Joan Crawford – IAMNOTASTALKER

September 12, 2018September 8, 2018

The “How to Marry a Millionaire” Apartment Building

One of the things I love most about L.A. is the direct access the city has to a myriad of unique, once-in-a-lifetime experiences. Case in point – Essentially Marilyn, The Paley Center for Media’s latest exhibit featuring costumes, personal artifacts, clothing, and memorabilia from none other than Miss Marilyn Monroe herself, including the starlet’s personally annotated script from The Seven Year Itch AND a replica of the infamous dress she wore in the 1955 movie’s iconic subway grate scene. (If you feel like going down a rabbit hole of information regarding the legendary frock, check out these fabulous articles on The Marilyn Monroe Collection website here and here.) Fingers crossed I make it out to see the exhibit before it closes on September 30th. In the meantime, I thought I’d blog about an MM locale I stalked back in April 2016 while in New York – 36 Sutton Place South, aka the building where Pola Debevoise (Monroe) lived with her BFFs Loco Dempsey (Betty Grable) and Schatze Page (Lauren Bacall) in How to Marry a Millionaire.

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Though Marilyn’s performance in the 1953 comedy definitely plays to type, it is one of my favorites of hers. Legend has it that when she asked director Jean Negulesco about her bespectacled character’s motivation, he replied “You’re blind as a bat without glasses. That is your motivation.” The advice led to some of the best comedic moments of her career, in my opinion. For those who have never seen the film (and you really should), it centers around three bachelorettes who, hoping to land millionaire husbands, sublease a penthouse apartment in a tony Manhattan building. To portray the girls’ fancy digs, producers looked no further than 36 Sutton Place South.

Originally built in 1949, the 17-story complex boasts 101 units.

Consisting of a brick and limestone façade with glass balconies, the place has something of a postmodern feel.

The white-glove building, which became a co-op in 1962, features a canopied entrance, a doorman and a concierge, an on-site gym and laundry room, and a rooftop deck with a garden and river views. You can see some interior photos of the property here.

36 Sutton Place South only actually appears twice in How to Marry a Millionaire, first popping up in the movie’s opening scene in which Schatze arrives at the building to sublease the unit.

It is then featured in a later scene in which the unit’s owner, Freddie Denmark (David Wayne), returns home and attempts to retrieve a document he has stashed away inside. Only the exterior of the property was utilized in the filming.

All interiors were part of an elaborate set built at 20th Century Fox Studios in Culver City, including the building’s lobby;

the inside of the women’s apartment;

and their balcony, which does look very much like 36 Sutton’s actual rooftop deck. You can see photos of it here and here.

I am fairly certain that close-up shots of the building’s front doors were also shot on a set.

Though the entrance shown in How to Marry a Millionaire does look a lot like 36 Sutton’s actual entrance, the complex’s real life doorway is much larger than its onscreen counterpart. The window that should appear in the right-hand portion of the frame below is also missing and, while the bottom part of the planter to the left of the main doors is slanted in real life, it is flat in the movie. Though these elements could have been changed in the 65 years since filming took place, I do not believe that to be the case.

How to Marry a Millionaire is not 36 Sutton’s only claim to fame. During the 1950s, Joan Crawford and her husband, Pepsi-Cola Company chairman Alfred N. Steele, made the place their New York home.

For more stalking fun, follow me on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Los Angeles magazine and Discover Los Angeles.

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: The How to Marry a Millionaire apartment building is located at 36 Sutton Place South in New York’s Sutton Place neighborhood.

November 1, 2011September 29, 2017

Joan Crawford’s Former Home

As I mentioned in yesterday’s post about the house where Joan Crawford (aka Faye Dunaway) lived in Mommie Dearest, I have become just a wee-bit obsessed with the 1981 film as well as the 1978 autobiography of Joan’s daughter, Christina Crawford, on which it was based. The book is a fabulous, fabulous read, by the way – whether you believe the abuse allegations or not, and apparently many people do not – and after finishing it, I decided I just had to stalk the actual home where Christina grew up and where the alleged events of her tumultuous childhood took place. I, of course, found the address of Joan’s former mansion in fave book James Dean Died Here: The Locations of America’s Pop Culture Landmarks by Chris Epting and while in the Brentwood area a few weeks ago, ran right out to stalk it. Sadly, the Grim Cheaper was not with me at the time so I was not able to get a photograph of myself out in front. Ah well, I guess that just means I will have to go back sometime soon for a re-stalk.

