
With Love, Mommie Dearest
The Making of an Unintentional Camp Classic
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Narrated by:
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Kim Niemi
When she died in 1977, Joan Crawford was remembered as an icon of Hollywood's Golden Age—until publication the following year of her daughter's memoir, Mommie Dearest.
Christina Crawford's book was an immediate bestseller, addressing the infrequently discussed topic of child abuse.
When Paramount Pictures released the film, starring Faye Dunaway as Crawford, it was critically panned, and remains one of the most legendary critical bombs in film history. The lavish, big-screen adaptation drew unexpected laughter in the scenes depicting life in the Crawford household. Rarely have such good intentions been met with such ridicule.
Despite this, the movie was a commercial success and remains, four decades later, immensely popular. With Love, Mommie Dearest details the writing and selling of Christina's book and the aftermath of its publication, as well as the filming of the motion picture, whose backstage drama almost surpassed what was viewed onscreen in the film.
Based on new interviews with people connected to the book and the film, Hollywood historian A. Ashley Hoff explores the phenomenon, the camp, and the very real social issues addressed by the book and film.
©2024 A. Ashley Hoff; Foreword copyright 2024 by Bruce Vilanch (P)2024 TantorListeners also enjoyed...




















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But to the book. I'm at the perfect age to hear ALLLLL about the backstory of Mommy Dearest. One of the wackiest movies ever made, compelling, disturbing, hilarious, a guilty pleasure, a mixed bag of emotions and reactions, you won't be surprised that the backstory is juicy and jaw dropping. It also exposes all of us; what it means when we react to (what they hoped would be) serious material with gales of shocked laughter. This movie that had hoped to be some kind of serious exposé of the dark side of Hollywood, addiction, and child abuse became a camp classic with a Rocky Horror Picture Show vibe. If you want to know how that happened, what the intentions were, how Paramount changed their messaging to just roll with it, you've got to purchase this book immediately. If divas, backstage drama, Hollywood history and gossip, greed, ego, good intentions, and misguided direction are your thing, then you will never want this book to end.
A big BRAVA to Ms. Niemi and A. Ashley Hoff, Bruce Vilanch. Loved it!!
AMAZING narrator for a wonderful book!
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If you love the movie...you will love this book. But...be warned...the book will give you the itch to watch the movie again.
I am "wired' to this book!
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A good read
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Narration is awful
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Very much enjoyed the narrator, who reads all the requisite lines the way they sound in the film, and is quite good at impressions (who would have expected her to have an Alonzo Duralde impression in her back pocket?).
It’s everything you could ever want.
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amazing storytelling
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Could definitely go much more in-depth.
Starts out slow
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