joan crawford - my way of life (1971)

i got this book at goodwill last week and it's pretty damn fascinating. mommie dearest wrote 200 pages about why she does what she does. here's a snippet:

Some working women do pay someone to help with the housework, and why shouldn't they if they dread the thought of scrubbing the kitchen floor after a day in the office? I feel a great sense of accomplishment though, when I get down on my knees and scrub my own floor. When I spend months without doing a movie or a TV show and spend all my time at my desk or on a dais every night I have a lot of surplus energy to use up. Scrubbing, for me, is the greatest exercise in the world. It gives me rosy cheeks, and I just have a ball.

and one more:

I always pack in daylight. In artificial light when I'm in a hurry it's too easy to grab the wrong accessories and find myself in Kansas City or San Juan with a hot pink dress and a shocking pink hat -- and that's a catastrophe.

she seems like a total control freak, but very intelligent and funny too.