When Joan first purchased the 9-bedroom, 7-bath, 8,103-square-foot mansion in 1929, while married to first husband Douglas Fairbanks Jr., it was Mediterranean in style, as pictured above.

The couple, who dubbed their new home “El DoJo” – a combination of both of their names – immediately set about gutting the property in order to turn it into a New-England-style dwelling, the result of which is pictured above. And while Joan supposedly again remodeled the residence’s interior after divorcing Fairbanks in 1933, and after each subsequent divorce as well (there were three in total), the exterior was left largely unchanged. It was at the home that Joan not only kept her famous and extensive doll collection, but also accepted her 1946 Academy Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role for Mildred Pierce. Apparently, Joan did not want to face the possibility of losing, so she stayed home on the evening of the ceremony, feigning the flu. When it was announced that she had won, the award was immediately delivered to her house and the actress invited the press inside to take photographs of her with it in bed. Joan lived at the Brentwood residence for over 26 years, until 1956 when she married Pepsi Cola CEO Alfred Steele and moved to New York City. When Alfred passed away in 1959, he left the actress with a large accumulation of debt and she was forced to sell the property. You can see some interior photographs of the abode at the time that Joan owned it on the Legendary Joan Crawford website here.

Sadly, Joan Crawford’s former home was extensively remodeled by some new owners beginning in 2003 and is no longer recognizable from the days when the screen legend lived there. Not that it matters much, though, because as you can see above, due to a massive amount of foliage which currently surrounds the property, barely any of it can be seen from the street.

Only a small portion of the garage area and a second-story window are visible.

And it appears from looking at aerial views that even the backyard of the home was given a facelift. As you can see above, the kidney-bean-shaped pool appears to be have been just recently built. You can catch a glimpse of what the backyard looked like in Joan’s day here and you can also check out some great pictures of the property being remodeled on the Find A Death website here.

Until next time, Happy Stalking!

Stalk It: Joan Crawford’s former home, aka the real life Mommie Dearest house, is located at 426 North Bristol Avenue in Brentwood. The Fresh Prince of Bel Air house is located just two blocks south at 251 North Bristol Avenue, also in Brentwood.

October 31, 2011September 29, 2017

The “Mommie Dearest” House

Before I get started, I would like to wish all of my fellow stalkers a VERY happy Halloween! And while I will, of course, be posting pics of me and the Grim Cheaper in costume, because I always write my blogs at least one day ahead of time, I will not be able to do so until later this week. It is for that reason that I will be extending my Haunted Hollywood postings through Wednesday, which is a good thing as I am having an absolute blast writing them! But for now, on with today’s post! Another older movie that I watched in preparation for my Haunted Hollywood theme was 1981’s Mommie Dearest, the alleged true story of the abuse of Christina Crawford at the hands of her mother, screen legend Joan Crawford. While watching the flick, I immediately recognized the house where Joan and Christina lived, as not only had it appeared in the pilot episode of Beverly Hills, 90210, but several tour books had also long ago incorrectly identified it as the Fresh Prince of Bel Air mansion. I had stalked and blogged about the Bel-Air-area property way back in April of 2008, but it was not until later that same year that I discovered that the actual Fresh Prince house was located in Brentwood (at 251 North Bristol Avenue – just a block and a half away from Christina Crawford’s actual childhood home, ironically enough). Anyway, because my 2008 write-up on the house was incredibly brief, I decided that it was most definitely worthy of a re-post. So here goes!

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In Mommie Dearest, the huge Colonial-style house pictured above is where Joan Crawford (aka Faye Dunaway) teaches her adopted daughter Christina (aka a phenomenal Mara Hobel) the perils of using wire hangers. And while the movie and Faye’s performance have largely been described as “camp”, I did not find them to be so at all. I thoroughly enjoyed the movie and all of the performances and became so fascinated by the story that I ran right out to my local library to check out the book on which it was based.

