DL deserves only "The Best of Everything!" 1959

I've seen this movie numerous times. Totally agree with your review, Rick.

About 10 years later, ABC tried to turn this into a daytime soap opera. Gale Sondergaard played the Amanda character

Here's an excellent copy of "The Best of Everything." Enjoy, because you deserve it!

Sordid movie poster.

Well, who doesn't just *adore* Bonnie Bee Buzzard, r2?

'70

Saw the movie when it first came out as a child with my older cousins and loved it even back then. But I tried to read the novel and it's just trash.

Bright young thing Caroline clashes with battleaxe boss Amanda Farrow in "The Devil Wears Charm Bracelets!" Scene here...

The long-running soap opera comic strip, Apartment 3G, which began in 1961, was also partly based on The Best of Everything.

R6 - I'm confused. So the daytime soap was just a still photo of the Manhattan skyline with elevator music playing?

R4 - Sordid indeed! Why is the O in Of replaced by a cock ring?! Was it Joan's?

R2 - ABC succeeded in repurposing the novel/movie into a daytime soap opera. However, the show wasn’t very successful.

R10 The opening and closing were apparently just a still photo and music. Boring.

We had better luck transferring a soap opera to movie screens. Three times!

But it had M'el Dowd...

Suzy Parker is surprisingly impressive in this otherwise campy mess of a movie. There's a melancholy aspect to her desperation over the Louis Jourdan character--I was transfixed and convinced. And then there's her beauty. Dear God. She was really something.

Also great in TBOE, in a very minor role, was the late Carmen Phillips, as a jaded secretary. (At least I think it's she!) Phillips played the same role in Marnie, as Strutt's secretary. So good with the worldly, seen-it-all demeanor.

OP, I'd be grateful if you might confirm this is the actress I'm thinking of. You can see her in an early scene in TBOE, saying to a fellow secretary: "Well, I guess we all have our problems...." The jaded way she says it is just priceless.

Carmen Phillips was also Dean Martin's drunk girlfriend in "Some Came Running." I thought Suzy Parker was pretty stellar looking and not as heavily styled as actresses were in the '50s. And she enjoyed a long marriage to adorable Bradford Dillman!

I like the novel and it's quite a time capsule. My favorite chapter in the novel is the one on Mary Agnes' wedding and reception in the Bronx. Jaffe captured something about that millieu.

Suzy was no thespian. She obviously knew that. But she gave Gregg a Kim Novak-like vacantness that read as...troubled.

Joannnnnnn on the phone …,..:..

You certainly do deserve it!!

R18/OP, thank you for the reference to another Carmen Phillips role! Weird how this obscure actress has hitched herself to my memory.

Always enjoy your classic movie threads, not incidentally. Your website is a great trip, too!

You and your rabbit-faced wife can GO TO HELL, Rick!

"Suzy Parker is surprisingly impressive in this otherwise campy mess of a movie"

I agree, she may have given the best performance in the movie... for what that's worth! Beautiful, vulnerable, and overwhelmed by her feelings, she brings a bit of sincere emotion to a slick cheesefest. She also appeared in the sweet musical "Funny Face" as a model, but I don't remember that she had any lines.

A grandchild of hers used to post here, and was happy to see that his grandma wasn't totally forgotten.

[quote]A grandchild of hers used to post here, and was happy to see that his grandma wasn't totally forgotten.

Unlike poor great aunt Dorian.

*

A bit depressing but JC is a highlight. A scene stealing menace with awfully precise diction.

Hope Lange: "Should I type it up?"

Ms. Crawford: "No, beat it out on a native drum!"

Thanks to this thread and the link above, I just watched it. Loved it. This was Joan's first supporting role since her silent film days. She signed on late, because she needed some cash. Mr. Steele left her with some bills.

I like the scene when JC tells off her married boyfriend and disses his wife.

[post redacted because linking to dailymail.co.uk clearly indicates that the poster is either a troll or an idiot (probably both, honestly.) Our advice is that you just ignore this poster but whatever you do, don't click on any link to this putrid rag.]

