MM@M: Joan Crawford, Caterpillar Woman

Mad Men at the Movies: Discussing movies referenced in the '60s set series. Previously: Gidget, The Wizard of Oz, Lady Chatterley's Lover and Natalie Wood.

1.6 "Babylon"
Don Draper relaxes in bed with his wife's book "The Best of Everything". She joins him.

Don Draper: [sarcastically] This is fascinating.
Betty Draper: It's better than the Hollywood version.
Don: Certainly dirtier.
Betty: Joan Crawford is not what she was. And honestly, I found her eyebrows completely unnerving, like a couple of caterpillar's just pasted there. Her standing next to Suzy Parker... as if they were the same species.
Don: Well, some men like eyebrows. And all men like Joan Crawford. Salvatore couldn't stop talking about her.

<--- Crawford and her offending eyebrows as a bitchy editor in The Best of Everything (1959).

Like the Gidget reference, this last line is another wink to modern audience that Salvatore, Don's co-worker, is gay. These days who loves Joan Crawford more than the gays? Of course back in the day straight men loved the larger than life actresses, too. Movie culture wasn't always so focused on the preferences of teenage boys.

Betty: To think, one of the great beauties and there she is... so old. I'd just like to disappear at that point. It makes perfect sense.
Don: [gently joking] I promise Betts, first sign of crow's feet and I'll put you on an ice flow. Or would you prefer to be my girl in the iron mask?
Betty: My mother was at least two years older than whatever Joan Crawford says she is and she was still very fetching.

Out of context this scene might read like another attack on one of Hollywood's most durable punching bags. In context it's a rather incisive peak at Betty's ample phobias and beauty fascism.

As per usual the research team on Mad Men deserve enormous kudos. This is a brilliant, but not obvious, choice of films. It allows us to see Betty's class entitlement issues all entangled with her other neurosis. Note that Betty approves of Suzy Parker, the supermodel-turned-actress who was the epitome of high end glamour when Betty herself would have been at an impressionable age. Crawford had peaked before Betty was a teenager. Though certainly glamourous, the movie star never read as "high class", often playing self-made women or social-climbing working girls. No wonder Crawford unnerves Betty. She pushes all of her buttons.


The Best of Everything opened in the fall of 1959, several months before this episode takes place. It was another in director Jean Negulesco's parade of colorful films about trios of working girls. His previous efforts included the wonderful How to Marry a Millionaire and the Best Picture nominee Three Coins in the Fountain (previous post).

further reading
a fun article on the fashions in The Best of Everything
Basket of Kisses the great Mad Men fansite

other references in this episode
Cinema: Paul Newman in the (upcoming) movie version of Exodus and a brief visual reminder of The Red Balloon. Books: The Best of Everything, The Bible, Exodus Celebrities: Dick Van Dyke, Mary Martin and Brigitte Bardot. Politics: Fidel Castro and Nikita Krushchev.
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The Best of Everything

Posted by Thombeau of FABULON.

"You and your rabbit-faced wife can go to hell!" exclaims a pissed-off Joan Crawford, in just one of the many precious moments this big-screen soap has to offer. As publishing executive Amanda Farrow, Joan steals the show in what was her first supporting role since becoming a star. And what a show it is!

The Best of Everything, from 1959, is one of the last "three chicks seeking dicks" flicks, a genre that came crashing to an end with Valley of the Dolls. Both movies were based on popular and trashy novels, yet whereas the latter film is nothing but trash, Best of Everything maintains the decorum that the 1950s demanded. That said, it must have been considered rather daring back in the day.


Director Jean Negulesco never reaches the melodramatic heights that Douglas Sirk specialized in; there's little symbolism and no arty pretensions. Direction and screenplay are straightforward and without subtlety. Any nuances are provided by the large and able cast. The under-rated Hope Lange grows from simple secretary to cold, calculating career woman; Diane Baker is perfectly cast as a naive, small-town girl who learns some hard lessons; and the fabulous Suzy Parker adds a touch of glamour and psychosis that is a joy to watch. Of the men, gorgeous Stephen Boyd charms as a dreamy alcoholic; even more gorgeous Louis Jourdan is, well, Louis Jourdan; and Robert Evans, in his last onscreen role, plays a smooth and heartless cad. Then there is La Crawford, who is simultaneously hurtful and hurt.

Very much of its day, The Best of Everything is a perfect time capsule, capturing mid-century American ideals before they all imploded. The themes, sets and costumes, acting styles, even the smarmy title song (crooned by Johnny Mathis) make this all one could want in a fifties movie. Whether taken on its own terms, or enjoyed strictly for camp value, in many ways it really is the best of everything.

Sorry, I couldn't resist.


(See related post here. The entire film can be seen here)

3 Coins

So, my stack of Netflix and Classic Flicks began to weigh so heavily on my television last night that I figured it was finally time to get through them. Why pay $40 a month for subscription services unless I actually start watching DVDs?

I started with Three Coins in the Fountain(1954), part of my ongoing project to give out retrospective awards. You may be like "what project?" but that's because so far it's unposted and private. I started with 1954 on a whim and have seen a lot of interesting time-capsule appropriate stuff. Sometimes these days I'll wake up and feel like Dwight D Eisenhower is still president, McCarthyism is in full swing, Our Miss Brooks is on television, and shoulderpads with fullskirts are appropriate daywear for the office.

Three Coins is one of those 50s comedies about husband hunting. You know the type: Think How to Marry a Millionaire which had the same director, Jean Negulesco. Unfortunately for this travelogue-style picture (top tourist attractions in Rome and Venice are pimped throughout) the starpower here is much dimmer than in that earlier picture, making Fountain more of a curiousity than a must-see.

Beyond the hokey but hugely popular theme song, and it's popularity-pushed Best Picture nomination, there are things to recommend the picture. Dorothy McGuire and Clifton Webb as the oldest of the lovebird couples make the most of their screentime even though their story doesn't kick in until 1/2 way through the picture. There's eye-candy galore in the pretty vistas and as was and still is their habit the Academy went for the lush landscapes to the tune of a cinematography Oscar. The dresses (costume design by Dorothy Jeakins) are also beautiful.

Finally, there's surprisingly hot (hey, for 54 it's steamy) mashing between Jean Peters and Rossano Brazzi as initially unfortunate office lovers. Jean Peters would later marry the infamous Howard Hughes (about 10 years after the events told in last year's The Aviator). Rossano Brazzi is even prettier. In 1954 he also played Ava Gardner's true love match in The Barefoot Contessa and a few years later he played his most memorable role, the lead in South Pacific.

I always find it fascinating to note which pictures struck the public's fancy in which era and if this romantic comedy is any indication, 1950s audience dug corny theme songs, considered European travel glamorous, were hypocritical about sex, and loved the idea of rich and successful men saving working women.