In real life, the Mommie Dearest house, which was originally built in 1942, boasts 5 bedrooms, 6 baths, 6,077 square feet, and a 1.5-acre corner plot of land. And, amazingly enough, as you can see above, it still looks almost exactly the same today as it did in 1981 when the movie was filmed! Only the front of the property appeared onscreen, though.

For all of the backyard scenes, producers chose to film at a different colonial-style mansion located in Beverly Hills. Remarkably, the backyard where filming took place looks almost identical to Joan Crawford’s real life backyard, which you can see a photograph of here.

I found the backyard location thanks to an old real estate listing which mentioned the property’s appearance in Mommie Dearest, so I, of course, just had to run right out to stalk it, as well!

And, as you can see in the above photographs from the listing, the backyard still looks EXACTLY the same today as it did onscreen in Mommie Dearest Even the backyard furniture is still the same! LOVE IT! LOVE IT! LOVE IT!

I am fairly certain that the interior scenes were all filmed on a soundstage and not at either of the actual homes.

As I mentioned above, the Mommie Dearest house was also used in the pilot episode of Beverly Hills, 90210 as the home of Marianne Moore (aka Leslie Bega), where the Walsh twins, Brandon (aka Jason Priestley) and Brenda (aka my girl Shannen Doherty), attended their very first Beverly Hills party.

The home’s hot tub area also appeared later on in the episode in the scene in which Marianne invited Brandon over for a date.

You can see that hot tub in the above aerial view.

And, oddly enough, a very brief establishing shot of the residence was used in another episode of Beverly Hills, 90210 – the Season 7 episode titled “All That Jazz”, in which it was used as the New Orleans hotel where David Silver (aka Brian Austin Green) took Donna Martin (aka Tori Spelling) for the night.

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: The Mommie Dearest house is located at 417 Amapola Lane in Bel Air. The home used for all of the movie’s backyard scenes is located at 355 South Mapleton Drive in Beverly Hills.

October 25, 2011September 29, 2017

The “What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?” House

A couple of weeks ago, while perusing through Chris Epting’s Marilyn Monroe Dyed Here: More Locations of America’s Pop Culture Landmarks in order to get a little inspiration for my Haunted Hollywood postings, I came across an entry about the home used in What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? I had actually never before seen the 1962 classic and, up until reading the blurb in Epting’s book in which he described it as being “creepy”, did not realize the movie was of the thriller/horror genre. So I ran right out to rent it that very same night and, let me tell you, it was fabulous! Because What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? was made almost five decades ago and is almost always referred to as being “campy”, I did not have very high hopes for the flick, but, boy, was I off-base! Not only was the acting of both Joan Crawford and Bette Davis absolutely phenomenal in it, but I was also on the edge of my seat for the entire two-hour-and-twenty-minute run-time. Why I had waited so long to watch it is beyond me! Anyway, after seeing the movie, I, of course, could NOT wait to stalk the house and dragged the Grim Cheaper right on out there to do just that later that same week.

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In What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?, former child star “Baby Jane” Hudson (aka Bette Davis) holds her paralyzed sister, movie legend Blanche Hudson (aka Joan Crawford), hostage in the mansion pictured above. According to fave book Hollywood: The Movie Lover’s Guide, only the exterior of the house was used in the flick. All of the interior scenes were filmed at nearby Raleigh Studios, which was then named Producers Studios Inc., in Hollywood. Apparently, because Joan and Bette were famous long-time rivals, filming of the flick was racked with some pretty outlandish diva-ish behavior. According to IMDB’s What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? filming locations page, just a few of the shenanigans that took place included Bette installing a Coca-Cola machine on the set (at the time Joan was on the board of Pepsi-Cola and was the widow of one of the company’s high-ranking CEO’s); Bette kicking Joan so hard in the head during one of the fight scenes that she required stitches; and Joan putting weights in her pockets during the scene in which Bette had to drag her across the floor. Perhaps most awful of all, though, was the fact that when Bette was nominated for an Academy Award for her performance in the film, Joan not only campaigned against her, but told fellow nominee Anne Bancroft, who was starring in a play in New York at the time, that she would accept the award on her behalf should she win. Anne did indeed win and when her name was announced, Joan took to the stage to accept the award, while Bette stood stunned in the wings. Talk about a celebrity feud!!!