There's a scene in the movie where the characters walk by the Stonewall Bar! Sadly, they don't stop in!

R15 - Isn't that Stephen Boyd in drag?

[quote] I like the scene when JC tells off her married boyfriend and disses his wife.

Did Joan know the cameras were rolling?

Actually, Mrs. Steele left the dead Mr. Steele with some bills from the new apartment she bought. He wasn't as rich as she thought.

I remember some of the promos for the short-lived soap featured a vocal version of the theme song (different than the Johnny Mathis one in the film); looked it up on YouTube — it was co-written by James (“Inside the Actor’s Studio”) Lipton!

R35, that’s funny.

I tried to watch it last night. I fell asleep after she called his wife rabbit faced. I’ll try again tonight. The link a poster provided is really good.. That app is great. I was also able to watch Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter? That was fun.

I also love Diane Baker. At least she ended up with the hot doctor at the end.

This thread and everyone’s responses are all so GAY!

and I approve 👍

[quote]Actually, Mrs. Steele left the dead Mr. Steele with some bills from the new apartment she bought. He wasn't as rich as she thought.

Mr. Steele was a liar. Our dear Joan was sold a bill of goods.

Tired Old Queen At The Movies

Johnny Mathis on the Ed Sullivan Show, singing the theme song from "The Best of Everything." Johnny always reminded me of a singing harp!

And yes, the infamous Joan Crawford as Amanda Farrow, telling her married lover where he and his rabbit faced wife can go!

[quote]I also love Diane Baker. At least she ended up with the hot doctor at the end.

Joan Crawford and Diane Baker were, of course, reunited, this time as mother and daughter, in Joan's hagsploitation classic "Strait Jacket."

There's something quite funny about the fact that everything in the photo posted by OP is the color of dirt.

Diane Baker was also in Joan's TV Pilot - Della

If she'd just held out a little longer, Joan would have been an amazing replacement for Bea Arthur on The Golden Girls.

DB on JC

The movie was a romp, the book was a slog. Loved Joan.

It's the *3* GIRLS *3* formula, like...

Three Sisters

Valley of the Dolls

Crimes of the Heart

Where the Boys Are

Also "Three Coins in the Fountain," R52.

R52/R53 - And it's the THREE faces of Eve. I of course will play all the roles.

54-- Joan was very upset that you, Joanne, made your own dress for the Oscars and set fashion back 20 years!

Also, A Letter to Three Wives, Three on a Match, How to Marry a Millionaire, Three Secrets, Three Jills and a Jeep, etc. etc. etc.

There were 4 Jills in the Jeep, r56.

LOVED Diane Baker when I saw her in this film as a kid, the same year I also saw her in JOURNEY TO THE CENTER OF THE EARTH. Though I was very disappointed her role was so small in the latter.

The stylish opening to "The Best of Everything!"

We watched this the other night. Not as much fun as Valley of the Dolls but passable for a Monday entertainment.

Definitely needed much, much more Joan. Is her cut drunk scene available anywhere?

The soundtrack is quite good . Thoroughly enjoyable like Peyton Place and A Summer Place . Enjoyed this cast .

I wonder of that cut scene with Joan in a bar still exists... Maybe Lypsinka could recreate it!

The book is now published as a Penguin Classic..

*

[quote] Also, A Letter to Three Wives, Three on a Match, How to Marry a Millionaire, Three Secrets, Three Jills and a Jeep, etc. etc. etc.

Three's Company. The list is endless.

That cad Robert Evans! I bet he had a big dick.

Lesson learned from this movie: don't wear high heels on the fire escape!

[quote] Lesson learned from this movie: don't wear high heels on the fire escape!

This also applies to the Towering Inferno thread...

I remember when I was taken to this with my girl cousins who were only a year older than me (I was 9) and one of them turned to me when April threw her self out of the car and hissed "She's pregnant!!!"

That was the very first shocking moment of my little life.

Joan looks like hell in this film but ah that marvelous voice.

Everyone is so beautiful and elegant in the film. It's wonderful to observe them.

