Joan Crawford Encyclopedia: R

Rain. United Artists, 1932. Directed by Lewis Milestone, 92 minutes. Joan reprises the "Sadie Thompson" prostitute role made famous on Broadway in 1922 by Jeanne Eagels. Walter Huston co-stars as the bedeviled preacher. Joan disliked herself in this, as did the critics and the public of the time. Today's critics and audience, though, seem to have found a greater appreciation for Joan's intense, raw performance.

...I hope they burn every print of this turkey that's in existence. It was simply awful. I don't understand how a writer like Maxwell Anderson could have turned out such a ghastly script and how Lewis Milestone could have directed it so badly. I don't understand, to this day, how I could have given such an unpardonable bad performance. All my fault, too--Milestone's direction was so feeble I took the bull by the horns and did my own Sadie Thompson. I was wrong every scene of the way.

I was haunted by my inferiority to famous Sadie Thompsons of the past, Jeanne Eagels, who created the part on the stage, and Gloria Swanson, who appeared in the early silent-film version. I hadn't seen them, but they were constantly held up to me by my co-workers. Mr. Joe Schenck [film's producer] thought I was worried unnecessarily, he told me to listen to my director, but Lewis Milestone frightened me. I wasn't wise enough about acting to understand how brilliant a man this was or how talented a director. He had worked out blueprints for every scene, precisely what I was to do and how to do it; but to me, no actress worthy of the name could be a puppet in anyone's hands. I was no Method actress, I was an emotional one---in Rain, far too emotional. All you have to do is check the excellent pictures Mr. Milestone has made to see who was right. I was wrong.

There were critics who praised my Sadie, called her "florid and fraught with all the passions that made Sadie what she was," but most reviews were written in acid and I grieved over them. I grieved over the letters that poured in from fans hating my mouth makeup. It was broad, it was bold and blatant, that's the kind of woman I thought Sadie was, but I hadn't the vaguest idea what she was like inside. I didn't even know then that you could work from the interior to the exterior. I was still working from the exterior. My fans wouldn't accept her. They would accept me as Letty Lynton who was just as vulgar, but she had style. Cheapness and vulgarity they would not accept. Oh, who am I kidding, I just gave a lousy performance!

Rainbow Room. On September 23, 1974, Joan made her last official public appearance at NYC's Rainbow Room, as hostess of a party for Rosalind Russell, who was appearing in the latest of publicist John Springer's "Legendary Ladies of the Movies" series. (Joan herself had already appeared as part of the series in April 1973.)

Located on the 65th floor of 30 Rockefeller Plaza in Midtown Manhattan, the Rainbow Room opened in 1934. It was declared a landmark in 2012 by the NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission.

Rambeau, Marjorie. (7/15/1889 - 7/6/1970) Rambeau began acting on the stage at age 12 and was a Broadway star in the 1910s and '20s. She began making films in 1917 and had a long and varied career as a character actress that lasted until 1957. She appeared as Joan's showgirl buddy in 1931's Laughing Sinners and then as Joan's mother in '53's Torch Song; she was nominated for an Oscar for the latter role. (She was also set to play the mother in '31's This Modern Age, but became ill and was replaced by Pauline Frederick. Joan's hair was dyed blonde in Modern Age specifically to further the resemblance with Rambeau.)

Some of Joan's favorites, in the chronological order of their appearance in magazines/books/etc.

Poached Salmon with Mayonnaise-Mustard Sauce (unknown original year and source)

From a 1928 Photoplay article entitled, "Soup, Salad and Dessert: They Make or Mar the Meal." Joan contributes recipes for French Banana Salad and Lemon Pie. (Not pictured here from the same page is Eddie Cantor's recipe for "Matzos Kloese.")

Click on link for a Photoplay article (Oct. 1935) that also includes "one of Joan's favorite menus for a small dinner party," with recipes for a Fruit Appetizer, Almond Soup, Roast Squab, Wild Rice, Green Peas, and Crepes Suzette.

From an unknown magazine in the mid-1930s with a recipe for Joan's Charcoal Broiled Steak and an accompanying sauce. (Click on the picture to read.) Thanks to Shane for sending this one.

An insert with "Favorite"-brand bread, circa 1951, for French Chocolate Balls.

The Stars in the Kitchen (1953) cookbook includes this recipe for Joan Crawford's Cheese and Bean Casserole:

Melt in a chafing dish 4 large cups grated American cheese. Stir until melted. Add 5 large cans of kidney beans, already heated, and 1 cup of diced peppers, fresh and uncooked. Add tabasco to taste. Serve extremely hot.

From the November 1, 1965, issue of Vogue ("Joan Crawford--A Second Fame: Good Food"). Click here or on photo to read first page of article.

