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The Homes of the Stars

NEW MOVIE Takes You Upon a Personal Visit to the
Brentwood Home of Doug Fairbanks Jr., and Joan Crawford

Originally appeared in New Movie magazine, December 1931


Beginning this month NEW MOVIE is taking its readers into the Beverly Hills and Hollywood homes of the movie stars, showing you exactly how your favorites live. Detailed ground plans of the estates and the various floors of the houses will be shown, presenting the exact arrangement of furnishings. With the aid of this series, you can re-arrange and refurnish your home to match that of your favorite player.

If you wish to study the details of your idol's home, write a letter to us, naming the home you wish to see and giving your own name and address. Address your letter to The Homes of the Stars Editor, NEW MOVIE, 55 Fifth Avenue, New York.

 
Above is a ground plan of the Brentwood home of Joan Crawford and Doug Fairbanks Jr., showing the first floor rooms. A is the patio, B is the living room, C is the breakfast room, D is the kitchen, E is the dining room, F is the reception room, G is the play room and H is the library. The two players call their home "Cielito Lindo" or "Beautiful Little Heaven." The house is of Spanish architecture and the furnishings are Early American.

As part of her work as a motion picture star, Joan Crawford has appeared in luxurious home "sets" of every imaginable type of architecture, English, Early American, French, Italian, Spanish, Modernistic, etc. It is obvious, of course, that her own personal and private home, the fair Joan had chosen from all of these various styles with which she had become familiar.

Above, the play room, and right, the living room. The color scheme of the playroom is black and white. The draperies are of gaily patterned black and white and the waxed inlaid linoleum is in large black and white squares. The walls and beamed ceiling of the living room are finished dull white. The carpet is tan. The draperies are of brown glazed chintz and a flower design of tan, brown and red.

Pictures taken recently of the new Crawford-Fairbanks establishment, recently remodeled and redecorated, reveal in detail the taste of both Joan and her stellar husband, Douglas Fairbanks Jr.

Below, the exterior of the home of Doug and Joan . The house is white with a red tiled roof. Grilled doors, tiled borders, wrought iron balances and a gaily flowered patio feature the front of the house.
Below, right, is the spacious dining room. White walls set off the apple green rug. The table is Duncan Phyfe, the nine chairs being covered with a tan material, henna flowers and green leaves forming the design.

 

The "House of Joan and Doug" bears on its door plate the name "Cielito Lindo" which translated from the Spanish means "Beautiful Little Heaven." It is set far back in the exclusive Brentwood Park section, off a road that winds up into the green foothills. It is of Spanish architecture. Painted dull white with a red tile roof, grilled doorways, wrought iron stairways, tilted walks, patios, artistic balconies and arched doorways, it follows out the Early California motiff to the last detail.

Cool pepper trees and tall, sighing palms supply shade for the perfectly kept lawn which borders the front of the place. Bright colored zinnias, green hedges and creeping ivy add a note of color to the approach.

 
The floor plan of the second floor of Joan Crawford and Doug Fairbank's home. I is Miss Crawford's room, J is the guest room, and K is Doug's room.

There is a long, tiled, arched passageway running across the front of the house. One must pass through this before entering the patio that leads to the front door.

Patios, distinctive features of Spanish architecture, are spaces bounded by at least three walls of the house. In this patio in pleasant weather, the couple entertains at dinner under the stars, or they relax in private during long lazy afternoons. The garden spot of the Crawford menage is centered by an artistic fountain, a sculptured figure holding an urn of splashing water. Potted plants in wrought iron stands and a tiled wrought iron stairway that leads to the second floor complete this beautiful garden. Gay colored, irregularly shaped stepping stones lead a visitor's steps to the entrance.

The bedroom of Doug Jr., (show above) is marked by distinct simplicity. The wallpaper is of green and white, a latticed work design. The handsome bed, desk, chairs and valance over the windows are of dark brown glazed chintz, bound in natural chamois. The small cross-stich rug in front of the fireplace is the work of Joan herself. The guest room, shown below, is done in cool, neutral shades. The floor cover is a heavy beige Chinese rug with small designs in pastel shades. The four-poster and canopy are covered with a thin dotted voile, also beige in color, having a satin underspread.

 

On the door that leads into the reception hall is a knocker fashioned of two cupid's heads, lips entwined. It is symbolical of the happiness of the two young heads of this particular household.

There are sixteen rooms in all in "Cielito Lindo", twelve rooms and four baths. This includes, living room, dining room, breakfast room, den, play room, Miss Crawford's room, Mr Fairbanks' room, a guest room and the servant's quarters, over the garage.

The furnishings throughout the house are Early American. This influence is felt in the rare old prints, gay printed chintzes, Chippendale chairs, grandfather clocks, hooked rugs, Queen Anne chairs, maplewood beds, curio racks and old glass and pewter bric-a-brac.

The living room is quite large with a high carved fireplace almost covering one wall. A large green davenport and two chairs of glazed chintz matching the drapes, form a half-circle in front of the fireplace. A century-old secretary stands near one wall. Placid silk lamps, silhouette pictures, antique tables, frosted glass statuary, oil paintings, various chairs and huge vases of white lillies (favorites of Miss Crawford's while they are in season) are some of the features of the room.

The dining room contains a Duncan Phyfe dining table with nine original Phyfe chairs covered in glazed chintz of brown, henna and green that match the drapes.

The bedroom of Miss Crawford has a great bed canopied with hundreds of yards of antique rose taffeta.

Mr. Fairbanks' bedroom set is of genuine maplewood, with every window valanced in the same wood. Both bedrooms have a cedar-lined dressing room and are fitted with elaborately tiled showers.

One of the most original and attractive rooms in the house is the play room. It is daring in appearance, being completely furnished in black and white. The floor is of black and white linoleum. Low, comfortable love seats, a baby grand piano, a modernistic davenport, a twenty-four record playing victrola, a radio, all the latest novels, card tables, these and other facilities for recreation are included in this unusual and charming room.

The stairway that leads to the second floor is an inside one. On either wall, folowing the steps right up to the top, are black and white framed etchings of the same size -- hanging diagonally on the wall.

The rear garden is laid out in lawn and flower beds, with a surrounding hedge. Bright awnings, striped hammocks and chairs, a portable sunbath house and a fish pond complete the back yard arrangements.

After a hard day at the studio, working on air-tight stages, under withering lights, Joan Crawford and Douglas Fairbanks Jr., find coming home to "Cielito Lindo" is all that the name implies.

 

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