JOAN CRAWFORD - CONTRACT SIGNED 09/18/1951 - HFSID 72850

JOAN CRAWFORD
Academy Award-winning actress Joan Crawford signed this contract with Warner Brothers in 1951 to modify her 1950 contract with the studio.
Contract signed "Joan Crawford" and assistant secretary of Warner Brothers Pictures, Inc. 1 page, 8½x11, on letterhead of Warner Bros. Pictures, Inc. Sept. 18, 1951. Addressed to Miss Joan Crawford, c/o MCA Artists, Ltd, Beverly Hills, California. Regarding her 52-week contract with the studio. In full: "We have heretofore, under date of June 4, 1951, designated July 23, 1951, as the commencement date of your services for us under your contract of employment with us dated December 11, 1950, as amended with respect to the motion picture in which you are to appear for us under said contract during the first fifty-two (52) weeks' period of the term thereof. We have not required you, as of the date hereof, to commence your services in connection with the principal photography of the role you are to portray in the aforesaid motion picture. In consideration, however, of our agreeing not to require you to commence your services in connection in the aforesaid motion picture until on or subsequent to September 28, 1951, you agree, anything to the contrary in said employment agreement set forth and particularly in paragraph 4 thereof, that with respect to the aforesaid motion picture, and said motion picture only, we shall not be obligated to pay you the weekly rate of $12,500.00 for excess services rendered beyond a period of sixteen (16) consecutive weeks from the aforesaid date of July 23, 1951, unless and until you have rendered services for us in connection with said motion picture in excess of a period of seventeen (17) consecutive weeks from and after said date of July 23, 1951. Except as hereinabove set forth, said contract shall not be deemed otherwise changed, altered, modified or affected in any manner of particular whatsoever. If the foregoing is in accordance with your understanding of our agreement, kindly indicate your approval and acceptance thereof with your signature in the space hereinbelow provided." In the year she signed this document, Crawford appeared in one feature film, Goodbye, My Fancy. Crawford (1904-1977, born Lucille Fay LeSueur in San Antonio, Texas) shot to stardom on the strength of 1928's Our Dancing Daughters, starring as Diana "Di" Medford, a role originally intended for Clara Bow. The film was hugely successful, and MGM soon doubled her salary and began featuring her name on marquees. Unlike so many stars of the period, Crawford successfully made the transformation from the silents to the sound era, although she preferred the silents. Crawford, originally a professional dancer, had made her film debut in 1925. She won a Best Actress Academy Award for Mildred Pierce (1945) and was nominated for Best Actress Oscars for Possessed (1947) and Sudden Fear (1952). A tell-all memoir, Mommie Dearest (1978, later made into a feature film), by her daughter Christina, portrayed Crawford as unfeeling and ruthlessly ambitious. However, Crawford was a faithful correspondent with her large fan base. Lightly creased with folds, not at Crawford's signature. Slightly smudged at lower left blank margin. Overall, fine condition.