On May 9 Bette and Joan met in Hollywood to sign their contracts. Sitting at a table and posing for pictures, Bette managed to grab the best position. She sat in the far right chair, which meant that, when the photos’ captions were read from left to right, her name would be first. Joan, wise to this old trick, then stood up behind and to the left of Bette, ensuring that her name would be first in those shots.
![Joan proceeded to get herself booked, solo, on a local TV show. The afternoon it was scheduled to be shown, she asked Bob Aldrich if she could watch it at work. “Bob Aldrich had a portable TV brought to the soundstage,” said Bob Gary. [script supervisor] “We all sat around this big oval table to watch the show. There was a chair for Joan, and one for Bette, and in between them Bette placed a chair for her Baby Jane doll. When the show began, Bette got up and went to a corner of the room where a phonograph was set up. As soon as Joan appeared on the TV, Bette turned on the phonograph and began to play her Baby Jane song (“I’ve Written a Letter to Daddy”). While Joan was trying to watch herself on TV, Bette was dancing and singing in the corner, as loud as she could.](http://25.media.tumblr.com/843cb46510a5b6f62d6a0513b7b2e303/tumblr_mkhfwykukT1qlv6z3o2_r2_500.png)
Joan proceeded to get herself booked, solo, on a local TV show. The afternoon it was scheduled to be shown, she asked Bob Aldrich if she could watch it at work. “Bob Aldrich had a portable TV brought to the soundstage,” said Bob Gary. [script supervisor] “We all sat around this big oval table to watch the show. There was a chair for Joan, and one for Bette, and in between them Bette placed a chair for her Baby Jane doll. When the show began, Bette got up and went to a corner of the room where a phonograph was set up. As soon as Joan appeared on the TV, Bette turned on the phonograph and began to play her Baby Jane song (“I’ve Written a Letter to Daddy”). While Joan was trying to watch herself on TV, Bette was dancing and singing in the corner, as loud as she could.
“If I can’t be me, I don’t want to be anybody. I was born that way.”
Joan Crawford || 23 Mar 1906 - 10 May 1977
Happy birthday Joan!