Amazingly enough, the What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? house still looks EXACTLY the same today as it did back in 1962 when the movie was filmed! Even the address number plaque located next to the front door is still the same! LOVE IT, LOVE IT, LOVE IT!

The home located next door, where Mrs. Bates (aka Anna Lee) and her daughter, Liza Bates (aka Barbara Merrill, who is Bette Davis’ real life daughter), lived in What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?, also still looks much the same as it did in the movie, although the driveway area and carport were the only portion of it ever shown.

The Bates residence also just so happens to be the abode where Peter Sanderson (aka Steve Martin) lived in the 2003 movie Bringing Down the House.

Thanks to The Worldwide Guide to Movie Locations website, I learned that the absolutely horrible 1991 television remake of What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?, which starred real-life sisters Vanessa and Lynn Redgrave, was filmed at a home just a few blocks southeast of the original, so I, of course, ran right out to stalk that location as well. And I was shocked to discover how similar the two residences looked – which leads me to wonder why producers did not just film the remake at the mansion that was used in the movie.

Unfortunately, I could not find any copies of the cringe-worthy remake with which to make screen captures of the house for this post, but you can check out some clips of the flick on YouTube here or by clicking above. Trust me, they are definitely good for a laugh! Smile

On a What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? side note – according to her autobiography, This ‘N That, Bette Davis decided that her make-up in the film should appear to be caked-on as she imagined that Jane would be the type of person who never took her make-up off at night and would apply new layers of it each and and every day. You can see that caked-on make-up in the screen capture above. Coming from an acting background, I have always been fascinated hearing about actors’ character choices and I think Bette’s was an absolutely brilliant one and added so much to the persona of Jane. In the September 2009 issue of Elle Magazine, when describing her process of creating a character, my girl Jen Aniston said, “I‘ll never forget my high school acting teacher, Anthony Abeson, who said, ‘It starts with the shoes.’ When I think about a character, it does start with the shoes: What kind would she wear? How would she walk in them? If I’m going to put on a dress for a role – I don’t care if it’s the hardest dress to put on – I have to put the shoes on first. The physicality leads me to the character . . . Like Justine in The Good Girl: She was so disconnected from how she looked, that’s what led to the discomfort of who she was.” Sigh! That is the kind of tidbit that I just eat up with a spoon! But I digress!

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: The What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? house is located at 172 South McCadden Place in Hancock Park. The Bates residence, which appeared in both What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? and Bringing Down the House, is located next door at 166 South McCadden Place in Hancock Park. And the home used in the 1991 What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? television remake is located at 501 South Hudson Avenue in Hancock Park.

April 15, 2011April 14, 2011

Alverno High School from “Passport to Paris”

As I promised in Tuesday’s post, here is a photograph of me dressed as Buffy the Vampire Slayer for Halloween back in 1992. My mom made the costume for me by hand and she made it absolutely PERFECT, so I was especially excited to tell Kristy Swanson about it when I met her this past Sunday night at the Celebration of Corey Haim’s life. And now, on with the post! Smile

Two weekends ago I dragged the Grim Cheaper out to stalk a location that has long been at the top of my To-Stalk list – Alverno High School in Sierra Madre. The school has appeared in hundreds upon hundreds of productions over the years, but I had been dying to stalk it for one reason and one reason only – it was one of the primary locations featured in the 1999 Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen video Passport to Paris. Being that I was 22 years old when Passport to Paris was released and a full decade older than the flick’s targeted demographic, I can’t really explain why it was that I liked it so much. But the truth is that, as an adult, I absolutely LOVED all of the MK & A videos and would rent them regularly from my local video store. And yes, I know how strange that is. 😉 When in Rome and Winning London are my two favorites out of the twins’ myriad of straight-to-video movies, but Passport to Paris definitely runs a close third. And because the vast majority of the Olsen’s movies were primarily filmed on location in exotic locales around the globe, you can imagine my excitement and surprise when I discovered that the main home used in Passport to Paris was literally right in my own backyard!

