J a n c e e D u n n

The Washington Post

I was quoted in a fine article about celebrity interviews that ran in "The Washington Post" this past weekend.


Read it here...

Turner Classics Unveils Joan Crawford Gem

TCM just featured a Joan Crawford masterpiece that I had never seen (part of an incredible 24-hours-of-Joan). “Harriet Craig,” made in 1950, stars Joan as a married woman whose demented compulsion for a well-ordered home (and husband) is her undoing. The portrayal was not exactly a stretch (after once hearing that a plumber had used a toilet that he had just installed in her Brentwood estate, she had the john and the pipes immediately replaced.) I quote here from my well-thumbed copy of Joan’s book “My Way of Life,” an entertaining, fitness and lifestyle manual that she termed a "script for a complete woman.”

Ahem:

“I have such a full schedule that it’s hard for me to be flexible about seeing people at a moment’s notice. For that reason I abhor dropper-inners. It happened to me recently. The house phone rang and the desk said that three people were on their way up. There I was at my desk, swamped with correspondence, wearing a little cotton shift and very little makeup.
I had to abandon everything, run quickly into my dressing room, get into a lovely dress I had bought in Canada, put on lipstick, and tidy my hair. I was furious. My own children wouldn’t think of dropping in without calling me to see if I’m busy. I wasn’t rude. I said, ‘I’m sorry to have kept you waiting. I wasn’t expecting guests.’ Fortunately, few people do this anymore.”

And another:

“I have strong feelings about people who issue invitations to come at seven and don’t open the dining-room doors until nine-thirty. So I always ask, ‘And what time is dinner?’ Nine? Fine. I get there a little after eight. An hour is long enough to drink. After two and a half hours people are so sodden and not very amusing – and furthermore they can’t appreciate or even taste the food the hostess has gone to such trouble to prepare. And the nondrinkers are starved and bored. With this system, I gain more time at my desk, too. Precious time.”

Love her!

Jancee on the Radio

I was on the Satellite Sisters last month. If you'd like to listen, click here. I come in about halfway through the broadcast (listen for the Stevie Nicks song)...

I was also on NPR's "On the Media" (well, it was a rerun). But if you'd like to listen, you can find it here. The transcript, if you're interested, is published after the jump....

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