Saving Mommie Dearest

Box office poison! Critics hated the film Mommie Dearest, the film adaptation of Christina Crawford's tell all book chronicling the physical and mental abuse she suffered as the adopted daughter of Hollywood Golden Age legend Joan Crawford.

But thanks to the success of Rocky Horror Picture Show and the films of John Waters, the film studios quickly pivoted the marketing of the melodramatic movie into a dark comedy, showcasing it as a midnight feature film inviting drag queens to dress up and re-enact fights between momma Joan and her adopted daughter Christina.

Today we’re chatting with pop culture writer A. Ashley Hoff on the camp classic film Mommie Dearest and how the runaway success of the film forever changed how the public thinks about Joan Crawford and the film's star Faye Dunaway.

In his new book With Love, Mommie Dearest: The Making of an Unintentional Camp Classic, A. Ashley Hoff explores how Christina's memoir got turned into this outlandish film. Hoff also explores all the myths surrounding Christina and Joan Crawford's actual lives.

• Did Joan Crawford really beat up Christina with wire hangers?

• Was Joan Crawford bisexual?

• Did Joan kill her 4th husband Al Steele?