Joan
Crawford promotional picture from No More Ladies, 1935
“She was serious about improving herself as an actress. She played the role with fierce determination, holding back nothing. As the bitchy shop-girl in The Women, she knew perfectly well that she would be surrounded by formidable competition from the rest of the all female cast, many of whom were playing funnier and certainly more sympathetic parts. Yet she made no appeals for audience sympathy: she was not one of those actresses who have to keep popping out from behind their characters, signaling, ‘Look- it’s sweet, lovable me, first pretending to be a tramp’.”
