGM publicity photo montage featuring Adrian, his sketch for the black/white Letty dress, and Joan in dress.

ENCYCLOPEDIA: R --- Updated the Recipes entry, with a new 1931 recipe for two salads from the book Fashions in Foods in Beverly Hills.

4/22/26

BOOKS/JOAN MOVIES: New photos for the novelization of 1928's Dream of Love, including intro to book by MGM publicist Howard Dietz.

MAGAZINES: A 1929 cover from Brazil's A Scena Muda.

PHOTOS: 1927: A film still from Twelve Miles Out with John Gilbert.

4/20/26

ENCYCLOPEDIA: M -- Updated the Memorial Services entry, and updated the accompanying page to include photos of the Beverly Hills program.

LETTERS: 1973 to designer Nolan Miller. (Handwritten, Pepsi stationery; includes color costume sketch.)

4/16/26

CELEB LETTERS TO JOAN:

1967 handwritten card (pp. 1 and 4 of 4) from first husband Doug Fairbanks, Jr., re the recent death of his mother.

PHOTOS:

1956: With Laurence Olivier at the Berlin International Film Festival.

1962: At a signing event for her autobiography Portrait of Joan.

1967: At the NYC premiere of The Taming of the Shrew.

FILMS: Queen Bee -- A UK trade ad.

4/14/26

LETTERS:

1952:

Two to a fan RE where to sell the fan's original song (May and August).

Thanks to a journalist from the Cleveland Plain Dealer.

Christmas letter to long-time fan (signed by all four of Joan's kids).

1953: To B-movie producer Bill Thomas (of Pine-Thomas Productions) RE Torch Song.

1954: To a long-time fan RE the bad weather and various films.

4/12/26

FILMS:

A Woman's Face -- A 1954 US re-release poster and US re-release playbill.

Reunion in France -- 5 US lobby cards.

Mildred Pierce -- 3 French movie posters; 2 UK trade ads; and a 1972 newspaper ad for a TV showing in NYC.

Humoresque -- 2 UK trade ads; and an Italian Fotobusta lobby card.

4/06/26

PHOTOS:

1933:

Publicity for Today We Live (shot by Clarence Sinclair Bull).

MGM publicity with Franchot Tone (shot by Hurrell).

Candid at the Stork Club with Tone and Helen Hayes.

1934:

Forsaking All Others -- Film stills: With Clark Gable; and with Robert Montgomery.

Rehearsing for an NBC Radio broadcast promoting Sadie McKee.

1935: Publicity for No More Ladies with Montgomery (shot by Hurrell).

4/04/26

FILMS: West Point --- Thanks to Michael Lia for his new film review!

MAGAZINES: Thanks to Ramon for sharing these new Joan covers (and for pointing out that Cinefilo is from Portugal, not Brazil---I've now made that correction):

al Kawakeb (1934, Egypt)

Cinearte (1938, Brazil)

3/29/26

PHOTOS:

1929: Publicity for Our Modern Maidens with Anita Page (shot by Ruth Harriet Louise).

1930: Publicity for Montana Moon (shot by Hurrell).

1931:

Publicity by Hurrell.

A film still from This Modern Age with Pauline Frederick.

3/27/26

FILMS: And here is Michael Lia's new review for 1927's Spring Fever! (If you have your own review of any Joan film to share on this site, please send it in!)

PHOTOS:

1926: A film still from Paris, with Charles Ray.

1928:

A film still from Rose-Marie, with James Murray.

A film still from The Law of the Range, with Rex Lease.

(Hollywood stardom, and its aftermath, are tough---see their Wikipedia entries for whatever happened to early leading men Ray, Murray, and Lease.)

The Best of Everything