It's all so long ago and far away.

R69 Ok, yes, Joan looks clownish but still...fabulous.

Joan is the ONLY reason to watch this movie.

Hope Lange was very good in this, as well...

Was Joan alwys drunk in movies after the mid-1950s? She seems to slur her words.

[quote]Was Joan alwys drunk in movies after the mid-1950s? She seems to slur her words.

Art imitates life.

I really like Hope in the scene with David (The Fly) Hedison when he asks her to be his mistress.....

I would still pick David over Stephen Boyd - that wooden stick.

Eyebrow Joan is best in Straitjacket, a natural habitat for those immobile caterpillars.

As often with these "women's pictures," the men are just stumps...

R77 and Joan requested her BOE costar Diane Baker to take over when Anne Helm was fired from STRAITJACKET......knowing that Diane wouldn't overshadow her with any acting talent.

[quote]knowing that Diane wouldn't overshadow her with any acting talent.

It wasn't Miss Helm's acting ability that was a threat to Joan.

Joan’s bitchcraft is pretty masterful here.I also liked the sets, especially Joan’s NYC apartment and the kitchen where she fixes a sandwich for Louis Jourdain’s character.

According to Diane Baker, Joan was so horribly nervous on the first days of shooting that she became very emotionally dependent on Diane who became a calm and patient presence for her. They remained friends for life.

R82 - Joan simply didn't know WHERE to put her hands until Diane obliged.

The lipstick jungle...

It's too bad they cut the scene where Joan says, 'I'm a bitch in the boardroom, a bore in the bedroom and a bear on the toilet!' Having scene the outtakes its really the most poignant moment in the film...

I was surprised by the scene where Caroline is about to enter the ladies room and Amanda meets her coming out and tells her, 'I'd give it a few minutes before I'd go in there if I were you...'

The sequel was, "Sin Girls". Secretaries by day- hookers by night!

Unless it goes back even further the three girl movies really was started by Joan back in the twenties. Our Dancing Daughters which made Joan a star, Our Modern Maidens, and Our Blushing Brides. From what I remember the first two are silents and the third is a talkie. They all star the same three women including Anita Page who hated Joan. I forget who the third one was but I'm sure somebody here knows.

Anita claims that Louie b ruined her career because she refused to sleep with him. She lived to be very old so there are a number of interviews with her on YouTube. She was really quite lovely as a young actress but not a very good one. She also starred in the first talky to win a Best picture Oscar.

It's not just movies, r88.

There was also that old book called The Iliad with the Golden Apple chapter.

Let's see...uh...Ziegfeld Girl!

"Our Dancing Daughters" starred Joan Crawford, Anita Page, and someone called Dorothy Sebastian.

And this is Anita Page, and I can't tell if she's pretty or not under that godawful 20s makeup. But I'm quite sure she didn't have the kind of angular bone structure that would have kept her photogenic through middle age, not the way Joan Crawford was.

R89 - You can say that again, sisters!

And don't forget television! From the Brady Bunch to Charlie's Angels... three is the magic number.

And the archetype trio is usually the nice girl, the smart girl, and the sex bomb/bimbo...

Gold Diggers of 1933

Would Petticoat Junction fit?

Sometimes it's FOUR.

A blonde, a brunette and a redhead walk into a publishing company ...

[quote]But I tried to read the novel and it's just trash.

And the film wasn't? I loved the book!

Young Evans is sleazy but oh so pretty. And Suzy Parker was a goddess.

Joan Crawford stole the movie, the other characters were just a distraction.

[quote]—Joan Blondell, Ruby Keeler and Aline McMahon (who?)

Anybody with an ounce of discernment knows who the wonderful Aline McMahon is.

[quote] And the archetype trio is usually the nice girl, the smart girl, and the sex bomb/bimbo...

Which one of thoth wath I?

The ugly Trumptard, R102.

Where The Boys Are is a great example of the "three girls" genre...

And there's also this cinematic classic example from 1972

Three Daring Daughters...

"Three Smart Girls."