Joan Crawford’s Pork Chops with Red Onions and Apple Rings for four to six
6 loin pork chops, one inch thick
¼ pound margarine or butter
2 large Italian red onions, sliced
1 cup flour
Lawry’s Seasoned Salt

Salt chops on both sides. Dip lightly in flour. Place chops in ¼ pound melted butter or margarine in skillet. Add sliced onions and cook till golden. When onions are cooked, place on top of chops. Brown chops on one side, then turn, replacing onions on the top side. Place chops in skillet in preheated 250° oven. Cover. Cook 15 minutes. Then reduce oven heat to 200° and bake for an additional 25 minutes. Top each chop with 2 fried apple rings.

Joan Crawford’s Fried Apple Rings
4 green apples
¼ pound margarine or butter
Lemon juice
Cinnamon
Nutmeg
Brown sugar

Core and slice apples into thick rings, but do not peel. Sprinkle with lemon juice. Heat margarine or butter in skillet. Fry apples first on one side, then the other, until brown but not mushy. This is a matter of a very few minutes. While frying, sprinkle top sides of apples with cinnamon, nutmeg, and brown sugar to taste. Keep warm until all are done.

Joan Crawford’s Boiled Beef
6 large pieces of flank beef
2 dozen white boiling onions, peeled
2 bunches of celery
2 bunches of carrots, peeled
4 parsnips, peeled
Lawry’s Seasoned Salt
Kosher salt
Black pepper

Cover one side of beef with Lawry’s Seasoned Salt and marinate for ½ hour. Turn beef on other side, cover with Lawry’s Seasoned Salt, marinate for ½ hour. Put beef in heavy stew pot and cover with water. Put on slow fire. Bring to a boil. Skim. Boil for 1½ hours. Add 3 cups of water, and onions, celery, carrots, parsnips, not cut up. Season with kosher salt and black pepper, to taste. Boil for ½ hour.

Serve in hot soup plates, with additional coarse salt and sauce of sour cream, horseradish, and lemon.

Joan Crawford’s Kidney Bean Salad
2 cans kidney beans
1 large purple onion, chopped finely
2 large green peppers, chopped finely
1 heart celery, chopped finely
4 small hot red peppers, chopped finely
1 cup cider vinegar
Tabasco to taste
Kosher salt and black pepper

Do not drain the beans; pour them in a bowl with the finely chopped vegetables. (Discard the seeds from the large green peppers, but not from the hot red peppers.) Add the seasoning, mix well, and let stand at least 8 hours in the refrigerator before serving.

Joan Crawford’s Spinach Salad for four to six
6 cups fresh, young spinach leaves
1 pound bacon
1 cup cider vinegar
Salt and freshly ground pepper

Wash the spinach and place in the refrigerator until crisp. Do not cut leaves. Fry the bacon; drain on stove on paper towels. Save a thin layer of grease in skillet, add 1 cup cider vinegar, warm a second, then pour, hot, on the spinach; season. Break the bacon in small bits and sprinkle on top of the salad. Serve while warm. This can also be made with shredded lettuce or, as in France, with young, tender dandelion greens.

The Frito-Lay company issued a cookbook in 1968 called Betcha can't eat just one... that included a recipe for Joan Crawford Dip:

2 (3 oz. each) pkgs. cream cheese
2 tbsps. milk
1/2 cup sour cream
1 twin-pack FRITOS Horseradish Dip Mix
1 twin-pack FRITOS Green Onion Dip Mix
2 tbsps. lemon juice (1/2 lemon)

Soften cream cheese with milk; add sour cream and mix well. Add remaining ingredients and let stand 30 minutes. Serve with FRITOS King-Size corn chips or LAY'S potato chips.

Joan Crawford's Potato Salad. From a 1970 issue of Modern Screen. Click here or on below photo to see full 1-page article that accompanies the recipe.

Meat Loaf: I use two pounds of ground sirloin, a pound of ground veal, and a pound of sausage meat...thoroughly mixed with three eggs, a bottle of A-1, a good lacing of Worcestershire, a lot of seasoned salt, and finely chopped purple onion and green peppers. I hide four hard-boiled eggs inside the loaf and before it goes into the oven I dribble over more A-1 and Worcestershire and seasoned salt so that a crust will form.

My note: I found the below, more exact, meatloaf instructions in 2011 from an online cooking blog, which said the recipe from Joan initially appeared in the Motion Picture Country Home charity cookbook (year not given):

Your shopping list will consist of 2 pounds of ground sirloin, 1 pound of pork sausage, 1 pound of ground veal, eggs, 1 large Bermuda onion, 2 green bell peppers, A1 Steak Sauce, Worcestershire sauce, and Lawry's seasoned salt.

