You are the most talented woman at friendship

Helen Hayes and Joan Crawford became friends in the 1930s. In her (third) memoir My Life in Three Acts (1990) Hayes said that Joan had adopted her as her best friend, despite the fact that they were very different. Joan probably didn't feel threatened by her, Helen thought, not considering her a rival. In any case, Helen was fascinated by the glamorous Joan and the two women entered into an unlikely friendship. 

According to her memoir, Hayes didn't see much of Joan anymore after Joan became involved with Pepsi-Cola, while Hayes herself was busy working in the theatre. (In 1955, Joan married Alfred Steele, president of Pepsi-Cola, and after Steele's death four years later she became a board member of Pepsi, to eventually retire in 1973.) Nevertheless, the women would still meet on occasion and also sent each other telegrams/letters. In her 1962 autobiography, Joan said that she and Helen were "staunch friends, sometimes only by letter". Below is some of Helen's correspondence to Joan from the 1970's, clearly showing that Joan never forgot her friends.

Sources: letter above left The Concluding Chapter of Crawford and the two other letters The Best of Everything: A Joan Crawford Encyclopedia

Transcript:

March 6, 1970

Dearest Joan:

As I said at "Pavillion", you are the most talented woman at friendship (along with some other things) that I have ever known.

Thank you for being so helpful to my morale with your wire and your visit to "Harvey" and for helping me through that lunch last Monday.

You look great, so there's no need to tell you to be careful not to work too hard.

Blessings, 

signed "Helen H."

Transcript:

October 20, 1972

Dear Joan: 

Thank you for your thoughtful wire.

I can't get over you. You are always right there - never forget.

Love and blessings,

signed "Helen H."

Transcript:

October 26, 1974

Dear Joan:

Just back from England to find your birthday wire.

You are rapidly becoming my favorite person.

Bless you,

signed "Helen H."

_____

In 1978, a year after Joan's death, Joan's adoptive daughter Christina published Mommie Dearest, a tell-all book in which she accused her mother of mental and physical abuse towards her and her adoptive siblings. Joan's two other daughters, Cathy and Cindy, denied the allegations made against their mother as did many of Joan's friends, including Joan's ex-husband Douglas Fairbanks Jr, Barbara Stanwyck and Myrna Loy. Helen Hayes, however, was one of the people who said she had personally witnessed some form of abuse (others were, for example, June Allyson and Betty Hutton). This is an excerpt from Hayes' memoir, published thirteen years after Joan's death:

"Joan was not quite rational in her raising of children. You might say she was strict or stern. But cruel is probably the right word. [...]

When my young son Jim came to stay with me, we would go out to lunch with them [Joan and her son Christopher]. Joan would snap, “Christopher!” whenever he tried to speak. He would bow his little head, completely cowed, and then he’d say, “Mommie dearest, may I speak?” Joan’s children had to say [that] before she allowed them to utter another word. It would have been futile for me or anyone else to protest. Joan would only get angry and probably vent her rage on the kids. 

On one of my Hollywood trips about this time, I ran into Dinah Shore in the hairdressing department of MGM. She beckoned me to come over, and then began talking in a whisper. “Helen, everybody knows that you’re Joan Crawford’s close friend. Can you do something about her treatment of those children? We’re all worried to death.” ... Well, I was frightened to do it. We were all afraid of Joan – which is the biggest problem in this kind of situation, as we’ve seen with fatal results. No one would speak up. 

I have read that people who are abused as children often become abusive parents. Maybe it was Joan’s tough childhood that made her exert her power like that over her own children. But understanding the reason did not make their suffering any easier to watch."

(l to r) ca. 1956, Helen Hayes, Alfred Steele, Joan Crawford and James MacArthur; Steele was Joan's fourth husband and MacArthur was Hayes' adopted son.

What I want to know is, is that April Fool?

Often dubbed "First Lady of the American Theatre", Helen Hayes made her Broadway debut in 1909 at age nine and by the time she was twenty, she was well on her way to become a big Broadway star. Throughout the 1920s, Hayes appeared in successful plays like Caesar and Cleopatra (1925) and Coquette (1927) and, as her star rose, it didn't take long for Hollywood to come calling. Hayes declined several studio offers but then the Great Depression hit, causing theatre attendance to drop dramatically. When MGM offered her a lucrative seven-year contract in 1931 —with the possiblity to periodically perform on Broadway— Hayes felt she had little choice but to accept. 

In her 1990 memoir My Life in Three Acts, Hayes wrote that MGM didn't really know what do with her. "I didn't have [Joan] Crawford's bone structure or [Greta] Garbo's mystery. I wasn't sexy like [Jean] Harlow or naughty like Marion [Davies], and I didn't have the figure to carry off clinging white satin like Norma [Shearer]. There were so many things I didn't have or wasn't, that it seemed best for me to quit then and there. But Mr. Mayer had an idea. I would be promoted as "The Great Actress"." 

MGM put Hayes into melodramas and her first film was The Sin of Madelon Claudet (1931), for which she immediately won the Oscar for Best Actress. Next she played in dramas such as Arrowsmith (1931) with Ronald Colman; A Farewell to Arms (1932) with Gary Cooper; and The White Sister (1933) opposite Clark Gable. It was after she had starred in the romantic comedy What Every Woman Knows (1934), with Brian Aherne and Madge Evans, that Hayes made the decision not to stay in Hollywood but to return to the stage.

What Every Woman Knows was based on the 1908 play of the same name by J. M. Barrie and in 1926 Hayes had starred in a Broadway revival of the play. The play was very special to Hayes, her role in it one of her favourite stage roles. She had high hopes for the film version but after reading the script her hopes were immediately crushed. "Barrie's delicate comedy had been torn apart in the most insensitive way", Hayes later said. "I protested, but was told to stick to acting and let others worry about writing and directing." After the film was finished and Hayes saw the preview, it left her devastated. It was then that she decided to leave Hollywood for good.

Above: Brian Aherne, Madge Evans and Helen Hayes in a scene from What Every Woman Knows. Below: (left to right) Hayes in Arrowsmith with Ronald Colman, in A Farewell to Arms with Gary Cooper and Vanessa: Her Love Story with Robert Montgomery.

Wishing to be released from her contract, Hayes went to see Eddie Mannix, MGM's general manager. She thought MGM was glad to be rid of her but Mannix wouldn't let her go. He told her that she still had a contractual obligation to do Vanessa: Her Love Story (1935) and if she refused, MGM would sue her for the $96,000 that was already spent on pre-production. Hayes saw no other option but to make Vanessa, in which she co-starred with Robert Montgomery. 

While Hayes did have a few years left on her contract, MGM had assured her they wouldn't hold her to it. Imagine her surprise then when she received a letter from Eddie Mannix in April 1935, saying that "Metro had renewed [her] option". Clearly annoyed, the actress replied:

Source: Heritage Auctions

Vanessa: Her Love Story  remained Hayes' last film for MGM. Hayes would return to Hollywood but not until 1952 —after a 17-year absence— to star in Leo McCarey's My Son John. Sporadically she accepted other film offers, most notably Anastasia (1956) and Airport (1970). It was for her performance as a stowaway in the latter film that Hayes received her second Oscar, this time for Best Supporting Actress.

Helen Hayes with her Oscar for Best Actress for her performance in the 1931 The Sin of Madelon Claudet .