And its sequel, "Three Smart Girls Grow Up."

*3* GIRLS *3*

One will not be signing...

What about us???

And us?

Ahem!!!

Shouldn't that be Diana, Dead Flo and Dead Mary?

*

Got a match?

Watching that clip at r116, you'd have to think that of those 3 girls, Ann Dvorak was the one headed for the biggest stardom.

Alas, r117...no.

I meant in real life, not the characters in the movie, 118.

One thing that surprised me while watching the film was how ordinary looking in the face Suzy Parker was. She had a terrific body and her face wasn't unattractive, but it was rather unexceptional, which surprised me considering how gorgeous I've always thought she was in still photos. I would imagine that she could not be shot with the same lighting/make-up etc. in motion as she could in a still photo. Don't get me wrong, she was very striking, I just was surprised at how underwhelming her face was, especially compared to certain actresses throughout time, like Liz Taylor, Vivien Leigh, Michelle Pfieffer. It might not be a beauty thing, either it might just be an 'it' thing.

I know, r119.

The title to this thread makes me laugh every time I scroll by. It's the gayest and most DL thread title ever.

Were there any super model types before the 1960s who had particularly distinctive or exotic faces? They all had WASPy, patrician and aristocratic looks even if their backgrounds were different, very much in the Grace Kelly mode. Classy and adult! That's what the fashion designers and ad agencies and model agencies all wanted back then.

Her beautiful but bland face may well be why Suzy Parker's acting career never really took off. Of course, she also had very little talent.

Suzy Parker's older sister was the face of the Revlon Fire & Ice campaign. Dorian Leigh (Parker) was also pretty.....and I think she did some television work on game shows bringing contestants out or something.

The original Rona Jaffe novel has just been re-issued this summer by Penguin Classics. I bet it's a fun beach read.

I hate to break it to you all, but in Rona Jaffe's original novel we follow 4 girls 4, not 3. Martha Hyer, who played the 4th girl in the movie saw her scenes mostly edited out.

Martha Hyer was born to be edited out.

What about all the seven girl movies like Seven Brides for Seven Brothers.

...Seven Women!

[quote]I hate to break it to you all, but in Rona Jaffe's original novel we follow 4 girls 4, not 3. Martha Hyer, who played the 4th girl in the movie saw her scenes mostly edited out.

The movie was already 2 hours, I guess someone had to go.

How about Altman’s movie, Three Women, which seems, if I’m remembering court, to about two women?

What's Martha's story in the book?

r127=Hal Wallis

Give a girl...

I'm reading the Penguin Classics re-issue of the novel right now. It's not artful literature, but it's very well told and very witty: the central character of Caroline is given great snarky reactions to other people she almost always keeps to herself, and though she never gives the mean senior people at her firm bitchy comebacks (which would have resulted her being fired), she is always so intelligent that when they try to get a rise out of her by saying just the right thing to instantly disarm them.

It's amazing how much it set the pattern for later novels (like The Group and Valley of the Dolls) and TV shows (like Sex and the City) that followed in its place. It clearly must have been an enormous influence on Matt Weiner for "Mad men": the central character's rise from the stenographic pool is much like Peggy Olsen's in "Mad Men" (and in the second season, Don Draper actually reads "The Best of Everything").

I read that the reason Joan Crawford did this film was because she was absolutely desperate for money after Alfred Steele died because she was so much in debt. It was her first supporting role since the silent era, and she said she thought it was a great part. But they used many of Jaffe's bitchy lines from the book about the character of Amanda Farrow, and it really paints Joan as a nasty woman.

The producer actually got most of the female stars he wanted for the film--he originally thought about Hope Lange and Suzy Parker for the roles they played (though Parker looks nothing like the character of Gregg as she is described in the book). He wanted hotter young male stars like RJ Wagner for the young male leads, and I think Louis Jourdan (who was handsome but nothing like the character in the book he plays) was not what anyone imagined. The actors he chose were decent (Diane Baker can be a terrific actress in the right role), but no one except Crawford made much of an impact onscreen. I wonder what it would have been like as a film had they been somehow able to use better actors from the time, like Joanne Woodward for the part of Caroline (which Lange plays) or Jean Seberg for the part of Gregg (which Parker plays).