Chop onion and bell peppers into fine pieces. Hard-boil four eggs. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Combine the meats, 3 raw eggs, onion, green peppers, 1 tablespoon of Lawry's seasoned salt, 1 tablespoon of Worcestershire sauce, and 1 teaspoon of A1. Mix well and shape into a loaf in a large, shallow pan. Peel the hard-boiled eggs and gently place them into the loaf. Sprinkle with 2 tablespoons of Lawry's seasoned salt, 2 tablespoons of Worcestershire sauce, and 2 teaspoons of A1, creating a crust on top of the loaf. Pour 1 cup of water in the pan (not over the loaf) and bake for 30 minutes. Reduce oven temperature to 300 and cook 30 more minutes. Reduce oven temperature to 250 and cook another 45 minutes to 1 hour.

Wilted Spinach Salad: I pour hot bacon grease and vinegar over the spinach leaves until they sag, and then sprinkle crisp bacon on top. You can do this with lettuce or dandelion greens, too.

Salad (best served with fried chicken or baked ham): ...made with kidney beans, purple onions, green peppers, celery, and hot red peppers--all chopped very fine and tossed with vinegar, Tabasco, kosher salt, and black pepper. It should be refrigerated overnight to marinade...

Coleslaw: I must brag...that I'm famous among a small group of regulars for my coleslaw. The basic ingredients are shaved cabbage, green peppers, finely chopped pimiento, and pineapple. Over this goes a dressing of mayonnaise, a liberal amount of both dry mustard and prepared mustard, the juice of six lemons, olive oil, cider vinegar, hot peppers, and a magic mixture of spices and herbs that I buy from a restaurant in Hollywood, the Cock 'n Bull.

Codfish Cakes and Creamed Egg Sauce, from a 9/13/71 letter to Mrs. John E. Hammond for inclusion in Hammond's cookbook. Says Joan in the letter: "It is divine for Sunday brunches."

Joan Crawford's Poached Salmon with Mayonnaise-Mustard Sauce

Note: I found this recipe in 2011 from a 2007 cooking blog that said the source was "Philip Potempa - cooking section local paper." The same recipe appears, with different wording, in the 2011 book The Dead Celebrity Cookbook, which doesn't give an original year or source.

For Salmon:

3 pounds fresh salmon

3 lemons

6 cups water

10 peeled pearl onions

1/2 stalk celery, including leaves, chopped

2 sprigs fresh parsley

3 small bay leaves

12 crushed peppercorns

1 teaspoon salt

Cheesecloth

Sauce:

2 cups mayonnaise

4 teaspoons prepared mustard

1/4 cup fresh lemon juice

Garnish:

1 lemon, cut in wedges

Fresh cut parsley

Field lettuce leaves or watercress

Quartered hard-cooked eggs

DIRECTIONS: To prepare salmon, place lemon slices around salmon and in cavity. Wrap fish in double layer of cheesecloth, secured with string. Set aside. Place water, onions, celery, parsley, bay leaves, peppercorns and salt in a large pot and bring to a simmer for 30 minutes. Place fish in water and simmer slowly for 40 minutes covered, using a rack or heat safe small bowl so fish is not entirely under water. Remove fish to cool slightly. Prepare sauce by combining all ingredients. Arrange salmon on a chilled platter on a bed of lettuce or watercress, surrounded by remaining garnishes if desired. Serve with sauce. Makes 8 servings.

Religion. (See also Christian Science.) Joan made it known that she preferred not to discuss religion or politics. But in CWJC, she says:

I believe in God, but I don't think He cares a hell of a lot about whether a person is a Catholic, Protestant, Jew, or Moslem, as long as that person has a record rolled up that includes more good marks than bad ones. I think Roz Russell is the best example of a practicing believer; her Catholicism is very strong, but she doesn't impose it on others. Not like Loretta Young and Irene Dunne; those ladies seem to be rehearsing to play the next Virgin Mary. I think faith is wonderful, but when you try to impose it on others, it's irritating and boring. Like those Hari Krishna asses with their shaved heads and funny gowns, or so many of the cults that have come along in the last few years. Have faith, but don't become a hooker, is about all I can say....

...part of me believes in Predestination--you know, someone up there is pulling the strings, whatever will be will be. Yet I know this isn't true because I can look back and realize how many times a decision was totally in my hands; I had to make a choice and nobody Up There was telling me what to do. Besides, I don't think that someone Up There has time to make all our nit-picking decisions for us....We all have regrets--I can't imagine even Hitler without them...But when you consider time and place and circumstance...could any of us have done differently? I guess that's where Predestination comes in. At the time we can only do what we are capable of doing.