Alverno High School was originally built as a private home for physician Walter Jarvis Barlow in 1924. The manse was designed by legendary architect Wallace Neff and was modeled after a Tuscan-style mansion located in Tavainuzze, Italy named Villa Collazi. Barlow dubbed his new residence Villa del Sol d’Oro, which roughly translates to Manor of the Golden Sun. After Barlow passed away in 1942, his widow, Marion Patterson Barlow, sold the property to the Sisters of St. Francis while she promptly moved into the Huntington Hotel (now the Langham Hotel and Spa) in Pasadena, where she spent the remainder of her days. Not too shabby of a place to spend your final years! Anyway, for the next 18 years, Villa del Sol d’Oro was used as a novitiate – a home where nuns live during a probationary period before taking their vows. In 1960 a high school named Alverno Heights Academy was founded on the property. The name was later changed to Alverno High School, as it is known today. Several buildings have since been constructed on the school grounds, but Villa del Sol d’Oro, which is a historical landmark, has thankfully been left untouched. And while classes are not held in the actual Villa, the building is used regularly for special school events.

Because Alverno is a working school, I did not expect to be able to get onto the property and was beyond FLOORED to discover that the side gate was standing open and several people were walking around the grounds. One lady that I spoke with told me that she comes to the school each weekend just to walk around and appreciate the beauty of the place. And it is not very hard to see why. As you can see in the above photographs, Villa del Sol d’Oro is absolutely breathtaking!

And, amazingly enough, there was a photo shoot taking place on the property when we showed up to stalk it, so all of the Villa’s doors were open. And even though the SUPER nice staff member who was on duty at the time thought I was EXTREMELY odd for liking Passport to Paris so much, he allowed me to go inside to take a quick peek around and snap a few pictures, which I could NOT have been more excited about!

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In Passport to Paris, Alverno High School stood in for the American Embassy in Paris, France, where Ambassador Edward (aka Peter White), the grandfather of Melanie “’Mel’ Porter (aka Mary-Kate Olsen) and Allyson ‘Ally’ Porter (aka Ashley Olsen), lived. And while the exterior of the property (pictured above) shown in the flick was a building in Paris . . .

. . . Villa del Sol d’Oro was used for all of the interior scenes.

I am fairly certain that the girls’ bedroom in the movie was also located at Villa del Sol d’Oro, but because I did not get to see the upstairs portion of the property I am not able to verify that.

In 1992’s Poison Ivy, Villa del Sol d’Oro was the high school that Ivy (aka Drew Barrymore) and Sylvie (aka Sara Gilbert) attended.

Alverno High School also appeared at the very beginning of 1996’s Executive Decision as a Chechen Mafia safehouse supposedly located just outside of Trieste, Italy.

In Legally Blonde, Alverno stood in for the Delta Nu sorority house where Elle Woods (aka Reese Witherspoon) and her “sisters” lived.

And while a private home in San Francisco, which I blogged about back in April of 2008, stood in for the exterior of the San Francisco-area Anthony P. Grove High School in 2001’s The Princess Diaries, Alverno’s courtyard was used for all of the courtyard scenes in the movie.

It was the convent where Christina Crawford (aka Diana Scarwid) was sent to live in the 1981 movie Mommie Dearest.

In 1995’s A Walk in the Clouds, the interior of Villa del Sol d’Oro stood in for the interior of the Las Nubes vineyard home where the family of Victoria Aragon (aka Aitana Sanchez-Gijon) lived.

The Villa was used as the Los Angeles Visitor Security Headquarters in the 1984 television mini-series V: The Final Battle.

Although they changed the property’s exterior gate for that production quite a bit. LOL I just about died laughing when I scanned through V and saw the above-pictured pseudo-space-age electronic gate. Could it be any more ‘80s?

The Villa’s actual gate is pictured above.

The Villa was also the site of Axl Rose and Stephanie Seymour’s wedding reception in the Gun ‘N Roses “November Rain” music video . . .

November Rain–Villa del Sol d’Oro

. . . which you can watch by clicking above.

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: Alverno High School, from Passport to Paris, is located at 200 North Michillinda Avenue in Sierra Madre. We entered the school via its Wilson Street gate. Please remember that Alverno High School is an active learning institution and you should not trespass or visit the grounds during school hours. You can visit Alverno’s official website here.