One of the many things I admire about Joan Crawford is that she gave so completely of herself to whatever she was doing, be it domestic arts, films, her image, her friends, her public, learning, love, sex or Pepsi.  She constantly sought self-improvement.  She dedicated herself to her craft, involving herself with technicians, directors, other cast members, lighting, makeup, camera angles, and the like, so that, no matter whether a script was of A or Z caliber, she treated it with equal value and energized and elevated it.  She also gave tirelessly to the public.  Success was not something she took for granted.  She was a combination of the raw Lucille LeSueur and the cinema-creation Joan Crawford.  Two of my favorite essays on Crawford describe the unique qualities that made her like no other.  In his brilliant essay "Reflections on Joan," Mark Toscani observed:  "Joan Crawford will live forever in the world of Cinema.  All lovers of freedom and liberty should feel a special kinship toward her.  With that perfectly chiseled, authoritarian-defying face, she should be the monument that greets the immigrants at Ellis Island.  All that wonderful anger and fury against a world of force and injustice.  She stands alone against the masses.  Yet we can relate to her individuality because she lived life on her own terms."  (See my links for the full fabulous essay on the website "Joan Crawford Heaven.")  In the blurb he wrote on the back of a Photon LP, Jacque LeStrop noted that "she gave you the eye and every man in the audience knew he was being measured.  He didn't mind as long as she held the tape."  Her "little touch of larceny," he noted, separated "this woman from the rest of the girls."  Joan Crawford is not a girl, his friend had aptly argued.  Joan Crawford is a woman.  You got that right.  Her star power shines through fifty (50) more photos. - D. Nowak