Reti, Rosa. In New York, Joan's "hair expert and authority on most things pertaining to beauty" since Joan moved there in 1955. Reti recommends mayonnaise as a facial masque. (MWOL)

Reunion in France. MGM, 1942. Directed by Jules Dassin, 102 minutes. Joan stars as non-Nazi-aware French gadabout "Michele de la Becque" (a character name that surely rivals "Priscilla Crowninshield" and "Lorna Hansen Forbes"...). John Wayne co-stars (in their only film together) as a downed American pilot whom she befriends.

...oh, God. If there is an afterlife, and I am to be punished for my sins, this is one of the pictures they'll make me see over and over again. John Wayne and I both went down for the count, not just because of a silly script, but because we were so mismatched. Get John out of the saddle and you've got trouble. At least I had a nice collection of gowns to wear. (Seriously, by this time I think a bad script intimidated me to the point where I just surrendered. The fight was gone; I let personal problems override professional judgment, and I just swam with the tide. That's a terrible thing to say, but it's true, and now I regret it. I had enough clout to fight back and I didn't do it.)

Revlon's Mirror Theater. Joan appeared on this TV program on 9/19/53 in an episode called "Because I Love Him." See the TV page for a photo and more info.

Robert, Lucerne. Painter of the cover of Joan's 1962 autobiography, Portrait of Joan. See the ART: Robert page of this site for more info.

Robertson, Cliff. (9/9/1923 - 9/10/2011) Joan's co-star in Autumn Leaves, perhaps best known for his Oscar-winning performance in 1968's Charly. Leaves was his second credited role and his first co-starring role.

Says Joan in Conversations with Joan Crawford of their relationship during the filming of Leaves in 1956: It was an intense and happy working relationship. He's a fine man, and I think he came into his own as an actor on that picture. He had an amazing capacity to learn, a sort of eagerness that's almost out of style now.

Click here to read a 19-page excerpt about Joan from Robertson's unpublished autobiography.

Joan attended this 14-room boarding school as a scholarship/working student for 3 years, from approximately 1919 to 1922.
Click here to see 8 more Rockingham shots (2006-2007), by John Linville.

Click here to see 5 Rockingham shots after 2015 renovations by Eddie Tapper.

In October 2022, Kansas City included this property on its biennial Hyde Park Historic Homes Tour: Hyde Park KC website and EventBrite page (links good as of Sept/Oct 2022).

Rolling Stones, The. The inner cover of the band's 1972 album "Exile on Main Street" features a 1956 Robert Frank photo of a Sudden Fear movie display.

Exile‘s cover develops a further black and white connection: with the murky world of film noir. On the inner sleeve, in a movie theater lobby, a poster of Joan Crawford in a terror-stricken pose is surrounded by stills from classic noir films. Framing this centerpiece are repeated images of the lyrics: “I gave you the diamonds / You gave me disease”. Signature noir themes of alienation, greed, betrayal, revenge and the search for truth in an untrustworthy reality are echoed throughout the Robert Frank cover photography. --- from Michael Stephens' review on popmatters.com

Romanoff's. Hollywood eatery frequented by Joan, owned by her friend "Prince" Mike Romanoff.

Rose-Marie. MGM silent, 1928. Directed by Lucien Hubbard, 70 minutes. Joan plays a French-Canadian mountain gal who must fend off the advances of various men while remaining true to her soldier-of-fortune love (James Murray). The movie was based on a stage operetta that opened 9/2/24 in NYC and ran for 557 performances. It was remade in 1936 with Jeanette MacDonald and Nelson Eddy and again in 1954 with Ann Blyth and Howard Keel, though here it's done as a drama. Says Joan in CWJC: ...surprisingly good without the music, and I felt uneasy as a French Canadian, but the critics didn't notice.

Rosenquist, James (11/29/33 - 3/31/17). American Pop Art forerunner who painted "Untitled (Joan Crawford Says)" in 1964. Click photo at left (Rosenquist with the painting in France, 2001) to see a larger photo plus the artwork on display at international galleries in the 2000s.

Ross, Lillian. (6/08/1918 - 9/20/2017) Journalist on the staff of The New Yorker for seven decades. Her 1961 book The Player: A Profile of an Art includes 7 pages of Joan in her own words, based on Ross interviews.

Russell, Rosalind (6/4/07 - 11/28/76). Renowned stage and screen actress, perhaps best known for her role in Auntie Mame (1958). She co-starred with Joan in '34's Forsaking All Others and '39's The Women.

Joan made her final public appearance when she hosted a "Legendary Ladies of the Movies" party for Russell at NYC's Rainbow Room on September 23, 1974. (Part of the John Springer Town Hall series; Joan had appeared in April 1973.)

When Joan saw the press photos taken that evening, she said, "If that's the way I look, I won't be seen anymore." (Joan Crawford Biography)