Some time in the ‘90s, then-fashion designer Isaac Mizrahi introduced “The Best of Everything” with Hope Lange as his guest at a screening at The Guild theater (now defunct) in Rockefeller Center in NYC. She was warm and charming and funny (I didn’t yet know she’d spent years as a drunk, shacked up with gay drunk John Cheever).

Not surprisingly, Isaac focused on the film’s costumes, which were more appropriate for working girls in 1959 than they would have been in a comparable film from the ‘30s. Isaac kvelled over Lange’s trimness and narrow waist in the film (something you could never praise about Joan Crawford on her best day — she had a thick, athletic body as a star.)

“What foundation garments did you wear with those clothes?,” he asked (he was doing the period clothes for a Broadway revival of “The Women,” where all the actresses took their bows in ‘30s underwear — to their consternation).

“I didn’t wear a corset or girdle on that film,” Lange replied.

“How did you get your waist that small?” he said in disbelief.

“I was in my 20s!!” she said to applause.

[quote]What's Martha's story in the book?

In the book, her character is a young divorcee with a small child. She falls for a married man who pumps and dumps her and then comes back after his wife dumps him.

[quote] She falls for a married man who pumps and dumps her

How vivid.

*3* GIRLS *3*

Wasn't the Broadway writer involved in a gay love affair in the book?

[quote]Wasn't the Broadway writer involved in a gay love affair in the book?

Oh yeah, he had a dead friend he was very "close" to, very Brick and Skipper.

A shame Jayne Mansfield couldn't have starred, then they could have called it "The Breasts of Everything!"

There was a bit of drama between Lange and Crawford n one scene. Crawford wanted her character to close the door when she left Lange’s characters office but Lange thought she should close the door on Crawford since it was her office and she wouldn’t know what to do with her hands. Both actresses thought whoever closed the door would have more impact. The director sided with Lange.

^ At which point Crawford went around the entire soundstage slamming every door she could find.

Sally, Irene and Mary

That director was Jean Negulesco, who directed JC in "Humoresque," and a dozen years later, didn't have to put up with her diva demands no more...

Hope Lange is going to fucking slam the door on you!

[quote]That director was Jean Negulesco, who directed JC in "Humoresque," and a dozen years later, didn't have to put up with her diva demands no more...

Jean Negulesco was a master of the "three gals looking for romance" genre. In addition to "The Best of Everything," he also directed "How to Marry a Millionaire" and "Three Coins in the Fountain."

I'm pretty sure Geraldine Fitzgerald was always old, R2. But Gale Sondergaard was an interesting piece of casting.

Geraldine Fitzgerald wasn't always old, here she is playing a supporting role in the 1939 "Wuthering Heights", and making Merle Oberon look lifeless.

Not that making Oberon look lifeless was difficult or anything, but it's proof that Fitzgerald was young and attractive once.

A young Geraldine Fitzgerald also played the best friend of Bette Davis in "Dark Victory."

I saw Fitzgerald when she was playing on stage in things like Our Town.

In Joan's various memoirs, Crawford mentions how Jean, one of Hollywood's biggest art collectors, mocked Joan's taste in art... in front of EVERYBODY! No word whether he bought Joan another Keane painting to sooth her hurt feelings!

I saw Geraldine Fitzgerald in "Our Town" in the early 1970s. She was much too old to be playing Mrs. Webb, even on stage in a large theater. Mrs. Gibbs was played by Eileen Heckart, and Emily was Kate Mulgrew.

"Best of..." director Jean Negulesco died in '93 at age 93 on this day... Here's Jean's first round with Joan in that grown up soap opera, "Humoresque." One of Joan's best... where she got to close the doors at the end of a scene!

Did Negulesco pronounce his name Jean or Jhawn?

Probably Jhawn. Joan was just JOE-n, not Jhawn.